Video: Create and Modify Soft Terrain

Use Site Designer to modify a toposurface with building pads, swales, and berms.

This video demonstrates the following:

1. Add model lines to define the boundary of a building pad and the position, length, and shape of swales.
2. Add the building pad and swales, using specialized families for Site Designer.
3. Adjust the depth of one end of a swale.

Note: This video was recorded using Revit 2015. When using a newer software release, you may notice differences in functionality and user interface.

Transcript

Soft terrain includes elements such as building pads, swales, and berms. Soft terrain features modify the toposurface by automatically placing new points and adjusting existing points on the toposurface.

Site Designer uses host lines and specialized families to modify the toposurface. To specify the positioning of the soft terrain feature, create a host line using Revit model lines or detail lines.

In this example, model lines are used to define the building pad and 2 swales.

On the ribbon, click the Site Designer tab. On the Locate panel, click Soft Terrain. In the dialog, choose the family and the type to be placed.

In this example, we are placing the building pad with a 1-to-1 slope. You can load additional families as needed. Enter a unique name for the feature. Indicate whether the feature follows the toposurface or is to be placed at a constant height.

For this building pad, we'll select Constant Elevation, and set the elevation to 0. Select "Use an Existing Host Line" and select the "Chain" option in the dialog, and click Insert.

Click Insert, and select one of the host lines for the street. (The chain of lines is selected automatically.) Click No in the dialog to project the slope to the outside of the chain. The toposurface is graded and updated.

Using the same procedure, build the swales. Change the family type to Swales and set the Constant Elevation to -6 feet. These settings will create a depression in the toposurface to represent a detention pond. Open a 3D view to see the results.

Next, make a change to one of the swales to make one end deeper. On the Modify panel, click Soft Terrain. Select the highlighted host line for the swale. In the Modify Soft Terrain dialog, click Change Elevation. Each vertex on the host line has a target; select a target and change the elevation.

After making changes to the elevations of the vertices, right-click, and select Cancel to exit the Change Elevation tool. Click Apply to save the elevation changes to the toposurface.

Use the soft terrain features of Site Designer to modify the toposurface based on host lines created in the model.