Landmark Special Interest Group May 2020

In this session, we covered more about fences and railings, showed how converting objects to symbols or Auto Hybrids can help achieve the look that you want for your site—knowing a few tricks can get you a long way!

Topics Covered:

• 00:07    Opening a file with a site model, we demonstrated how to insert a fence along a boundary. We added 3D loci along the model’s surface, and then used them as references to place our fence. I like using classes to control the graphic attributes of the fence panels and posts—it’s easier than selecting all of the fence sections and going into the Railing/Fence dialog box to make changes. We reviewed all of the settings. The settings allow enough flexibility to get many different looks—we even modified a fence into a retaining wall. A trick for rotating a hybrid object is to convert it into a group first.
• 20:00    In a Top/plan view, our fence had a cluttered look, so we converted it into an Auto Hybrid, which gave us much better control over its graphic attributes. Often, I can’t figure out which class an object’s parts are on or how the parts of an object work—but using the Convert to Group command “explodes” it, allowing you to go in and click on things to figure them out. The Snapshot feature for site models is very cool. I like to place snapshots on different classes so that I can stack them in a viewport and quickly show different stages of the site design. If the snapshot is of your existing model, it will update every time you make a change to the existing part of the site model. Similarly, a snapshot of your proposed model will update when you make changes to the proposed part of your site model.
• 38:34    We reviewed rotating a hybrid object by converting it into a group and then turning it into an Auto Hybrid to more easily control its graphic attributes. One challenge is that hybrid objects like cars don’t follow the terrain when placed on a site model—one wheel will touch the surface, while the others are either be up in the air or down in the ground. However, if turned into symbols first, cars will follow the terrain when placed—but then, in a top/plan view, you see all the mesh lines of the 3D car models. Turning the cars into Auto Hybrids will give them a “car look,” instead of a mesh look, in a top/plan view.

Landmark May 2020

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