Introduction
In many projects, the calculation of volumes, for the earthworks of an upcoming project, for example, can be very important, especially in project management. The time and cost of our project depend on the right calculation of such values. With Plex-Earth, you can quickly and easily calculate the volume that will be needed for your earthworks. Not only will you have access to accurate terrain data, but also calculate the volumes between terrain and a plane or another surface. Both these methods are available in Plex-Earth and will be presented to you below.
Method 1: Calculate Volumes between Surface and Plane
Step 1: Import a Terrain Model
Step 2: Use the Calculate Volumes between Surface and Plane Command
Step 3: Set the Parameters in the Volume Calculation Dialog Box
Step 4: Edit and Adjust the Volume Object
Step 5: Import Drawing Objects from a Volume Object
Method 2: Calculate Volume between Surfaces
Step 1: Import a Terrain Model
Step 3: Use the Calculate Volume between Surfaces Command
Step 4: Set the Parameters in the Volume Calculation Dialog Box
Method 1: Calculate Volumes between Surface and Plane
This method applies when we have a Terrain Model and we want to calculate the volumes between it and a specific plane level. This could be the case when we have a specific ground condition and we want to planish it for road work, for example.
Step 1: Import a Terrain Model
After georeferencing your drawing, you can import a Terrain Model, as shown here.
Step 2: Use the Calculate Volumes between Surface and Plane Command
Select the Calculate Volumes between Surface and Plane command of the Plex-Earth ribbon. To use this command, you need at least one terrain model in your terrain manager.
Step 3: Set the Parameters in the Volume Calculation Dialog Box
After selecting this command, the dialog box below appears so you can select the parameters for your Volume Calculation.
In the Existing Ground box, a drop-down list with all the Terrain Models included on your Terrain Manager will appear. Choose the one that describes your existing ground condition. Notice that below that box, the minimum and maximum elevation appear, so you are helped to choose the plane elevation.
At the Final Ground box, define the plane elevation you want your final ground to be after proceeding with your scheduled earthwork. You can put positive or negative values in that box.
Notice that between the Final and Existing grounds, there is a double-direction arrow. If you click on this, you can interchange them.
In the Advanced Options, you can select the color of the Cut and Fill volume appearance, by clicking the respective color box. Cut refers to the amount of ground that should be removed to achieve the final ground we set. Fill, on the other hand, refers to the amount of ground that should be put in to reach the level of the final ground.
The last setting is the Grid Cell Size. Plex-Earth calculates the respective volumes by dividing the volume into 3D Solid Rectangles. The value in this box defines the side of the square base of each solid. Plex-Earth automatically calculates the optimum value for the grid cell size whilst considering the accuracy and the quality performance of the volume model, so we generally advise leaving this option as it is. However, you can adjust the grid cell size if needed.
In our case, let’s set the terrain we created in Step 1 as Existing Ground and a plane at 2000 m elevation as Final Ground, as shown below. We have also changed the colors of Cut and Fill to Pink and Green, respectively, and selected Calculate.
After executing the command, a Volume Object appears in our drawing as shown below.
Step 4: Edit and Adjust the Volume Object
Notice that the Volume Object is added in Plex-Earth’s Collection Manager, under the terrain tab.
You can adjust it as any other terrain manager object.
- Hide/Show - This button hides/shows the Volume Object
- Zoom to Area - This will allow AutoCAD to zoom to the extents of the respective terrain.
- Rename - Rename the volume object
- Toggle Auto-restore - Lock to automatically restore the item on drawing open, unlock to disable auto-restore.
- Edit - This will show the Volume object editor.
You can also see the Name of the Terrain object and the plane elevation, as well as the cut and fill volumes.
If you select Edit, you open the Volume Object Editor.
- Rename: Rename the Volume Object
- Delete: Delete the Volume Object
- Hide/Show - This button hides/shows the Volume Object
- Zoom to Area - This will allow AutoCAD to zoom to the extents of the respective terrain.
- Send to Back/Bring to Front: Send Volume object to back or bring it to the front
- Edit: Opens the Volume Object's Volume Calculation Dialog Box, presented in the previous step
- Cut and Fill Labels: Inserts the labels of the Cut and Fill volume bars as drawing objects
- Volume Bars: Insert the Volume Bars as drawing objects (check Step 5 for more info)
On the following result tab, you get the total Cut and fill amounts.
You can change the volume colors using the respective buttons.
In the Label tab, you can select to show or hide the volume labels. Also, adjust the text height of them.
Let's use the Edit button and check the results.
Here, the Volume Dialog Box appears, and we can adjust our choices. Here, let’s change the existing ground’s plane elevation to 2500m and set the final ground as Terrain 1 (this would be the case if we had a plane ground at 2500m altitude and we want to create a surface looking like Terrain 1). We also change the Cut and Fill colors to blue and yellow respectively, and select Calculate.
Now, the changes to our Volume Object have been applied as shown below. The updated Cut and Fill values, as well as the new Existing and Final Ground, and the new colors, appear in the Volume Editor palette.
Step 5: Import Drawing Objects from a Volume Object
Until now, our Volume Object is a dynamic object, like the Terrains and Images of Plex-Earth. That means that it is locally stored in your drawing and needs a Plex-Earth license or Plex-Earth Lite to be viewed. However, we can import our volume object as a AutoCAD drawing object using the Insert Volume Bars command on the Volume Editor.
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Tip: We can convert the Visual Style to Realistic for better distribution of our volume bars. |
Method 2: Calculate Volume between Surfaces
This method is the best option when we have terrain data on how we want to form our project area, and we want to compare it with the current site conditions to calculate our earthworks.
Step 1: Import a Terrain Model
This is the same as Step 1 in Method 1. We import a Terrain model using the quality elevation data of Plex-Earth.
Step 2: Create a Surface
Here, you will need to create a second surface that will show how we want to adjust our project’s area. You can create a surface using existing drawing objects, like contours, or using survey measurements, using Plex-Earth. In this case, we will use survey measurements. After that, the surface will appear in Plex-Earth ‘s terrain manager.
Step 3: Use the Calculate Volume between Surfaces Command
Select the Create Volume between Surface and Plane command of the Plex-Earth ribbon. To use this command, you need at least two terrain models in your terrain manager, like the ones created in Step 1 and Step 2.
Step 4: Set the Parameters in the Volume Calculation Dialog Box
We set the parameters of the respective dialog box as we did in Step 3 of the previous method. To achieve the Volume calculations we want, we set the terrain we imported with Plex-Earth in Step 1 (Terrain 1) as Existing Ground, and the Terrain Surface we created from our data in Step 2 (Terrain 2) as Final Ground. We do not change the other parameters.
After executing the command, a Volume Object appears in our drawing as shown below.
Conclusion
With Plex-Earth, not only can we access accurate terrain data, but we can also access advanced tools, like the Volume Calculation between planes or surfaces for more accurate project management, especially for site grading and earthworks plans.
We hope that you have found this tutorial on how to generate volume from Plex-Earth's terrain helpful. Feel free to contact us at support@plexscape.com for any questions you may still have.
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Compatibility includes:
AutoCAD, Civil 3D®, AutoCAD Map 3D, AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD Electrical, AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD MEP, AutoCAD Plant 3D: 2026 , 2025 , 2024 , 2023 , 2022 , 2021 , 2020
BricsCAD (Pro, Mechanical, BIM, Ultimate): V25 , V24 , V23 , V22 , V21