Draw Design Surface

Draw Design Surface integrates all of the GeoFluv™ landform design data that the user has input and outputs it to the drawing.

Left-clicking on the Draw Design Surface button causes the Draw Design Surface dialog box to appear.  This dialog box allows the user to choose the layer name to which Natural Regrade will save the channel and ridge polylines, the triangle skirt layer, and the Sub-Watersheds.  Toggles in the dialog box also allow the user to specify:

• If the triangle mesh outside the GeoFluv™ boundary will be drawn.
• If the 2D outlines of subwatersheds will be drawn.
• If intersecting built tributary channels are trimmed at the point of intersection or if they continue all the way to the confluence.
• If existing entities in these layers are erased.

Clicking the OK button in the Draw Design Surface dialog box will capture these settings for the GeoFluv™ design.  If the settings are valid, Natural Regrade will insert the subwatershed subridge and subvalley breaklines into the drawing, regardless of how many are needed to create the stable draft design and the Triangulate and Contour from TIN dialog box will pop up.  The user can edit the settings on the dialog box tabs or accept the default settings.  The user clicks OK to begin contouring. 

Natural Regrade will draw the draft GeoFluv™ landform contours on the drawing and a pop-up Carlson Edit dialog box will appear that lists any instances of ‘crossing barrier lines’, if the triangulate and contour settings were appropriate.  The user can use this edit box to review the drawing for possible errors; typically the crossing barrier lines reported in this edit box are intersections of channel and valley lines.   (See also the Draw GeoFluv Contours command for more detail about this feature.)

If the ‘maximum triangle mesh line length’ setting in the Triangulate tab of the Contour selection in the Carlson DTM Triangulate and Contour menu is set to a value less than the required triangle mesh line length for portions of the design, the command line will read “Ignored ‘xxx’ triangulation lines that exceeded maximum tmesh line length” and only those portions of the design, if any, that did not exceed the maximum tmesh line length will be contoured.  If this occurs, the user can reset the maximum triangle mesh setting in the DTM menu to be greater than the ‘xxx’ distance reported in the command line and then repeat the Draw Design Surface command sequence as described above.  GeoFluv™ will then contour the entire drawing as described above.   (See also the Draw GeoFluv Contours command for more detail about this feature.)          

The subridgelines and the valleys between them extend from the main ridgelines to the channels.  The slopes have default settings that create concave slopes, rather than constant gradient or convex slopes that are subject to rill and gully formation.