Using the Pit Tool in Tobe Builder
The pit tool can be used to create a excavation in any GIS layer to represent an excavation, or even just to remove an existing building from a city mesh to enable the new BIM model to take its place. The following article is going to outline a number of ways to use the Pit tool within Tobe Builder.
Creating Excavations
The pit tool can be used to create a simple excavation within the ground, for example excavation out a basement level. The tool uses an automated process to generate the desired pit shape and depth. The user can define the size and shape of the excavation by adding control points around the perimeter, and adjust the elevation depth by simply dragging the points downwards.
How To Click Out An Excavation
Click out the outer edge of the excavation, remembering that the batter angle will dictate how large the surface is at the bottom of the excavation. The size and volume of the excavation will tell you the depth and size that should be clicked out on all side faces.
Once the sides are clicked out to the required depth, you can determine the final batter angle of the excavation. If you wish to animate the excavation in layers you can divide up the cut into vertical sections, so a 3m deep excavation can be completed in six layers of 500mm each. This will help to visualise the process and make sure that there are no mistakes. With these steps you should be able to accurately click out an excavation with ease.
Removing Buildings
The pit tool can also be used to remove a building or structure from a scene. The tool creates a shaped pit removing the required volume of earth to fully remove the structure. Additionally, the remaining edges of the pit are used to contour the excavation to ensure minimum disruption to its surroundings.
Building Removed. Remember that the base of the pit tool will be level, with a depth as entered in the depth field, measured from the vertical level of the lowest point in the polygon. Hence on this site below, with a depth of 0.1m, there is no batter at the low side of the side, while the high end of the site has a 45 deg batter down around 1m to the base.
Creation Time
It can take several minutes for a submitted automation to generate the IFC file from grasshopper, transfer that finished file to Autodesk Construction Cloud, and then convert and place.