GETTING STARTED

The sections below take you through the steps you are likely to take to set up your project. However, there are some things that it is useful to know before you start. In these videos we explain where you can find example projects, how to navigate around a project, and options for units and display settings.

Example Projects

Units and Display Settings

Navigation

Adjusting Shading of Surfaces

SITE PLANS

Site plans are PDF’s or image files that you load in to display in your project. If you are doing any on-screen take-off this is the essential first step.  Even if you are loading all of your data from CAD files, it can still be useful to load site plans to give context to your visualisations.  These videos describe the tools available to define site plans in Kubla Cubed.

Loading a Site Plan

Cropping

Scaling and Positioning

Transparency

EXISTING GROUND LEVELS

After loading any site plans, the next stage is to define the existing ground levels. This is usually achieved using a feature surface, but if you have a file which contains defined surfaces you can load a triangle surface instead. These videos describe the options in Kubla Cubed to define the existing ground levels.

Overview

Triangle Surface

Feature Surface

Importing Point Files (.xyz, .csv, .xls)

SITE STRIPPING

On most projects there is a requirement to remove topsoil and/or other material from the site, before building the site back up to the formation levels. In this video we describe the tools available in Kubla Cubed to define topsoil stripping and/or other demolition areas.  It is helpful before you start with topsoil stripping if you understand how construction phases work in Kubla Cubed, since a construction phase will be used to define site stripping.

Construction Phases & Calculation Order

Topsoil Stripping

PROPOSED EARTHWORKS

Building Pads, Cark Parks, Sports Pitches, Ponds

Kubla Cubed has a range of earthworks feature types, that allow great flexibility when defining your proposed ground levels. You can either use one or multiple earthworks elements together to define your design levels. The most common situation is to use a single feature surface, since this is the most versatile earthworks element. However, in some situations the other earthworks elements can also be extremely useful.

Overview

Feature Surface

The Platform Element

Triangle Surface

Understanding Feature Surface Outlines

The Slope Element

Roads and Paths

Accurately defining the roads and paths on a proposed site plan is key to producing precise cut and fill values. The Path element is useful for simple pathways with a standard width. However, more complex scenarios require the use of the more powerful Feature Surface.

Defining Roads & Paths

The Path Element

ADJUSTING FINISHED LEVELS

Most drawings will define finished levels, whereas the earthworks volumes are only up to the formation level.  The defined levels therefore need to be reduced to account for different surfacing materials.  In this video we cover the different methods to achieve this in Kubla Cubed.

Adjusting to Subgrade Formation Level

MEASUREMENTS

Measurements can be used to measure non-earthworks content in your project, such as the length of a fence line, or an area of the site. They can also be used to query the earthworks quantities in more detail. For example, the volume region can be used to query the earthworks in a specific area of the site. In these videos we overview the options that are available in the measurements panel of Kubla Cubed.

Count, Length and Area

Cross Sections

Volume Region

EXPORTS

Once you have finished defining your project, you may wish to share your work with others, or to import into a machine control system. You can export your project to Reports & Spreadsheets (.pdf, .docx, .xlsl), images (.jpg, .png), CAD files (.dxf, .dwg) and LandXml files (.xml). These videos overview all the options to export data from Kubla Cubed into other file formats.

Report & Spreadsheets

CAD Files

Images

LandXml

PROJECT WALK-THROUGHS

BUILDING SITE (ON-SCREEN TAKE-OFF)

This walk-through series of six parts, guides you through the creation of a Kubla Cubed project. We will be using the ‘Building Site’ example project as shipped with the latest version of Kubla Cubed 2019. We will not be using Computer Aided Design (CAD) files in this project – for information on that, see the ‘CAD Walk-through series’.

Part 1: Introduction

Part 3: Existing Levels

Part 5: Finished Ground Levels

Part 2: Site Plans

Part 4: Site Stripping

Part 6: Construction Depths

BUILDING SITE (USING CAD DATA)

This six-part video series contains a full walk-through of the ‘Building Site’ example project that is shipped with the latest version of Kubla Cubed. Computer Aided Design (CAD) files will be used as the starting data and the videos will show how this data can be used by Kubla Cubed to calculate volumes for cut and/or fill. CAD data can dramatically speed up the process of cut/fill calculation but is not the only means of completing a project – see also the ‘On-screen take-off series’. Even if you are loading all of your data from CAD files, it can still be useful to load site plans to give context to your visualisations, so the two series are not mutually exclusive.

Part 1: Introduction

Part 3: Existing Levels

Part 5: Finished Ground Levels

Part 2: Site Plans

Part 4: Site Stripping

Part 6: Construction Depths