3d contours from 2d lines

Was sent a dwg from an external contractor. Has contours in it (with spot heights thought them). I.e. polylines with text in places. I have to make these 3d somehow. The lines have no "z values" or "elevation" values. Surely there must be an easy way to do this.

Yes it can be done using Edgesurf. You'll have to reorient your UCS and move the contours in the Z direction and basically replicate the contour interval. You're aware that Edgesurf requires four edges to function correctly, right? That means you'll have to connect the endpoints of two adjacent contours, at a time, and invoke Edgesurf. Put the resultant mesh on a separate layer that you can turn off. This way you can work with the next pair of contours without a lot of confusion. Just continue to step through the contours in this manner until you run out of contours to work with. I've read that working with splines is recommended.

I forgot to mention it won't be easy. AutoCAD doesn't come with a magic contour creating button unfortunately.

So if there's thousands of contours, it would take an awfully long time. Thanks for a possible method though.

Here is a lisp that I got here... or maybe at the Autodesk Civil Community??? Can't find the original thread right now. Go to my tips and tutorials > click the youtube link. There's a video I did showing how to use it if you can't figure it out.

chelev.lsp

So if there's thousands of contours, it would take an awfully long time. Thanks for a possible method though.

If you are working with that many contours then you should be using a program other than plain vanilla AutoCAD. The right tool for the job makes life a heck of a lot easier. Never use a Phillips head screwdriver to remove earwax. LOL

If you are working in civil or survey then I agree, but if you only do this sort of thing now and again it's really not worth the cost. However if you use the previously posted lisp to "lift" the contours to their proper elevation. You can then use SiteTopo to create a surface if you so desire.