# How to depress terrain according to a shape (house foundation outline)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Pro\ **Created:** [October 1, 2024, 8:40pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-depress-terrain-according-to-a-shape-house-foundation-outline/292413 "2024-10-01T20:40:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nathank9000](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/nathank9000/32/180083_2.png) [@Nathank9000](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Nathank9000)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 8:40pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-depress-terrain-according-to-a-shape-house-foundation-outline/292413/1 "2024-10-01T20:40:39Z")
I know the Sandbox Stamp tool, it creates a “hole” through the terrain according to the shape. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/4/1/416d259c0e3aef883c32cf089e7b636c7cbb5fce.jpeg) I’m looking for slightly different behavior - _depress_ the terrain in a flat shape, without cutting through it. In other words, imagine you have a house on a slope, and you have earth-moving machinery that can partially cut the house into the hillside, and partially infill the missing height on the other side, creating a continuous surface that’s flat in 1 area. So ideally a method that would “pull down” everything nearby that’s higher than the outline, and “pull up” everything nearby that’s lower than the outline. How would you accomplish this, specifically using a “foundation outline”, NOT by manually moving faces? Moving faces by hand is not feasible with dozens of houses, each facing in a different direction and at a different elevation. ---
**Author:** ![DaveR](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/daver/32/7601_2.png) [@DaveR](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/DaveR)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 8:52pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-depress-terrain-according-to-a-shape-house-foundation-outline/292413/2 "2024-10-01T20:52:25Z")
Use Stamp from the Sandbox tools. ---
**Author:** ![bmike](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/bmike/32/225451_2.png) [@bmike](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/bmike)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 8:55pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-depress-terrain-according-to-a-shape-house-foundation-outline/292413/3 "2024-10-01T20:55:16Z")
I sometimes make my terrain a solid and then subtract out the cut for the foundation / etc. It gets tricky if you need to do proper excavating and grading - then I use the sandbox tools to at least try and get some of the grade right, then I will use the solid tools. ---
**Author:** ![Nathank9000](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/nathank9000/32/180083_2.png) [@Nathank9000](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Nathank9000)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 9:11pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-depress-terrain-according-to-a-shape-house-foundation-outline/292413/4 "2024-10-01T21:11:49Z")
Stamp cuts a hole through the terrain… I need it to depress the terrain to a flat shape. ---
**Author:** ![Nathank9000](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/nathank9000/32/180083_2.png) [@Nathank9000](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Nathank9000)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 9:16pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-depress-terrain-according-to-a-shape-house-foundation-outline/292413/5 "2024-10-01T21:16:46Z")
![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/6/7/671839110f4e156707aaa708a62554f0d900d90f.jpeg) OK, I figured out how to get Stamp to NOT cut a hole but rather flatten the shape. Half the battle. Now, how do I smooth these edges? ---
**Author:** ![DaveR](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/daver/32/7601_2.png) [@DaveR](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/DaveR)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-depress-terrain-according-to-a-shape-house-foundation-outline/292413/6 "2024-10-01T21:18:16Z")
I don’t know how you were getting a hole. You could use Vertex Tools (from the Extension Warehouse to move the neighboring vertices down to grade the terrain around the stamped flat.