ENGINE AR-COMPLETE 2379123 - Caterpillar

Elevation Design Information
Elevation design information can be represented by using 3DFACEs, open or closed polylines, lines, or points. The entities must contain only three dimensional information. Any two dimensional entities are ignored.Recommended Data Format
The 3DFACE design information is passed directly to CAESultra with minimal processing by METSmanager.Vertical faces are not allowed in the elevation design. A vertical face is any vertical plane that is defined by a 3DFACE or a closed polyline. If METSmanager encounters a vertical face, then a message appears. The message states that a design TIN cannot be created by using the specified data.For more information, refer to the following:
Use "Find" to search for "Elevation Design Usage" in the METSmanager Help Topics.
Use "Find" to search for "Importing a design TIN" in the METSdiag Help Topics. Alternative Data Format
Points, lines, and open polylines or closed polylines can be used for representing designs. METSmanager will create a TIN from these entities. A TIN can be created by using a variety of techniques. The TIN that is created by METSmanager may not exactly represent intended design. For example, polylines that represent contour lines will be triangulated by METSmanager, but the TIN may not be an exact representation of the design. Caterpillar recommends that the elevation design be represented in the DXF file by using 3DFACEs.Note: When possible, do not create a TIN from contour lines. This is an inefficient way of creating a TIN. This method will result in excessive data. This data will slow down all further processing.Polylines in a design elevation layer are treated as breaklines in order to ensure that the generated TIN represents a constant grade between vertices of the polyline. A Polyline must not cross another polyline. A polyline may meet another polyline if the polylines meet at a common vertex. Closed polylines that define a design elevation may share a common design boundary. The design boundary must include the same vertices for each closed polyline. If METSmanager encounters polylines that do not meet these requirements, a warning is displayed. The warning states that a design TIN cannot be created by using the specified data.In Illustration 3, the polygons "A" and "B" share a common design boundary. The white circles represent shared vertices. The black circle represents a vertex for onlypolygon "B". Because of the vertex that is represented by the black circle, the common design boundary does not consist exactly of the same vertices for each closed polyline. As a result, METSmanager would not create a design TIN.
Illustration 3 g01447747
Example of an unacceptable common design boundaryPoints and vertices of polylines and lines must be separated by at least 1 mm (0.0394 inch) horizontally. If the points or the vertices are too close to each other, all but one of the points or the vertices will be ignored when the TIN is generated. METSmanager reports the points and the vertices that have been ignored.Verification of elevation design TINs that are created by METSmanager can be accomplished by outputting the TIN to a DXF file