Fixing triangle edges

Last updated: 2022-09-14

These best practices for surface model creation will make the breakline extraction much simpler. If these best practices are not followed, the breakline extraction process will not work as intended.

Links for corridor surface definition

This is a bad practice for the deliverable that we want to achieve. We want the surfaces to be defined by longitudinal breaklines because these are the elements that our contractors are looking for. It is not a good idea to mix links and feature lines in the surface definition because once you include the links, there is not a good way to know if you have all of the required feature lines. If you have all of the required feature lines, there really isn’t any need for the links. One argument for links is that they help force desired triangulation in certain situations. An intersection radius is an example of that. However, this can easily be resolved by adding a single line or 3D Polyline to the refinement surface definition.

Surface edit tools

We do not want designers using the surface edit tools, except is certain situations.

Warning: Added surface definition created by these tools cannot be extracted and delivered for construction. In the example from the first bullet, the add line or swap edge commands are often used to clean up the intersection triangulation. However, the proper way to address that is by adding a line or 3D polyline as a breakline. The commands highlighted in pink should not be needed for design surface definition. The delete line and delete point command can be used because they take away previously created elements of the surface definition. Delete line is often used to remove external triangulation that was not removed by a corridor boundary. Using the delete point command will cause the point’s source breakline segment to be no longer valid and will therefore be excluded from the breakline deliverable by the Design Surface Data Extractor. Adjustments to the corridor or addition of breaklines should address situations where the remaining surface edit commands would otherwise be used. When breaklines are extracted from the refinement surface definition, you should be able to recreate the refinement surface from those breaklines alone. If these surfaces edits are used, the surface created from the extracted breaklines will not match the refinement surface. In summary, the surface edits cannot be extracted and conveyed in the breakline file.