We then create a new blank surface and just add the elevated polylines as contours in order to get 'Terramodel' contours in C3D. They export the elevated polyline contours from Terramodel and then bring them into C3D. But I won't win this debate since I'm not the boss. But to be honest, I cannot stand working in Terramodel and I strongly believe that Terramodel is generating bogus contours on sparse data. Is there anything I can do in Civil 3D to make the contours appear smoother to appease him? I imagine adding a whole boatload of interpolated points to the surface might smooth them out.
He says that this survey department will not put out 'jagged' contours in a drawing. So, IMO, we are ending up with an inaccurate surface from which to design from. So he is having everyone take an extra step of generating contours in Terramodel and them importing them into C3D as elevated polylines which are then used to build a surface. When we are taking shots every 50', I tried to explain to him that true contours will not be smooth with that sparse of a grid. If C3D generates a contour slightly off from the one that Terramodel generates, the C3D contour is considered wrong.
The head of our survey department is a DIEHARD terramodel user and even though we have all decided to switch to Civil 3D, he still wants to generate contours in Terramodel and uses it as the benchmark for correct contouring. And I won't win the debate here in this company.
Just thought I'd share something with you guys.