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12.6.12

Crazy Busy

Hi All-

I just want to do a quick post to let you know what I'm doing BESIDES not blogging. My colleague Russ and I have been working crazy hours. It has not been unusual for me to work 50-60 hours a week. When I was working on Mastering Civil 3D 2013, it was on top of that. Ugh.

We finally have help in the form of my newest esteemed colleague Paul. Hopefully he will be up to speed soon enough so that we can bang out the Civil 3D training videos we've been creating.  On top of the videos, it seems like everyone and their brother wants Civil 3D training, templates created, or just plain old mentoring.

Its great, but my husband says I teach Civil 3D in my sleep - literally. When I do demos and they say, "Gee you make it look easy." I usually say, "You'll get there, but full disclosure: I eat, sleep and breath this stuff."  Which is true. I eat while SRV files import.

Sadly, I have not had time to explore all the cool workflows I've been seeing with the recombobulated suites in 2013.

You really must get on a suite package if you are not. That's a boatload of software for a very reasonable price.  The Ultimate Suite costs about as much as a new license Autocad plus a Civil 3D if you were to buy them separately. 

Anyhoo - I gotta get back to those videos!

Love ya! 
Lou




30.3.12

WisDOT Greenlights Vault Use

I just returned from my first live Vault Collaboration demo. It went well. Thankfully one of my data management guru coworkers was there when the talk went all into the SQL mumbo-jumbo.  Y'know, the mumbo-jumbo that makes it all go.


If you are one of the consultants working with WisDOT on the I-39/90 Project, you may recall a note in the project documents that read something along the lines of "Don't use Vault, please."  I'm paraphrasing, of course. The first question people asked was "What is Vault?" After understanding what it is and what the benefits are, the second question was, "It sounds good. Well, why can't we use it?"  


Workflow-wise, there is no problem interacting between a Vault and a non-Vault scenario. Of course, going from Vault to non-Vault is something you should only do when the project is changing hands completely.  This is not something you want to do every day. 


Once a file is detached from Vault, you don't need anything special to view or work with it.  As long as you have all the file dependencies, Civil 3D treats an un-Vaulted project very similar to a project that uses data shortcuts.  In fact, Vault uses the exact same Project Templates that Data shortcuts use. 


Fast-forward to this week. WisDOT has formally changed its stance on Vault.  Here is an excerpt from an email they sent to the I-39/90 team: 

Vault is an Autodesk developed data management tool that works with native Civil 3D data and allows for collaboration on live data sets across geographic boundaries such as different office buildings.  http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=4502718&siteID=123112   Vault will also manage non-Civil 3D file types, similar to other commercial document management software tools.  We put the Vault restriction in place to ensure WisDOT’s ability to fully utilize consultant developed Civil 3D data.  WisDOT presently does not use Vault, and at the time the C3D usage requirements were drafted we had no knowledge of a workflow to allow us to get full utilization of Civil 3D data developed within the Vault environment.  Since then we’ve been working with Autodesk to identify a workflow, and have tested sample Vault data for use in our environment,  and we are now confident that we’ll be able to get full utilization of data developed in a Vault managed system.

If a consultant would like to pursue a Vault implementation, WisDOT will not be able to offer help.  We don’t have any Vault expertise to offer, but we can help them connect with knowledgeable resources.  Also, if a consultant chooses to implement Vault, Methods Development would like to be a passive participant in the implementation. We’d like to monitor the situation to protect our interests and to increase our knowledge of Vault.  In 2008 we opted not to implement Vault at WisDOT, but that is a decision that can be reversed if there is enough reason.

When you are talking about professional-level Vault for use with Civil 3D, you are really talking about Vault Collaboration AEC.  Vault Collaboration The link above has more information on the Vault family of products.

So Vault on, good people of Wisconsin!

29.3.12

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

I'm sure there are quite a few posts out there as far as what is new in Civil 3D 2013.  You'll read about pressure pipes, railroad cant calculations and survey queries.  You'll read about the decreased corridor build times and zippier performance.

But for me, my favorite thing is the new assembly building enhancement.  So simple, yet it had me spoiled after the first assembly I built. Screen caps don't do it justice.  I give you a short video:

Enjoy! -L

27.3.12

A New Blogging Epoch - Civil 3D 2013 Cometh

Welcome to Civil 3D Etcetera. 

Damn, I forgot how fun it is to express myself in blog form. No editors to worry about, I can use words like "I" and "we", not worrying about how my colloquialisms read and I can write about what I'm into that day - not what I *must* write about (I can use asterisks for emphasis!). It is the tech-writing equivalent to taking your bra off after a long day.

This a great time to start a new blog.  Just a few minutes ago I uploaded my last "fresh" chapter for Mastering Civil 3D 2013. Today is also the first day that Autodesk is releasing information about the 2013 product line.

I am eager to write about the features that are coming. From writing Mastering, I'm already spoiled by some of the new assembly creation tools. Seriously, you're going to love it.
So far, just a trickle of information is available to the public, but watch this space for lots more information in the coming day or two.

So what else is going on?

In addition to writing the next edition of Mastering Civil 3D, I've been spending tons of time training the WisDOT consultant community. You name em, if they've built or designed a road in Wisconsin, I've probably trained that company (or my co-worker has).  WisDOT has just migrated to 2012 (from 2010) and so far everything has been going smoothly.  I've been working very closely with the end-users and the the department that's been migrating/improving/developing and communicating standards.

After working with so many Microstation users, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to understand base-AutoCAD fundamentals before getting into Civil 3D. The smart groups have been open to taking my two-day crash-course for users migrating to Autocad-based products from Microstation.  When you work in CAD long enough, regardless of the platform, the mouse clicks and general behavior become second nature.  You pan, zoom and hit ESC without thinking about it. Take a Microstation user who has to stop and think about how to de-select something in Civil 3D, and you've added yet another thing to get used to.

This goes for base AutoCAD users as well. If the last version of AutoCAD you used was pre-ribbon, spend some time getting acquainted with the new interface.  Better yet, take an update class. Civil 3D classes are expensive - get the base cad out of the way so you can learn more sweet corridor-creation tricks in the time you have with me.

Hasta manyana
L