Manipulate Large Point Files - Civil 3D

Question

I have managed to bring in a very large point file and created a surface from it, however, I am finding it very difficult to manipulate the surface is there a way or limiting the points displayed within civils?

Answer

There are a couple tools contained within civils that will certainly help the first and easiest is the “Simplify Surface” command, to access this just select your surface select surface edits from the contextual ribbon and select Simplify Surface, this will launch a wizard. You have 2 options, Edge Contraction or Point Removal, in this
case I would opt for the Point removal, you can then select the percentage of points you wish to remove, I would start low and repeat should it not be enough. You can be quite selective and select certain areas within the surface to simplify by using a selection window or polygon of a specific area of the surface. Another option is the Data Clip which is found under surface/ boundaries in the prospector tab this is based on a polygon and will limit the points to those contained within the polygon.