About create contours from a surface.

Hi everyone!!!

I know my question should be a easy question for a mid level civil 3d user, but not for me.

I need to create a worst defined contour from a surface created via well shaped contours, why I need this, because a need to export a surface without to much detail to a fem program (plaxis).

So the question is; How to create new contours from a already created surface_

Hope you can help me.

Hi everyone!!!

 

I know my question should be a easy question for a mid level civil 3d user, but not for me.

 

I need to create a worst defined contour from a surface created via well shaped contours, why I need this, because a need to export a surface without to much detail to a fem program (plaxis).

 

So the question is; How to create new contours from a already created surface_

 

Hope you can help me.

What do you mean by "worst defined contour"?

Hope I can explain myself.

The contours I have, have a lot of snap points, so when there is a curve it generates a lot of triangles which can define very well a curve section, but this triangles are so irregular in ther lengths (they are not equilateral), but because the application which I am working on, a prefer few triangles but with regular shapes (equilateral lengths) I dont care if they dont reproduce so exactly the curves... this is because in fem analysis thats a good practice.

So i was thinking that I could create a surface from the real-originals contours and then from that surface create new contours, but with less points from which triangles will be created.... I was thinking it should be an option which says something like ¨preferred aproximation, or number of snaps¨don´t know, hope you can help me....

Or/and how to export surfaces to a *.3ds format.

Gracias por su tiempo dedicado.

Are you using civil3D or Vanilla AutoCAD and what version? If using C3D look at the Smoothing functions and/or using Civil Views in 3ds Max.

Señor,

instead of simplifing an existing surface, try to weed the original contours (command _MAPCLEAN => "Simplify objects") then recreate the surface.