In last week’s post we finished up our discussion on company support, top to bottom.  If you’re certain that you have the backing of management, and at least most of your users are on board with the concept of standardizing your company, it’s time to get started building your new company standards.  Before we go on, I just have to emphasize the importance of this one more time.  DO NOT PROCEED without this support.  It will be an exercise in futility.  If you spend months building company standards only to have a PM dismiss them for personal preference, then it was all in vain.

So you’re at a crossroads.  It’s time to start compiling and building and refining your company standards and you have two choices.

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Every day, I like to check in with the Autodesk discussion groups to see what people are having to say, what issues they’re running into, or what they love about Civil 3D. As I look lately, it seems as if there are a lot of people just now adopting Civil 3D, so I want to write a post that will help them as they grow in their Civil 3D knowledge.

Do you ever wish that you had a way to set default styles in the program? Do you wish that when you performed a task, that it would pick up on that nifty style that you created automatically instead of you having to pick it? Well, that can be done with command settings - find out how after the jump.

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If you have been tuning in to these weekly posts then last week you would have taken the survey to determine whether your CAD standards are solid enough to proceed with a full-on Civil 3D implementation.  If you scored low and have work to do…what’s next?

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A couple weeks ago, we told you about Autodesk’s plans to retire Land Desktop and to release a trimmed down verion of Civil 3D. On Friday, they went live with a few pages on their website with more info. Link after the jump.

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I received this in email tonight as a forward from Chuck Lamping - it cracked me up.  I’ll admit not having thought of this, and have to give kudos to anyone who could - way to go, Chuck!

There has been some discussion on the Autodesk DG recently of how to work with Data Shortcuts. What are Data Shortcuts, how do you work with them, and how have they changed over the releases?

Click to read more.

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You know how to tell when Civil Engineering students are nearing the end of their semester?  You start receiving emails at very odd hours of the night asking questions about Civil 3D! Even though I’m currently in my personal coffee-loving mecca of Seattle, WA this week, I’m reached by their kindness.   My wife informed me this evening that a large manilla envelope had arrived via USPS today containing greeting cards - there was no return address, but there were 4 thank you cards inside from the CE401 class at UA.  I was very touched that they sent them, and want to thank them and Dr. Dan Turner  for allowing me to be a part of their education.   I wish each and every one of you the best of luck in your future lives as Civil Engineers!

On Wednesday, I made the trek to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to work for the last time with the Senior Design class (CE401) in the University of Alabama’s Civil Engineering program. The students have been working diligently, and have come up with some pretty good designs for their project, a connector road and utilities for a school site. I also met with the program’s survey instructor, who is wanting to use Civil 3D for his class as well. We went over some of the basics of the program before lunch, and I think he has some great plans for integrating the program throughout the class. The entire department is trying to decide on the best plan of action for integrating Civil 3D throughout the entire program, and wanted to pick my brain on a few things. I could see that the project would require some assistance, so I had contacted Sanjay Asnani at Autodesk for his assistance. He’s a really cool guy, and has a cool role with Autodesk - from his website:

In my position at Autodesk, I have an interesting role to drive awareness of Civil 3D in post-secondary education market. I get to visit cool campuses throughout North America, and spend time with Deans/faculty members to understand their issues and challenges.

He should be visiting with the school in a few weeks, and will definitely help the University progress to the next level with their implementation.

Follow the link if you want to take a step back to college life (I did have fun on Wednesday…)

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Shaan Hurley’s get post about AutoCAD Troubleshooting Tip Getting Naked reminded me about a post I felt the need to discuss.   Profiles and Arguments.

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As I traveled this past week to the Seattle area to visit a client, I had a four hour plane ride ahead of me. I don’t have a commute, so I tend to fall really behind on my podcasts, but as I flipped through my choices, I saw one that I simply had to listen to: Mapping on This America Life. Most C3D users spend so much time wrapped up in the minutiae of land development and our view of the world, that we often don’t even think about the other maps out there. Maybe some were made with software like we use, but a lot of maps are so specific, and so unusual, that they simply make you think, “What is a map?” The first “act” was based on sight, and my favorite of the bunch. Read more after the jump.

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