I am currently creating a 3D model for a drainage run, As they tend to be quite simple, I am using FME to do it. I have all of he information saved in .csv files (Manhole Co-ordinates, Manhole Cover Levels, Pipe Levels, Pipe Diameters etc.)
Now, I have modelled the pipes just fine by using a point connector to connect the manholes with the same pipe attricute and then 3d buffering the line by the radius of the pipe, but, the manholes are a different question, as they are being modelled as Cuboids. With the cover level being the top face, and the bottom of the pit being the bottom face. In this site we have basically a different chamber depth for every manhole, and about 10 different cover sizes, so, inserting 3D Cuboid Cells/Blocks is out of the question. The only way I can get this to work is to offset vertices from the centre of the manhole cover, connect the lines using a point connector, and then extrude them to become the faces of the cuboid and aggregate them. Of course, this is not ideal as I'm stuck with 5 rectangles making up the Manholes which will basically create a manhole 'surface', whereas I'm after more 'solid' manholes.
So, I'll sum it up by just saying that Ideally I need a way to create rectangles using vertices as my centre point to create my cover size at the correct z elevation, which I can then extrude down to the bottom of the chamber level to create the whole manhole.
Any Suggestions?
Thank you very much,
Keelan