Conceptual Grading

Conceptual Grading

You can easily add conceptual slopes and elevation to your models. By adding grade and elevation, you help communicate the spatial relationships and design intent (Fig. 19-32 through Fig. 19-37). For a review of conceptual grading, see Chapter 13. You should add conceptual grades, even minute slopes, where possible. Ideally, adding conceptual grade should be done before the Flatwork Base is populated with site elements.

Fig. 19-32: Three arcs are drafted along the wall surface. With the three edges and perimeter lines selected, use the From Contours tool to generate a conceptual slope.

Fig. 19-33: Added slope with trees.

Fig. 19-34: The From Scratch tool is used to copy and align the large lawn area on the grid.

Fig. 19-35: The copied lawn area is draped onto the From Scratch grid. The grid is then trimmed to conform to the shape of the lawn area.

Fig. 19-36: The trimmed From Scratch grid outline is then placed into the site model.

Fig. 19-37: The Smoove tool is then applied to the grid to generate slopes and contours. In this case, the slopes were snapped to the back of the wall adjacent to the water feature. Trees were dropped onto the slope using the Drop Ruby Scripts.