If you’ve already developed a dam cross section in a CAD tool, it can be imported as a zonation profile and used to create 3D surfaces. In this example, four layers have been defined (section has been exploded to show each zone clearly).

The file used in this example is available for download at the bottom of this page.

Open the Graphical zones editor and run File/Load CAD and select the file with the cross section.

The section will be loaded.

All offsets are represented as an offset dx/dy from the first point in the first layer loaded. This may not necessarily be the reference line you want however. In this example, point #7 is the centerline and we want to have all the offsets relative to this point. To re-parent the offsets, run Create/Reparent to zero offset. Select #7 as the zero offset

The offset that was #7 is not referenced as offset 0, and is representative of the centerline of the dam.

Now that the cross section is correctly referenced to the centerline the structure can now be built, however to calculate the zone volumes, the ordering of the layers may need to be changed. This is covered in another tutorial.