AASHTO Promotes Automated Machine Guidance

The title of this post is linked to a .pdf file provided by The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) - Technology Implementation Group (TIG) that promotes Automated Machine Guidance (AMG). The eight page file does a very good job of stating the benefits of AMG.

Be Better!...Increase Safety.

"Grading Best Practices" White Paper

Autodesk has released today a document that will describe the two primary methods for completing a grading design, and more importantly this document gives us a very thorough examination of the "Best Practices" involved with their use.

"Grading Best Practices", at 32 pages, is a very important read for anyone who wishes to use these tools as they were intended and with the guidance that helps produce accurate, and stable results.

I am sure that many will find this document to be a critical new tool.

The Root of All...

I just reviewed an Autodesk document that reminders/warns users that after applying Service Pack 3 for Civil 3D 2007, four of the Templates (.dwts) that ship with the product will now contain 6 errors that will be found with an AUDIT command. The templates are:

_Autodesk Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS Classic
_Autodesk Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS Extended
_Autodesk Civil 3D (Metric) NCS Classic
_Autodesk Civil 3D (Metric) NCS Extended

This is a good time to point out that running the AUDIT command in Civil 3D drawings, or our custom templates, is ALWAYS a good idea. We should get into the habit of running this command often. Some companies have even automated the use of this command upon the opening of every file. Drawings with Gradings and Parcels are particularly sensitive to corruption and should be kept clean.

The AUDIT command is similar to visiting a doctor for a check-up. Preventative actions should contribute to the avoidance of Fatal Errors.

Read the Labels

I have now been able to provide "labels" for the majority of the almost 400 posts of this blog.

You will notice at the bottom of most posts what Blogger terms "labels". Other applications might use the term tags. If you pick on a "label" all blog posts that have similar "labels" will be displayed. I accomplished this relatively quickly and not with a fine-tooth comb. So there may be some posts that are not perfectly "label"ed.

This was worth the effort because this can be a good method to find all posts that have to do with a particular subject, such as Vault or Profiles etc.

Give it a try, see if it helps. Feel free to comment about any posts or "labels".

I will add some of the current "labels" to this post, to kick start the process.

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.

AU2006 Day 1

If this is Tuesday we must be talking pipes.

I gave the first of my three class today:

Autodesk Civil 3D Pipe Networks Made Easy.

It is a bit unusual seeing 300-400 faces in a training session. The main session with over 7,000 attendees was a sight to see. Yes, 7,000 people in one room.

I will be giving two Civil Powertrack classes tomorrow.

Autodesk Civil 3D Corridors: Cul-de-Sacs Are Not a Dead End.
Autodesk Civil 3D Grading Made Easy.

Autodesk University 2006 Update - Students Galore

Well as of a few moments ago my three classes at Autodesk University now have over 1000 registered attendees combined.

Here are the three classes I am teaching (The second two are a part of the Powertrack and are being recorded):

CV11-2 Civil 3D® Pipe Networks Made Easy 10:30 am - 12:00 pm Nov. 28
CV23-4 Civil 3D® Corridors: Cul-de-Sacs Are Not a Dead End 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Nov. 29
CV25-3 Civil 3D® Grading Made Easy 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm Nov. 29

These classes have 275, 287 and 439 in enrollment respectively. That is 1001 students. Amazing.

Autodesk University 2006 Update

I had previously mentioned that I will be teaching three classes at Autodesk University next month. Last year the one Civil 3D® class that I taught had 194 actual attendees out of the over 200 that signed up. I thought that that was a large group. Well as evidence for the increased demand for Civil 3D instruction, my three classes this year, as of this moment, have 249, 255, and 409 people enrolled in them. These numbers are very eye-opening, and there are still 53 days to register. (By the way, today is the last day to register at the reduced rate of $1495).

Here are the three classes I am teaching (The second two are a part of the Powertrack and are being recorded):

CV11-2 Civil 3D® Pipe Networks Made Easy 10:30 am - 12:00 pm Nov. 28
CV23-4 Civil 3D® Corridors: Cul-de-Sacs Are Not a Dead End 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Nov. 29
CV25-3 Civil 3D® Grading Made Easy 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm Nov. 29

Feature Lines Wishes Requested!!

Glen Albert, of Autodesk, is taking requests for additional commands for the Civil 3D Feature Lines toolbar in the Civil 3D Wishes Discussion Group.

This is a GREAT OPPORTUNITY to be heard, make suggestions, and hopefully contribute to the future capabilities of this feature.

Click on the links to get to the browser version of the Discussion Group (you can of course use other methods also).

Autodesk is asking. Let's give them feedback!

My AU Classes

Now that people are starting to sign up for Autodesk University here are the classes that I am teaching this year:

CV11-2: Autodesk® Civil 3D® Pipes Networks Made Easy
CV23-4: Autodesk® Civil 3D® Corridors: Cul-de-Sacs Are Not a Dead End
CV25-3: Autodesk® Civil 3D® Grading Made Easy

I hope to see you there.

Civil 3D - SP2 Coming Soon

Service Pack 2 for Civil 3D 2007 will likely be available sometime next week. It should include Civil 3D 2K7 SP1A, and Map 2K7 SP1 & SP2.

Issues Resolved in Autodesk Civil 3D 2007 Service Pack 2

General

When closing the program, you no longer receive an error message after using the Object Property Manager.

Using the UNDO command after deleting or inserting an elevation point no longer causes the program to close unexpectedly.

Alignments

Version 2006 drawings that contain a Spiral Curve Spiral with the curve radius set to zero can now be migrated to version 2007 and the Spiral Curve Spiral is correctly displayed.

An issue with alignment station equations has been resolved and the station equation labels now display expected results.

Corridor

When pasting surfaces, dynamic corridor surfaces are filtered out of the selection set to avoid a situation dependency. You can create non-dynamically linked corridor surfaces to paste into an existing surface.

Using the DaylightStandard subassembly, you can create a corridor model with a horizontal slope limit and the material thickness will be applied to the horizontal links. Previously the material thickness was not applied to the horizontal links.

Changing a style of an exported corridor surface no longer causes the program to close unexpectedly.

When you specify corridor sections at Superelevation Critical Stations (from the Frequency To Apply Assemblies dialog box) the sections are now added.

Grading

Points and Elevations are now displayed accurately in the Elevation Editor.

There is improved performance using the Weed command on a feature line that was created from a polyline.

Using the Fillet command on feature lines no longer causes the program to close unexpectedly.

There is improved performance when using the Fit Curve command.

An issue with using Feature Line commands in multiple drawings has been resolved.

Using the Weed command now removes the expected points when using a weeding factor of 3D Distance. Previously not all the points that met the weeding factor were removed and all other points were removed.

Using the UNDO command after moving a grading object to a site no longer causes the program to close unexpectedly.

The maximum range for slope patterns is now displayed correctly. Previously, the slope pattern was displayed even though it was outside of the maximum range.

Elevation point z values are recognized when you add a PI to a feature line.

Entering the elevation difference on a new feature line no longer causes the Draw Feature Line command to end.

Creating a grading transition between mixed surface and elevation or distance targets no longer causes the program to close unexpectedly, however this will not result in creating a grading object because Civil 3D cannot find a valid solution for these conditions.

Labels

Using the Parcel Create by Slide Bearing command no longer causes the program to close unexpectedly when the parcel label styles contain custom expressions.

Duplicate entries are no longer created in parcel tables when you insert a new line.

Issues with parcel labels not erasing correctly have been resolved. The program no longer closes unexpectedly when using the erase command on multiple parcel labels. Labels are not redisplayed after using the erase command and then saving the drawing.

The direction arrow component type has been added to the general line label styles.

LandXML

Error messages are no longer displayed when you close a drawing after using the Export LandXML command.

When exporting multiple corridor models using the Export LandXML command the program no longer closes unexpectedly.

Parcels

The UNDO command produces expected results after using grip edits on parcels and no longer causes the program to close unexpectedly.

The UNDO command produces expected results after moving a parcel to another site and no longer causes the program to close unexpectedly.

An issue with converting a closed polyline to a parcel has been resolved.

Using grip edits on parcel lines displays expected results.

An issue with saving user defined properties in a .dwt file has been resolved.

There is improved performance when using the REGEN command for parcels.

Pipes

A set sump depth rule has been added. This rule is not added by default, but can be added to the structure rule set for use during junction structure creation (layout) or by changing all junction structure sump depths at once using the Apply Rules command.

In the Part Builder command, you can use Cyrillic and Asian characters in Catalog chapter names and part names.

When using the Change Flow Direction command, flow arrows are now displayed correctly.

Deleting structures no longer causes the program to close unexpectedly.

There is improved performance when opening version 2006 drawings that contain structure styles. The program no longer forces version 2006 drawings that contain structure styles to display the boundaries as solid.

There is improved performance when using pipe network references.

Points

An issue with editing Point Label Styles from the Point Panorama view has been resolved.

Points can no longer be selected in a viewport when they are on a layer that is frozen for that viewport.

Profiles

The correct information is now displayed in horizontal geometry bands for radius and curvature.

The pipe network band node in the profile view is now displayed in the first drawing you open. Previously, the first drawing you opened in a new session would be missing the node and you had to close and re-open the drawing.

Using the UNDO and REDO commands after deleting a sub-entity from the profile view no longer causes the program to close unexpectedly.

Performing station editing in multiple layout profiles no longer produces an error message.

Project Management

The Migrate Pre-Civil 3D Project command now creates the correct folder structure in the project.

Prospector

The program no longer closes unexpectedly when you close a drawing while the item previews are displayed in Prospector.

The Zoom To command zooms to the correct location after setting the UCS.

Surfaces

Contour smoothing no longer creates segments of zero length on closed contours. Previously the program would close unexpectedly when opening a drawing in which this occurred.

The Smooth Contours command no longer causes gaps in the contour display.

Issues with surface styles have been resolved. The program no longer closes unexpectedly when a surface is created that does not have an assigned style.

Surface labels display the correct values for Surface Slope Horizontal Distance.

The program no longer closes unexpectedly when using the Paste Surface command.

Creating Quick Profiles from a surface no longer causes the program to close unexpectedly.

An issue with the display of render masks has been resolved.

Survey

There is improved performance when importing field book files.

Using the Browse for Folder dialog box when specifying an equipment database path now returns the expected result and no longer causes the program to close.

The MCS survey figure command now starts the multipoint curve at the first point number following the command and ends correctly when other curve commands are processed.

An error message is now displayed stating that the file cannot be opened if you attempt to export a field book file to a network address where you do not have write access. The program no longer closes unexpectedly.

The Show Properties command for control points, non-control points, and directions now displays the properties in the item list view.

After inserting survey points into the drawing, using the Zoom To command from the Prospector shortcut menu for Points or Point Groups now returns correct results.

The program no longer closes unexpectedly when you attempt to close the Traverse Editor.

When using the Traverse Analysis command the Angle error now displays correctly for direction start and end traverse.

The Zoom To and Pan To commands on the Survey collection shortcut menus now return expected results.

The Browse To Observation command now returns expected results.

Changing values for the Interactive Graphics in the User Settings no longer closes the panorama view.

The Equipment Database item view list no longer closes when you right click on an Equipment item, in the list and select Make Current.

Editing Latitude and Longitude values for control points now returns the expected results for the Easting and Northing.

This Service Pack also includes resolution for the following AutoCAD issue:
An issue with slow performance has been improved when you open drawings that contain large numbers of blocks.

Preview Beta of the Autodesk® DGN V8 Translator

Shaun Hurley mentions in his blog that Autodesk is making available this preview beta as of today (June 19th, 2006) for AutoCAD 2007 based software. This is not needed in Civil 3D 2007 Land Desktop 2007, and Map 3D 2007 because they already contain this feature.

Visit Shaun's Blog for instruction on how to acquire the Beta

Civil 3D 2007 - Service Pack 1 Now Available

I just walked in from an appointment and checked to see if Service Pack 1 was available. YES IT IS!

Now, what's in it?

A review of the README file describes the following areas as having issues resolved (look to it for specific details):

General (7 Items)
Alignments (3 Items)
Corridors (4 Items)
Grading (5 Items)
Pipes (2 Items)
Points (3 Items)
Quantity Takeoff Reports (7 Items)
Survey (9 Items)

AutoCAD (1 Item)

Lets hope this allows the product to achieve more of its potential.

Autodesk University 2006

It is that time again. The first mentions of Autodesk University 2006 to be held at the Venetian Resort Hotel in Las Vegas Nevada from Tuesday November 28 through Friday December 1.

You can save $500 if you take advantage Early-Bird Registrations which will be from August 7 through October 6.

You may wish to mark these dates and start making plans.

Last year, there were somewhere over 5,000 participants. There are many reasons to attend, just review the website to find yours.

Hopefully, I will see you there.


Why do I mention this now, you may ask? I was notified that I had three classes accepted for this year. They are...

Autodesk® Civil 3D® Pipes Networks Made Easy
Class Type: 1.5hr Class
Class Code: CV11-2
Level: All Levels
Date: 11/28/2006
Time: 10:30 am - 12:00 pm


Autodesk® Civil 3D® Corridors: Cul-de-Sacs Are Not a Dead End
Class Type: 1.5hr Class
Class Code: CV23-4
Level: Intermediate
Date: 11/29/2006
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm


Autodesk® Civil 3D® Grading Made Easy
Class Type: 1.5hr Class
Class Code: CV25-3
Level: All Levels
Date: 11/29/2006
Time: 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm

Civil 3D 2007 - Project Management Webcast!!!!

There are several reason why you will want to attend this Friday's 1 hour Civil 3D Webcast at 9:00 am Pacific time, 12:00 pm Eastern time. Not the least of which is the subject... "Project Capabilities in Civil 3D 2007". This is the first of two webcast related to this subject.

The Autodesk website describes the session as covering Vault, Vault Explorer, installation of Vault components, logging into Vault, creating projects, and other related topics.

It will be presented by Mark Scacco, President, Engineered Efficiency. Mark has a long history of being a very important resource in the Civil Engineering/Autodesk User community.

In order to benefit from the many enhancements to Civil 3D in a project environment we will need to use Vault. It is a separate application that is integrated with Civil 3D 2007 and is perhaps the most unfamiliar part of migrating to the 2007 product.

Lastly, these webcast are FREE and they are recorded for later viewing.



Upcoming topics include:

5/26/06 – Project and Data Management in Civil 3D 2007
6/2/06 – New Pipe Design and Drafting Capabilities in Civil 3D 2007
6/9/06 – Civil 3D 2007 Site Grading
6/16/06 – Civil 3D 2007 Tips & Tricks
6/23/06 – Increasing Productivity with Civil 3D 2007
6/30/06 - Civil 3D 2007 Corridor Modeling

Civil 3D 2007 - New Features Workshop

One of the very useful items that I refer to often is the "New Features Workshop" this is a Flash based interface that provides information about what was introduced in Civil 3D 2007. This is similar to what AutoCAD has had available for several releases.

The interface is broken down into four sections with multiple topics and subtopics (topics are listed below, but not the many subtopics):

Create
Survey Data
Alignments and Profiles
Pipe Networks
Points
Surfaces
Analyze
Survey Data
Design Evaluation
Grading Tools
Share
Project Management
Export Data
Produce
Labels and Label Styles
Profile and Profile View Labels
Reports Manager


I had hoped to post this yesterday, but I was out doing training all day. What do you know, this was also mentioned during today's Civil 3D Webcast.

AUGI CAD Camp Follow up

Yesterday, we at KETIV Technologies hosted an AUGI CAD Camp here in Orange County, California.

Among the many classes available, John Rodriguez and I conducted three class on Civil 3D 2006:

Styles
Grading
Pipe Networks

Based on the feedback, the classes were well received, and show that there is a significant interest in Civil 3D and how it will be adopted.

We also had a brief "Lunch and Learn" about Civil 3D 2007 where some of the more useful new capabilities were demonstrated.

Oh, and by the way, I read in the Civil 3D discussion group that someone here in California received their Civil 3D 2007 subscription fulfillment today.

Bootcamp Day Four - Survey and Grading

It has been four days, and there is only one to go. For as much information as has been shared, there is still much more to go over.

What does that mean? It means that there are a LOT of additions, improvements, and tweaks to Civil 3D in the 2007 version.

For example the new Survey capabilities. These not only replace what many may have used in the Autodesk Survey add-on to Land Desktop, but they do much more in an easier to use interface that speeds up corrections.

Take the ability to look at the observation object and see, based on the raw data, where the points will be located. Errors (busts) can be seen, easily corrected, and the fixed data converted into good cogo points.

I really enjoyed working with all of the new Feature Line tools. Considering the amount of users that do site grading that I've interacted with lately I know that these new tools will be VERY MUCH appreciated.

Like what you may ask? Certainly, the Stepped Offset command, (similar to the Create Curb command in LDT), was long overdue, but things like feature line vertex weeding, smoothing, fit curve, and filleting, to name a few, give us abilities that are easy to learn and we will want to use.

Tomorrow I will be seeing the new Corridor stuff. I can't wait.

Off To Dallas

You may have read or heard that beginning Sunday (Yes, Sunday), Autodesk is holding a conclave, I mean Bootcamp for resellers. Among the many attendees, those of us that support the Infrastructure Solutions Division (ISD) (Autodesk-ese for Civil Engineering, Land Planning and Surveying) will ALL go through the same training for Civil 3D 2007, Map 2007, Raster Design 2007, and AutoCAD 2007.

We will be shown as much of the new stuff as can be stuffed into 5 days. This should include the new project management (Autodesk Vault), survey, grading, and labeling capabilities. I hope to post frequently to give glimpses and impressions.

I will be getting there a little early in an attempt to...

1. Clear my head for the arrival of new information and...
2. For some long needed R&R (suggestions needed).

I certainly am looking forward to this Bootcamp, and to seeing friends and acquaintances in the industry.

Oh, by the way, this in the 200th post to this blog, and a day or two ago the 50,000th visit occured. Thank you for taking the time to check here for information. Based on the increase in daily visits, clearly interest in Civil 3D is on the rise.

Anthony's Thoughts

Today, many resellers attended a webcast that described what will be available for us to refer to, and what is in the box (Civil 3D 2007), that can be used to learn, teach, and guide.

One segment of the webcast presented by Anthony Governanti, Technical Marketing Manager for Autodesk, was the "Wicked Cool Stuff" according to him.

The following is his list (in no particular order):

Text masking! Available in all labels!
Expressions – add calculations to any label
Reference text (that can use...)
---Alignments
---Profiles
---Parcels
---Surfaces
General Note (object)
Quick Profile
DWF Preview for Project Data
Grading Feature Line tools (3D polyline tools and more)
Grading that works!
---Inside corner cleanup
---Projection to surface
Graphical Corridor Editing
New Subassemblies
---Retaining walls
---Channels
---Pipe trench
---Many more
New templates
---National CAD Standards (NCS) based
---Extended to include Civil 3D specific objects
---Includes styles to replicate LDT output
Too much to list!

Although, much of this information has been discussed here and elsewhere, it was certainly very useful for me to see Anthony's highlight reel.


PS. I want to thank Anthony for his OK to use his list.