Northern Pacific Civil Consortium - Open House

Next Thursday, January 24, 2008, from 5:00 pm until 8:00 pm, the Northern Pacific Civil Consortium (NPCC) will host an "Open House" meeting in Sacramento, California. The NPCC's main focus is to "Educate, Enhance, and Enlighten its members in the effective application of Autodesk software products".

At the open house meeting there will be two primary sessions. I will be presenting "Civil 3D - Grading on a Dime" where I will demonstrate Civil 3d's grading capabilities that anyone can use with VERY LITTLE OR NO TRAINING! Additionally, there will be a CAD Manager's Tips & Tricks session, where knowledge to improve our AutoCAD productivity will be shared.

Pizza and soft drinks will be served and there will be door prizes. The grand prize is an iPod NANO (you must be present to win).

I encourage you to consider this opportunity to network and learn with our peers. This is a great way to start 2008, investing in improvement.

Contact Doug Matchell at dougmatchell@kennedyjenks.com to RSVP.

Be Better!

User Groups

Last night, I was at the Autodesk Civil Engineering Solutions (A.C.E.S.) User Group of Southern California.

The Hydraflow Storm Sewers Extension was review by a member, Dave Couch of Walden Associates, and there was a presentation about "Civil 3D Do's and Don'ts". The meeting ended with a very imformative discussion about Civil Engineering Industry Trends. Some very wise members shared their thoughts and advice about dealing with the current economic environment.

There are many groups that are being either being created or are experiencing growth in memberships at this time. Some of the interest is by those wishing to participate in the Civil 3D knowledge swap. Other growth is due to the downturn in certain market segments (i.e. Land Development) and companies and individuals are investing in themselves while they have some breathing space.

If you are interested is attending a user group you may wish to begin by contacting your reseller. You can also do a search for User Groups in the Civil Engineering Community website on the "Events" tab. Select "User Group" in the "Event Type" dropdown. You can also specify a "State/Province" and "Product" to refine your search.

A quick search for "User Group" "CA" "AutoCAD Civil 3D" returned the following groups:

Northern Pacific Civil Consortium (I happen to be presenting at their next meeting)
City and County of San Francisco Autodesk User Group

I am aware of, and try to attend meetings of the...

Hawaii Civil User Group
North Bay User Group
Civil 3D Users Group - Los Angeles
Inland Empire Civil 3D User Group
San Diego Civil 3D User Group
Orange County Civil 3D User Group
Palm Desert Civil 3D User Group

If you are familiar with a civil engineering related user group in California, Nevada, or Hawaii that you would like mentioned please let me know.

Be Better!

Las Vegas Civil Users Group

Last night, I had the pleasure of presenting to the Las Vegas Civil Users Group. The members represent public agencies and private engineering and construction firms in the Las Vegas, Nevada area.

They are dedicated to...
An equal exchange of knowledge and experience for the benefit of all members and to Networking

The topic of my presentation was "Civil 2008 - Grading on a dime". I explained what can be done immediately, with VERY LITTLE training, that will help companies with their grading design challenges. Many in the group are Land Desktop users and were very surprised with what WE designed together in 1 hour and 15 minutes.

A secondary theme was "Don't Leave Money on the Table" by doing things in an inefficient manner.

I will initiate an "...On A Dime" series of posts that will help those that have not yet transitioned to full use of Civil 3D where they will find things that are possible with no, or very little, training.

I will close this post by thanking the members that were present yesterday. I had a GREAT time.

Be Better!

A.C.E.S. BIIIG Turn Out

I wish to thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to attend yesterday evening's A.C.E.S. User Group meeting. The turn out was awesome. About 75 attendees! One person timed a trip to Southern California from Colorado to be able to attend.

The feedback regarding the technical presentations (Raster Design, Map, Civil 3D Grading) was very positive.

I wish to additionally thank everyone who SHARED their knowledge and expertise, and those that contributed by asking good questions during the evening. It very much fulfilled the spirit of what a user group can be, and the three guiding principle of this group: Share, Network, Learn.

Last but not least, I wish to thank Eric Galvan, Autodesk, ISD-Business Development Executive-Western Region (Civil CAD Dude, inside joke) who was able to join us and provide input.

I am happy with how this group has gotten off the ground (pun), and I look forward to it's future. Based on some of the buzz this group should soar!

The next meeting is currently scheduled for Thursday, April 12, 2007. Please mark your calendars. I will keep you updated.

The A.C.E.S. Squadron Blocks Out The Sun

It is possible that there may be over 100 signups for tomorrow evening's Autodesk Civil Engineering Solutions (A.C.E.S.) User Group of Southern California meeting.

The runway is clear, A.C.E.S. is on final approach, and the hanger will be nice and full.

Translation:There will be plenty of opportunity to Share, Network, Learn.

I hope to see you there.

A.C.E.S. Fly again in January

The Autodesk Civil Engineering Solutions (A.C.E.S.) User Group of Southern California will be holding it's next gathering on Thursday, January 11th, 2007.

Click here for more information and to register.

A.C.E.S. Landed

Last Thursday evening (October 5, 2006) the Autodesk Civil Engineering Solutions (A.C.E.S.) User Group of Southern California held their inaugural meeting at the University Marriott in Fullerton, California. There were employees present from over a dozen engineering firms and several municipalities. By all accounts it was a great success. The intended goals of Share, Network, Learn seemed to be well addressed during this first meeting.

The evening began with dinner. Then Pete Kelsey, Autodesk Technical Evangelist, presented an "Industry Overview" (where have we been, where are we, and where are we headed?).

I did a "Technical Presentation" which was titled "Civil 3D on a Dime". Intended for organizations that have not yet cracked open the Civil 3D box. This section covered Civil 3D capabilities that we can use with very little or no training/investment, and take advantage of Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 to support whichever application we may use currently. These capabilities included taking data from Land Desktop into Civil 3D in order to do...

--Earthwork Volume Calculations (2 commands, 10 steps, 45 seconds)
--Translate and Rotate a Surface (4 Commands, 10 steps)
--Parcel(s) Lot Line Adjustment (3 commands, 11 steps)
--Create Geometry for an Alignment (2 commands, 8 steps)
--Renumber Parcels (2 commands 12 steps)

KETIV Technologies gave everyone in attendance a CD with custom styles and expressions to jumpstart the use of these items in Civil 3D. The evening ended with an open forum segment and announcements.

If the first meeting is any indication, there will be lots of benefits to members of this user group. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday January 11 (location to be determined). Mark the date on your calendar, and invite your co-workers. This is a free and easy way to get information about our industry and the applications that we use.

A.C.E.S. Landing Tomorrow

The Autodesk Civil Engineering Solutions (ACES) User Group of Southern California will be meeting tomorrow evening. Dinner, Tips, Tricks, Networking, Learning, Sharing will occur. Click title to see more info.

A.C.E.S. Flying into Southern California

The control tower has given final clearance for A.C.E.S. to land here in Southern Califonia. What is A.C.E.S. you may ask? A.C.E.S. is...

Autodesk Civil Engineering Solutions User Group of Southern California

You can join this squadron of novice, intermediate, and elite users of:

Civil 3D
Land Desktop
Civil Design
Survey
Raster Design
Map
AutoCAD

We can all see this group get off the ground together (Thursday, Oct. 5 @ 5:30pm) and attendees can help pilot its formation. I am also looking forward to meeting Pete Kelsey at the first meeting. Who is Pete Kelsey? You don't know. You will.

Click on any of the links to register.

Coming Soon - Civil 3D Community

Autodesk is about to open a new section of their website. It is intended specifically for the Civil Engineering Community, which also happens to be the title. There visitors will find sections titled...

Tips & Training - tips, tricks, tutorials, training, how-tos, and workarounds
Content Sharing - area for sharing templates, styles, reports and utilities
Blogs - Two NEW Autodesk blogs** and links to many existing blogs
Discussions - links to existing peer-to-peer groups
Online Resourses - links to C.E. sites: jobs, 3rd party apps, directories
My Network - Establish industry contacts, meet users
Events - links to user groups, reseller events, seminars, and workshop

A similar site has existed for the Manufacturing Community and has been quite successful. I have interacted with this new site and know that it will become a very important resource for us (the Civil 3D user community). I look forward to it going live soon (hopefully within two weeks).

** The two NEW Autodesk Blogs are "The Dave and Dan Show" Dave Simeone, Civil 3D Product Manager, and Dan Philbrick, Civil 3D Development Manager, will have their own forum, and "Wicked Cool Stuff" by Anthony Governanti, Civil 3D Technical Marketing Manager. This site may cause hysteria among Anthony's fan club members.

AUGI Cad Camp

Autodesk User Group International (AUGI) will be holding a regional CAD Camp here in Southern California on Tuesday, August 16, 2005. This can be a very good opportunity for Autodesk Product users who can not attend Autodesk University, because it takes them away from the office for several days, to attend a one day worthwhile event.

Attendees can can participate in up to 5 class sessions for various industries, products, and levels of instruction.

Click on the link above to see the CAD Camp Official Website. There may be a Camp in your area.

I'll see you there.