Offset Z for a surface allows you to adjust the elevation of your topographic design with a constant value. In this article, you’ll learn how to offset the elevation of your design for material balancing or for adjusting the height of a design surface to better fit the project requirements on the terrain.


The Offset Z transform options in the Tools tab for a selected Surface.


Note: This function is only available with the Peak licensing plan.


Overview


How to Offset a Surface

  1. Select the Surface in the Project View.
  2. Go to the TOOLS tab.
  3. Set the offset value in the Offset Z box.
    1. Positive values move the surface up.
    2. Negative values move the surface down.
  4. Press Enter.
    1. The Surface is moved up or down according to the offset value setting.

Visual example of a surface being offset by 2 meters.


Use Offset Z for Material Balancing

After grading a design surface and checking the Net Cut/Fill, you may want to balance out your net material so that the cut material is repurposed as your fill, so your Net Cut/Fill becomes as close to 0 m³ as possible. To do this, you can incrementally move the design surface up or down to increase or decrease the amount of cut or fill required. Along with ensuring the proper Slope angle, after adjusting your design surface to the appropriate Z height you will be able to balance your Net Cut/Fill to acceptable levels.

Example of material balancing the Net Cut of a retention pond.