Concept: Sitework overview
Difficulty level: Intermediate
The sitework-related commands allow the development of complex 2D and 3D models of site terrain in the Vectorworks Architect and Landmark products. A site model can be used, among other reasons, for water flow analysis, shade analysis, to study the effect of a project on the surroundings, and importantly, to obtain cut and fill calculations to evaluate the amount of soil needed, or soil that needs to be removed.
A site model can either be generated as custom terrain based on a closed shape, or from elevation source data. The source data for a site model is the 3D information used to create a representation of the existing site. The information can be in the form of surveyor data, 3D loci, polygons, polylines, and stake objects. The site model object created from the source data contains both 2D and 3D site information, and it can be copied to other layers and files. Special "snapshot" copies of the site model allow different forms of the site model to be shown side by side.
Once generated, two forms of the site model can be displayed—the existing site model and the proposed site model. The existing site model is a representation of the site before any grading work or other site modifications have been done. The proposed site model is the existing site model, plus the geometric effects of proposed site modifiers, such as edited contours, roads, and pads. The existing and proposed site models can be displayed or hidden at creation or from the Object Info palette.
Site models use the Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) method to connect input data. This method can work with data that are scattered and in clumps—they do not have to be organized in a rectangular grid. The model uses all the data, without doing approximations, to create a network of triangles. These triangles form the terrain model; the model then performs interpolation to calculate the threading of contour lines. When site modifiers are present, each defines its own surface, and the site model is built by stitching together the surfaces in hierarchical order, to create the final, complex surface.
After generation, the site model is cached by default so that updating occurs more efficiently; however, large file sizes can result. See Document preferences: Display tab for information on changing the default setting.
To upgrade a site model from a previous version of the Vectorworks program, see Migrating from previous versions.
