Importing Terrain Data from Autocad .dwg file

Hi,
I’m importing terrain data from a .dwg file from a land surveyor.
Unfortunately, they “flattened” the data to 2-D so when I import it, I can see the contour lines but there is no depth when I take a 3-D view.
Any suggestions on how to convert it back to 3-D?

Any suggestions about the best file format to receive terrain data?
Good training video about importing terrain video?
Thanks,
Tom
PS. They surveyor did that because he added other useful stuff to the drawing which could be helpful. If I can convert it back, it should reduce extra work need to model the stuff he added.

Tom,
You have to "convert" the contour lines to Chief elevation lines & assign an elevation to each line. If your given contour line elevations from the dwg are relative to sea-level & you have a known sea-level elevation for your house (or can figure it out approx), it's pretty straight-forward.
The terrain tools are very good, but there are "bumps in the road" to watch out for. If you know where those "bumps" are,..............
If you're a current SSA member, there are very good tutorials on Chief's website.
Email me privately, & I'll be glad to help you out. I just did a session yesterday on this.

Jim
ebdesign@eastbaydesign.net

This is what i have done in the past:

I like to keep the imported lines as CAD lines to display the existing topography as dashed lines so what I do is make a copy and change the copy to Terrain elevation lines.

First you must have a terrain perimeter generated to be able to convert them.

I select all the lines, do a copy in place and the copy will be the current selection so open the DBX and change them to the "Terrain, Elevation Data" layer and while still all selected use the "Convert Polyline" tool (bottom pop up toolbar) and select "Elevation Line".

I think when you convert them to elevation lines they automatically are reassigned to the correct layer but I like to get the copy to a different layer before I start converting them and assigning heights.

You will need to select individual lines to set the height (elevation) of each line so turn off the other layer with the original topo lines and/or lock that layer. Generally you should be able to keep the original "existing" topo lines locked.

As an alternative, after making a copy and assigning that to a different layer then locking the original layer, you can select and convert the lines individually adding the heights as you go. If you have more then one topo line at the same elevation you can group (shift) select and convert them at the same time.

also, the recommendation is fewer elevation rather than overdoing it

you can "overwhelm" the terrain generator with too much info

give just enough lines to get the job done

Lew