Cut N Fill Plugin - Mesh / Solid Errors & Best Practices

Extensions
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CUT N FILL TEST.skp (4.9 MB)

Hey all, I am working on a grading cut and fill plan for a project and am having some issues with the solid topo groups I’ve created. Solid Inspector and entity info both say that the groups are solid. When I use the cut n fill plugin, it calculates for about a minute, and then get 0 cy of cut and fill and says something along the lines of “cut is not solid”.

I used the exact same mesh to create the proposed (altered with artisan sculpt brush), and the existing (unchanged) topo mesh. I used TopoShaper to create the original existing topo mesh. I made sure that the boundaries and the skirts are all aligned, and the flashing geometry confirms this for me when inside the groups.

I’ve had the Cut N Fill plugin work with other tests that I’ve set up, but I really want to understand why these meshes aren’t calc’ing out. The grading design is time-consuming, and I want to make sure that I set up a good clean modeling workflow to avoid running into this issue in the future.

Super appreciate any guidance or help!

Hi @TIG - thanks for the awesome plugin! Maybe you have some input as to what I may have done wrong… Let me know if you have any ideas if possible, thanks!

Ciro

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It would be better to post in the CutNFill thread on Sketchucation. Read through the thread. There may already be an answer.

I wonder if these artifacts have something to do with it.

Screenshot - 12_4_2021 , 7_51_22 AM
Screenshot - 12_4_2021 , 7_51_22 AM881×605 112 KB

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Thanks @DaveR I will post this over there now. Thanks for the heads up.

Yeah I was wondering about those artifacts as well. I may have missed something but when I look at the topos before the operation, I couldn’t find anything weird where those artifacts are appearing…

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I found extremely helpful information over on the Sketchucation forum, and made a post myself over there.

The issue I discovered was tiny (almost invisible) inaccuracies within the mesh solid groups that resulted in them not aligning as needed (per cut n fill instructions), and not acting as solids even though they showed up as solids in the entity info.

The solution in general has been taking down the detail of the mesh, and very closely analyzing and repairing topo lines with TopoShaper, and lots of testing in a new SketchUp file.

For anyone else having similar issues - definitely check out the thread over at Sketchucation linked above by DaveR. My post is at the bottom of page 3.

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