Define Layer Surface/Material/Subgrade

The Define Layer Surfaces dialog box (shown here) offers many functions that will ultimately make up the surface models used in volume and material calculations. Every entity (line, polyline, point, etc) in a drawing is assigned a layer name. Carlson Takeoff uses the entity layer names to define which entities represent the existing ground surface, the design surface or no surface. These surfaces are referred to as the "Target" surfaces. Any previously created triangulation file (.tin) can be set to the design or existing Target with the Surface Source drop-down set to File. In this mode, the Select File button will allow you to pick the .tin file you want to use for the Target.

When the Surface Source drop-down is set to Layers, drawing entities are assigned to target surface by their layer name. For example, if polylines representing design contours are on the layer "Final", then "Final" will be set as a layer for the design surface. For layers of entities that are for neither existing nor design surfaces (such as text labels for street names), the layer target is set to Other. The Define Layer Surfaces dialog has three lists for layer targets: Existing, Design and Other. To switch between lists, pick the tabs at the top of the dialog. To move a layer to a target destination, highlight the desired layer, choose the target from the Move To list and pick the "Move To" button. All layers populate the "Other" target before being assigned to "Existing" or "Design".

Besides the basic three layer targets (Existing, Design and Other), you can add more target surfaces with the Add Target button. When another target is defined, there will be another tab along the top of the Define Layer Surfaces dialog. Then layers can be assigned to this additional target surface. The only pre-defined additional surface is Overexcavate. The layers that are assigned to the Overexcavate target can be modeled into the Overexcavate surface using the Make Overexcavate Surface command. Besides Overexcavate, the other additional targets are user-defined. The layer targets can be modeled using the Make User-Defined Surface command. Then these surfaces can be used in Takeoff commands by assigning them to a Takeoff existing or design surface using the Set Active Surfaces command.

Edit Materials

The "Edit" button activates the Edit Material dialog box (shown here) and allows you to define the Material name and Subgrade depths and names. Besides assigning target surfaces by layer, layers are also used to define material names and subgrades depths. By assigning a material name, Subgrade names and depths to layers, the volume, area, length and count for entities on these layers can be reported. Also the depth is used to vertically adjust the design surface, or tie into the design surface by a Slope Ratio if "Use Layback" is checked on. For Area and Back Of Curb/Pavement material types, the polylines on the layer used for a Material must be closed polylines. Carlson Takeoff supports nested Subgrade polylines for exclusion areas such as islands by counting how many Subgrade polylines surround an area. If the number is odd, then the area is included in the Subgrade. The even count regions in the area are not part of the Subgrade. To activate the Edit Material, select a layer from the list and then choose "Edit".

Include in Material Quantities Report

With this option checked on, the material that is named will appear in the Material Quantities Report. The report will include either the area of the material, the linear length of the material, or the number of items counted on the layer defining the material. This is accomplished by choosing "Area", "Linear", or "Count" for the Material Type.

3D Drive View

This option allows you to assign a color or texture for this particular material for display purposes during the 3D view/drive simulator. The color is assigned to the design surface TIN file.

Material Type

This will report the subgrade by area, linear length, count, or as curb/pavement area. If you choose Back of Curb/Pavement then you can pick on the Curb Dimensions button and bring you to the below dialog:

With the Back of Curb/Pavement, the 3D polylines represent the back of curb elevations. When using this method, the curb polylines alone define the pavement areas and no other design entities (ie. design contours or spot elevations) should be in the pavement area. The program will adjust the design surface for the height of the curb above ground to get the elevations to the top of pavement. Also with Curb/Pavement, the program will calculate your curb volume as well as act as the limit of the pavement. For the pavement areas bounded by the curb polylines, the program will apply the subgrade depths defined separately from the Curb Dimensions. These pavement subgrade depths are defined in the Area Subgrades section of the Edit Material dialog. The pavement limit will be from the Back of Curb polyline offset by the length of the Curb base. In the above case the base is 30 inches wide. Therefore, the pavement area will stop 30 inches before the Back of Curb polyline.

Material Cost Per Cost Unit

Use this field to add the value of the multiplier for the unit cost of your material. If the material type is an area that has multiple subgrades, use the available fields below to add each individual subgrade name, depth and cost value per unit type. If a linear or count type material type option is selected, use the "length in feet", or the "count" unit options.

Adjust Design Surface by Depth

This determines whether the subgrade depths are incorporated in the design surface or not.

Use Vertical from Pad to Surface

This will interpolate the surface model out to your layer and then vertically adjust the model to tie into the layer. With this checked off, the program will directly interpolate a surface model between your layer and the elevated entities around it.

Area Subgrades

Depth Units

Select the "feet" or "inches" as the unit value desired for depth of subgrades.

Subgrade Name Depth Shrink Cost Per Cost Unit Density

Use these options for areas that are represented with a single/multiple closed polygon/polygons in the drawing, but have multiple material types defining the surface. Simply name each "lift" in the area, issue a depth value and add a cost unit if desired, or click on select and choose a material from the Materials Library (see Define Materials Library for more). Carlson Takeoff will report each subgrade material value in the material quantities report. The Shrink factor is multiplied by the subgrade volume in the material quantities report and represents the fill shrinkage. A Density factor can be entered in when using Cost Per Tons.

If user entered values are needed in the report use the "Edit User-Fields" button to activate the "User Defined Features" dialog box shown here. Choose the "Add" button to define needed fields such as TONS of material or BAGS OF GRASS SEED for reporting options.

Once all of the material subgrades, depths and cost units or user defined units have been defined, select save to preserve the settings in a .trg file, the "save as" function allows the user to name the file to load later.

Prerequisite: None
Keyboard Command: define_tk_layers