Archive for June, 2008

So, Dan and Dave will be getting a fresh e-mail from me in their inbox shortly. One that surprisingly enough doesn’t include words I can’t say in front of my daughter, or ask them for clarification on some obscure feature, or make them wonder why they haven’t banned me from their inboxes.

This one is the magic five from you, I’m just the courier. So, what questions made the cut? What pressing issues will Dan and Dave attempt to address without their spiffy webcast? Check the jump to get your Five Questions with Dan and Dave! Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been teaching a lot of our unlimited instructor-led training sessions lately, and we always try to integrate the EEProPack with each class. (Both unlimited training and the EEProPack are part of our CivilAccess package.)

One of the features that many people reach for in Civil 3D is setting points along a feature line. For some reason, it can’t be done “out of the box”. You have to explode the feature line into a 3dpolyline first, which destroys your feature line. Once that feature line is destroyed, it is pulled out from its job as a surface breakline or grading object foundation. Yuck!

The EEProPack includes a tool that will set point along your feature line, while keeping it safe and sound.

Read more after the jump.

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Some of the coolest stuff in Civil 3D 2009 has to do with extended functionality with feature lines.  For instance, now you can link a feature line to an alignment with the option of linking it to one of the profiles as well.  This really opens up some doors when designing.  But as with most users, it hasn’t taken long for me to get spoiled.

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Yesterday I was browsing around the Autodesk Civil 3D discussion group for a few minutes. I go there from time to time to research quick questions or to see if anyone needs help. I was talking to a user who was having trouble with Trimble Link and Civil 3D - well, part of the problem was with Trimble Link and Civil 3D…he couldn’t import a .JOB file using Trimble Link because he didn’t have the data collector available. I ran into this same problem when I first installed Trimble Link a few years ago, because I don’t have any physical data collectors that I can hook to my computer. I have emulators for TDS Survey Pro, Microsurvey FieldGenius 2008, Leica GPS/TPS 1200, Trimble TCS and SCS900, Topcon TopSurv PC and Carlson SurvCE, and have successfully transferred data from them into Civil 3D, but it took a bit of work. So if you find that you don’t have access to the data collector BUT you have the .JOB files stored on either a local machine or a network, then this is the article for you.  Follow the link to find out more.

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One of the classes that I’ve been teaching for our unlimited instructor-led training sessions is called Residential Design. When we wrote the class, out goal was to take a real-world project and apply core skills to all aspects of subdivision design- such as conceptual analysis, grading, road design and more.

In the Residential Design class, there is a very detailed chapter on creating subdivision lots. Those of you who know me, know that parceling is one of my favorite topics. In the winter of 2005, I did my first batch of site plans with Civil 3D 2006 (HF2, remember those days?) Over the course of the next year, I worked on twenty or so projects. Some of them were at the preliminary site plan stage and went through many iterations. Some of them were final plats that required detailed labeling and careful checking. I tried to incorporate all of those lessons learned into this class, and of course, Chapter 6 of Mastering Civil 3D.

One thing that always made me scratch my head was a really good method for setting parcels along curves, when their frontage was measured at the setback line, not the right-of-way. I have a few techniques, but here is one way you might try that we talk about in detail in the class.

Read more after the jump.

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I’ve been teaching a lot of our unlimited instructor-led training sessions lately, and we always try to integrate the EEProPack with each class. (Both unlimited training and the EEProPack are part of our CivilAccess package.)

If you have ever had to drag styles from one drawing to another, you know that it works, but man it takes a lot of time (and some fine motor mouse skills!) You can import a whole drawing’s worth of styles using some insert block tricks, but then you sometimes wind up with a messy drawing with extra junk left behind. Not to mention that neither of these methods will bring over your command settings, so you are hopelessly relegated to checking every command to make sure that pesky “standard” style doesn’t come in by default.

With the EEProPack, you import Civil 3D styles, command settings or object layers. You can even import all of the styles and settings from a Civil 3D template in one shot.

For this example, I’ll show you how to use the EEProPack to import just a handful of styles into your current drawing.

Read more after the jump. To request a free trial of the EEProPack, click here.

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As more users begin unwrapping their C3D 2009 boxes and make the jump, we’re seeing more and more questions about Vault and Data Shortcuts in the groups and in our mailboxes. I’ve been a huge advocate of Vault the past two releases, basically as a matter of riding the horse ya got. Vault wasn’t perfect (and it fact, downright sucked sometimes,) but it was better than using data shortcuts in my opinion.

Jump back to last fall, when I first got a look at Data Shortcuts for 2009. My first question was, “So who needs Vault?” The answer is after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the years I’ve asked lots of folks about the level of standardization within their companies.  For those companies that I’ve had the pleasure of working with closely I’ve found that most often, the answer I get does not match what I end up seeing.  My conclusion: standardization is in the eye of the beholder.

So how do you know just how standardized your company REALLY is?  Better question, is your company standardized enough to have a smooth Civil 3D implementation with widespread acceptance of your company style set?  Well, as cheesy as it might seem, I thought one of those surveys that you often see in magazines might be a fitting litmus test.  Try it out for yourself after the jump…

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Since last year’s post on our EE buglist was quite popular (and continues to be to this day,) we thought we’d revisit the subject. This list is by no means comprehensive, and it includes some items that we know Manchester considers wish list, we’ll call them bugs, because it’s bloody obvious that the program operates in a way that should be fixed. With that, the list after the jump.

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Happy Mondays to all! We’re always making changes here at EE, this week’s nothing new. Here’s the rundown.

• Five Questions for Dan and Dave is almost closed. Get over there and ask them what you always wanted to know. Remember, they can’t disclose future features, but they can answer lots of other things. Be creative!
• CivilAccess customers should make sure your civil3d.com login reflects your corporate e-mail address. We will turn on access based on your company domain, so be sure to get all your goodies by updating your contact information here.
• Opportunities page listings are free (as in beer,) for a limited time with only a placement fee if your firm hires someone. Nothing risked, nothing gained, so if you’re one of the few folks looking for help right now, visit the Opportunities page and get started.
• Video archives are hopefully going online this week for CA customers. These include all the recorded EECasts to date, classes, quick lessons, all the stuff you need to keep moving and learning in C3D. If you want access to the best Civil 3D information and classes on-demand, shouldn’t you be a CivilAccess customer?
• EE@AU is 100%. Every single member of the technical team will be teaching at AU this year. To celebrate, we’ll be giving away a free pass to the conference to a lucky civil3d.com subscriber. Keep your eyes open.
• Speaking of AU, I’ve already started pondering golf courses in Vegas for the Duffer’s Open. If you’re going to AU, don’t miss the best unofficial AU golf tournament going. More details on that to come soon.

I think that’s enough for a Monday, don’t you? As always, thanks for coming by.