After taking a look at that error message closely, then running this on a test drawing, I realized that the error indicates of a missing reference to the “base surface”.
Issue
ASE Civil displays an error dialog when attempting to open the Surface Mgt. toolbar.
Cause
This is caused by a bug in ASE, which has been repaired in the next update.
ASE needs to know which Civil 3D surface to use as the “base surface”, but it cannot.
This lack of information prevents the Surface Mgt. toolbar from loading properly.
Instead, SE should send you straight to the base surface selection dialog, but it crashes instead.
Most Common 'Triggers'
This usually happens the very first time you open the Surface Mgt. toolbar in a design drawing.
No "ASE Current Surface" Specified
This is because no surface has been specified yet.
If you call the Surface Mgt. toolbar, but no surface has been set current in ASE's system, it returns an error.
This is because ASE doesn't know which one of the available Civil 3D surfaces should be used as the "base surface".
Error Prevention Logic
ASE’s error prevention logic makes no assumptions about the "base surface", by just picking the first surface in the list.
If the engineer/designer wasn't aware of the assumed "base surface" defaulting to something that was NOT the existing surface, the volumes could potentially be grossly wrong.
For this reason, a surface must be explicitly set "Current" in the ASE system before opening the Surface Mgt. toolbar.
How To: Set a C3D Surface "Current" in ASE
Ensure there are Civil 3D surfaces accessible in the drawing, either directly or as a shortcut.
From the pop menu, select:
[grd] → Base Surface...
In the dialog that displays, select the base surface:
Now you should have no problems opening the Surface Mgt. toolbar.
Why is a “Base Surface” Necessary?
The “Base Surface” (ASE) is usually the “existing ground surface”.
ASE’s Surface Mgt. toolbar needs this surface as an “initial condition” comparison surface to support earthwork volume calculation.
Since this is one of the options available in the Surface Mgt. toolbar, it’s necessary for loading the Surface Mgt. toolbar.
Solution #1
When you haven’t set a surface current in ASE and the error message appears, click “Continue”
If a dialog follows, asking you to select a base surface:
Select a Civil 3D surface
Close the dialog
Open the Surface Mgt. toolbar
If no surface selection dialog appears, then use “Solution #2” below.
Solution #2
Prevent Surface Mgt. toolbar errors in new design drawings by starting as follows:
Select a Civil 3D surface (ref: “How To:” above)
Close the dialog
Open the Surface Mgt. toolbar
Re: Additional Questions:
“What is the supplementing factor distance and mid ordinate distance used to add the entities as breaklines in the surface?”
These parameters are handled by Civil 3D. It’s actually building the surface, not ASE. ASE is simply coordinating the entire effort, so after you’ve finished your design work, you simply click a single button to build either the top or datum surface.
“Is there a minimum distance feature lines need to be separated in order for the surface to build?”
See the answer above.
“I’ve had a few instances where the surface wouldn’t build because feature lines were too close to one another.”
This sounds more like a design issue than a problem with ASE.
I’m not sure I can help here.
“Also, when utilizing the create surface option, it seems to be pulling in some phantom linework that isn’t in the drawing and generating a surface that isn’t accurate, when using the “user grading layers”. It seems to be keeping linework in the surface even though the linework doesn’t actually exist in the drawing. Have you heard of this before or know of any fix for this?”
Cause
There is a known issue with the “User Grading Layers” option.
Solution
When adding user-defined gradings (or any qualifying AutoCAD objects) to a Civil 3D TIN surface, use the tools provided by Civil 3D, do not use the option in ASE’s Surface Mgt. toolbar.
Add the user-grading manually to your surface.
This issue will be resolved in the Fall 2019 release of ASE Civil.
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