Foundation/Retaining Wall Elevation Problem

[MichaelinLeschi]

Just started using a purchased copy of Home Designer Architectural. I was able to import a terrain from a DWG topo survey. It took a while but I persisted and it came through.

 

The perimeter low point was at about 62' above sea level. The upper end of the perimeter was about 80'. The terrain slopes up.

 

I started to build retaining and foundation walls and each item was far below the terrain as if it was set at a zero elevation.

 

For these walls there is no elevation data input field. 

 

I downloaded a trial of Home Designer Pro to see if there was a way to fix this problem. No luck there either.

 

I need to put foundation walls on top of slabs. Can't seem to do it. See the attached screenshot.

[Rookie65]

Terrain is typically derived from the 1st floor, which defaults at "0". Then the foundation will build down at a negative dimension. I am thinking if you set the 62' height at the dimension it would actually be below the 1st floor and then the high end would just be 18' higher. The settings can be found in your terrain tools. Hope this helps get you going in the right direction?

[DavidJPotter]

Terrain was added as a feature in the year 2,000 AD and as such, it is an "add-on" to the basic program. So when thinking about terrain relative to your structural objects, you bring the terrain to those by using the "Terrain Specification Dialog - Building Pad" input box to raise or lower the terrain as an object relative to structural components like foundation walls or a 3D modeled structure.

 

DJP

[MichaelinLeschi]

David, Keith:

 

Thanks very much for the feedback. David's solution using Terrain Specification - Building Pad worked.

 

Foundation and Retaining Walls appear relative to the building pad reference.

 

Slabs on the other hand are separately set under Slab Spec to a 'Floor' by default, with options to reference from 'absolute', 'terrain', 'ceiling', 'roof'.

 

It's confusing why there needs to be two separate reference points, one for walls, and one for slabs. It seems they should be tied together for each slab.

 

David's solution is available in the Pro version. As I am using the lower end Architectural, I am thinking to try and reset the dwg imported contour elevations from sea level to an absolute zero. I'll circle back here with results. 

[MichaelinLeschi]

Actually David's solution works in Architectural as well. The Terrain Specification dialogue is not seen on the drop down menus of the Architectural product but is seen by right clicking on the terrain in the plan or in the 3D camera. 

 

Still leaves a learning curve for bringing slabs and walls together with precision.

 

Thanks again, your responses saved me a ton of time.