Quick Start Mini-Tutorials

The quick start mini-tutorials are designed to give the user basic information about a subject without the additional editing and manipulation tools that are generally unnecessary for the average modeling project. Each tutorial will list, but not expound on them, further tools and options available.

Pads

A pad is modeled as a planar surface bounded by cut and fill slopes. ESR has three pad commands, Draw Pad, Pad Convert and Make Pad. A pad is flat but not necessarily level. A pad, made using the default elevation offset of 0, will be modeled to a balance of cut and fill. Any offset required is applied after the balance elevation is calculated. Present options include Cut and Fill ratios, segment length of the cf-slopes and elevation offset.  CF-Limit lines may be used to prevent butterfly, crossover or overlapping of the slopes. Updates will provide options to select or name the pad surface layer, pad slope requirements, absolute pad elevation and edge of pad features (curbs, sidewalks etc.). 

MiniTutorial_Pads_image001.jpg (87701 bytes)

Command Sequence

Draw a closed polyline, manually (you can convert a closed polyline to a pad border with the Pad Convert command) or with the Draw Pad command.

MiniTutorial_Pads_image004.jpg (96450 bytes)

Make Pad, with the Pad Options settings, models the pad regardless of any overlapping faces in restricted spaces. If necessary, undo and add limit lines.

MiniTutorial_Pads_image002.jpg (60845 bytes)

Cut and Fill limit lines constrain the slope ratios. If a limit line is detected, the slope ratio along that segment will be dynamically changed to prevent crossing it.

MiniTutorial_Pads_image003.jpg (96941 bytes)

The example used here is an extreme case but clearly shows the good results.

MiniTutorial_Pads_image005.jpg (55580 bytes)

 

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