Down in the exhibit hall, I was really happy to see that Trimble had a booth.   From a survey standpoint, it’s great to see one of the largest survey equipment and software providers in the industry here, and I took it as a nice time to find out some info.    To be honest, I was a bit disappointed, and here’s why…

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Today at Autodesk University, I am teaching a class called CV25-2 Stormwater Management Start to Finish

In class, I will mention a few links that provice supplemental material:

USING GIS DATA

Referencing and Theming Shapefiles

Importing Shapefiles into Civil 3D using the Map Menu (download pdf)

LABEL STYLES USING REFERENCES, EXPRESSIONS, AND OTHER IDEAS 

 Using IF Statements in Expressions

Naming and Nesting Expressions

Surface Reference Text

Area Label Ideas

Using References and Expressions to help you design

Getting in a Comma

POLYLINE AREA LABELS FOR STAGE-STORAGE

Contour Area Labels

PONDS AS CORRIDORS?

Corridors for Everything?

More supplemental materials to come over the next few weeks.  Please provide your ideas and feedback!

Well, with the exception of one, the entire team is in Las Vegas today for the kickoff of Autodesk University 2006!   James, Nick, and Mark are on the golf course by this time, and Dana is scheduled to arrive later tonight.    We’re looking forward to a really intense yet fun week.

If any of our members here are attending AU this week, I’d love to meet you and shake your hand, talk about Civil 3D, or just drink a beer or two.    If you’d like to contact me, you can do so via my email address - my first name dot my last name at civil3d dot com.  (I’m not posting my number here for just anyone to see, but if you email me, I’ll send it to you, or you can send me yours and I’ll call - either way works.)

Have fun!

Since Dana stole my idea for seeding a good conversation, I’m noticing something tha bothers me a slight bit, the use of pseudonyms. The Autodesk Discussion groups are an open venue for posting and commentary, and sometimes can fall into the sort of flame wars where no one looks good, and good ideas are lost in the middle of inanity.
We encourage discourse, arguments even. God knows I love a good argument. But I’ve long been of the opinion that a real name makes you at least civil, and encourages thinking before posting, so that’s the rule here as well. Anonymous or pseudonymous posts will be rejected. A quick reminder, all first time commenters MUST be approved before the comment will show. This is our way of handling spam and trolls, thank you for understanding.

And finally, for the US readers, have a Happy Thanksgiving. With family in Lebanon, I am constantly amazed by how blessed we are here, and how easy it can be to be ungrateful for all of our daily gifts. Enjoy them!

I hope to see you next week at AU!

I’ve owed this conversation to one of my students in San Diego for a few weeks now- and since we are on a roll with our Point/CounterPoint discussions- why not this one?

Survey is built into Civil3D now, but is it really a solution that our purely survey and mapping clients can sink their teeth into?  Who has tried it?  What are the alternatives?

So- I need some Devils, their Advocates and otherwise to pipe in with their experiences, successes, heartaches and opinions… (this means you EMU and JR!)

 

 

The question came up today-  I have a finished road surface.  I want to label that surface with spot elevations, but surface elevation labels are awkward to rotate.  How can I get a surface label that aligns with respect to the road centerline?

Remember- REFERENCE TEXT

Click more to find out how to make it.

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Based on rereading a few posts from Dana, and some in the Discussion groups, I’m opening the debate. There seems to be a lot of discussion about how important styles are when first getting into the C3D learning curve.

Join in the fun, and tell us your thoughts. If you’ve ever read the back page of Fast Company or any number of other magazines, you know the game. And if you want to play Devil’s Advocate, that’s good too! Read the rest of this entry »

Just a quick story, and something to keep in mind as you or your firm is moving to C3D. I managed to cover almost 6000 miles last week, but heard the same thing in both places, “I could do that faster in LDT!” Read the rest of this entry »

A while back on Civil 3D Rocks , I had a post called If It Quacks Like a Duck  where I showed you that just about everything in Civil 3D that “looks like a spreadsheet” can be copied out to Excel using your clipboard.

So if you have a great surface analysis….

and are hoping to get the range data from your table….

(click more to see how)

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Meridian Architects and Engineers (http://www.meridianengineers.com/)  is a small firm in Milton, DE that does surveying and land development engineering.  Though they may not have a giantic staff, they do HUGE amounts of quality work in our booming county (home of Lewes, Rehoboth Beach and Bethany Beach) and there is much more on the horizon.  There is just a ton of work to be done, and qualified staff is hard to find. They knew they needed to start leveraging the power of Civil 3D if they were going to stay on top.

Click more to read more about Meridian and see some more of their portfolio

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