Civil 3D for Beginners

Thank You and Good Night.

Did You Know...AU Virtual is FREE?

Introspection on a Blog (A Manifesto)

AutoCAD 2012 Tips & Tricks

The I-39 Chronicles: Part 1 (Take 2)

Civil 3D Support Question of the Day

DVIEW > Twist VS Rotate UCS

Rotate Coordinate System

Being Uncivil

Civil 3D 2012: Quick & Dirty GIS Surface Import

Scaling All Bocks - without Changing Insertion Location

Civil 3D 2012 to Navisworks Manage

It's About Damn Time: A Post About Microstation to Civil 3D

Civil 3D, WisDOT and Machine Controlled Grading

Don't Exit Civil 3D Before You Exit the Corridor Section Editor!

Flickery Dickory Dock, Civil 3D 2011 is Flickering Lots

Where to Stalk Me at Autodesk University

AUGI Cad Camp Minneapolis

Civil 3D for Beginners - LIVE! One Night Only!

AutoCAD to Cricut Workflow (Alternate title: I'm a Cutter)

Yay! You're Using Data Shortcuts...

WisDOT Files Where to Guide

Don't Install Civil 3D...

FIXED: CAiCE SRV to Civil 3D 2010

Mastering Civil 3D 2011

Super Helpful Help

Civil 3D Haiku

Back to Basics: Autocad Linetypes

Section View Station Labels

Raster Design Object Enabler Available for 2011 Products!

Interesting Intersections I've crossed

VOTE FOR AU CLASSES!

Civil 3D Craft Project: Migrating Eagle Point Field Codes

'Nother Non-techincal Quickie

Quick Update - Non Technical

AutoCAD Skills for C3D Users

All About Breaklines

Stop Me if You've Heard This One...

2010 Civil 3D Resolutions

Repeat After Me: Civil 3D is NOT Backwards Compatible!

Hatian Observation

I'll Miss that New Software Box Smell...

Raster Image Not Plotting

Autodesk Wants to Know How to Reach You...

Barely Legal?

It's a Christmas Corridor!

AutoCAD Skills for Civil 3D: Part 3

AutoCAD Skills for Civil 3D: Part 2

Save the Tatas!

AutoCAD Skills for Civil 3D: Part 1

CAD Quickie

AutoDesk "See the Difference Tour" Virtual

Eagle Point to Retire RoadCalc, Surface Modeling Products

You Know You're an AutoCAD Geek When...

Sooner than Expected...Subscription Advantage Pack is LIVE!

OMFG!!! Subscription Advantage Pack Coming Soon!

Doing Lines

Working from a Layout Tab?!

Civil 3D 2010 SP 2 is Here!

The Thing About Geo-referenced Images...

Weirdest Support Problem Eh-var!

How to Be an Annoying Trainee

Civil 3D 2010 Out of Memory Problem

How to Force Raster Design to Work with a PDF

AutoDesk and Reseller Relationship

Civil 3D "Styles Workshop"

Map 3D 2010 Surface Extension

Civil 3D 2010 Network Deployment Heads-Up

Coming soon...POSTS!

Civil 3D Webcast - June 10th - 12-noon

WGUG Pictures

Awash in Autodeskers...and service packs.

A Few Housekeeping Items

Accidental Discovery

My Layers are Not Listed Alphabetically...WTF?

Faded XREF in 2010? XDWGFADECTL

SQOTD: Corridor Boundaries are Driving Me Nuts!

Civil 3D 2010 Install: Clearing Up Confusion

Back to Beginners: XREF Attachments vs Overlays

Homage to Being Civil

Join Us in Sheboygan, WI

Map 2010 Available for Download for Subscription Customers!

OSNAPZ, eTransmit and a Few Shout Outs

Freewheelin'

Civil Webcasts

Visualizing Civil Projects

SQOTD: Service Pack 2.1

Aquatard

Beer, Cheese and WisDOT

Intersection Design 101

SQOTD: "My view is whacked"

Learning to Love Ribbons

For the Love of All that is Holy: Watch this Bridge Webcast!

First Impressions

SQOTD: Dude, Where's my Corridor?

Are You Ready to be Stimulated?

WisDOT Template-in-Progress

Quick, Non-technical Update

Back to Basics: Panning, Zooming and Selecting Stuff

In Honor of Jame's AU Presentation

Back to Basics: Changing Your Background Color

2011-12-07T12:54:00.001-06:00

From now all on all of my blogging with be strictly through http://www.mastergraphics.com/wordpress/

2011-11-11T15:13:00.001-06:00

Autodesk University is an event I've only been to twice - but never plan on missing again. It is a much needed change of scenery in a month when weather is dreary. 8000+ Autodesk users infected with the energy of Las Vegas makes for one heck of a cool crowd. Networking is huge for me. Top it off with endless learning opportunities, booze, parties, opportunities to see new technology and even more booze - you've pretty much nailed my version of a perfect vacation. [Yes, I am a total dork. The only thing that would make this better would be nightly math competitions].

Sadly, not everyone's employer finds value in sending people out for a few days of Nerdvana. Whether you have too much to do or work for a cheap bastard, you can still enjoy the learning opportunities. Join the AU community for free - then starting November 15th sign up for AU virtual classes.

Here's a sneak peak at some of the Civil 3D and Map classes I'm planning to look at:

Session ID	Title	Speaker	Class Type	Date/Time
CI4181	Are You STILL Not Using AutoCAD® Civil 3D®?	Steve Biver	Virtual	November 15, 2011
GS5102	AutoCAD® Map 3D Functionality in AutoCAD Civil 3D®: How to Use Geospatial Data in Civil 3D	Seth Cohen	Virtual	November 15, 2011
CI6641	What's New in AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2012?	Joshua Coombs	Virtual	November 15, 2011
CI3865	Incredible AutoCAD® Civil 3D® Users: Prove your Credibility with Civil 3D Certification, Part 2	Michelle Rasmussen	Virtual	November 15, 2011
CI3530	AutoCAD® Civil 3D®: Workflow for Visualization Using Civil View and Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design	John Sayre	Virtual	November 15, 2011

CI4760	I’m a Civil Engineer: Why Should I Care About GIS?	Rick Ellis	Virtual	November 29, 2011
CI5009	Swept Path Analysis for AutoCAD® Civil 3D®	Robert Gadbaw	Virtual	November 29, 2011


CI4340	Tales from the Road: Five Years of Corridor Modeling Lessons Learned	David Zavislan	Virtual	November 29, 2011

CI5287

Capitalize on Corridor Improvements in AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2012

Don Quinn

Virtual

November 29, 2011

GS5581	Better Infrastructure Planning with AutoCAD® Map 3D	Michael Schlosser	Virtual	November 29, 2011

UT4931	Bring the Field into the Office: Using High-Resolution Oblique Imagery with AutoCAD® Map 3D	Geoff Zeiss	Virtual	November 29, 2011

Once you are signed up as an AU member, you can access classes from past AUs - a benefit that used to be reserved for conference attendees. I go up there ALL THE TIME to look at tips and tricks, network install acrobatics and brush up on functionality.

If you will be at the real AU...see you there. Take my Civil 3D for Beginners class.

If you can't...bummer. Sign up as an AU member. Check out the AU virtual classes.

...and BYOB.

2011-11-10T09:31:00.001-06:00

An incident occurred last week that made me think deeply about the question: Why do I blog? Do I blog to disseminate information? (Yes.) Do I blog to show off how witty/adorable/precious/smart I am? (OK, maybe a little.) Do I blog to flex my first amendment rights as an American citizen to express myself freely? (I do now.)

Mostly, I blog because civil design software is complex shit. My now defunct Eagle Point software blog was very similar to this one - trouble shooting, how to's and a compendium of new tools I've learned. When you are asking a computer to do what Civil 3D, In-Roads, GeoPak, Carlson, Eagle Point, CivilCAD, Torus etc do, you're orders of magnitude more complex than typing a Word doc. As an end-user and a support person I feel compelled to keep a record of the successes or problems I've had. I keep these things on record first and foremost for me, and if someone else finds it useful then...awesome. The point is not to stroke anyone's ego or make any money from blogging (I haven't.) The point is to give a realistic picture of the good, the bad and the ugly of the software who's existence pays my mortgage.

If I did not believe in this product, I would not be doing what I do. I would not demo, teach and support hundreds of users on a software that I didn't think could truly change the way engineers work in a positive way.

Last week I was asked to modify a blog post that was perceived to be too negative. My emotions ran the gamut. Initially, I was indignant, then remorseful, sad, then angry. My mouse hovered over the "Delete Blog" button. While my assessment was less than sunshine and rainbows, I felt (and still feel) that it is a realistic snapshot of what is going on with the software side of things of a large project I am involved with. Realistic, but not libelous. Frank and controversial but not immoral or illegal. I was not violating any NDA or giving up design secrets of any of my customers.

Is Civil 3D the best possible tool on the market for designing large roadway projects? Absolutely, YES.
Is it insane how much computation goes on and how quickly when generating design data? Amazing.
Does Civil 3D do things that drive me (and my end-users) up the wall sometimes? Um. Yeah.

The censorship topic still hits a raw nerve for me. I am still sad and angry. I'm sad that my honesty was perceived as negativity. I apologize if anyone thought I was "calling their baby ugly." Nothing I wrote was intended to be as such. I'm sad that I need to be more careful with future posts.

I'm angry at how I heard about the "controversy". To this day, I have not been spoken to directly by any of the people who requested the take-down. I had to hear about it through my employer - who I attempt to separate from this often foul-language blog. The only reason I relented and took down the information is that I really care about the company that I work for. I did not want to put my managers in a position of defending a stupid blog post on my behalf.

This ain't my first rodeo, boys. If you have a problem with anything I've written, I encourage you to call me on the carpet directly. Argue my points. Prove me wrong. Read me the riot act, but don't ever let me find out about it through the grapevine again. [Sidenote - how many metaphors have I used in this paragraph?] Leave a comment. Call me. Email me. Tweet me. I'm damn easy to find.

The temptation to delete this blog has passed. More than ever, I feel like I have something to say, and will continue to write, piss people off and contribute to the body of knowledge on design software. My understanding of how my users work and their "pain points" is extremely deep. Through teaching, I know exactly where people have hangups learning the software and what parts are easy. Sorry its not all roses and puppies - but I know what I'm talking about. If I'm lucky, someone might even listen.

I'm only here to help.

-Peace out
lou

ps Seriously - talk to me. I love feedback for better or for worse. Don't you?

2011-11-02T19:05:00.000-05:00

I put together the following sheet for a short class I did the other day. Do enjoy.

Polyline Editing Tips

Key-in	Type	What it does:
PEDITACCEPT	Sys. variable <1>	Automatically accepts conversion of lines, arcs and splines when joining a polyline.
REVERSE	command	Allows you to reverse the direction of a line. This way linetypes with text appear upright when needed.

Text Tips

Key-in	Type	What it does:
TEXTMASK	express tool	Automatically creates a wipeout to block items behind text.
TEXTUNMASK	express tool	Removes same
QTEXT	Sys. Variable or	In drawings with lots of text, it makes text look “blocky” on zooming and panning to improve speed and performance.
TEXTTOFRONT	Command	Forces the draw order of all text to the front
BURST	express tool	Alternative to explode that keeps attribute text at its current value
TEXTSIZE	Drawing setting	Sets the default height for text where the style contains a text height of 0.

Viewport Tips

Key-in	Type	What it does:
MVSETUP	Command	One-stop shop for aligning and rotating multiple viewports.
MVIEW	Command	Creates a new, rectangular paperspace viewport
REA	Command	Stands for regen all. Best for regen-ing when you have multiple viewports

Misc. Cool Tips

Key-in	Type	What it does:
ADDSELECTED	command	Helps create same object type on the same layer without using an icon. (Also available in the right-click menu for any object)
SELECTSIMILAR	Command	Selects objects that have the same layer and are of the same object type.
Shift + spacebar	Hot key	Cycles through objects that are on top of each other so you don’t need to change draw order on the fly.
Grip + spacebar	Hot key	After you click a grip for a block, you can force a simple move command into rotate, mirror scale or copy by hitting the spacebar.
Tab to cycle commands	Hot key	Key-in the first few letters the command or variable you are looking for. Hit tab to search for items with those letters.
TASKBAR	Sys Variable <1>	Instead of “stacking up” open files on your Windows task bar, this shows open drawings as an icon.
OVERKILL	Express tool	Cleans up a drawing by removing duplicate lines
SELECTIONANNODISPLAY	Sys variable <0>	Controls if “ghosted” display of annotative text appears.
HATCHTOBACK	Command	Forces the draw order of all hatches to the back
ZOOMFACTOR	Sys variable <3>to<100>	Controls how “zoomy” your mouse wheel is. 100 is the biggest zoom per turn.
CHSPACE	Command	Forces paperspace objects to model and vice versa.
SETBYLAYER	Command	Forces objects that have properties set that differ from the layer settings to conform.
OOPS	Command	Brings back last deleted object without using undo.

2011-11-02T18:25:00.001-05:00

Historically, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has not required consultants to use any particular software package. In most cases, a PDF is the desired deliverable. Project managers at the state have always had the power to require specific forms of data, but rarely do so. Until now.

For the I-39/90 improvement project, WisDOT has taken the unprecedented action of requiring Civil 3D for design development and all submittal drawings.

Wow! This is a first for us. In fact, I think it might be a first in the country for a DOT project of such magnitude (~45 miles & 12 interchanges) to be modeled in Civil 3D. That's a lot of data, but I have every confidence that when set up correctly, these projects will come though with flying colors.

Here's what I have advised so far (with the collaboration of two of the main consultants designing the southern portion):

They will import the LIDAR data into Civil 3D 2012 and export the simplified surface model via LandXML to 2010.

They will use data shortcuts extensively to keep the size of the DWG's down.

Surfaces
Alignments
Profiles + Corridors (keep profiles with corridor so we can utilize locking)
Grading
Final Surfaces
Storm

No more than 2 miles of straightaway per corridor drawing.
Interchanges will be in their own corridor drawings. Complex interchanges will be broken down into several drawings.

I feel immense pressure to have the software-end of the project go well. Most of the consultants involved are my clients who I've trained or supported in other projects. This project has the potential to be a stellar success story.

...and I can't wait to tell it.

I will tell it honestly, in it's entirety, with no editing or interference by any party.

2011-10-28T12:44:00.002-05:00

Civil 3D Question of the Day:

I have my linework and points in a drawing that gets XREFED into ALTAs and other design files.

When I want to freeze a particular layer to hide the points all of them freeze! I can't leverage styles easily because you can't manipulate styles via XREF.

What is the best way to set up my point styles?

ANSWER:

There are two ways (ok maybe 1.5 ways) to accomplish what you are after.

The first place Civil 3D looks for Styles and layers is the Description Key Set. The overall point layer always comes from the Description Key set. In the event you have a field code that doesn't match, the layer ends up as the default set in the command settings.

Method 1: Forget Layers, Use Point Groups

This is what I train my newbies to do, since I have the benefit of being able to brainwash them in the ways of Autodesk.

Advantages:

Takes Layers out of the picture

Quick control of many points at once.

How the software was intended to operate (or so I assume)

Disadvantages:

You still need to worry about layers when it comes to plotting - so you will also have a description key set. (Otherwise, because you are not using layers you would lose the ability to use VP Freeze)

Can't manipulate Styles via XREF.

Set up a bunch of point groups in your template that you anticipate using. Or make them in the current project. Doesn't matter.

Leave the _All Points group as-is. There will be no overrides on the styles here, just in case you want to see how they were interpreted by the Description key set.

Method 2: Layers only Method

Since the first stop for Points is the Description Key Set, use this to set the layers. And use Traditional CAD Freezing to control what groups are visible/not visible.

Advantages:

Many people are used to this method

No worries about VP Freeze

Disadvantages:

Need to Simplify styles

Can be cumbersome to remember what points went on what layer.

Points that do not match description keys are all sent to the same layer.

Below is the Wisconsin DOT Description key listing. They have quite a few description keys, each with its own layer.

Regardless of what is in the style layer-wise the layer from here is the layer most people use when freezing & thawing.

The way I think of it is, assuming you are familiar with how blocks operate: You have the layer that the block is inserted on. Some blocks may also have layers hidden inside of them (not if I taught them CAD, but you get the picture). The insertion layer of a block is analogous to the point's layer from the description key set. Those "hidden" block layers are similar to the layers within a style. 99.9% of the time if you want to freeze a block, it is the insertion layer that you are aiming for. Same for points.

In other words, the layers you see inside of a point style are more or less irrelevant. The only time they will rear their heads is if you explode a point down to its core components. UNLIKE a block, changing the LAYFRZ settings to Entity will not give you access to these underlying layers.

My Wish for the Future:

A lot of headache could be avoided if point groups had data shortcuts. That way I could make a point group that contained the points I wanted to show in my new drawing and make a reference to them. Perhaps there is some logic or programming reason that this can't be done. But I would love it! This would also facilitate surfaces using a point group that did not exist in the same drawing.

-Lou

2011-10-06T20:09:00.002-05:00

Clients teach me new things nearly every day. This week the lesson I learned is the difference between using DVIEW to rotate your design on screen and rotating the UCS about the Z axis. All of my CAD career, I've used DVIEW. For a long time, when someone mentioned rotating the UCS in a 2-D drawing I would cover my ears and go "Llalalalalalalala." Before this week, all I knew is that rotating the UCS caused major problems in survey software.

The company I trained this week had always used the UCS to angle designs into a more comfortable drafting mode. After telling them that they should use DVIEW instead, they naturally asked, "Why?" At a loss for a real reason, I've taken it upon myself to dig deep and understand what the difference is.

A little background…

UCS stands for User Coordinate System. When you first enter a drawing your UCS lines up with the WCS. WCS stands for World coordinate system where Y is up, X is right and Z pops out of the screen at you. WCS is a nice, normal place, where things don't go wrong. In any new drawing, the world coordinate system lines up with the user coordinate system, much like a rectangular piece of paper whose edges line up with the edges of the desk it is sitting on. Rotate the piece of paper and you are rotating the Coordinate system. If instead you just started working on the drawing by scooting your chair to another position, that is more like what DVIEW > Twist does.

DVIEW > TWIST & SNAPANG

DVIEW is accessed by typing DVIEW at the command line. (Shocking, I know.) DVIEW stands for dynamic view, and represents the position of your eye (or in Autocad terms, the Camera) in relation to the canvas. After you start the DVIEW command, you are prompted to select objects or select a DVIEWBLOCK. I usually go for DVIEWBLOCK unless I'm just going to eyeball the rotation with a line or two as reference for the rotation. Type TW for twist and key-in your rotation angle. A positive angle will rotate the camera counter-clockwise.

You can leave the drawing as is, but your cursor will have rotated too. I usually use SNAPANG to untwist the cursor back to parallel with the bottom of the screen.

To rotate a coordinate system, use the view tab and find the Z axis rotation. Enter the angle you wish to rotate the view.

Rotating the UCS is redefining where the zero angle is, therefore a positive angle will rotate the coordinate system clockwise.

PLAN <CURRENT>

Like DVIEW, the rotated UCS leaves you with a wonky cursor. Key-in PLAN, then hit enter for Current to straighten things up.

Un-twisting

To un-twist from DVIEW, I type in PLAN, then W for world. (If you know of a slicker way, drop me a comment). To untwist a UCS, click the world button on the View tab.

Now that I understand the differences, I totally understand rotating the UCS if lots of text is going to get placed relative to the rotation. However, that is the only compelling reason to do it. Overall, I still recommend DVIEW over rotating the UCS. A drawing can only have one UCS at a time, but you can use DVIEW in every viewport if you wanted to. A rotated UCS can seriously impact how XREFS line up and how blocks are inserted. A rotated UCS will cause XREFs and blocks to come in at unexpected locations - you are changing the coordinate system after all!

DVIEW (Pros)	UCS (Pros)
Different dview twists can be set in different viewports	Text placement follows UCS
Works better when XREFS and blocks are inserted	Can use cad objects directly to set angle (DVIEW requires you to measure first)
Can be used in multiple viewports
Preferred method for many 3rd party apps

So next time one of your co-workers insists on rotating the UCS, you don't need to cover your ears and spout nonsense words. Get the whole story - then decide!

-HUGS, Lou

PS: Sign up NOW for my AU class Civil 3D for Beginners. November 29, 2011 1:00PM. Only a few spaces left! (Also, I bring candy.)

2011-09-15T09:48:00.000-05:00

Note: This is a philosophical post rather than a technical post.

If you were to call me a year ago and ask for technical support on something I considered "simple" you would have had to endure my condescending 'tude. If you emailed me about something we did in class, I would have responded with a terse 'look it up!" type response. If you were unfortunate enough to work with me, you would receive lots of eye rolling or flat out refusal to do perfectly reasonable requests.

I can't say exactly why I was being such a bitch. Perhaps it was grumpiness at the state of my 401k. Perhaps I took to heart some (bad) advice I received from a teaching professional to, "treat them like scum so they will respect you." Perhaps my crush on Hugh Laurie subconsciously made me want to act like House. Perhaps I started to believe my own hype.

It wasn't working for me.

This past spring I realized that my sales people were approaching me the way you might approach a stray cat. Was this the day I was going to bite their heard off, or was I going to play nice? I started to notice that even my favorite customers seemed to be shying away from me. If I didn't get this crazy train on a different track, I'd alienate my allies, lose customers, or worse yet, end up working the stock room at the local Best Buy.

Starting a few months ago I started to make an effort to chill the F out. Being an engineer fluent in AutoCAD and Civil 3D isn't going to win me any Nobel prizes. If I'm lucky, the best I can do is help someone design a better road or make their job easier. I'm certainly not going to accomplish that by being difficult.

This will be an ongoing journey for me. There will always be emails that I forget to respond to, or cranky customers out for a fight. I've never been a great people-person, but I can at least try not to be blatantly anti-social.

PS: I still fully intend to remain as crass as ever - just nicer.
PPS: I still don't like it when people call my direct line for tech support. A person has to have boundaries.

2011-08-23T10:41:00.000-05:00

This Blog post stems from a support call I received yesterday. One of my favorite clients has recently upgraded to 2012 (yay!) and was wondering if there was a better tool than what 2010 had for GIS data import. I love it when I can say, "YES! It is SUPER easy now!" So I've recycled what I emailed to him into this post.

Go to Surfaces and pick Surfaces from GIS Data

Then you will go through all the steps of the Wizard. Step 1 is where you give the surface a name. Click Next.
Change the data source type to SHP – that's the most common data type from ESRI. Then you will browse for the SHP file.
Click LOGIN and put a checkmark next to the item listed in this screen. I used an example data file called Columbus. Of course yours will have a different name.
Click Next.
Clear the checkbox next to Define Area of Interest by… This is used if there is a smaller area you want to focus on. By clearing this checkbox, you are importing the whole surface area.
Click Next.
Set the Elevation column from the GIS file (left) to be Elevation in the Civil 3D property (right). You will probably need to make the columns bigger in order to see them properly.
Click Finish and after a moment your beautiful new surface model shall appear.

Have a great week! -Lou

2011-08-18T12:52:00.000-05:00

I know, I know. I'm not blogging as often as I should. But the weather has been absolutely gorgeous in Wisconsin and I'm busy working on losing my geeky pallor in the summer sun.

If you can't get enough of my nuggets of wisdom you can always follow me on Twitter, or better yet BUY MY BOOK (see sidebar). Or even BETTER yet - hire me as a consultant in your Civil 3D implementation via MasterGraphics.

So here's a simple but fundamental post:

Recently a customer asked me if I knew of any LISP routines that would allow users to select blocks, then rescale them without changing their location in the drawing as the regular scale command would do.

There are LISP routines out there, but in my opinion they are completely unnecessary.

Note: IF the blocks you are working with are from Civil 3D, you'll need to edit the Style that is bringing them in. For example, if the block is there because it represents, say a fire hydrant from a survey – you'll need to find the fire hydrant symbol in the Settings tab of Civil 3D.

If they really are plain AutoCAD blocks, the best thing I to do is:

Find the Quick Properties Icon. This is on the Home Tab or in the Properties dialog.

In the Quick select dialog, pick the following options. Apply to: Entire drawing, Object Type: Block reference, Operator: Select All (You could also search for a specific block name if you wanted – this example will give you all of the blocks in the drawing – as long as they are not on a frozen layer, of course.)

Click OK and all the blocks become selected.

Lastly, change the scale to whatever you like. It will not change the base-point of any of the blocks.

Hope this helps!

Have a super-sunny-fantastic day! -Lou

2011-05-25T13:20:00.003-05:00

What is Navisworks Manage?

Navisworks is a project review tool that is a relative newcomer to the Autodesk family of products. I think of Navisworks as a universal viewer and CAD-aggregator. There are several varieties of Navisworks, Navisworks Manage is the fullest functionality flavor of the product. I've got several customers using the heck out of it for scheduling and staging construction activity. With Navisworks you can pull together many different file types including DWG, DGN, point clouds, Revit, Inventor, 3DS Max, Sketchup and Pro E files (just to name a few).

Getting Started:

In Navisworks Manage, you will want to change a setting that will make it much easier to update the model from the Civil 3D file.

From the Navisworks Application Menu click Options (similar to how you jump into Options in AutoCAD).

Expand the Model category on the left part of the Options Editor and highlight Performance.

Place a checkmark next to Close NWC/NWD files on load.

This option allows us to keep the Navisworks project open and export a new output file (NWC as I create later in this post). If I kept it on, it would not allow me to overwrite the NWCs as updates occur. For those of you familiar with the XLOADCTL variable, think of this option as changing XLOADCTL from 0 to 2.

In Civil 3D 2012 (this will also work in 2011, btw):

Freeze unwanted layers and hide items you don't want displayed in Navisworks. Generally, the only things you want to bring in are pipes, surfaces, corridors and parcels that have elevation to them. I recommend creating a Layer State specifically for NWCOUT.

At the command line, type NWCOUT. Civil 3D will prompt you to save an NWC file. Save it in a sensible location with the rest of the project you are working with. This file provides the link between Civil 3D and Navisworks, so renaming it, moving it or deleting it once it is in use would break the link. Wait a moment or two for the NWC file to generate.

In Navisworks:

In Navisworks, click Append.

Once the file has been imported, use the view cube and the navigation bar to look around in the project, similar to how you would in the Civil 3D object viewer.

In my example, I have pipes that I'd like to see, but in most views they are obscured by the surface model. I can make the surface model transparent.

Select the surface in Navisworks by clicking on it. A context tab pops up and you can override the default color and transparency here.

If you have made changes to the project in Civil 3D and wish to update the Navisworks side, click the refresh button in Navisworks' Quick Access toolbar.

As you go back and forth between civil 3D, any overrides you place on objects in Navisworks hold - even after a refresh. Do not re-Append the NWC or you will end up with duplicate data!

That's all for now. I plan to add more information about working with Civil 3D objects and Timeliner (the scheduling piece of Navisworks). See you soon!

2011-05-20T16:29:00.000-05:00

Hey all! I've been on hiatus from blogging due to the fact that I've been cranking out words to be included in the soon-to-be-released Mastering Civil 3D 2012. You should buy this book. REALLY you should.

So I'm back...and here's like a post and stuff:

In 1959, a revolution rocked the world and the only people who noticed were surveyors and mapping professionals. This was the year that the US and its buddies decided to change the formal definition of a foot from 1ft = 0.3048006096 meters to 1 ft = 0.3048000 meters.

The problem is, most land was already surveyed by 1959, so a change in the definition of a foot could change the recorded location of survey monuments up to several feet. This major moving of the proverbial cheese has been received with mixed acceptance. For the most part, surveyors still use the 1 ft = 0.3048006096 meter definition for their work.

Why does CAD care?

One of the fundamental differences between Microstation and AutoCAD is how the programs handle units and coordinate systems. Under the hood, Microstation only stores things in meters. To an end-user using feet, Microstation uses the International foot value to convert for display. It is on the data-end that programs like InRoads and Caice compensate for the slight discrepancies between US survey feet and International feet.

The DGN by itself is always stuck in International feet.

Attached to this post is the procedure for importing a DGN and getting it translated from International feet to US survey feet. The steps in the attached document outline how to manually force the program to translate the coordinates.

How to Import a DGN into Civil 3D CORRECTLY

Enjoy!

2011-01-03T15:08:00.000-06:00

That's a grumpy looking badger.

The Badgers might have lost the Rosebowl, but we're still full of WIN in Wisconsin!

My esteemed colleague Russ is presenting at the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors conference later this month and I'm blatantly stealing his research to blog about it. The surveyors requested that he include information on how Civil 3D can work with machine controlled grading equipment. Russ decided to ping our buddies at WisDOT who are very familiar with Civil 3D and on top of the latest developments in grading technology.

WisDOT is now actively using and putting out data in Civil 3D 2010. The first few Civil 3D projects are out the door and under construction. Even before they went live with the product, they had been looking into mandating surface model files or a derivative thereof. At the moment, they are nowhere near the point of requiring surface models, but they have several pilot projects in the hopper that will help them determine the future of Automated Machine Guidance for highway projects in Wisconsin.

Brad Hollister, PE, is part of the team at WisDOT that is integrating technology into the entire WisDOT work-flow. In addition to being an all-around great guy, he is a big proponent of Civil 3D and the streamlining that can be done to the construction process with the data that results from corridor models (which he calls Roadway Models in the email that follows).

As part of Russ' research, he contacted Brad to see what the scoop was with AMG today. Brad's email response is included here:

Right now WisDOT has language in our Standard Specifications addressing Automated Machine Guidance. The current spec places the burden of Roadway Model development on the contractor, a necessity considering our design environment which uses CAiCE. As our C3D implementation progresses, it will allow us to reconsider this policy regarding Roadway Model development.

We’ve already seen a few WisDOT design projects finished in C3D, and we are conducting a series of 4 pilot projects this year in which we are sharing Civil 3D proposed surfaces (Roadway Models) with contractors for Automated Machine Guidance operations. One important aspect of the pilots is that we are making our Roadway Models available to contractors prior to LET.

At a minimum, Automated Machine Guidance (AMG) operations will need roadway alignments and proposed surfaces from design, and control from project survey.

Project control consists of points, and can be shared in any number of formats, LandXML or text files work fine.

For roadway alignments, we are trying out LandXML version 1.2. This year’s pilots will tell us how well LandXML works for sharing our C3D alignments with contractor software.

For surface sharing, LandXML is an option but it is not the format we are using in the pilots. The reason we are not using LandXML is that given our typical project size the LandXML surface files can be pretty big, and we’ve seen import problems with these huge surface LandXML files in the past. Instead, we are taking our Civil 3D surface DWGs, viewing the surface with a triangles-only style, and exporting the file to AutoCAD 2004 DWGs. Each resulting surface DWG contains a single surface represented by 3DFaces. In the past we’ve had success sharing large surfaces with contractors using the AutoCAD DWG-3DFaces format. At some point in the future we may try surface sharing in LandXML again but for now we are recommending AutoCAD DWG.

We are sharing 4 Roadway Model surfaces for each construction stage of the project:

Datum (for grading operations)
BaseCourse (for base placing and trimming operations)
Top (to help contractors interpret design intent)
Exist (for verification of Existing ground accuracy in the field, for earthwork quantity manipulation to aid in bid preparation, and to allow contractors to recompute earthwork quantities for alternative staging sequences)

One other item of interest to consider is the overall intent of the Civil 3D design workflow we are using at WisDOT. One of the goals of our C3D design workflow is to develop construction-ready Roadway Model surfaces directly from design, surfaces that will not need additional modification by contractors for AMG operations. This year’s pilot projects will help us determine if our workflow meets this AMG-ready Roadway Models goal. Ultimately WisDOT is looking to make AMG-ready Roadway Models a deliverable of the design process on all our projects, although there are many considerations to address before the Roadway Model deliverable requirement is implemented.

Hopefully the next steps will have them digging deeper into the model (pun intended) and as technology evolves, integrating more direct links between Civil 3D and their contractors' software.

2010-12-09T10:13:00.000-06:00

This was the topic of two separate tech support calls this week. If points make a line, two problems make a blog post.

First, I want to talk about the corridor section editor in general. It is an AMAZING, powerful tool. If you build a corridor and need to tweak the cross section at a station or a range of stations, this is how you do it. Some users attempt to modify the cross section views. The section views are only a reflection of the model and cannot be used to change your corridor in any way.

The best way to get into the corridor section editor is to click on the frequency line at the station whose section you wish to modify. From the context-sensitive ribbon, click Section Editor.

You will be taken into a purely data-driven view of your cross section.

Now that you are here, you can modify your cross section data just at this frequency line or at a range of stations. The best way to modify this thing is through the parameter editor. The parameter editor lists all the subassemblies and their current values as they are applied to the corridor. In my opinion, use the numeric values to adjust your section whenever possible.

Sometimes you just need to adjust a daylight line by snapping it to a specific location on the exiting ground. To graphically edit the section, hold down control while you click the daylight line. You will see grips that you can use to move the line. Be patient, it is a little slower than traditional line editing.

Here's the rub - you *can* modify the section graphically, but you cannot mix graphic changes with numeric changes. If you went through and tweaked a lane width numerically then graphically edit the daylight line, the graphic edit blows away all your numeric changes. So...you need to decide how you are going to make the modifications and stick with it.

Ok - here's where I get to my original point: When you are done making your edits, save the drawing, then close the section editor using the ribbon! Even if you are done for the day and want to go home, close the section editor first.

If you forget, or you are unfortunate enough to crash while in the section editor - don't fret. When you open your drawing back up - things will look weird. You are still in a modified coordinate system. To get back to reality, go to your view tab and click the World icon. Now, type PLAN at the command line, (hit enter), then W for world (hit enter).

Life will go back to normal...at least where Civil 3D is concerned.

2010-11-18T16:30:00.000-06:00

This post is going out to my homeboy Troy who said something to me today along the lines of, "None of the blogs are giving any good information right now. All anyone can talk about is AU! I probably won't see any decent posts until late December."

Guilty as charged. My challenge to fellow bloggers is: post something that has absolutely nothing to do with AU, before the Thanksgiving holiday.

In the last few days I've run into several people who are having problems with their Civil 3D 2011 graphics acting really annoying after service pack 1 was installed.

Some are seeing the viewcube show up with a white background (even when their modelspace background is black!).

Some are seeing this issue manifest itself as an error with "The configured Heidi driver cannot be loaded. Switching to default software driver."

Some are seeing "Exception in acmapworkspace.arx ARX Command" or "Unhandled exception 28ed90 (access violation reading 0x0028) at address blah blah blah..."

No matter how you are experiencing it, the root cause is the same: your graphics card is stressing out about Civil 3D.

First thing to try:
Make sure your graphics card is up to snuff. Is your card supported (or is it a cheap piece of crap that came with your box-store purchased machine)?
If the card is supported, you may just need to update the driver. Do that here: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=6711848&linkID=9240698
If it is a cheap p.o.c. look for a new card here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/bfp_autocad_2011.html

Second thing to try (stolen from: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=15851876&linkID=9240697):

Inside of your application, type 3DCONFIG at the command line.
In the dialog box that appears, select the Manual Tune button.
At the top of the Manual Performance Tuning dialog box, toggle the 'Enable hardware acceleration' option.
Select OK and OK to return to the drawing workspace.
Repeat steps 1-4 again to toggle the 'Enable hardware acceleration' option back to its original setting.

Note that it not necessary to disable the hardware acceleration. However, toggling this setting should resolve the issues.

Third thing to try:

Go to Analyze tab,Inquiry panel and under station tracker select Off.

The key-in for it is AeccHideDrawingTips

Peace out.

2010-11-12T09:12:00.000-06:00

This information is also handy for those of you trying to avoid me.

As of today, there are only 18 days left until AU. My schedule is quite full for the week. Here's an overview of where you will find me during the conference.

Monday:

Arrive in Las Vegas in the AM
Nap
Blogger Social 6-8pm
Speaker Social 6:30-9pm (I've heard the bloggers are more fun, so I'm just going to pop my head in with the speakers.)

Tuesday:

Sessions in the Civil Track all day
Nap
Go Out

Wednesday:

More classes in the AM
MY LAB: CV327-5L 1:30pm
Depending on how the lab goes I'll either be going to more sessions or looking into changing my identity.
Private Party: 9:30pm-?

Thursday:

Nurse expected hangover.
Sessions, sessions, sessions.
1:00pm @ Autodesk University Theater "Meet the Authors" session w/ Rick Graham and yours truly. (I'm working on the next edition of Mastering Civil 3D)
Nap
I heard something about a gift card?

Friday:

Fly home.

See you there!

2010-11-10T14:12:00.000-06:00

Pictures of my boys at AUGI CAD Camp Minneapolis 2010.

L to R: Robert Green, ME!, Rick Ellis

L to R: Eric Schubert, Mike Dunham, Mark Weizenegger of MasterGraphics

It was no AU, but by golly it was a good warm up.

I spoke about Point Cloud functionality in Civil 3D 2011. A good time was had by all.

2010-11-01T09:20:00.000-05:00

It will be cooler than Laser Floyd, but only involves a laser pointer. Civil 3D for Beginners at AU!

For those of you who were fortunate enough to get in (the class is filled up - but I'm hoping for an encore) CV327-5L was the class to get. This is a 1-hour hands-on lab (45 computers, 2 people to a computer).
Date/Time: 12/01/2010 - 1:30 PM

Here's what I'll be whipping through in the hour:

What is Civil 3D? Is it BIM?
What is object-based design all about?
Importing points, creating a surface, changing the surface's style.
Changing alignment geometry and building a corridor.
P&P sheets and cross section sheets.

Here's a sneak-peek at a graphic from the handout explaining what comes with Civil 3D 2011 (on subscription).

I simply cannot wait! I'll have four very talented assistants keeping everyone in line and on-track. They may even be handing out candy (I'm gunning for the first ever 10-star speaker rating).

See you there!

2010-10-15T13:04:00.000-05:00

This post is dedicated to Theresa H. and the good people of Educause.

AutoCAD to Cricut Workflow: Where Geeky Meets Crafty

Software needed:

AutoCAD: any version, but I use 2011.
Sure Cuts a Lot (SCAL) v2.0 (previous versions will not work)

Hardware needed:

Any computer running SCAL.
Cricut running firmware version 2.2 or higher. (These instructions will work for all cricuts - even the stupid cake one)
USB-Printer cable to connect your PC to the Cricut.

1- Draw your thing in Autocad.

2- Export that thing as a BMP image.

3- In SCAL, go to Image Trace.

4- Browse to the BMP you exported from ACAD. And open it in the Autotrace Image dialog box.

5- Click Preview:

6- After you click OK, you will have your image in the SCAL cutting mat area.

7- Cut away!

Granted, someone with some mad printer driver hacking skills could probably get the Cricut to speak directly with AutoCAD. As Jason says, a Cricut is really just a pen plotter with a knife. If you know how to do this, I'd love to speak to you.

Enjoy!

2010-10-13T16:17:00.000-05:00

...oh crap, you want to run a slope stake report.

This post is based on a tech support call from a customer in South Dakota (the same one that inspired this post, coincidentally)

He is being a good boy and using data shortcuts to create his cross sections in a separate drawing from the corridor.

However, when he goes to the toolbox to create a corridor slope-stake report he can't run the report in either drawing. The corridor drawing tells him that he needs sample lines and the sample line drawing tells him he needs a corridor.

So, I ask, "Why don't you just re-create sample lines in the corridor drawing? You don't need views, just the sample lines."
He replies, "Well, I would but we have a lot of non-even stations and would need to manually re-input those."

So poking around at the Create sections dialog, I envision a plan:

WBLOCK the sample lines from the section drawing to a new block.
Open the new block and explode everything until you are left with lines.

This requires 3 explodes: from sample lines to blocks, from blocks to polylines, from polylines to lines.
Delete any alignment information that came along for the ride.

Once the sample lines are lines zoom out so all sample lines are in view (even if that means they are small little blobs on your screen) .
Type FLATTEN at the CAD command line.

This forces the lines to 0 elevation if they were not already.
The lines must all be at 0 for the next steps.

Use PEDIT command to rejoin all the lines to polylines.

Use the Multiple option
Join the lines with 0.00 fuzz distance.
If this is done correctly you only need to run the pedit command once.

Select all the polylines.

Right-click and select Clipboard > Copy with Base Point

When asked to specify basepoint type in 0,0
Now, get back to your corridor drawing (if you have it open already, use the CTRL+Tab keys to switch between open files.)
From the Home tab, Clipboard panel select Paste > Paste to Original Coordinates.

Yay - polylines!
At this point you will want to isolate the layer the polylines are on.

Now go to Home tab > Profile & Section Views Panel > Sample Lines
When you're asked to pick the alignment, hit enter to pick from a list. (because you've got the alignment turned off at this point right? )
Click OK to create the sample line group.
From the Create Sample line toolbar, click Select Existing Polylines.

Use big ol' crossing window to select the polylines.
It should convert your polylines.

I say *should* because this process may fail if any of the polylines are:

Not polylines
At an elevation other than 0.

Go forth and run reports.

If someone knows a less step-y process, I'd love to hear it. If you have a script or something I'll be your bff.

2010-10-11T14:01:00.001-05:00

I don't recall if I blogged this yet. Better twice than not at all.

So you've downloaded all the files from:
ftp://ftp.dot.state.wi.us/transp/roads/civil3d/

c3d_allusers.exe
c3d_installdir.exe
c3d_peruser.exe
c3d_perusercontentbrowserlibrary.exe
c3d_peruserlocal.exe

And you downloaded the entire directory WisDOTProjectTemplate, right? Oh you haven't done that yet, probably because you are trying to work with the FTP site in Internet Explorer, when you really need to be working with it in Windows Explorer. To switch views, from the browser, go to Page > Open FTP site in Windows Explorer.

Right-click the directory and select copy.

Paste the directory under C:\Civil 3D Project Templates.

If you are on Windows XP I've got mixed news:

1) You should probably think about moving to Windows 7. Windows 7 is much better at handling the memory needed to run Civil 3D well. Besides, Microsoft will stop supporting XP soon.

2) The good news is that the Wisdot exe files will slide right onto your system.

Ok - so for the rest of us who are on Windows 7, you'll need to do some tweaking to get the WisDOT files placed correctly.

Double click the exe from WisDOT.

Click Run

You need to browse each and every time for the correct directory.

c3d_allusers.exe needs to go to: C:\Program Data\AutoDesk\C3D 2010\enu\

This folder contains:

WisDOT intersection assemblies and underlying dlls.
WisDOT Figure prefix database
WisDOT design criteria XML files.
Several Wisconsin-specific reports
The SRV-to-PNTFLT.dvb mentioned in my last post

c3d_installdir.exe must be extracted to: C:\Program Files\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010\

NOTE: You'll need to set this to C:\Program Files (x86)\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010\ if you are on 64 bit system.
This folder contains:

Linetypes, font and supporting files
Help files for WisDOT custom subassemblies

c3d_peruser.exe gets extracted to: C:\Users\-user-\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\C3D 2010\enu

NOTE: This step will overwrite customizations to your c3d.cuix file - I recommend keeping your own intact by renaming it before you copy.
This folder contains:

Plotter information
Toolpalette files
CUI file
DGN setups

c3d_perusercontentLibrary.exe goes to: C:\Users\-user-\Documents\Autodesk\

Overwrite & merge the My Content Browser Library
The WisDOT catalog file that will help make importing the subassemblies to your tool palette easier.

c3d_peruserlocal.exe gets extracted to: C:\Users\-user-\AppData\Local\Autodesk\C3D 2010\enu\

This contains all the WisDOT templates.
Merge and replace when prompted.

By extracting everything local, no changes need to be made in Options to your profile.

You can network many of these items, such as plotter settings linetypes, fonts and templates. However, DO NOT attempt to network the subassemblies themselves. I've never seen it work properly.

These files only work in Civil 3D 2010 - not at all in 2011. Some of the reports may not work correctly on 64 bit systems (such as the SEUpdate.dll).

If the contents of this blog post confuse you, please get help trying to extract these files to the correct place.

I am available for consulting on these matters through my employer.

2010-09-21T10:48:00.000-05:00

...until you take my quiz to see if you are ready!

This quiz is just for fun - but talks about some real issues people run into when implemeting Civil 3D.

http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=are-you-ready-to-implement-civil-3d

Have fun.

2010-09-15T16:09:00.001-05:00

This is a REPOST with fixed links. My apologies to those who were unable to download due to the DVB file getting blocked by our server. This repost has the files, but you will need to rename them after you save them to your harddrive. The links won't expire! w00t.

This post would not be possible without Rick Larson of WisDOT's DVB file. Thanks, Rick for letting me scam your program and spread it over the world!

These instructions apply to Civil 3D 2010, (will post 2011 version VBA file when it becomes available.)

Download the 2010 version of WisDOT's converter tool from:
srv-to_pntflt - Right-click and hit "Save target". Be sure to rename the txt file extension to DVB

A test SRV file to play with can also be downloaded if you need one:
exist - Extension rename to SRV is needed.

1. At the Civil 3D command line type: VBALOAD
2. Browse for the DVB file.

3. Click Enable Macros.

4. At the command line, type in VBARUN

5. Select the line that ends with “ReadSRVFile”
6. Click Run.
7. Browse for the SRV file you wish to convert.
8. Click Open

The result is 5 new files that are created in the folder containing the original SRV.
• *.srv.bld
• *.srv.flt
• *.srv.obs
• *.srv.pnt
• *.srv.wea

Civil 3D only uses the flt and the pnt files. The pnt is a space delimited PENZD file which can be imported as points. The flt file is a breakline file which can be added to a surface definition.

An example of how these can be used:

Since the point files tend to be large, we will not bother importing it as a survey file.

Create a surface.

Add the file using Point Files option under the surface definition.

Next, add breaklines.

Boom – you gotta surface.

2010-08-18T10:00:00.001-05:00

I received my copy of Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 last week and had plenty of time to read it while proctoring some Autodesk Certification Exams.

It is excellent. I've been up to my eyeballs in Civil 3D for the last four years and I can honestly say that I never stop learning tidbits here and there from my Mastering books. James and Scott did an awesome job creating fresh information and fine-tuning this encyclopedia of Civil 3D knowledge.

(Yes, guys I will put a glowing 5 star review on Amazon too!)

So, that leaves me with the question...do I pitch/recycle my first one? All of my clients have upgraded to at least 2009, leaving the 2008 book as a mere memento of a time that I didn't know my ass from a negative slope grading object.

So I turned my 2008 book into a minibar:

Believe me, the first cut was hard. For one thing I've always been taught to revere the printed word. Second, cutting into Dana, James, Mark & Jason's pivotal work felt a little bit like cutting up a high school yearbook.

Despite this book desecration/minibar transformation, the world should know I have the deepest respect and admiration for the authors.

BOTTOMS UP!

2010-08-17T10:27:00.000-05:00

Hey all!

I know, I know I should blog more often. But it is summer and there are State Fairs to attend, beaches to lay on and sunshine to absorb.

Here's something I JUST noticed today... the help in 2011 knows object names and uses them to help you navigate procedures. It picks the name of the object at the time you hit F1.

For all I know, it's done this since 2005, but I'm just noticing it now. It's cool. It makes me feel safe and happy in the Help docs.

Have a great week!

2010-07-09T10:36:00.000-05:00

Eric is a true renaissance man. Engineer and poet wrapped in one.

2010-07-06T13:45:00.000-05:00

SQOTD:
K.M is doing a plat that has an electrical line type that has an “E” in the line. He was hoping to get the “E” to repeat more often and make the text larger so that it can be seen when plotted. How can we do this?

Answer:

To create a new line type the first step is to go out and find the linetype file (acad.lin) stored on your computer under:

C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Autodesk\C3D 2010\R18.0\enu\Support

Notes:

Vista or Win7 users will find this: C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\C3D 2010\R18.0\enu\Support
For Civil 3D 2011 the path will be ...blah\blah\blah\Autodesk\C3D 2011\enu\Support (substitute appropriate Windows AppData path instead of the blahs.)

Double-click the ACAD.lin file and open it up with notepad.

You’ll see the list of all the “guts” of the linetypes.

Scroll down to the bottom to see a category called user defined linetypes.

You’ll end up pasting something like this at the bottom of the file.

*Electric_LINE,Elec ----E----E----E----E----E----E--
A,.5,-.2,["E",STANDARD,S=.1,R=0.0,X=-0.1,Y=-.05],-.25

Save and close the LIN file, then you’ll be able to add the line in AutoCAD.

Avoid adjusting the size of the line through the acad.lin file, unless you want it to change for all drawings going forward!

The size of the line should be controlled on the front end of Civil 3D.

Make sure the MSLTSCALE variable is set to 1. <--this means the linetypes will adjust with the annotative scale

Make sure the PSLTSCALE variable is also set to 1. <--this means the linetypes will adjust for viewport scale

If you need to change an individual line type’s scale use the Linetype scale setting in regular ACAD properties (civil 3d styles have this setting too). To change all the lines in the drawing together type in LTSCALE at the command line (however, if you have MSLTSCALE and PSLTSCALE set correctly, you shouldn’t have to radically change this.)

Now, I know I'm going to get an email or comment saying, "Why didn't you tell him to just use the Make Linetype command under express tools?" I do think that is a swell tool to use after you understand what is happening in the ACAD.lin file.

2010-07-02T16:32:00.000-05:00

It is about damn time I posted. I have been all over the US vacationing, learning VB.NET and teaching Civil 3D.

The following post was inspired by a customer of mine who does a lot of work for South Dakota DOT. He wanted to label the station inside the graph, but the grid lines were harshing his buzz. There is no way (to my knowledge) to force the display order of this item.

What we ended up doing was forcing our hand by putting the station label in the Centerline label inside of the band style. However, there is no station value component inside the band!

Sooo, we jumped into the title text area and copied out the text.

Then we jumped into the band style and pasted in Section View Station into the text component editor.

Bada-bing! It worked. You can now use good ol' display order to bring the label to the front.

Happy 4th! Don't blow off any appendages.

2010-06-01T10:10:00.000-05:00

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=15201709&linkID=9240698

Just remember to download the correct version fro your operating system, as there are downloads for 32bit and 64 bit!

2010-05-31T21:10:00.000-05:00

This week I ran into two interesting examples of alignments that just didn't play well with the automated intersection design tools.

Case 1- The Loop:
It isn't unusual for an alignment to cross itself, however the intersection tool won't recognise the crossing location. Of course, the easy answer is to split it into 2 alignments. However, I wanted to build the intersection the pre-2010 way, manually creating curb return profiles and corridor regions the "old fashioned" way to see if I ran into any hiccups.

I was worried that C3D might get confused with the whole "Target nearest to offset" thing in the corridor parameters, however this ended up building without problem. The most difficult part was getting the right OSNAP for throwing on the station label at the intersection (as seen in the screen cap). I used trial and error until I got what I wanted.

One of the big things you need to remember in creating manual intersections is to make sure your crowns match.

To manually lock a PVI just jump into the profile geometry editor. Use the select PVI to make sure you're locking the correct one and set the Lock option in geometry to True.

Case 2 - Two Ts:

This scenario came to me this week from a client. Two J-shaped subdivision roads T into each other. The first intersection builds without a hitch. The second intersection will not go so well. In my client's case it was creating wacky profiles (deleting vertical curves and locking the profile at the first intersection). When I tried it myself, I got the message, "The primary road for this T-junction will result in a circular dependency with the existing intersections." In other words, Civil 3D gets just as confused as the friend who you tell, "Pick me up at the intersection of Jefferson and 3rd Ave..." Which one?!

Your best bet for fixing this case is two split one of the alignments into two. Of course you could do this one the pre-2010 way as well.

Hope this info comes in handy someday.

2010-05-21T17:02:00.000-05:00

Only a few more days left to vote for my classes at AU: http://www.autodeskevents.com/au2010/index.cfm?event=voting.login
Vote for your favorite classes...don't make me bribe you with candy!

2010-05-21T16:51:00.000-05:00

Are you an Eagle Point user migrating to Civil 3D?

Are you a Civil 3D user who just hates the squirrely behavior of the description key editor?

If you answered YES to any of the above questions, I have some good news for you. I've developed a method of getting Eagle Point field codes over to Civil 3D without having to retype any of the names. You can also use this technique for typing in your description keys in a spreadsheet and migrating them over, thus avoiding the annoying editor.

(If you find this process too tedious and want me to do it for you, donate $50 bucks (see button right) and email me the exported EP codes. I'll send it back to you as a DWG from which you can move the completed Description keys.)

DISCLAIMER: The Description Key, Format and layer columns go across without a hitch. When the process is all done, you still need to set your styles for marker and point label.

What you will need:

Eagle Point
Civil 3D
Any version of Microsoft Access
Any version of Excel
A copy of the "dummy" Land Desktop file and my handy-dandy converter spreadsheet available HERE.

1) In Eagle Point, go to System then Node (Field Code) Library

2) Click the Manage Field Codes button.

3) Click Export. Save the file pretty much anywhere (as long as you remember where you put it). Give the file a full name such as Export-to-C3D.csv.

4) Double-click your new CSV file and let it open in Excel.

5) Copy your information from columns A through Q.

6) Open up the spreadsheet EP_Convert.xlsx

7) Make sure you are on the worksheet tab called Eagle_Point

8) Click your cursor in cell A2 (the first blank one), and paste.

9) Switch to the worksheet tab called Default.

Your Eagle Point information is now in the correct format for bringing into an Access table.

10) Save the Excel file.

12) Close up all your Excel files. Fire Up Access by double clicking the Default.mdb.

13) If Access prompts you to update the database to the latest format, click yes. If a conversion errors table is created, delete it.

If it doesn't prompt you, just be glad and move on to the next step.

14) Go to External Data. Click Excel.

15) Browse for the EP_Convert.xlsx file that contains your stuff.

16) Toggle on "Append a Copy of the records to the table DESKEYS". Click OK.

17) IMPORTANT: Make sure the worksheet Default is highlighted.

18) Click next until the import finishes. Access should automatically recognise the column headings.

Double click the table DESCKEYS to check out the new data you imported. If you want to add or modify your codes this would be a good place to do so.

19) Save the MDB as a 2000 format file.

20) Put the database (mdb) file in a folder called DescKey. Put the DescKey folder in a folder called Cogo. Put the Cogo folder in a folder called EP Import.

21) Fire Up Civil 3D (yay! Finally!) Open up the template where you want these keys to reside.
22) Go to Insert tab > Land Desktop. Browse to the folder one level up from wherever you put the EP Import folder. You know you are in the right spot when EP Import is listed in the Project name. Click OK.

23) If you did everything correctly, Civil 3D will pop up a message that says "Description Keys migration completed!"

24) Click OK.

25) Lastly, you'll need to get to work setting styles in the description key editor, but that's easy!

2010-05-07T08:11:00.000-05:00

I've changed my comment policy to allow ANYONE to comment. Previously I required a Google account.

I'm still moderating comments and reserve the right to reject stuff - but for all of you who have emailed me with comments - this one is for you!

Of course, I always do enjoy your email messages and I do respond to them as time permits.

Have a great weekend!

2010-04-14T14:24:00.000-05:00

Hey all. Just a quickie to let you know that I'm not dead. I've got several posts 2/3 written and haven't had time to clean them up for release.

In the coming weeks you can expect the following posts:

It's a "Group" Thing
Facts and Figures
Forcing Map 2011 to install as 32 bit on a 64 bit Machine

In the meantime you can follow me on Twitter again if you are so inclined. I'm now @LouisaHolland . I rejoined with a new mindset (thanks to @Civil3diva). Did you know its OK to miss people's Tweets? Crazy. If you follow me you'll get about 40% me whining about work, 30% quasi-philosophical musings, 27% crap, and 3% vaguely relevant software Tweets.

2010-03-10T08:02:00.000-06:00

Part 3 of a 10 part series...wait..or was it part 4 of a 12 part series? Oh forget it, here's the whole document!

If you are about to learn Civil 3D 2010 and are coming from an old version of AutoCAD, Microstation or even BricsCAD/IntelliCAD, you’ll need to brush up on your AutoCAD knowledge.

The attached PDF will take you through the bare-bones basics of AutoCAD in preparation to learn Civil 3D 2010.

AutoCAD Skills for C3D Users

If you are taking one of my upcoming classes, I want you to memorize this and sleep with it under your pillow.

BTW My upcoming classes that are open to the public are:
March 22-25th in Madison, WI
April 22-23, 29-30 in Waukesha, WI
Click here to register.

2010-03-09T10:48:00.000-06:00

Spring is around the corner which means the last submittals are due before construction season here in the north. It has been a crazy busy few months for me and my clients, but I'll squeeze in a quick blog post.

Adding breaklines to a surface is simple. From Prospector, expand the surface definition to which you want to add the breakline. Right-click on the Breakline area and select Add. Now you have several options which we will discuss in detail...

There are five options when adding breaklines to a surface:
• Standard
• Proximity
• Wall
• From file
• Non-destructive

The first screen-cap shows the triangles on a surface before a breakline is added to the surface.
Compare the spot elevations in the examples to see what is changing with the surface depending on the type of breakline.

The example breakline has elevations at each vertex of 972.0, 967.6 and 969.0.

The second image shows a standard breakline added to the surface. Standard breaklines are the most common type of breakline. Civil 3D uses the line’s vertex elevations and adds them to the surface exactly as they are. Triangles are created and align with the breakline.

The third screen-cap shows the breakline added as Proximity.
Elevations from proximity breaklines are ignored and X,Y and Z values are inherited from the nearest triangle vertex. The black line is the original line added as proximity. The green line is how Civil 3D sees it.

This type of breakline can be used when the XY values for a line are known, but the elevations are
unknown.

The fourth picture shows a wall breakline in plan view. A wall breakline is like adding two breaklines, one at the real breakline elevation and one at the height you specify*.

Here is a schematic of the wall breakline in section view with the offset side to the left. The black dot represents the location of the feature line. The cyan squares represent existing surface points.

This 5th screen-shot is an example text file in the correct format to be a breakline file. Breakline files can be either space or comma delimited. Breakline files MUST be in the format Easting, Northing, Elevation.

The S in the files denotes the start of a line.

Once the file is imported the elevations are treated exactly like a standard breakline.

Non-destructive breaklines do not change the elevation of the surface in any way, but they do change the triangles at the location of the breakline. New triangles are formed but the vertex elevations for those triangles are interpolated from the surface.

*When it comes to wall breaklines there is a teensy, tiny offset in the XY plane. This offset of 0.001' prevents the wall from being perfectly vertical. Civil 3D surface models can't contain caves, overhangs or vertical walls.

I hope you enjoyed this wildly compelling explanation of breaklines. Thanks to K.W. of Seattle for inspiring me!

2010-03-03T14:36:00.000-06:00

I swear I blogged about this before but I couldn't find it in my own archives.

So you attempt to launch a dialog box, say... Layer Properties Manager or Corridor Properties. You can still move your cursor but the dialog box does not appear. Civil 3D hasn't crashed...just the dialog box has gone AWOL.

If you've recently gone from 2 monitors to one, you may be suffering from what I call "phantom monitor syndrome". Your application dialog box came up on a monitor that you are no longer connected to.

It is an easy fix:
ALT + Spacebar then M
Then use arrow keys (usually the left one) to move the dialog box over to your correct monitor.

ALT + Spacebar activates the Windows options for any dialog box. M chooses "move".

2010-01-27T08:37:00.000-06:00

I'm not usually big on New Year resolutions. However, it is useful to reflect on the past year and set goals for the future.

This is my personal list, no particular order:

Expand the list of Civil 3D blogs I follow.
Save blocks before closing the block editor. I trust it to prompt me to save way too much.
Use ribbon more and not cop-out by typing in the key-in when I can't find a command right away.
Always save before entering Object Viewer, no matter how much of a hurry I am in.
Publish to DWF more often than PDF.
Update my white papers to show 2010 screenshots.
Learn how to make multi-view blocks.
Get past the "Hello World" stage of learning VB.NET
Get awesome at the Hydraflow tools. Dig up old hydrology & fluid mechanics text books to facilitate awesomeness.
Understand & use more obscure subassemblies.
Present at Autodesk University.
Stop naming all my test data sets "Yodalinda Valley".

That's pretty much it. Hopefully I'll get a few of these done!

2010-01-22T13:12:00.000-06:00

Again...
Civil 3D is not backwards compatible.
En Espanol:
Civil 3D no es compatible hacia atrás.
En Francais:
Civil 3D ne sont pas rétrocompatibles.
Und Deutsch:
Civil 3D werde den Zwerg zu zwingen, Sie zu verletzen.

OK. Now that we are on the same page, let me explain. If you use Civil 3D 2010, someone using Civil 3D 2009 can't readily open your drawing and keep working. I know what you are thinking, "But Lou, what about the 'Save As' feature?"

'Save as' is very misleading to my civil brethren. 'Save as' only works on base-Autocad elements (your lines, arcs, circles, etc). It doesn't work on Civil objects (surfaces, points, corridors, etc.)

Whenever possible, avoid mixing versions of AutoCAD. In any given firm, your Map people, Civil people, Civil 3D people base Autocad and even AutoCAD LT users should all be on the same year. It is better to not upgrade at all than to upgrade piecemeal.

So what happens if going backwards is unavoidable?
Here's what you do:

Export everything you can to a LandXML file. Output > Export to LandXML

This is the export out of 2010, which shows all of the entities possible to export. Click OK and save the LandXML file somewhere.

Also, Export (not 'Save as') the DWG to a 2007 format. This will explode down all the Civil objects into base-ACAD elements.

In 2009 or prior, start a new DWG using your 2009 version template.
Go to File > Import Land XML

Click OK and let it crank.

You will need to recreate profile views to view your profiles.

Now, XREF the drawing you exported from 2010 into the 2009 drawing.

What you lose by going backwards:

Assemblies
Corridors
Sample lines & cross sections
View frames
Dynamic connections between objects (i.e. surfaces are disconnected from points, existing profiles are divorced from surfaces and so on)
A little part of your soul.

2010-01-16T09:36:00.000-06:00

This post has absolutely nothing to do with software. The short of the long of it: Donate to Engineers without Borders.

The earthquake in Haiti is tragic, but the biggest tragedy of it all was the fact that thousands of deaths could have been prevented with better construction methods.

Looking at the photos of collapsed buildings and crumbled infrastructure there were a few things that caught my eye.

The first thing I noticed was the conspicuous absence of rebar. Having lived in the Caribbean for several years I know that concrete block is the most common construction material used in the region. It is cost effective, keeps things cool and can be installed by novice laborers.

However, what most laypeople don't know is that block has crap for sheer strength. When constructed properly, a concrete block building should have a vertical steel reinforcing bar packed in the openings with mortar at least every two feet. Even if the building fails, the steel acts to keep the wall together and will make more of a "tent" instead of crumbling into a pile.

Another thing I noticed about the concrete is how small of pieces it crumbled into. Even without rebar, the concrete should have failed in chunks, rather than turn to dust. I have two theories about why this happened. Either WAY too much water was used in the mixes and/or the water used was cut with salt water.

The whole point of this post is to make the observation that once the humanitarian crisis is under control, the rebuilding of Haiti needs to happen with proper building codes. Personally, I feel that the best organization that can help make this happen is Engineers Without Borders. They have a special Haiti fund set up. If you are a French-speaking civil or structural engineer they are also looking for volunteers. (Sidenote: I would totally do it, but the only French I know is "Mai j'ai une autre Diet Coke, s'il vous plaît?")

Thanks for reading.

2010-01-15T16:39:00.000-06:00

First they delivered on 5.25" floppies...
Then they delivered on 3.5" floppies...
Then they delivered on CD...
Then they delivered on DVD...

Now they are delivering via download...

Starting this year, you will no longer be getting that shiny new DVD box full of disks for your 2011 Autodesk products. The fastest way to get your product software will be to log into subscription center and download it from there.

It's greener, it makes a helluva lotta sense and unless you are living in a cave, you've got an internet connection that will allow you to download this no problem.

However, you can request a physical disk from the Autodesk subscription center at no charge. If you want to let your reseller know ahead of time about your disk preference - go ahead and let us know before March 12, 2010.

I can't wait!

2010-01-13T08:57:00.000-06:00

SQOTD: My SID file shows up in print preview, but doesn't actually plot! I need to show this aerial photo - help!

Answer: No matter what type of raster image (SID, TIF, JPG, BMP, PNG, etc) big files need a little coaxing to print. It doesn't matter what flavor of AutoCAD you have either (Map, Civil, Civil 3D or even vanilla AutoCAD) some adjusting to your print settings may be needed.

The most likely culprit for the SID not plotting lies in the printer settings. When AutoCAD converts the drawing to a format the printer can read, it often “chokes” on large raster images.

1. When going to plot, click on Properties (just to left of the printer name).
2. Go to the Device and Document Settings tab.
3. Expand the Graphics area (click on the little plus sign).
a. Highlight the Raster Graphics area.
b. Slide the Trade-off slider bar all the way to the left. This lowers the resolution on the raster image for plotting, but most people do not notice a difference.
4. Click OK.
5. If it asks you to save changes, do so. That way you can use this setting again if you run into problems in the future.

This same setting should work regardless of the printer you are printing to. PDF was just the example I happened to take a screen shot of, but a physical printer will have the same raster graphics settings.

Make sure you don’t slide the top two settings all the way to the left or the image will not appear. Try the first “notch” from the left on each. You may need to do some trial and error with the settings before they take effect. Once you get a setting that shows your SID, save the PC3.

If you are still having problems there are some other things you can do:
• Use Image Clip to cut down on the area of the SID AutoCAD needs to process.
• Check your RASTERTHRESHOLD system variable in CAD. This value indicates the size (in meg) of raster file that AutoCAD will even try to print. Make sure it is larger than the SID file itself.

• Check your RASTERPERCENT system variable in CAD. This indicates the amount of virtual memory CAD will use when plotting a raster image. The default value is 20. I advise setting it to 60.

Now get out there and plot!

2010-01-08T07:38:00.000-06:00

AutoDesk is looking for input from US-based Civil 3D users and buyers regarding their use of social networking (you know: blogs, Twatter, Faceplace, etc.).

If you’ve got 15 minutes to spare, please take the survey so that they know where to spend this portion of their marketing resources.

Onto the $50 USD Amazon gift card!

1. Take and complete the survey: http://web5.kinesissurvey.com/virtualcauseway/html.pro?ID=227
2. Take a screen-cap of the last page of the survey (the Thank You! page)
3. Add your AutoDesk.com screen name over the ‘Thank You’ text
4. Post the screen-cap image to this Disco thread to enter a random drawing
http://discussion.autodesk.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=6314217?

On Wednesday, January 13th, Dave Mills of Autodesk will randomly select 5 ‘entrants’ and post the winners on the discussion thread. The winners will be contacted via email.

Check out the discussion thread for details!

2009-12-31T10:03:00.000-06:00

We all know how easy it is to install and activate software. Autodesk activations department gives you the benefit of the doubt, and will reauthorize almost anything. Don't let this get you in DEEP trouble!

Those activations are closely watched. I once had to vouch for a client/friend who was having trouble getting his network license manager going because of hardware problems on the server. We ended up needing to request codes several times within a short period - which threw a big red flag in the Autodesk system. I spoke with some really nice people at the license compliance department and explained what was going on.

If you think your company might be out of compliance with your license agreement, both Autodesk and your reseller will bend over backwards to get you in line as inexpensively as possible. We'll look at our records and compare them to yours - heck, you may even find out you can install more!

However, if you were recently laid off and want to hit the bastards where it hurts, why not report them to the Business Software Alliance (BSA). You can even get a reward as a percentage of the value of software.

Members of the BSA include Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Bentley, SolidWorks, and Microsoft, just to name a few. Their purpose in life is to combat software piracy worldwide. If you don't play ball - they can come after offending companies or individuals with an army of lawyers.

Here's what happens if a company is found with illegal seats of software, and refuses to get straight (Source: person I know who went through it several years ago):

For every seat of illegal software: $150,000 fine.

The IT guy in charge of your machine gets fined $10,000.

The IT guy's boss is also fined $10,000.

The IT guy's boss' boss gets fined $10,000.

If you are caught selling illegal copies of software, you will probably do some jail time in addition to the fines.

Now, those are the maximums. Most of the time, BSA members settle out of court for far less.

For example, this past year a civil engineering company in Nevada settled with Autodesk for $205,000. In that case, Autodesk gave the company a chance to do an internal audit and do the right thing. When the result of the company's internal audit denied any wrongdoing, ("Nope, no illegal software here. Nothing here but us chickens...") the BSA got to suing. Read the full article here.

Before it gets to this point, companies (especially Autodesk) give you a chance to get into compliance with your license agreement. Nobody wants to spend the money going to court over something so stupid and fixable.

Here's more information about how Autodesk will help you stay legal.

I encourage you all to do the right thing...unless your former employer has it coming!

Happy New Year!

2009-12-24T07:38:00.001-06:00

Happy Christmas and a groovy New Year. We will soon be in those few precious months where the calendar year and the latest Autodesk release align.

May the magic of the season stay with you all year.

The corridor shown here was created with offset alignments with 11 widening regions each. Then I tweaked a few styles for the decor.

Now if I had really been feeling ambitious I'd have modeled a star on top like an intersection...

2009-12-10T16:31:00.000-06:00

It's that time again! Another installment of my who-know-how-many-part series. This time we're talking about the use and wonders of the Properties palette in AutoCAD.

Have a great weekend!

10-autocad-skills-part-3

-Lou "Hot Grips" Holland

2009-12-09T09:11:00.000-06:00

I've been putting together a series for brand-new users of AutoCAD who are getting ready to learn Civil 3D. You don't need to know AutoCAD inside out, but understanding the basics is huge. This originally was a ten-part series but it has grown a bit.

Part 2 is ready! AutoCAD skills for Civil 3D: Part-2 Selecting things!

Part 1 is still available: AutoCAD skills for Civil 3D: Part 1 Getting to know the interface.

Coming soon: Part 3: AutoCAD Properties

Have fun!

-Lou

2009-11-26T22:14:00.000-06:00

Breasts are near and dear to my heart. I was delighted to discover that Shaan Hurley of Autodesk is also a fan. If Shaan can raise $2000 by AU2009 (NEXT WEEK!) he will shave his head at the Autodesk Blogger's Social.

What can you do?

For everyone who follows the blog revit3D.com, Greg Arkin is donating $1 to the Susan G. Komen foundation for the Cure. He's hoping that like-minded people will donate as well.

Let's do this! Click here to donate.

Remember, you can't motorboat prosthetic funbags.

2009-11-25T10:50:00.000-06:00

Folks, you don't need to be an AutoCAD guru before you learn Civil 3D 2010. However, you do need to know some basics or you will get lost, frustrated and/or confused when working in Civil 3D.

Lately, I've been teaching a lot of Microstation/Caice users how to use Civil 3D - and finding that the best approach is to spend at least a day focusing on just the AutoCAD side of things.

The following is part one of my 10-part series AutoCAD Skills for Civil 3D.

The document is called 10 AutoCAD skills, but that's a bit of a misnomer. It is more like 10 general topics to be aware of.

Enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving to my US friends. Happy Belated Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends. Happy early Pongal to my Indian friends.

2009-11-12T10:46:00.000-06:00

As you know, I am a huge fan of using the Overlay option when working with external reference files. Read this post to find out why. I recently discovered a system variable that will help you by forcing the default attachment type to Overlay.

XREFTYPE

Set this system variable to 1 to default to overlay all the time.

For some of you, I'm sure this is old news, but for me I was tickled pink to find it.

2009-11-05T09:42:00.000-06:00

Haven't decided if the Autodesk 2010 products are for you?

November 17th, Autodesk takes its 2010 roadshow into the cyberwebs.

Register for this online event now. There will even be a virtual trade show area - where you can chat live with yours truly. The web interface for the virtual event is more fun and interactive than your average webcast.

View informative sessions including:

AutoCAD 2010 Tips & Techniques with Lynn Allen
The AutoCAD Family of Products with Shaan Hurley
The World of 3D Modeling with Heidi Hewett

Be sure to stop by the MasterGraphics booth and say "Hi!"

2009-11-02T10:25:00.000-06:00

It is the end of an era. After November 2011, the products that launched Eagle Point into the competitive world of civil engineering software will be retired.

The modules being retired are:

RoadCalc
COGO
Surface Modeling
Storm Sewers
Sanitary Sewers
Watershed Modeling

The last version of AutoCAD that Eagle Point will make these modules for is version 2012. The Microstation compatible versions of these modules are also being retired.

Users can get technical support for Eagle Point's legacy software through the end of calendar year 2011.

Eagle Point has transitioned into building add-on products for Civil, Civil 3D and Revit. From http://www.eaglepoint.com/:

"With AutoCAD Civil 3D now in its 5th major release, we are excited about
standardizing on Civil 3D as our development platform. This means that we are
able to focus our energy on developing new technologies that help you complete
your land development, transportation, and environmental projects better, faster
and more affordably than ever before."

If you find yourself in a position where you'd like to transition from Eagle Point to AutoCAD Civil or AutoCAD Civil 3D - stay tuned. I'll be posting more on this topic over the next few weeks.

2009-10-27T10:02:00.001-05:00

Someone asks you what your favorite color is and you say, "190".
You've rubbed off the letters in the ESC key.
ALL YOUR FRIENDS KNOW THAT WRITING IN ALL CAPS JUST MEANS YOU'RE WORKING, NOT SHOUTING.
You ask your mom to "plot" the directions to your aunt's house.
You believe there is no such thing as too many monitors.
You think hand-drafted drawings are "adorable!"
You refer to cleaning your glasses as "doing a REGEN."
You create detailed floorplans before moving any of your furniture around.
They're not family photos, they're raster images.
You've ever worked on AutoCAD in your pajamas...or underwear.
You use the middle mouse wheel to pan & zoom everything (and have messed up a Google map doing so.)
Most of your Facebook friends you know from AU or techcamp.
You don't clean your house, you PURGE.

2009-10-21T19:07:00.000-05:00

Go get it!

If you are having trouble logging into the subscription center, contact your friendly neighborhood Autodesk reseller.

Yessssss! This beats the crap out of the Windows 7 release.

2009-10-19T19:07:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas Civil 3D 2010 users!!

Ok...for months I've heard rumor swirling that "some kind of roundabout" tool would be coming soon for Civil 3D 2010. Imagine my surprise today when I saw it in action plus TONS of other tools available only to subscription Civil 3D customers.

More details to come, but check your subscription account SOON for the subscription advantage pack (SAP).

Note: this is just the tippity top of the iceberg.

2D roundabout layout tool. Not as powerful as the intersection tool - but a good start.
Point cloud support. Navisworks has always been able to see these, now C3D can too. Lots of different file formats supported. Don't expect a TIN out of this - but you no longer need 3rd party software to deal with this data. No weeding of this data either (yet)...but hello??? POINT cloud support! Snap-to, measure and color-code this data.
My personal favorite tool comes in the form of the surface enhancements. Remember this post? Totally useless now. You can now import a surface direct from SHP file or other geo-database.
More profile creation tools.
More alignment manipulations tools.
More supported survey formats.
More visualization tools! (Tools that answer the question, "Can drivers see over that statue of the Fonze?)
Better export to Microstation.
More!!!

I'm going to try to scam some screen caps from Dana and post more here.

Look for these tool in about a week. I'll post when they are available.

2009-10-02T09:42:00.000-05:00

A few handy line variables to know:

LTSCALE - This is very straightforward. LTSCALE set to 1 draws your lines as defined in the *.LIN file. LTSCALE set to 0.5 makes it half as big. LTSCALE of 2 makes it twice as big and so on. This is a drawing-wide setting. If you change LTSCALE, all your lines will adjust accordingly, unless you've set the LTSCALE by object or if you used CELTSCALE.

CELTSCALE - Similar to LTSCALE, but does not affect lines that have already been created. Think of it as an alternative to setting line scale by object. Say you set your LTSCALE to 1, draw a bunch of stuff, and then need to draw more stuff with an LTSCALE of 10. But you don't want to whack out the stuff you already drew. Set CELTSCALE to 10 (leave LTSCALE alone) and draw your new stuff.

PSLTSCALE - you want this to be 1, which means the viewport scale will effect the scale of the lines. With this set to 0, your lines will look the same in paperspace as in modelspace, regardless of the viewport scale.

PLINEGEN - AKA "Linetype generation." By default this is zero, meaning that if a line segment is too short to show dashes, it will appear solid. What is happening is that CAD sees the short segment and starts the pattern over, centering the pattern at the midpoint of the segment. If you don't like that, you can set your PLINEGEN variable to 0, where CAD doesn't start over at each segment. In Civil 3D 2009 and earlier this comes into play when creating existing ground profiles (in Civil 3D 2010, profiles always act like PLINEGEN = 1).

PLINEGEN=0

PLINEGEN=1

2009-09-28T13:35:00.000-05:00

There are many mythical creature out there: vampires, wood nymphs, unicorns and people who work in layout tabs with modelspace active.

I've met exactly two people who do this, and both were civil drafters with a long history of AutoCAD knowlege. At first I was dismissive of this concept, but the more I think about it, the more I can see where it might be handy.

I decided to try it for a few days. It was uncomfortable, yet exhilerating; much like wearing your underpants backwards.

Advantages:

You can work in a DVIEW > TWist mode without messing with your modelspace.

You don't have to worry about what layers you freeze and thaw, as you are not affecting the main model space. However, the better way to work is to use the layer states manager.

Disadvantages:

Civil 3D pops you back into the model tab after some operations. For instance, after I imported points, I was shot back to "real" modelspace. It feels like Civil 3D was not designed to work this way.
VP scale is constantly changing as you zoom around. When the drawing is regen'd your text updates and can be a mess to work with.
Seems to slow things down. It took a few beats longer to, say draw an alignment.

So, if you've ever wondered what this button does and if you should be pushing it - just say no.

2009-09-28T13:27:00.000-05:00

Everyone who's even thought about blogging has already posted this, but here's my contribution:
Civil 3D sp 2
Be sure to download the correct version for you - there is a seperate download for plain old Civil.

Peace!

2009-09-10T19:48:00.000-05:00

The thing about geo-referenced images is that there really isn’t one way to insert images into Civil 3D.

Depending on your situation you may use the traditional Map > Image > Insert command. However, if your drawing is at a different coordinate system from the image you are inserting, the MAPIINSERT command will not transform it - leaving you with an image in la-la land.

Here’s an informal guide to what to do & when with raster images. Hope this clears up some of the serious confusion out there!

-Lou

2009-09-03T16:15:00.000-05:00

After a long few weeks of training people until they were ready to run screaming, I am back in the office and back in the saddle with tech support. Well, at least today I was.

So I had this call today that was initially very mysterious. In modelspace plan view the corridor looked perfect. The layout my client was getting ready to print looked exactly as expected.

But when he went to print preview he got strange lines that always emanated from the lower right of the viewport.

When I took a closer look at the corridor in object viewer, I noticed that all was not as it seemed.

The links were totally freaking out and throwing themselves into infinity. I guess you could call them FREAK-quency lines. Harhar.

Taking a closer closer look I went to the subassembly properties and noticed that there were a bunch of zero's in the subassembly parameters. Hmmm....zero's.

Since the guy really just wanted a simple model of a road and wasn't concerned about thickness, we recreated his assembly using generic links instead.

Ahh. Mystery solved. After fixing the assembly, no strange lines.

Lesson learned: Avoid zeros in your subassembly properties. If you need to set something to zero, use 0.001' instead.

2009-08-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

Training people how to use Civil 3D can be very satisfying. It's great to see the light bulb go off in people's minds and help them use a tool that will make their jobs easier and possibly more fun. However, there are a few things trainees do that drive me up the freekin' wall.

How to Be an Annoying Trainee:

Answer your cell phone in class. This works best if you have a really obnoxious ring tone. Speak loudly and remain in the room for the most irritating effect.
Ask questions that are clearly not on topic. When getting a guided tour of the interface the first 20 minutes of class, make sure to raise your hand and ask, "Um, are we going to do cross sections soon?"
Ask stupid questions. Yes, Virginia, there is a such thing as a stupid question. Make sure to ask something like, "What happens if I delete everything in my project? Is there a way to compute volumes after that?"
Start your own sub-class in the back of the room. You saw a demo once of creating a parking lot with a corridor. The instructor is not getting there fast enough for your taste, so you get the attention of the 3-4 people around you and start your own lesson.
Skip the fundamentals. You don't know Autocad? No problem! Surely the instructor has time to go into a lesson on using paperspace just for you. If she doesn't, act indignant.
Constantly whine about making the change from your legacy software. The instructor will certainly appreciate your insight on how easy it was to model surfaces with the LISP routine you used in 1997.
Bring a laundry list of tech support questions from your coworker. Corner your instructor on these during break, before she has a chance to use the restroom!
Don't bother paying attention. After the instructor has just spent the last 10 minutes explaining and demonstrating the uses of frequency lines, get your head out of your email and ask, "Hey, what are theses lines on my road for?"
Interrupt. This isn't kindergarten -hell if you're going to raise your hand. Why should you wait for the instructor to pause to make your point?
Give up. This is hard. You're tired. You will retire in 5 years, anyway. F it. For full effect act visibly bored or just put your head down on the table for a nap.

Got any more good ones? Leave a comment! I'd love to hear your stories of annoying trainees. :)

2009-08-19T11:14:00.001-05:00

Last Updated 01-11-2010:

Civil 3D 2010 is fully supported on Windows XP (both 32 and 64 bit) and Windows Vista (both 32 and 64 bit).

Civil 3D 2010 is also supported on Windows 7 with a few known issues.
Previous versions will *probably* install on Windows 7, but are not supported.

Civil 3D 2010 is NOT supported on any of the following OSs:
Windows emulators on Mac, Linux, etc...
Windows ME
Windows 98

Ok - so what is the solution to an out of memory problem in Civil 3D 2010? You will need administrator rights on your computer to do most of my suggestions. Most of these require a reboot to take effect. When in doubt, seek out your IT person.

I promise one of these actions will work. Try them in the following order:

Check out your video card driver's date. Right-click on your Computer icon and go to Manage. Double click Device Manager. Expand Display Adapters. Right-click on the name of the video card and select properties. Look at the date on the driver. Is it more than a few months old? If you are connected to the interwebs you can click Update Driver and have Windows seek out the newest driver (if a newer one exists).
Install Civil 3D 2010 Update 2.
Get more RAM. 4 gigs are reccomended. Is your machine recognising all of what you have? I ran into a case not long ago where the guy insisted he had 4 gig, but the hardware guy didn't install it correctly. Doh! Go to your Computer Properties to verify.
Throw the 3-gig Switch. Here are my favorite directions. They are a little more clear than the TS1071001 doc.
Increase Virtual Memory. Windows uses a chunk of your hard drive and pretends it is RAM when needed. Right-click Computer > Properties > Advanced tab. Click Settings under the performance area. Go to the Advanced tab. Click Change next to virtual memory. Whatever its set to now for initial and maximum size, double it.
Set your WHIPTHREAD variable to 3. Got multiple core processor? Use it!
Is the Problem Drawing-Specific? Use Recover with XREFS under the Application Menu > Drawing Utilities > Recover > Recover with XREFS to verify the health of your drawings. AUDIT, PURGE, -PURGE for regapps.
Do Less Stuff. If you can get by with running just email and Civil 3D at once, that might help your RAM situation. If you're on a beefy machine, this shouldn't be an issue, but know your computer's limitations.

I really hope this helps.

2009-08-13T16:20:00.000-05:00

Background: While AutoCAD 2010 can insert a PDF or use it like an XREF, the Raster Design software can’t work with PDF documents. The PDF file needs to be converted to a bitonal image in order to work with the vectorization tools in Raster Design.

There are several options for working with a PDF with Raster Design.

Use Adobe Acrobat to convert PDF’s to a TIFF image.
If you don’t have “full blown” Adobe Acrobat, do the following
a. In Adobe Reader, go to Tools > Select and Zoom > Snapshot tool.
b. Place a Window around the portion of the PDF you wish to use with Raster design.

c. This will copy the selection to your windows clipboard.

d. In AutoCAD 2010 go to Paste Special (Home tab, Clipboard panel, Paste Special).

e. Paste the object as an Image Entity. Click OK.

f. Click in the drawing to place the image. Hit enter to accept a scale of 1, rotation of 0.

g. Once the image is placed in the DWG, select it, the right-click on the it.

h. From the right-click menu, go to Image > Write > Save As.

i. Save the image with a name that you can recognize and in the same Windows directory as your cad file. (If you don’t do this step, it will be easy to lose track of the file!)

Next, you’ll convert the image to Bitonal, then convert it to indexed color, then back to bitonal. The reason we need to do this is because the first bitonal conversion inverts the colors (white becomes black and vice versa).

j. From the Image tab, the Edit Panel, click Process image and select Change color depth.

k. At the Command line you are prompted to type B for bitonal. At this point the image becomes a “negative” of itself.

l. Repeat the command, but this time convert it to indexcolor using I. The image will not appear to change.

m. Repeat the command for a third and last time. Convert the image back to Bitonal and the colors will be back to normal.

n. Save the drawing and proceed to work with the image as you normally would in Raster Design.

2009-07-17T13:14:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to do a post for some time now explaining the relationship between Autodesk and its resellers. This came to the forefront for me a few weeks ago when one of the WGUG attendees said, "Hey, how come your logo is on the same freebie as Autodesk? Aren't you competitors?" Heck no!

Here's the deal...think of Autodesk as a car manufacturer, like Toyota or GM or VW. The resellers are like the car dealerships. Autodesk designs and manufactures the car, but the dealer sells, services and, in some cases, pimps out the cars.

In this analogy, the dealer is often the driving instructor. Training classes are held at a dealer's local office. Autodesk University is always an option too - sort of like going to the Detroit Auto Show.

But who is the "mechanic"?

One of the biggest points of confusion is subscription versus support. Your subscription (much like a new car's warranty) is through Autodesk. An Autodesk subscription includes web-only support though Autodesk subscription center. Subscription does not mean you can actually call somone to tell them about your technical support problems. To speak with a human about tech support issues you need either subscription with Gold Support from Autodesk or a support contract through your reseller.

I shall now go on a related tangent about what subscription means.
Top six reasons to purchase and remain on subscription (in order of importance):

Easier budgeting. The cost remains low and constant every year. No surprises when you realize you need to upgrade. If you don't have subscription and wait more than three years (the time it takes for products to retire), you end up re-buying the software from scratch.
Prior use authorization. This happens to one of our users once a week: New guy starts and the company needs to purchase a new seat. However the company is still standardized on 2008. If you are on subscription, its no big deal - you can get a serial number to install another seat of 2008. If you are not on subscription, new guy is stuck with 2010. End of story.
Web-based support. This is a great supplement even if you have an in-house guru or outside tech support. Don't believe your reseller? Get a second opinion straight from Autodesk.
Bonus packs. Autodesk has put out some juicy tidbits out there for subscription members to download. Right now, Civil 3D users there can get style converters, stage-storage tools, HEC-RAS tools, white papers, cheat-sheets and industry related articles.
e-Learning. Need to brush up on making surfaces? Wanna see how to make dynamic blocks in base AutoCAD? Browse the eLearning catalog for interactive tools.
Product Updates. Yes, this is the last reason to be on subscription. Yes, you get a shiny, new box every spring containing the latest and greatest product. If you are too eager to wait for the box you can download your product from subscription center the minute it is released. However, this should be your last consideration if looking at subscription. Many companies are tied into client file formats. Others may want to wait until they get computers with more juice. The smart ones install on a test machine and lurk on the discussion groups to see if there are any major problems.

What's your takeaway? A) Subscription and support are different beasts. B)Subscription is not the plot of a big, evil company fleecing a captive market. C)Autodesk University is like a car show, minus the chicks in bikinis draping themselves seductively over the hood...unless you are into middle-aged white guys, in which case, its exactly like that.

Peace out.

2009-07-15T21:14:00.001-05:00

Where the heck has this spring/summer gone? I've been very busy (yay job security), but too busy to really blog much. And I feel guilty. Seriously. Hundreds of people bother to hit this site every day or two (or three) and I have been slacking on content. Since my sense of guilt has been compounded by a few glasses of wine this evening, I am posting to you a little gem I usually reserve for my clients.

Here is the text of my 2009 Styles Workshop. All of the concepts are still valid in 2010, however the interface has changed - hence the screen caps are out of date.

Enjoy the sh*t out of this.

2009-06-22T15:55:00.000-05:00

Ripped from the Subscription website:

Surface Creation Extension for AutoCAD Map 3D
Release Date: 2009-05-28

The Surface Creation Extension for AutoCAD® Map 3D 2010 software helps users create, visualize and analyze terrain models and improve design processes when working with point data collected by surveying, scanning, and GPS instruments and devices. Using the Surface Creation Extension, users can

Quickly create surfaces from external point files, AutoCAD® point data and block references in drawings, as well as point and contour data that reside in FDO data sources such as ESRI SHP files. Use a combination of these data sources in different projections to create a surface. Then use AutoCAD Map 3D functions to create elevation contours for mapping and related projects.

Use AutoCAD Map 3D software functions to combine surface, CAD, GIS, and aerial imagery to effectively visualize sites in 3D and perform elevation, aspect, and slope analysis as well as perform sunlight studies, enabling you to make better decisions about land development projects.

Easily exchange surfaces via GeoTIFF format with other software packages such as AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and ESRI® ArcGIS® software.
This extension is available in English only, but will install on all language versions of AutoCAD Map 3D 2010 software.

More on this later...after I play with it, that is.

2009-06-22T10:19:00.000-05:00

Are you the guy/gal assigned to create network deployments and install the new Civil 3D 2010 software? There are a few things you should know.

1. The documentation on the DVD still refers to the network activation utility. That is a crock of hooey. There is no more network activation utility. To activate your new license(s) you need to go to: http://www.register.autodesk.com/

2. Before you even think about starting to build your deployment, copy the contents of the 3 installation DVDs to a location onto your server (or external drive...whatever). Copy all these into the same folder. Any messages regarding "This location already contains a folder blah, blah blah..." just click yes or Copy and Replace and move on. The files on disk will end up taking up just shy of 8 GB.

If you don't copy the DVDs to a harddrive, the resulting deployment will not correctly install the content packs or tool palettes.

I am not lying...check this out:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=13251797&linkID=9240697

Once you have the files copied to a harddrive, launch setup.exe per usual.

In other happy news I am now an official LEED Accredited Professional. Or, as my dad says, "a card-carrying tree-hugger."

I'm now off to try to get the song Play that Funky Music (Whiteboy), out of my head.

2009-06-19T09:35:00.001-05:00

Hi All-

I'm back from vacation in San Fransisco and done with a marathon run of training classes and consulting. After tomorrow I'll have the LEED exam out of the way (pass or fail it will at least be out of my way).

I'm hoping to have some useful posts up soon.

Here's what's in my pipeline:

The Reseller/Autodesk connection.
Using Map books to create x-sections in 2010 - the non-youtube version of Jerry's presentation found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ed-koQYrBE.
Styles, Styles, Styles!
Civil 3D 2010 QTO capabilities: Software scope creep or salvation?

2009-06-08T13:00:00.000-05:00

Register for my Intro to Civil 3D 2010 Webcast. June 10th at noon, central time. I'll be running through several examples, focusing on what's new in Civil 3D 2010.

2009-06-03T20:13:00.001-05:00

It was a beautiful location on lake Michigan.

Eric, Rick, Steve and Karen

Me and Rick

Me and the Imaginit boys.

Me, Steve and Russ

Me and the twins with the Autodesk guys.

2009-06-02T17:01:00.000-05:00

OMG! Autodesk has sent the full court press to our humble state and the Wisconsin Geospatial Users Group.

So far I've seen:
Steve G.
Karen W.
Jerry B.
Bruce M.
Brad B.
Pete S.
...and I know there's more...

I couldn't be more star struck if I walked onto a taping of celebrity rehab.

Not to mention some of the civil legends from the reseller world are here.

Anyhoo...SP 3 is out for Civil 3D 2009. It increases the performance and stability noticeably.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=13357575&linkID=9240698

Well, I'm off to schmooze some more.
Laters!

2009-05-26T16:00:00.000-05:00

No More Twitter. Twitter makes me crave Zanax. It's like a crowd of people shouting into a room and only a few of the Tweets are worth the bytes in the universe they take up. It makes me insane trying to weed the major crap from the less crappy. You can't say anything of technical value in 255 characters or less.

Blog May be Quiet for a While. The next few weeks I'm gone and have presentations and training up the proverbial wazzoo. Then I'm headed to San Fransisco on vacation for a week or so in June.

xxxx

2009-05-26T15:43:00.000-05:00

Last week when I was teaching about extracting profiles from the surface, one of my students discovered something I've never tried before: You can sample multiple offsets at once by separating the values with a comma. How about that!

2009-05-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

MAXSORT is an AutoCAD system variable that most people never run into. Civil 3D users tend to run into it more than average because the number of layers that Civil 3D uses and creates. ESPECIALLY if you're using layer suffixes in your drawing settings.

If you find yourself with more than 1000 layers, you've maxed out the number of layers that ACAD will alphabetize.

Type in MAXSORT and set it to a larger number, such as 5000. You'll never need it again.

2009-04-24T08:07:00.000-05:00

So, I made some Plan and Profile sheets in Civil 3D 2010 for the first time yesterday. This is in the Output tab, on the Plan Production panel*.

When I created sheets I sent the new layouts to a new drawing, as I tend to do. (If you don't do that, I highly recommend it - keeps the file sizes down and allows you to work faster.)

Anyhow, since I created the sheets this way, the original plan drawing gets XREF'd into the P&P sheet drawing. There's a new setting in 2010 that makes the XREF appear faded out by default.

Write this down:

XDWGFADECTL

This setting can be set from 0-90 (90 representing a 90% fade). You can set this to a negative value if you find that you are switching between faded and non-faded frequently. For instance setting this value to -55 will NOT fade out the XREF but is a handy "reminder" if you often want to get back to 55 without digging through the Post-it notes at your desk.

Note that the XREF will not plot this way. It's just a handy way to visually recognise which elements are from an external reference.

Thanks to Esteemed Colleague Russ for helping me with this.

Have a great weekend!

*Oh, by the way: I am ALL ABOUT the ribbon panel for Civil 3D 2010. It was a well-executed implementation of the technology. Once you get the feel for where stuff is, it is SO much faster than digging through menus. LOVE IT! BE the ribbon.

2009-04-22T09:56:00.000-05:00

Q. Is there a better way to stop the finished surface boundary at the edge of the corridor than using the daylight line?

When the proposed profile changes so does the daylight line and I need to re-extract the daylight featureline and turn it into a polyline. This is really annoying!

_________________________________________________

A. When it comes to the surfaces created by corridors there is good news on the horizon. Civil 3D 2010 has a tool that makes what I’m about to tell you a moot issue (Civil 3D 2010 has an option “Corridor Extents as Outer Boundary” for corridor surfaces). However, in 2009 creating a surface boundary takes a little more finessing.

When you are in your corridor properties, go to the Boundaries tab. Right click on the name of the surface. If you have Add Automatically, use it. However, you won’t see that option in a corridor with an intersection, if you are using generic links or one with more than one baseline. However, you will see Add Interactively. It can be time-consuming to set up initially, but it is worth the effort because it will change as your corridor changes.

Once you click Add Interactively, you will be shot back into the drawing. Snap to your daylight featureline. A dialog box will pop up asking you to verify which daylight line you were aiming for (Daylight, Daylight_Cut, Daylight_Fill) - highlight Daylight, and click OK. Now you will trace the daylight line.

As you move your cursor, you’ll get this thick red line following the path of the Daylight line. As you pan and keep tracing the line may stop at the region boundaries. If it does, click again on the Daylight line and verify if you need to.

Essentially what we are doing with this procedure is spoon-feeding Civil 3D the location of the daylight line. You’ll need to click to jump across the street, any time you change baselines or anytime you encounter an assembly that created a different line from Daylight. Trace around the entire corridor and when you’ve looped around back to where you started, type C for close (similar to a polyline).

It may seem like a pain in the neck at first, but once you’ve created a corridor surface boundary this way, it will prevent those overruns even if the corridor geometry changes.

Hope this helps!

2009-04-14T08:41:00.000-05:00

The first item of confusion I'd like to clear up is the download off the subscription site (which is available NOW).

The download area shows the 32-bit version. However it will install and run just fine on 64-bit machines. This is just saying that the program itself isn't truly 64-bit....yet.

If you are waiting for the DVD to arrive in the mail, that will be starting to ship this week April, 17th 2009.

The second thing I want to mention is for network installs. There is no more Network Activation Utility. You now must either A) login to register.autodesk.com or B) Call 1-800-551-1490 (press 1 para Englais). In either case, you must know your server MAC address and your product serial number/group number.

If you've never done an online registration before - registration only takes a moment. You'll need your company information and e-mail address to create an account.

Lastly, I want to mention the Portable Licence Utility...or lack thereof in 2010 products. All stand-alone license transfers now go through the online License Transfer Utility found in Start > Programs > Autodesk > AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010.

Believe me - this is much easier. You don't need to have the product installed on both computers at the time of transfer anymore. Nor are there any computer ID numbers to deal with anymore. You essentially upload the license to an Autodesk "holding area" and pull it back down when you need it. Yes, you do need internet access on both machines - just for transferring.

In all cases, if you have trouble with registering your new software or transferring licenses, don't forget to call your friendly neighborhood reseller for help!

2009-04-08T11:39:00.000-05:00

In Civil 3D 2010 XREFs have really gotten good. We can now XREF a whole slew of data types without bonus packs or add-ons.

It seems like civil drafters are the most enthusiastic XREF users. However, there are a few nuances that many users don't understand that are good to know.

When I teach people about XREF's for the first time I steer them toward using the Overlay type XREF instead of an Attachment.

Funny though it seems at first, this setting doesn't actually effect the drawing you are currently working in. It does effect any "downstream" drawings that might have your current drawing XREF'd in.

Time for a diagram!

Say you are in drawing Y. You XREF drawing X in using the ATTACHMENT option.

Later in the day you are working on drawing Z. You then XREF Y into Z. The result is you will get both X and Y. When a you XREF drawings that contain attachments - those attachments come along for the ride.

In the case of an overlay, you only get one level of references. (Microstation users will know this as a nest depth set to zero).

In other words, if X is referenced into Y as an overlay, and then Y is later referenced into Z, X does not come along for the ride. When I'm working in Z, I'll just see Y attached. Overlay is preferable because it is less confusing and avoids the dreaded circular reference.

Now get out there and attach!

2009-04-07T11:53:00.000-05:00

Jason sees CADD on his desktop.
This is what I see:

2009-04-06T19:24:00.001-05:00

The Wisconsin Geospatial User Group (WGUG) is holding it's first annual tech conference June 1-3rd 2009 at Blue Harbor Resort & Convention Center in Sheboygan, Wis.

Think of this as a Civil and Geospatial-specific mini-AU. Autodesk, MasterGraphics, Avatech, Imaginit, TopCon, Wisconsin DOT and others will be there teaching, talking and hanging out in the name of Map and Civil 3D.

The conference is open to all civil engineering and geospatial professionals and, in addition to training at intermediate and advanced levels, provides attendees with networking opportunities.

For more information about the conference , e-mail Tom Horness at thorness@ci.sheboygan.wi.us or call (920) 459-3397.

Click here for seminar descriptions and more information on who will be there!

To register, visit: http://www.regonline.com/wgug2009.

2009-03-20T16:19:00.000-05:00

http://subscription.autodesk.com/

Yet another reason being on subscription RULES! 64-bit and 32 bit versions are both available.

And for all you base ACAD users...2010 is out there too.
When you log into subscription, click on "Download your product software"

If you can't log into subscription center, contact your Autodesk reseller NOW.

...Civil 3D 2010 should be up there any day now.

2009-03-20T07:57:00.000-05:00

If I ever quit my day job to become a rapper, my stage name shall be OSNAPZ. Besides being a fly gangsta' name, OSNAPZ is an AutoCAD variable which determines whether or not Z is included when using object snaps. When the OSNAPZ variable is set to 0 (default) Z is picked up with object snaps. This can be problematic when placing pipe networks in a Civil 3D drawing, since usually you want Z to come from a surface. It also affects 3D Polylines and Feature Line creation. Setting OSNAPZ to 1 will tell AutoCAD to ignore the elevation of the object you are snapping to. It will use the XY location, but Z will be your active CAD elevation (which 99.999% of the time = 0) or in the case of placing pipe networks - it allows Civil 3D to use the surface for the rim elevation of structures.

eTransmit is a beautiful, beautiful command that is shockingly underutilized.

Say I have a Civil 3D drawing that I want to send to a colleague or a tech support person, and I want that person to see exactly what I see.

eTransmit picks up the drawing, XREFS, attached raster images, color tables and data shortcuts to package up in a neat little zip file. You can even create a transmittal that will automatically explode and save down the civil drawings to an older base AutoCAD format.

In Civil 3D 2009 go to File > eTransmit. In Civil 3D 2010 go to menu browser Send >
eTransmit.

Finally, the shout outs: Dan H., Tod H., Scott "Scooter" C., Nicky, and Kent K. of Eagle Point. It was awesome seeing you last weekend. Let's get together for some dirty Irish dancing again soon!

2009-03-05T14:32:00.000-06:00

Autodesk Labs is a website where end users can see what's cooking in Autodesk development. Many of the cool/fun/weird things you'll find in Autodesk Labs ultimately get incorporated into existing products (such as Google Earth extension) while others end up as stand alone tools.

Project Freewheel is a way to view DWF files from your web browser - there's even a mobile version.

With the ShareNOW plug-in for AutoCAD (and Civil 3d!) you get a button in CAD that will publish your DWF, upload it to the Freewheel website and launch your project in your browser in one fell swoop. Damn, those Labs guys are good.

The attached Freewheel screen is from my good friend Dave K. who is CAD manager with RFC Engineering:

Feel free to explore and view his DWF with Freewheel. Zoom and pan just like Design review.

Thanks big D!

2009-03-03T08:06:00.000-06:00

Forget HuLu...this link is takes us to the Autodesk recorded webcasts.
http://www.adskmedia.com/civilwebcasts/archive.php

Bookmark it.

2009-03-02T11:57:00.000-06:00

For years architects and artists have teamed up to help their clients understand how the building they are designing will look upon completion. Civil projects often impact more people yet rarely do engineers or designers utilize visualization tools to convey the final aesthetic.

My good friend and colleague Steve Gabriel and I recently had the opportunity to share our work flow for getting Civil 3D data into 3Ds Max. We presented this video and our experiences at the annual WLIA conference.

First I started out on the Civil 3D side of things. I had existing contours for my site, a design alignment and an assembly (or typical cross-section). At first I thought LandXML was the way to go to export data into 3DsMax - however, when Steve imported the LandXML, file the final surface looked "choppy." Instead, we opted to export the Civil 3D contours as AutoCAD polylines at elevation. The smaller the contour interval in Civil 3D, the smoother the surface looked in Max.

The corridor also was not smooth using the LandXML. There was segmentation caused by the way frequency lines are used to create the corridor in Civil 3D. Instead, Steve used my alignment and assembly to re-extrude the cross-section along the road. The result was the smooth, fluid looking corridor that you can see in the video and image above.

Steve created the bridge in base Autocad using 3D solid primitives for the piers, decking, and cables. After inserting the bridge in the correct location in Max he was ready to make it realistic.

Next, Steve did his magic in 3Ds Max. He applied materials, added lighting and inserted entourage items such as trees and water. After the scene was set up, Steve used Max to create several animations. He created a construction timeline animation and an animation showing what it would be like to cross the bridge in a vehicle. The final animation for the presentation took more than 30 hours of processing time on the MasterGraphics render farm.

After several animations and renderings were completed, Steve took the project into Combustion for some final touches. Here he stitched together the animations and renderings into one, cohesive video.

Take a look at the fruits of our (mostly Steve's) labor in this WMV file here. (Requires Windows Media Player)

Enjoy!

2009-03-02T08:39:00.000-06:00

Lou-
I read the readme for the service pack and I saw this:
Per AutoDesk:
Before applying this update, make sure that any customizations made to the user profile (such as, customizations made to the support file search paths, print file customizations, printer support file paths, redirections, custom template settings, and so on) are exported to a secure location, then imported and reapplied after the update has been successfully installed.

What is the best way to do this?

Well - this is how I do backups...
Basically you’ll want to save your CUI file to a non-default location and export your profile somewhere too. To do all this:

1 - Go to: (this is the default location in Win XP)
C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD Civil 3d 2009\R17.2\enu

2- Copy the enu folder to a backup location.

3- You will also want to go into Civil 3D, go to Options and the Profile tab and export the your profile as an ARG file to a backup location.

Let me know if you need me to go into more detail on this. These should be “just in case” measures, as normally a service pack won’t blow anything away – but it never hurts to C.Y.A.

Hope this helps!

2009-02-19T21:19:00.000-06:00

Let me paint you a little picture of my evening: ass planted in an innertube drifting down the lazy river in my leopard print bathing suit discussing Civil 3D with a very well respected client. Trying to have any sort of business decorum in this situation becomes increasingly difficult when said client drifts ahead of me and I do this sort of flail-paddle to catch back up.

Ain't conferences great?

Here I am at the WLIA annual conference. My co-worker Steve and I did a really fun presentation on a workflow getting Civil 3D data into 3ds Max then Combustion for some super-realistic renderings and animations. As soon as I get somewhere with decent bandwidth I'll post some of our output. It was an interesting learning experience, as I thought LandXML would be the key to our success. In fact it was not. I'll post our process and more soon!

2009-02-12T16:24:00.000-06:00

Fire up your laptop and don your cheese hat for the upcoming Autodesk webcast starring Eric Arneson of WisDOT. If you want to join me in a drinking game, every time you hear him say "photogrammetry" you hafta take a shot of Jagermeister.

Eric will be discussing:

Surface and topography base map creation using photogrammetry data from MicroStation® DGN files
Importing survey data
Assigning field codes

Thursday, February 26, 2009
1:00 – 2:00 pm Central Standard Time
Register with Autodesk NOW!

2009-02-11T09:58:00.000-06:00

Hey guess what I've decided to give away? My exclusive Intersection Design tutorial thingy for Civil 3D 2009. Why? Because I love you...AND I think it would be good to understand these principals before the automated tools turn the corridor portions of your brain to mush. I'll try to post an example file soon.

Enjoy!

2009-01-30T09:33:00.000-06:00

This SQOTD is inspired by my buddy Rob C. who is a former co-worker and perpetual punk.

Q: All my layers are on, but I can't see all the objects I'm expecting to see in the drawing. It looks like I can only see zero-elevation stuff. What's up?

A: The fix - type PLAN at the command line. Then W for world. (If you are not a key-in person, go to View > 3D views > Plan > World). This will turn your UCS and your view to Top in relation to the world coordinate system.

When you are working in Civil 3D there are quite a few ways a person can accidentally whack out their view. In Civil 3D the most common culprit is jumping into View/Edit Corridor section view and for whatever reason C3D gets stuck in the temporary, unnamed UCS.

Another common culprit is accidentally using Shift-middle mouse wheel. Shift + select adds items to the selection set. Shift+middle mouse wheel gets you into 3D orbit mode. Your view is whacked, even if your coordinate system is still world.

So there you go: PLAN W
Memorize it.

2009-01-28T11:04:00.000-06:00

"Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

When Saint Francis of Assisi said these words in 1220-something its almost like he saw the coming of Ribbon panels. Saint Isidore of Seville is widely thought of as the patron saint of all things computing, but I'm declaring Francis the patron saint of Ribbons.

I am trying so hard to learn to love ribbons, honestly. Change is good. Technology drives my livelihood. I preach the gospel of embracing new technology everyday. But it's just frustrating to relearn interfaces that use ribbons. My intuition to hit certain menus is totally thrown off. Since graphical user interfaces hit the scene in the 1980's one thing we could always count on were the standard "File" "Edit" "View" "Insert" menus. Mac OS's, Linux and until now, Windows have been fairly standard in the location and functionality of menus and toolbars.

The biggest problem I have with Ribbon interfaces is the lack of consistency between applications. Word 2007, Snagit 9 and of course AutoCAD 2009 are all ribbon based - these are just the ones I use on a day-to-day basis. Some have a full menu browser (like AutoCAD) and some just have what you'd expect to find in the File menu (like Snagit and Word). All of the Ribboned applications have a Quick Access Toolbar (which I lovingly call the "quat"). Most quats are customizable, but vary in the behavior of the default commands.

The way I see the future going, there is no escaping ribbons. We need to get used to them, pronto. Our collective productivity may take a hit while we adjust, but ribbons are here to stay.

May Saint Francis grant you the courage to change your CUI as needed.

2009-01-27T16:11:00.000-06:00

It will change your fricking life! Or at least that's what about a dozen people said to me when a similar webcast came out for resellers a few weeks back.

Still, it's cool. Need to model a small bridge on a site? Revit Structure is a software package that can do so. Revit cannot do finite element analysis on your members or anything, but it is a heck of a lot easier to model in Revit than using Autocad solid primitives.

Technical Marketing Manager Scott Hammond will be presenting the bridge modeling tools in Revit Structure 2009 on January 27th, 2009 at 10:00 am PST.

Click Here to Register for the Webcast

Be there, or watch your life pass you by.

2009-01-23T09:24:00.000-06:00

If you are on subscription for your Autodesk product you can download Impression 2.0 FREE from the subscription center.

The problem is, Impression really isn't built for Civil 3D, yet. If you've played with Impression and tried to import a DWG layout directly, odds are you crashed Impression.

My little white paper should help you work around some of the problems you may encounter with Civil 3D and Impression.

Spoiler alert: The trick is plotting to DWF first!

Enjoy!

2009-01-14T17:04:00.000-06:00

Q: "I have sample lines and section views in my project. I went to extend my sample line to get more of the existing surface in the view, but then my corridor disappeared from my section view. What happened?"

A. This fellow accidentally skewed one side when he grip-edited the sample line. If you grip edit a sample line and it is no longer perpendicular to the alignment, you will no longer see your corridor in the section view. This happens for a reason: kinky stations don't get included in end-area volume calcs.

To extend the sample line without skewing it, use the triangular grip. The square grip will let you move it wherever you wish - including out of line with the other side of the sample line.

You can fix it by selecting the sample line that is out of whack, right-click and select Make Orthogonal. This forces both sides back to perpendicular to the alignment. Then you're corridor will show up in the section views again.

2009-01-06T11:37:00.000-06:00

Unless you've been living under a rock or are part of an oil sheik's entourage, you've heard that the economy has been sluggish for a while. Furthermore, you've heard that the transportation sector is going to be a large focus of the economic stimulus package cooking on Capitol Hill. Figures between $45 and $100 billion have been heard thrown around for dollar amounts promised for roads, rail, bridges and water distribution projects over the next two years. Additional money is being talked about for the energy sector.

AASHTO has a nice breakdown by state for projects that could break ground within the first half of 2009.

But are you ready?

If a glut of work came your way right now, are you and your co-workers equipped to handle it?

More specifically, are you as efficient as you can be with your design software?

In my humble opinion, we are in the calm before the storm. Now is the time to implement software and train people before you are knee-deep in projects. When this work comes you don't want the headache of taking time out to get up to speed on Civil 3D.

Get good at your software now, while the lull still exists.

In all fairness, I realize I am not an impartial voice on this subject. One of the primary parts of my career is teaching and implementing Civil 3D*. However, I feel that the incoming presidential administration will come in with checkbook open. Whose bank account the money ultimately lands in won't depend on which projects are "shovel ready", but which engineering company's systems and personnel are "project ready."

*If you are interested in having me work with your organization to train or assess your needs, please feel free to contact me.

2008-12-23T15:13:00.000-06:00

Lots of my users have been asking about the WisDOT draft Civil 3D template. My friends at the DOT have given me the green light to post the link to the FTP site where the template-in-progress can be found.

Keep in mind that this is NOT the final cut and that they are posting updates every month or so.
I'm told the final cut should be available in fall 2009.

ftp://ftp.dot.state.wi.us/transp/roads/civil3d/

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

2008-12-18T15:36:00.000-06:00

As the Holiday season approaches I am spending more free time making Yule logs and wrapping presents than blogging - so I apologise to my adoring, somewhat neglected following.

I've got my hands elbow deep inside a Map 3D implementation project and I've been ramping up to be the next Revit Architecture guru at my company. Oh! I've always wanted to make a family!

Dare I say I'm Tuckered out?

So just a few shout-outs to keep the hits up:
Ladd Nelson of Carlson Software - it was AWESOME to see you last weekend. I could really use another margarita.

Anne Gerriets of Eagle Point - break a leg sista' and I don't mean on the Iowa ice!

Peace and love to everyone else. I'm planning on posting a real post before Christmas.

2008-12-10T14:44:00.000-06:00

This week I conducted a class in which one of my students did not want to use the middle mouse wheel to pan and zoom. She wasn't using Autocad with MBUTTONPAN set to 0, she just was used to right-clicking all the time to get there. I gave up trying to coax her into using the middle mouse wheel when she said, "..But all that panning and zooming makes me seasick!"

The problem arose when creating Civil 3D objects - many of the Civil 3D commands treat any right-click as ENTER. When we were creating Profiles by Layout, for example, she would try to pan over and set a PVI, but her right-click kicked her out of the layout tools. Watching her use the scrollbars to pan thereafter was nothing short of painful.

So, in short:

Roll forward to zoom in.
Roll Back to zoom out.
Wherever your cursor happens to be is where Autocad is aiming for the center of your view to be.
Double-click the mouse wheel as if it were a button for zoom-extents.
Push and hold the mouse for panning.

A little Dramamine and you're production speed will double!

Selecting Sh*t:

I'm always surprised at how many people still don't know this after years of CAD work.

By default Autocad (and by association, Civil 3D) you are in a selection mode if you are not in a command. (If you came from Microstation, this fact is a hard one to get used to).

A Left to Right crossing window only selects items that are completely inside the selection window.

A Right to Left crossing window selects items that are inside the selection window as well as items that touch the dashed line.

And that's just outside of a command.

Now, let's say you are in a command. Let's take the Civil 3D command Delete Lines iinside the surface editing tools, for example. At the Select Edges: prompt, type F for fence, then enter. You now are in fence mode and can click around to make a temporary line. Anything that touches this line becomes selected. Hit enter when you are done creating the fence and you can keep selecting or hit enter again to continue deleting triangle legs.

Lastly, don't be shy about using the SHIFT+SPACEBAR trick to select objects that are on top of each other. This happens all the time in Civil 3D. You have alignments under corridors, surfaces coinciding with grading objects and featurelines everywhere in between. Hover over an object until it "lights up" without clicking. If that is not the object you were aiming for, hold down the SHIFT key, then thumb the spacebar at the same time. When the object you want "lights up," click it. This is a heck of a lot faster than flipping around the Draw Order.

2008-12-04T15:12:00.001-06:00

Did you see James Wedding's presentation today at AU?

You should have - and this is what I think of him...

All the new groups that you create will utilize the style and label style overrides.

Create an _All Points (Style Override) to display all points uniformly.

Don't forget to make a No Display group that includes All points.

Then, when it comes time to turning certain points off, use the Point Group properties. Right-click the very top of the list as shown.

Shuffle around the point hierarchy as needed.

The order in which the points groups appear here is which group controls the style. Because points can belong to more than one group at once, you need to determine the precedence. For instance, a Topo point will be in the All Points groups, Topo group and No Display. If No Display is higher in this list, that's the style that "wins".

Points that reside in groups ABOVE No Display will show up. Points that are in groups BELOW No Display will be hidden.

2008-12-04T09:03:00.000-06:00

Let me save you some time if you're a long time user of AutoCAD - browse away and come back later.

If you are a new-ish user of CAD, the following may be of interest to you.

The following instructions will work for any AutoCAD-based product pretty much any version you may have running. (Unless you are, like, in v11 DOS or some shiat)

Here are the instructions as far as changing the background color in AutoCAD:

1) Type OPTIONS at the CAD command line (or right-click anywhere on the screen and select Options from the menu).

2) Go to the Display Tab.
3) Click the Colors button.

4) Click the color pull-down and select black.

5) Click Apply and Close.
6)Last click OK to the Options box.

AutoCAD will stay this way from now on. Now if you are interested in more nitty-gritty, keep reading.

The colors and everything else inside the Options dialog box are stored in your Profile. By default, Civil 3D loads with "Unnamed Profile" and all your changes get saved there. If you like your settings and want to save yourself some time if you ever need to reinstall, you can export your Profile out to an ARG file.

I feel I've gone too far. One of these days I'll do a more detailed post on Profiles vs CUI's but for now we'll keep it simple.