Create Ridge Polylines From Contours

This command creates 3D polylines along the tops of ridges and in the bottom of drainages for more accurate modeling of the surface.

Draw Options: Specify whether to draw Ridge/Valley segments, Summit/Pit segments, or all. Ridge/valley segments travel along the tops of ridges or bottom of valleys and are extracted from the contours lines by finding acute vertices and looking to the next adjacent contour for the corresponding acute vertex. Summit or pit segments model closed polyline contours and extend the trend either upward or downward to the peak or bottom point in the geometry.

Extraction Type (Significant and Full): Significant segments are those segments that fall into relatively flat areas of the triangulation (large open spaces between the contours). Use this setting to reduce the number of segments generated by this command. Full extraction will model all segments.

Minimum Segment Count and Branch Length: Use this setting to prevent small segment branches from being generated. This can reduce the occurrence of errors in the output.

Layer Selection: Specify the layer that the ridge/valley and summit/pit polylines will be drawn on. You may choose the select button to specify from the list of existing layers, or specify a new layer by simply typing the new layer name.

Density Multiplier: The quality of output produced by this command is directly proportional to vertex density of contour polylines. This multiplier can be used to temporarily increase contour vertex density for the duration of calculations at the cost of additional processing time. Setting this multiplier to higher values generally reduces occurrence of errors in the output.

Ignore Zero Elevations: select this to ignore linework set at zero elevation.

Pulldown Menu Location: 3D Data
Keyboard Command: cs_extract
Prerequisite: Contours with ridges and valleys