@@CONTRABIM you could also take this process a step further and use the Morphs as guides to create contours on the Mesh. So you end up with a process that looks like this Mesh -> Morph -> Mesh.
@@Shoegnome I suppose that is true! I had the file still open, and I just tried that actually! I didn't realize that yes we can use Morphs to add points to meshes just like a line or polyline. I did run into an issue though, as the morph lines terminated at the edge of the mesh (since I matched the same size exact), and so when elevating points it broke down and only partially worked. With a little tweaking to the approach I'm sure this could work better though! Thanks for the suggestion!
@@CONTRABIM anytime contour lines hit the edge of a mesh there can be issues. It might just mean making the mesh bigger or smaller than you need it so that the morph lines end up extending beyond the final mesh. When I started watching your video, I assumed that was your end game. So I like that you went in a different direction.
@@Shoegnome Yes typically when doing the workflow in reverse, I'll model draw the contour lines beyond the extent of the mesh to solve that issue. In this case I should have just offset the mesh a few inches and probably would have worked fine!
Great tutorial John! The thing is it that I've been doing it the same way for a couple of years and I was surprised to see someone else doing it the same way. It would be great if the contouring feature would be included in the mesh tool itself
Thanks for the comment! Yes to include them back as contours into the mesh, you can use the morph lines and go through the typical process of applying them to the morph with magic wand feature. Only problem is you have shrink your mesh slightly so the morph lines are outside the mesh for it to work properly.
@@CONTRABIM I meant it would be a nice feature for the the mesh tool itself to have auto-generated lines without all the workarounds with the SEO, morphs and etc. Looking forward for some new tips! Your content is great and super useful
@@andriusvilcinskas7591 Oh ya that would be an awesome feature to automatically apply contours. Unfortunately I think we'll be stuck with the workarounds...I can't remember the last time they updated the mesh tool!
Hi, John! Firstly, I love your content and tutorials, I have learned a lot from you. Secondly, do you plan to make a video in the future on how to make custom furniture objects, with their own custom door panel and handle with the library part maker? It would be really useful for me, because I have a hard time modeling my own furniture in my apartment as I want to renovate it and I want to make a project of the renovation. Thank you!
Hello! Thanks for the comment. I'd be happy to do some custom furniture objects! I cover this a bit in my LPM course on the CONTRABIM Membership site, but would be happy to do a youtube video. Can you share a link to the piece of furniture you're trying to recreate? Cheers
Please elaborate on the use of the resulting geometry and/or line work. What representation or other advantage do you gain from separating the topo contour lines from mesh vs the usual method that includes the massing/volume of the mesh? Also, is this a one-and-done method? Or are these resulting lines easily manipulated as we develop site options during schematic and design development phases? How do you use them in your documentation? ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY: BIM platforms have miserable tools for site information. It is frightening that with all the BIM advancements we can still hardly control site drainage, hillside roads, curbs, phasing, import and export quantities, etc. Revit is just as bad but last time I checked it at least has a few additional useful functions built into the tool. You can general elevation markers all neatly lined up with automatic elevation dimension generated on or above each line in plan, you can change topo from sloped to stepped in 3D view, you can set every 5' or 10' or whatever contour line to be bold (and this shows in 3D too). You can't however, demo and fill, as I recall, which is totally frustrating. Not sure how Archicad handles this. Anyhow, neat tricks but topo in BIM is mostly useless as far as I can tell. I'd like to see a Rhino-type modeling platform integrated with our BIM platform. Anyone working on this? Finally, our concern is that your work ends up looking like the tools available out-of-the-box. I can see an Archicad-designed building a mile away. So predictable. The platform needs to catch up with Rhino somehow and still generate information for our documentation. Thank you! AO
is "Asphault Paving" at the 0:12 to 0:20 second mark spelled correctly? I thought it was "Asphalt"...Aside from a potential spelling error it is an excellent video and workflow. 🙂
I don't use survey data to generate mesh due to it's lack of contours, with this trick, I can generate contours myself. But I'm not paid for this work, plus certifying issue. Probably I would do this, but a nice trick, actually it's how we define the contours by this method?
I just tried this method. I used it a little differently. I wanted contours on my mesh, but I wanted the mesh to be editable. So I just got a SEO (intersection) with the morphs as the target and the mesh as operator and I created these contour lines. When I edit the mesh, the contours also adapt. Next thing I want to try is to create a param-o object where I can set the interval of the morphs, in order to get contour lines in whatever distance I want to set. I think this will not work, since param-o creates objects, but I'm not sure. Another thing is to try Land4 add-on. Have you ever tried it?
Thanks for the comment! And yes, what you describe is a very similar workflow, just stopping a few steps short of converting the topo lines to a static element. I should have described it better in the video, but the topo lines are dynamic while the mesh and morphs are still intact using SEO intersections. So if you want to modify the mesh as you describe, the topo lines generated from the morph will remain dynamic and adjust automatically. I took it one step further, of converting the morphs to static which has some benefits and also some downsides (being static). Thanks for the great comment!
@@vassilisstergioudis Maybe if it only worked in 3D, you could convert the object to a morph to get those 2d lines... just a thought. Would love to see how you created your paramo object!
In this workflow, we're not sloping the mesh with contour lines. We added a few nodes to the top of the mesh, and elevated those to create a slope. We then create contour lines by intersecting flat morphs at incremental steps, with the mesh, hence creating the contours. When the mesh changes, those contours, by means of solid element operation (intersect), will adjust to follow. Hope that helps!
Just use Find&Select, can be set to morph faces, and delete them all at once. It leaves the lines (contours).
That is a really really great tip I didn't know was possible! Thanks for the comment I'll be using that one for sure! 😄
This is a really great & simple workflow John, I like it a lot and definitely keen to try it out on new project soon.
Thank you my friend! Test it out it works quite well and doesn't take long at all to complete
This is a great technique and tutorial.
Thanks! It definitely comes in handy in certain cases when no topographic survey is available.
@@CONTRABIM you could also take this process a step further and use the Morphs as guides to create contours on the Mesh. So you end up with a process that looks like this Mesh -> Morph -> Mesh.
@@Shoegnome I suppose that is true! I had the file still open, and I just tried that actually! I didn't realize that yes we can use Morphs to add points to meshes just like a line or polyline. I did run into an issue though, as the morph lines terminated at the edge of the mesh (since I matched the same size exact), and so when elevating points it broke down and only partially worked. With a little tweaking to the approach I'm sure this could work better though! Thanks for the suggestion!
@@CONTRABIM anytime contour lines hit the edge of a mesh there can be issues. It might just mean making the mesh bigger or smaller than you need it so that the morph lines end up extending beyond the final mesh. When I started watching your video, I assumed that was your end game. So I like that you went in a different direction.
@@Shoegnome Yes typically when doing the workflow in reverse, I'll model draw the contour lines beyond the extent of the mesh to solve that issue. In this case I should have just offset the mesh a few inches and probably would have worked fine!
Thnak you! =)
Great tutorial John!
The thing is it that I've been doing it the same way for a couple of years and I was surprised to see someone else doing it the same way. It would be great if the contouring feature would be included in the mesh tool itself
Thanks for the comment! Yes to include them back as contours into the mesh, you can use the morph lines and go through the typical process of applying them to the morph with magic wand feature. Only problem is you have shrink your mesh slightly so the morph lines are outside the mesh for it to work properly.
@@CONTRABIM I meant it would be a nice feature for the the mesh tool itself to have auto-generated lines without all the workarounds with the SEO, morphs and etc. Looking forward for some new tips! Your content is great and super useful
@@andriusvilcinskas7591 Oh ya that would be an awesome feature to automatically apply contours. Unfortunately I think we'll be stuck with the workarounds...I can't remember the last time they updated the mesh tool!
Спасибо, это довольно интересный способ постороения геодезии.
Thx =)
Hi, John!
Firstly, I love your content and tutorials, I have learned a lot from you.
Secondly, do you plan to make a video in the future on how to make custom furniture objects, with their own custom door panel and handle with the library part maker?
It would be really useful for me, because I have a hard time modeling my own furniture in my apartment as I want to renovate it and I want to make a project of the renovation.
Thank you!
Hello! Thanks for the comment. I'd be happy to do some custom furniture objects! I cover this a bit in my LPM course on the CONTRABIM Membership site, but would be happy to do a youtube video. Can you share a link to the piece of furniture you're trying to recreate? Cheers
Wow, you vere fast!
One take is all it takes sometimes:) Thanks Mark!
Please elaborate on the use of the resulting geometry and/or line work.
What representation or other advantage do you gain from separating the topo contour lines from mesh vs the usual method that includes the massing/volume of the mesh?
Also, is this a one-and-done method? Or are these resulting lines easily manipulated as we develop site options during schematic and design development phases?
How do you use them in your documentation?
ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY:
BIM platforms have miserable tools for site information. It is frightening that with all the BIM advancements we can still hardly control site drainage, hillside roads, curbs, phasing, import and export quantities, etc. Revit is just as bad but last time I checked it at least has a few additional useful functions built into the tool. You can general elevation markers all neatly lined up with automatic elevation dimension generated on or above each line in plan, you can change topo from sloped to stepped in 3D view, you can set every 5' or 10' or whatever contour line to be bold (and this shows in 3D too). You can't however, demo and fill, as I recall, which is totally frustrating. Not sure how Archicad handles this.
Anyhow, neat tricks but topo in BIM is mostly useless as far as I can tell. I'd like to see a Rhino-type modeling platform integrated with our BIM platform. Anyone working on this?
Finally, our concern is that your work ends up looking like the tools available out-of-the-box. I can see an Archicad-designed building a mile away. So predictable. The platform needs to catch up with Rhino somehow and still generate information for our documentation.
Thank you!
AO
is "Asphault Paving" at the 0:12 to 0:20 second mark spelled correctly? I thought it was "Asphalt"...Aside from a potential spelling error it is an excellent video and workflow. 🙂
Thanks! I'll check the spelling on that one...nobody to blame for that one but myself:)
I don't use survey data to generate mesh due to it's lack of contours, with this trick, I can generate contours myself. But I'm not paid for this work, plus certifying issue. Probably I would do this, but a nice trick, actually it's how we define the contours by this method?
I just tried this method. I used it a little differently. I wanted contours on my mesh, but I wanted the mesh to be editable. So I just got a SEO (intersection) with the morphs as the target and the mesh as operator and I created these contour lines. When I edit the mesh, the contours also adapt.
Next thing I want to try is to create a param-o object where I can set the interval of the morphs, in order to get contour lines in whatever distance I want to set. I think this will not work, since param-o creates objects, but I'm not sure.
Another thing is to try Land4 add-on. Have you ever tried it?
I just tried the param-o solution. I works on 3d, but not on 2d.
Thanks for the comment! And yes, what you describe is a very similar workflow, just stopping a few steps short of converting the topo lines to a static element. I should have described it better in the video, but the topo lines are dynamic while the mesh and morphs are still intact using SEO intersections. So if you want to modify the mesh as you describe, the topo lines generated from the morph will remain dynamic and adjust automatically. I took it one step further, of converting the morphs to static which has some benefits and also some downsides (being static). Thanks for the great comment!
@@vassilisstergioudis Maybe if it only worked in 3D, you could convert the object to a morph to get those 2d lines... just a thought. Would love to see how you created your paramo object!
@@CONTRABIM I just e-mailed you the param-o object. Feel free to edit and share it if you find it useful.
@@vassilisstergioudis Received thanks for sharing!
Please how can I get to work site plan from ground floor...I'm a beginner
how are your contour lines and points morphed onto your mesh? when I draw lines they are not linked, if that makes any sense.
In this workflow, we're not sloping the mesh with contour lines. We added a few nodes to the top of the mesh, and elevated those to create a slope. We then create contour lines by intersecting flat morphs at incremental steps, with the mesh, hence creating the contours. When the mesh changes, those contours, by means of solid element operation (intersect), will adjust to follow. Hope that helps!
Asphalt. Not asphault 😊
Thanks Bruce haha.
Why would you delete my comment, I was just trying to help people