Sloping paths/driveways

[baros]

How can I get a garage driveway to slope away from the building or alternatively to get the terrain to slope away for just the portion covered by the driveway?

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Baros,

I take it that only the drive slopes not the ground each side of it. If that is the case the easiest way to do it  would be to use the Ramp tool (under Stairs), as long as it is not curved.

You may have to use the right click Elevate (minus figure) to lower it to ground level as it will probably insert  at floor level.

Allan

[baros]

Thanks Allan, the ramp route certainly looks more promising than the paths or surface ones but I still have a problem. Starting off with the widest ramp offered and selecting a 6 degree slope I then widened it to the required width and elevated it (or rather depressed it) so that the highest point was at ground level at the garage door. Unfortunately the terrain does not open to show the ramp. Any suggestions?

[Allan Chesney]

Isn't the ramp supposed to be above the terrain, sloping down to it?

Allan

[baros]

No. The project consists of a house and a garage on a sloping site although I have started off with a level terrain.The house is situated on the terrain while the floor of the garage is 70cm below the terrain. The drive for the garage slopes away downwards from the garage door to end well below terrain level. 

[Allan Chesney]

The project consists of a house and a garage on a sloping site....

If the site slopes then why not just slope the Terrain and you can use an ordinary drive which will slope with the Terrain? That would look far more natural too than having the drive going down into the terrain. Alternatively just slope the Terrain down in front of the garage.

Allan

[baros]

If one thinks of the site as a rectangle ABCD, the points AB and D are at the same level and the slope is in the direction AC. The garage, however, is in line with BC. If I make the terrain slope in the BC direction then AD slopes as well which is not correct as AD is horizontal. I attach a picture which illutrates the problem. The sloping driveway can be seen in front of the garage but under the terrain.

[Allan Chesney]

Seeing an image certainly helps!

Normally the Terrain is much bigger than the house site so you see the building in the landscape and in this situation you would use the plateau tool to lower just one corner. However, since yours is very tight you could do it differently.

First I would try simply drawing a Room Divide 'invisible wall' to connect with the low walls each side of the drive. This should cause the program to view the drive as part of the Ground Floor terrain cutout assuming you have left that set to the default.

I have some other suggestions too but try that first.

I notice that part of the corner of the house is cut at an angle above the low wall. That is because the wall is joining and presumably you have just reduced its height. Normally different height walls go on a separate location.. You can probably fix this however just by zooming in really close, select the low wall and drag its end slightly away from the house wall. Turn off ObjectSnap and you will be able to make the gap so tiny it will not be seen. The corner should mend itself.

Allan

[baros]

Drawing the suggested walls seems to have solved the problem only to raise two more. There is a protruding bit of footage half way along the drive which I cannot delete. If I click on the dotted lines anywhere around that corner of the house in plan view, I get a green arrow in the middle of the drive. It is impossible to select the footage. Also the narrow drive in the carport is at terrain level and there is no way to change its elevation so that it is at garage floor level. Incidentally what is meant by 'invisible walls'? I made the height 1mm but it is still visible.

[Allan Chesney]

Can you please post an image as it is hard to understand what you are referring to.

The 'invisible wall' I referred to was a way of explaining what the Room Divide tool does - it is like an invisible wall that, in this case, joins your two short walls but is not visible. A Wall will be visible but the Room Divide tool line is not - it is just a dotted line on the plan and nothing in the 3D view.

Allan

[baros]

Sorry Allen, I had intended to attach the new photo but in the end I forgot. Here it is.

[Allan Chesney]

The object sticking out along the drive looks like a bit of floor. You should be able to select it in 3D and drag it back a bit.

Did you insert the ramp on the ground floor location or the garage location?

Can you post a screen image of the 'green arrow' view? The only green arrow I can think about is from the roof but this shuuld not be half way along the drive from what I can see on your image.

Allan

[baros]

I attach a straightforward plan view and another showing the effect of clicking on any part of the footings highlighted in yellow. It seems that introducing the driveway as a ramp and enclosing it with walls has caused the terrain to slope right across the site. I also have no explanation why the driveway in the carport has gone to terrain level whereas in the original photo I sent it is at garage floor level. Incidentally I suspect that the small projection in the driveway may be terrain rather than footiings. Thanks for all the help so far.

[Allan Chesney]

I think we have several issues here but need some questions answered to be able to suggest what to do. So...

Earlier I asked if you had inserted the ramp on the garage location or the ground floor location. From the plans you have posted it appears they are both on the same location, otherwise either the house or garage walls etc would appear dimmed. Because the garage is at a lower level than the house it would normally be inserted on its own location, which, from what you said earlier should be 70cm lower than the house. Since the Terrain represents the surface of the land, is the gargage actually below the surface of the land? In other words, is the back of the garage 70cm below ground level and the front of the drive level with the ground?

Does the building actually exist or are you planning it? If it exists a photo ofthe property would help a lot.

You show a tiled surface at the left side of the garage - is that the Terrain? If so, is that how it should appear - a wall at each side of the drive and the land high on the other side of the walls? Also is the ground actually terraced ie flat behind the wall at the front door?
Although you said earlier that the terrain sloped to corner C only, does it actually slope or is it just terraced, the only slope being the drive from a garage that is below ground level?  This is the impression I get but without knowing these things it is difficult to give the best solution.

The protrusion into the drive I think you will find is part of the footings, which I notice does not join properly on the two front corners, as it does at the back. If it joined properly it would protrude all the way to the corner. Obviously the foundation is too wide, retaining wall too narrow or the drive is too low, hence the footing protrudes.  Is your project with a view to producing accurate plans to pass on to a builder or just to see how it looks. If it is just the latter, then do you need to show the footings at all? If not then delete or turn them off in the View Filter.

The Green arrow is a Slope on the Terrain which you have obviously inserted at some stage. With the Terrain selectable you would find it very difficult to select anything else. If the property is terraced or stepped and the only slope is the drive as discussed above, then I would just delete the Terrain Slope arrow - the Room Divide attached to the hHouse Retaing walls should cut out the terrain or you could use a negative Pad to do so. At the very least you would have to go into the View Filter and make the Terrain not selectable by ticking the filter icon against the Terrain so it is white not orange, otherwise you will keep selecting the Terrain.

If you would like you could post the BLD file here or email it to me so I can see what is actually happening and what you need to do.
My email address is alches AT iinet DOT net DOT au.

Allan

[baros]

Answering your questions in sequence, Allen, I am a novice on the subject of terrain and locations so I started off with a terrain of the correct dimensions and as the house is more or less at the highest section I set the ground floor level at 150mm. After completing the house shell I added the garage with a floor level 850mm below the house floor level. Footings were attached to the house walls 900mm below terrain level, which seemed to be in line with some undimensioned drawings of the house in my possession. These were, however, stepped down at the corner of the house abutting the garage driveway, presumably to get them below the driveway level. It was attempting to replicate this in the plans that I encountered the problem described in my last message.

The house exists (see attached photo) and the current work is related to a proposed rear extension.

The terrain is not actually tiled all over. What you see is just the temporary surface pattern I used before getting round to choosing the right surfaces, but the only parts not paved are alongside the garage and plant beds next to the street and a strip of garden at the rear. I suppose you could say that the plot is terraced rather than sloping except for the driveway. Advice on how to use terracing in this case would be appreciated. The site has been levelled at ground level everywhere except the garage/carport area and the steps down to it at the rear which are 700mm below ground level and the garage driveway which slopes at 6 degrees.

Now for the good news. Your suggestion of deleting the green arrow and deselecting the terrain has meant that I can adjust the footings and, by dropping them where required, has eliminated the projection into the driveway. There remains the problem of the driveway in the carport which is still suspended in midair. Also a couple of walls do not seem to have 'healed' despite your suggestion of a 1mm gap.

I am sending you the .bld file separately as an email attachment.