Trimble Business Center

Working with Surfaces

www.trimble.com

© 2021, Trimble Inc. All rights reserved. Trimble and the Globe & Triangle logo are trademarks of Trimble Inc. registered in the United States and in other
countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 About this tutorial

About this tutorial

In this tutorial, you will create a surface from two stockpiles and generate an Earthworks
Report to calculate their volumes.

Note: If you need additional help at any time you are using the software, press F1 to
display the online Help.

Step 1. Open the project

For this tutorial, you will use the project file Working with Surfaces.vce.

Note: The downloaded WorkingwithSurfaces folder contains this PDF file and the
Working with Surfaces.vce project file and project folder.

1. In TBC, select File > Open.

2. In the Open File dialog, browse to ..\WorkingwithSurfaces\Working with Surfaces.vce
and click Open.
The project opens in the Trimble Business Center window.

Working with Surfaces 2

 Step 2. Prepare to create a surface

The project file is read-only. You can perform the tutorial steps without saving the
project file. However, if you are interrupted while performing the tutorial, you can save
it with a new name by selecting File > Save Project As. Then, you can re-open the
project to continue the tutorial at a later time.

Step 2. Prepare to create a surface

Because you will be selecting point cloud regions to create a surface, you will first
identify the regions included in the project. You will then specify the maximum number
of scan points to include in the surface creation process.
1. To identify the point cloud regions included in the project:
a. In the Project Explorer, expand the Point Cloud Regions node.
b. In the TBC ribbon, select Point Clouds > Rendering and then select Region Color
in the color rendering drop-down list.

c. Zoom in on the Plan View as shown here.

Working with Surfaces 3

 Step 2. Prepare to create a surface

As you can see, the project includes five point cloud regions, each displaying in a
different region color in the Plan View. Two of the regions—Ground and High
vegetation—were extracted automatically in TBC using the Extract Classified Point
Clouds Regions command. (See the TBC Help for more information on using this
command.) Two of the regions—North Pile and South Pile—were extracted
manually. These two regions correspond to the stockpiles you want to measure.
2. To view only the point cloud regions with which you want to work:
a. In the TBC ribbon, select Point Clouds > Rendering and then select True Color in
the color rendering drop-down list.

b. Select Home > View > View Filter Manager.

c. In the View Filter Manager, uncheck Point Cloud Regions > Default, Ground,
and High vegetation.

Working with Surfaces 4

 Step 2. Prepare to create a surface

Now, only the two stockpiles for which you want to create a surface are displayed in
the Plan View.
Next, you will reduce the number of scan points used to create the surface. This will
lower the accuracy of the resulting surface (which is acceptable for this tutorial), but
it will greatly reduce the amount of time it takes to create the surface and create an
Earthwork Report to compare volumes later in this procedure.
3. To reduce the number of scan points used to create the surface:
a. In the TBC Quick Access Toolbar, select Options.
b. In the left navigation pane, select General > Point Clouds.
c. In the Maximum number of points in surface definition field, change the value
from 500,000 to 50,000.

Working with Surfaces 5

 Step 3. Create a surface

d. Click OK.

Note: Option settings are not project-specific. The settings persist, regardless of the
project, until you change them.

You are now ready to create a surface.

Step 3. Create a surface

In this step, you will create a single surface from the two stockpile point cloud regions.
1. Select Surfaces > Create > Create Surface to display the Create Surface command
pane.

The command allows you select several properties for the new surface, including a
Surface classification that lets you specify the state or phase of a surface in the
construction process and compare it to other surfaces with different classifications
to calculate volumes for the Earthwork Report and other commands. You will not
select a classification for this tutorial.
2. In the Name field, enter Tutorial.

Working with Surfaces 6

 Step 3. Create a surface

3. Click in the Members to form surface field and then select the North Pile and South
Pile point cloud regions (Ctrl + click) either in the Plan View or the Project Explorer.
4. Click OK. Then, zoom in as shown here and click off the selected point cloud regions
to de-select them.

5. Select Home > View > 3D View. Then use your mouse and mouse wheel to explore
the 3D View.

Working with Surfaces 7

 Step 3. Create a surface

6. In the View Filter Manager, uncheck the North Pile and South Pile point cloud
region nodes so the regions no longer display in the graphic views.
This allows you to better visualize the new surface in the 3D View.

Working with Surfaces 8

 Step 3. Create a surface

Note: If outlier vertices had displayed in the surface due to scanning anomalies, you
could use the Flatten Surface command to remove them to ensure the highest level
of accuracy when computing surface volumes. But since no obvious outliers display
in this case, you will not make any changes. For more information on using the
Flatten Surface command, see the TBC Help.

7. In the Project Explorer, right-click the Surfaces > Tutorial node and select
Properties.

As you can see, there are a lot of editable properties associated with the new
surface, particularly pertaining to its display in the graphic views. There is also a lot
of read-only information about how the surface was densified and a summary of its
statistics.
8. Click the Project Settings icon located at the top of the Properties pane to display
the Computations > Surface section in Project Settings.

When selected, each of the settings displays a short tool tip at the bottom of the
pane explaining its use. For additional information about using any of these settings,
see the TBC Help.
9. Click Cancel to close the Project Settings dialog.
10. Click the Edit Color Mapping icon located at the top of the Properties pane to
display the Edit Color Mapping dialog.

Working with Surfaces 9

 Step 4. Create contour lines

This command allows you to specify color properties for elevation changes in the
surface. These color will be applied when you create contour lines in the next step.
By default, the color is graduated from the lowest elevation in the surface (blue) to
the highest (red). See the TBC Help for more information on using this command.
11. Click Cancel to close the Edit Color Mapping dialog.
12. Close the Properties pane and click off the selected surface in the Plan View to de-
select it.

Step 4. Create contour lines

In this step, you will create contour lines to more clearly visualize elevation changes in
the two stockpiles.
1. Select Surfaces > Contours > Create Contours to display the Crete Contours
command pane.

Working with Surfaces 10

 Step 4. Create contour lines

The command provides a number of options for creating contour lines from the
surface.
2. Verify the following:
 The Contour interval is 1.000. This specifies the distance interval in meters at
which contour lines will be drawn on the surface. In this case, they will be 1.0 m
apart.
 The Distance between labels is 50.000. This specifies the distance between
labels on the same contour line. In this case, they will be 50.0 m apart.
Information specific to the selected surface is displayed in the Surface Information
section.

3. Click OK.
Contour lines display in the Plan View and 3D View. Per the Edit Color Mapping
command, the lowest elevation contour line is blue, graduating to red at the
highest elevation.

Working with Surfaces 11

 Step 4. Create contour lines

Working with Surfaces 12

 Step 5. Create stockpile boundaries

Step 5. Create stockpile boundaries

In this step, you will create a boundary for each of the two stockpiles in your surface.
These boundaries will allow you to compute the volume of each stockpile separately
when running the Earthwork Report later in this tutorial.
1. Use the View Filter Manager to display the North Pile and South Pile point cloud
regions. Then select the Plan View.

Working with Surfaces 13

 Step 5. Create stockpile boundaries

2. Zoom in on the North Pile point cloud region as shown here.

3. Select CAD > Lines > Linestring to display the Create Linestring command pane.
4. In the Name field, enter North Pile.

Working with Surfaces 14

 Step 5. Create stockpile boundaries

5. Click OK to display the Edit Linestring command pane.

6. Check the Auto-close check box to specify that the last line segment automatically
connect with the start point of the first line segment, resulting in a closed linestring.

7. Click in the Coordinate field. Then, In the Plan View click to create linestring
segments to draw a polygon boundary around the North Pile as shown here. (For
this tutorial, don't worry about being precise.)

Working with Surfaces 15

 Step 5. Create stockpile boundaries

8. When you are done, click the Create Linestring icon in the top of the Edit Linestring
command pane to again display the Create Linestring command pane.
9. In the Name field, enter South Pile. Then draw a polygon boundary around the
South Pile. (Again, don't worry about being precise.)

Working with Surfaces 16

 Step 6. Create an Earthwork Report

You are now ready to create an Earthwork Report.

Step 6. Create an Earthwork Report

In this step, you will create an Earthwork Report using the two stockpile boundaries.
The report will include the area volume of each of the two stockpiles.
1. Select Surfaces > View > Earthwork Report to display the Earthwork Report
command pane.

Working with Surfaces 17

 Step 6. Create an Earthwork Report

2. Ensure the Stockpile/Depression option is selected for the Report Type. Also ensure
the Volume totals only option is selected for the Volume Breakdown.
3. Click in the Boundary field and use Shift + click to select in the Plan View the two
polygon boundaries you created earlier

4. Click OK.
When its ready, the Earthwork Report displays in your browser window. Note that
your area and volume values will be different than those shown here, based on
where you drew your boundaries. But they should be close.

Working with Surfaces 18

 Step 6. Create an Earthwork Report

The report includes two "Stockpile Volume Analysis" sections, each pertaining to a
different stockpile, as noted at the end of the section.

.
This completes the tutorial.

Working with Surfaces 19