Eric D. Colburn, PLS

AutoCAD Civil 3D With Two Drawings Open

In today’s AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks I will show you Using Layer Source From Other DWGs When Creating Styles. This technique helps you speed up the creation of AutoCAD Civil 3D Styles by using already created layers from your other AutoCAD Civil 3D drawings and templates.

The Problem:

You are creating new styles in an AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing or template and in doing so you want to speed up the process of assigning Layers to the new point style; let’s say for display, for example. If the layer is not already in your AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing or template you have to create that layer (and its settings), which is either cumbersome through the Style Editor, or you need to exit the Style Editor to do it using the Layer Manager.

Either way, it requires a certain amount of manual input and risks inconsistencies between drawings and templates.

Two things we’re trying to accomplish are:

1. Work faster by select an existing Layer from another AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing or template to use in creating Styles.
2. Maintain Layer consistency.

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PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY

In this week’s PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY I’m asking the question Have You Ever Had Lyme Disease?

Blacklegged (or deer) ticks

Take the survey and if you had (or have) Lyme Disease please leave a comment telling us your experience with having Lyme Disease: Did you get Lyme Disease while working in the professional land surveying field – verses hunting for example – how serious was it, are you recovered from it or are you still experiencing symptoms and lastly, maybe, what has been successful for you in keeping Deer Ticks off of you.

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PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY

In this week’s PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY I’m asking the question of when you use AutoCAD, How Often Does AutoCAD Crash on You?

Take the survey and please tell us what you think about the issue of AutoCAD crashing, how often it crashes, and how it impacts you and your company.

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AutoCAD Civil 3D

In the Beginning

This is the beginning of a series of posts about setting up and using AutoCAD Civil 3D in your land surveying work. I know from the many conversations I’ve had with other professional land surveyors and mapping professionals that there is some confusion, and certainly a lot of frustration, with setting up and using AutoCAD Civil 3D.

Setting up and learning to use AutoCAD Civil 3D can be a daunting task, but it is well worth it once you’ve configured it to your company standards and learn to use, at the very least, some of the basics. I speak from experience and I know full well that you have a lot (A LOT) of setup ahead of you. I also went through this rocky experience, so I hope to make this a less painful experience for you.

Learning to use AutoCAD Civil 3D has not been as simple or as trouble free as I would have liked. However, I think it is unfair to lump all of the blame on AutoCAD Civil 3D. In all honesty, part of the problem with setting up and using AutoCAD Civil 3D is that it does require a lot of initial setup which is dependent upon your professional land surveying practice having standards in place.

A Brave New World

So,  you can look at this initial setup of AutoCAD Civil 3D as a negative or you can take a positive approach and use the setup of standards as a holistic overhaul of your surveying standards and procedures. And, this is where I shall start.

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PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY

In this week’s PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY I’m asking: As a Professional Land Surveyor, What Do You Want?

You may want to read my recent post entitled What do Professional Land Surveyors Want? In that post I ponder what Professional Land Surveyors want, listing the following 5 ideas which I used in this weeks PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY.

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The Congress for New Urbanism philosophy is as follows:

Making Connections a Priority

Through grids of streets, transportation choices, and the siting of buildings along sidewalks, New Urbanism brings destinations within reach and allows for frequent encounters between citizens, in sharp contrast to sprawl (right). A key measure of connectivity is how accessible communities are to people with a range of physical abilities and financial resources.

Professional Land Surveyor Source: Congress for New Urbanism

I don’t want to give it away, but I bet you’ve either designed or laid-out one of these before. Watch the video and comment on what you think about it.

AUGI Members Only Exclusive Download:

AUGI Exclusive-Download Lynn Allen’s Tips and Tricks for Using AutoCAD 2010 on the Autodesk User Group International (AUGI) website.

You all know the value of Lynn Allen’s Tips and Tricks. You know that she has saved you tons of time and effort. Now Lynn Allen, Autodesk technical Evangelist and AUGI Sweetheart, is offering an exclusive to our members. A sneak peek at the AutoCAD 2010 Tips and Tricks. That’s right – before anyone else gets to see them, Autodesk is allowing AUGI members an exclusive downloadable version. This PDF download is stuffed with the best of the best from Lynn. You have used them in the past and they have made you more productive. Get the latest in a long stream of helpful hints directly from Lynn to AUGI members. You must be a member to download the booklet.

Professional Land Surveyor Source: AUGI.com

This FREE Download is for AUGI Members only, so if your not already a member, take the one minute (if that) to become an AUGI Member. There are many more benefits to joining other than this great Free Download of Lynn Allen’s Tips and Tricks for Using AutoCAD 2010