Site Modeler - modify vertical alignment

John, can you elaborate on which slopes you want to modify?

The short answer is yes, you can modify the profile.  The best method depends on how you defined the profile to begin with.  If you defined a profile in cogo and used cogo chain and profile in comp section then just edit the profile and update the comp section.

If you defined profile from a draped site element (my preferred method) then use the edit profile tools are probably best. (Modeler > Object > Edit Profile)

John, can you elaborate on which slopes you want to modify?

The short answer is yes, you can modify the profile.  The best method depends on how you defined the profile to begin with.  If you defined a profile in cogo and used cogo chain and profile in comp section then just edit the profile and update the comp section.

If you defined profile from a draped site element (my preferred method) then use the edit profile tools are probably best. (Modeler > Object > Edit Profile)

Hi Robert:

I want to modify the slope along the centerline for part of the road (not the slope from the centerline to the edge of pavement).  I created a profle from a draped site element, then used the vertical component tools to create the proposed vertical alignment.  After the proposed profile was created, I used Composite Section to contour the road.  Now I want to revise the slopes in part of the profile, but don't see a way to do it.   Ideally, I want to get the original profile lines and curves back to adjust them, then re-create the proposed profile.

 Also, why can't I find any information in Help on the composite section tool?  I created edge of road elements and successfully contoured the road, but I want to add additional contouring to elements beyond that, but can't make it work.

John

To edit the profile, you just use the profile edit tool (Modeler > Elements > Edit Profile)  which is the same tools you used to create the profile originally.  You select the centerline element and use the same profile component tools to make any changes.

The active chain control tool will help you keep stations and elevations of the VPI to even values, if you have an anal retentive personality like me. :-)

The profile edit tools can also duplicate the profile you design as a cogo profile which would allow you to use the VPI based Profile tools for editing.  If you choose this route and edit the cogo profile, the object updates will not be automatic, you wuld have to rerun the comp section and tell it to use the cogo profile instead of the element profile. 

Pressing F1 on the comp section dialog should bring up the help file unless it has been delted.  Or from the Site help look under Site Modeler > Command Reference > Tools > Composite Section

Hi John,

I'll throw my 2 cents in so you can maybe move forward while waiting for one of the guru's to reply.

From your post it sounds like you used the element Edit Profile tool to profile your road. Unless you had set the toggle to store the profile to GOGO, you have no way to parametrically refine the profile. Your options are to edit the profile by retracing it with  the Element Edit Profile tool or you can create a COGO profile. Generally your best option for making road profiles is to store them in COGO as you have much more control for editing them. If you want to create a COGO profile I would recommend using the VPI based profile tools in Coordinate Geometry. That tool allows you to adjust the profile paramterically vs. the graphicly based component tools. It will also require that you store your road alignment to COGO.

What you will need to do is:

1) Store your road centerline to COGO. You can use the store graphics tool in COGO (Coordinate Geometry).

2) Create a profile cell for the alignment, adding the surface you created for your road to the surface profiles for the cell

3) Load the VPI profile editor and create a finished grade profile by tracing the surface profile of your road.

4) Edit the profile as you need and store it.

5) Use the Modler element info tool to access the associated comp section of your road and save the comp section to a file.

6) Delete your road object and recreate it using the Comp section tool. To recreate the road object, load the Comp Section tool, load your saved comp section, and set the settings to create the road object from the stored Cogo Chain and profile. The tool will thus create a road object that is associated with the COGO chain and profile, so from then on you can edit any part of it using the COGO alignment, profile and comp section tools. 

Robert is quick on the draw as usual.

Based on his comments I think I was wrong in part of my workflow. You do not have to delete your road object if you want to use COGO. Once you have stored your alignment and profile you can use the Modeler Element Info tool on your current road centerline to access the associated Comp Section. Then you could change the settings to use the Chain and Profile (instead of by element) and re-apply. This should redefine the road object which will then be associated with your COGO profile and chain. You will end up with a duplicate centerline element, your original and the one generated from the COGO chain by comp section. You will want to keep the one generated by Comp Section. You also could end up with a 3rd centerline element if your Coordinate Geometry is set to display the COGO graphics. You can remove it by undisplaying the COGO graphics.

Did I get this right Robert?

Robert/Neil:

I re-created the profile using the edit profile tools, so that worked.  What I didn't understand originally is that I had to start the process over.  That was simpler than going through the COGO method.

 Regarding Help, I've tried F1, searching, looking for a specific .chm file, etc. but can't locate any help information on the composite section tool.  Any links within the help files to composite section are not working.

John