You are browsing the archive for Styles.

Professional Land Surveyor Premium Post Updates

March 24, 2012 in Associate Membership, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Links, News

Premium Membership

Premium Membership

Professional Land Surveyor Premium Post Updates

I was just updating the Premium Membership Specials page by adding a list of all the Premium Posts I’ve published to date. I did not realize that they now add up to over 40 premium posts, how time flies when you’re having fun (and I am!). To sign up, click here »»Premium Signup

On the Premium Membership Specials page you’ll find special premium members only downloads and some other premium content, but for some reason I’d never thought about adding links to all the Premium Posts I’ve written. Sometimes, it’s the most obvious thing we overlook, isn’t it?

Having put together this useful list for that page, I then figured it would be a good resource for anyone interested in learning about the Premium Posts found here on EricColburn.com. So, here you go:

Land Surveying 911: Should I Pay For AutoCAD Civil 3D Training Or Try To Learn It On My Own?

March 5, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Business, Business Practices, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Land Surveying 911, Professional Land Surveyor Practice

Land Surveying 911

Land Surveying 911

In this Land Surveying 911 series article, some names have been changed to protect the inquisitive. Submit your Land Surveying 911 request using the form at the end of this article.

Steven, who owns a professional land surveying company struggling with switching over to AutoCAD Civil 3D from AutoCAD Land Desktop, submitted the following Land Surveying 911 question.

Land Surveying 911: Should I Pay For AutoCAD Civil 3D Training Or Try To Learn It On My Own?

Steven says: I own a land surveying company and we are switching from Land Desktop to AutoCAD Civil 3D. We purchased a couple of AutoCAD Civil 3D licenses early last year, and I figured we could migrate to and learn Civil 3D while still using Land Desktop for ongoing work production.

Buying Civil 3D was a hit for my company at the time, but I figured we’d see at least some productivity improvements and by this year, we’d be using Civil 3D fully. I’m embarrassed to say that we are not at all near to meeting our goals. We’ve spent countless hours trying to set up Civil 3D and understand how to work with it on our projects. We’re clearly doing something wrong because we’ve yet to efficiently finish a job from beginning to end.

At every turn, it’s one roadblock or another and we are all very frustrated. Trying to learn how to set up and use Civil 3D on our own has us seriously questioning whether we are doing everything wrong or whether there’s a serious issue with Civil 3D when used by land surveyors?

But then I read about other land surveyors, like yourself, using Civil 3D successfully which makes me question everything we are doing. Eric, what do you recommend; should I pay for AutoCAD Civil 3D training or should I continue to try to learn it on my own?

Land Surveying 911 Response

Read the rest of this entry →

Description Keys Are Unnecessary

February 13, 2012 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics, AutoCAD Civil 3D Templates, Business, Continuing Education, Geomatics, Land Surveying, Land Surveying Videos, Premium Membership, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software, Technology Videos, Videos

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 Survey 2D Points Essential Template Framework Without Description Keys

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 Survey 2D Points Essential Template Framework Without Description Keys

Description Keys Are Unnecessary – There, I Said It!

As soon as I first stated using AutoCAD Civil 3D, many moons ago, I had two thoughts:

  1. From a land surveyor’s point of view, AutoCAD Civil 3D was not as “revolutionary” a tool as it was/is for civil engineering software improvements (as well as being a financial burden in time and money to set up and use).
  2. Having Description Keys carried forward from earlier AutoCAD versions appeared to be redundant and unnecessary.

I just could not then, and still don’t, fully understand why Autodesk perpetuated Description Keys, when that whole system of survey point symbol and label management is a redundant feature.

Why bother with Description Keys when Point Styles, Point label Styles and Point Groups can do the same thing? That’s why I created the AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 Survey 2D Points Template Framework Without Description Keys, to cut your template setup time and to show that you can work with survey points while not using Description Keys at all.

In this Premium Post, you’ll learn how to free yourself from the Description Key file format. The template is also now available as a free download on the Premium Membership Specials page.

Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D Setup for Land Surveyors Course

May 18, 2011 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Business, Continuing Education, Land Surveying, News, Surveying Software

New Professional Land Surveyor Learning Center (PLSLC) Course: AutoCAD Civil 3D Setup for Land Surveyors

New Professional Land Surveyor Learning Center (PLSLC) Course: AutoCAD Civil 3D Setup for Land Surveyors (C3D-201)

New AutoCAD Civil 3D Setup for Land Surveyors Course Available on the Professional Land Surveyor Learning Center

In this online 8-week course, AutoCAD Civil 3D Setup for Land Surveyors, you will learn how to setup and use AutoCAD Civil 3D for basic land surveying tasks.

Learn AutoCAD Civil 3D for Land Surveying While Still Being Productive!

This AutoCAD Civil 3D Setup for Land Surveyors Professional Land Surveyor Learning Center course is presented online in a weekly format, served in bite-sized portions (letting you learn while still being productive), covering the following subject matter: Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey 2D Points Essential Template Framework

February 14, 2011 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Templates, Land Surveying, News, Surveying Software

AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey 2D Points Essential Template Framework

AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey 2D Points Essential Template Framework

Today I’m pleased to release my AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing template: AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey 2D Points Essential Template Framework (2011). This includes a digital download dwt (2011) template file and a sample point file.

Many land surveyors and designers have asked me to create this template so that they can work with points like they’re 2D. Have you been frustrated by AutoCAD Civil 3D having too much “3D-ness” (my word)? – Then this is the template for you!

My goal was to create an AutoCAD Civil 3D Template that treats points as if they’re really in 2D, for those of you looking for an affordable base framework in which to build upon to create and customize your own template. If working in AutoCAD Civil 3D has frustrated you because of:

  • Drawing lines between points creates those lines with endpoints of varying elevations, which become difficult to impossible to work with.
  • Then, it’s frustrating when trying to measure or draw lines, like wanting to draw a perpendicular line from a point to one of those unnecessary 3D lines mentioned above.
  • Line text gets distorted when drawing lines between points of different elevations.
  • Line symbols also get distorted when drawing lines between points of different elevations.

This template solves all those problems and lets you concentrate on doing your non-3D land surveying tasks, with ease. Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks-Importing AutoCAD Civil 3D Styles

February 2, 2011 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Land Surveying, Premium Membership, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks

In today’s AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks I will show Importing AutoCAD Civil 3D Styles.

This is another technique that helps you to speed up the creation of AutoCAD Civil 3D Styles by using already created Styles from your other AutoCAD Civil 3D drawings and templates.

You can also read AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks: Using Layer Source From Other DWGs When Creating Styles for tips on how to transfer AutoCAD Civil 3D Layers between drawings and drawing templates.

The Problem:

You have existing AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing and template files with existing Styles setup that you would like to insert into a new AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing and/or template.

Short of manually recreating each individual Style, what can be done so as not to have to reinvent the wheel?

Two things we’re trying to accomplish are:

  1. Work faster by selecting existing Styles from one AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing or template and import those Styles into a new AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing or template.
  2. Maintain Style consistency and drawing standards across projects and project files.

Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics: Creating a New Description Key Set

January 4, 2011 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics, Business, Continuing Education, Land Surveying, Premium Membership, Professional Land Surveyor Practice

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics

In today’s AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics, I’d like to discuss how to create a Description Key Set. This is the second in a series of Premium Posts about description keys. In this post I’ll show you how to create Description Keys Sets and where to find your Description Key Sets for land surveying using AutoCAD Civil 3D.

If you used Description Keys in versions of AutoCAD prior to Civil 3D, then you will mostly find using Description Keys in AutoCAD Civil 3D fairly familiar. In general, these are a few changes you’ll notice:

  • Instead of one global file, now there’s a Description Key Set (or more) in each drawing, provided you setup one or copy one into each drawing.
  • There are new ways to control blocks for point nodes (Markers via Point Styles) and how the points can be labeled (Point Label Styles).
  • You can now reorganize, filter and override the Description Keys to update which points show in your drawing, the Marker they use, and how they are labeled, using Point Groups. While point Groups aren’t Description Keys, you’ll find they work togehter so you can get more work done.

Creating a New Description Key Set Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics-What to do Before Creating a New Description Key Set

December 24, 2010 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics, Business, Continuing Education, Land Surveying, Premium Membership, Professional Land Surveyor Practice, Surveying Software

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics

In today’s AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Topics, I’d like to discuss what to do before creating a Description Key Set. This is the first in a series of Premium Posts about description keys. I’ll start here with what to do before creating a new Description Key Set, then move on to how to setup Description Key Sets, and finally, how to use Description Keys in your everyday land surveying using AutoCAD Civil 3D.

I first embarked on setting up my first Description Key Sets when AutoCAD Civil 3D first came out, several years back, and recently prepared my first AutoCAD Civil 3D template, AutoCAD C3D Survey Essential Template Framework, but I was surprised at how much I’d forgotten from that first experience. You see, this past week I’ve been helping out a Premium Member who is setting up his first AutoCAD Civil 3D template, and it brought back all of the pitfalls and mistakes I made in creating my own first template.

I’d like to help you have an easier time setting up, or fixing, your Description Key Sets. Of course, you could go over to the Store and purchase the AutoCAD C3D Survey Essential Template Framework or if you’re a Premium Member it’s one or your free downloads, but you’ll at least have to think about the following steps to make any template meaningful and useful to you and your land surveying firm.

What to do Before Creating a New Description Key Set: Read the rest of this entry →

Introductory Sale Ending on AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey Essential Template Framework

September 20, 2010 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Templates, Business, Land Surveying, News, Surveying Software

AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey Essential Template Framework

AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey Essential Template Framework

Buy Now and Save!

Just a quick announcement that the introductory 50% off sale for the AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing template: AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey Essential Template Framework will end this Wednesday.

After Wednesday, September 22, 2010, the special introductory $99 price will end and then cost the regular $199.

So, if you’ve been sitting on the fence, now is a good time to buy.

This digital download dwt template file (includes a sample point file, too) is compatible up to AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 and is an essential, fundamental, or base framework to get you headed on the right track in setting up and more quickly customizing this to your needs. You will save many hours of tedious work.

This affordable way for surveyors to expeditiously get running out of the block, with a few simple tweaks and customizations to match your basic survey standards, takes much of the work out of it for you, setting up a framework from which to build that will keep your layers, Point Styles, Point Label Styles, and Point Groups organized. And there’s more, too.

Register and it’s FREE!

Want to save even more? Register as a Premium Member today and this AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey Essential Template Framework can be one or your free Premium Membership monthly downloads. (You’ll also find plenty of other Premium Member benefits, too!)

Would You Like to Buy Now! [buy_now_button=17]
Would You Like to Add to Cart! [add_to_cart=17]
Or, Register Now! Register Now

Product Details:

[wpsc_products product_id='17']

[buy_now_button=17][add_to_cart=17]

AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey Essential Template Framework

September 8, 2010 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Templates, Land Surveying, News, Surveying Software

AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey Essential Template Framework

AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey Essential Template Framework

Today I’m pleased to release my first AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing template: AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey Essential Template Framework. This includes a digital download dwt template file(and a sample point file, too) and is compatible up to AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011.

As further described below, this AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey Essential Template Framework is an essential, fundamental, or base framework to get you headed on the right track in setting up and using your own template expanded from this template, saving you many hours of tedious work.

This may be an affordable way for many surveyors to expeditiously get running out of the block, with a few simple tweaks and customizations to match your basic survey standards. I’ve taken much of the work out of it for you, setting up a framework from which to build that will keep your layers, Point Styles, Point Label Styles, and Point Groups organized. And there’s more, too.

Register and it’s FREE!

Today, to launch the release of this AutoCAD Civil 3D template, I’m offering it at 50% OFF, a $100 Savings to you. Want to save even more? Register as a Premium Member today and this AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey Essential Template Framework can be one of your included Premium Membership 2 free monthly downloads. (You’ll also find plenty of other Premium Member benefits, too!)

Buy the AutoCAD Civil 3D Essential Template Framework (2011)
Or, Register Now! Register Now

AutoCAD Civil 3D Essential Template Framework Product Details:

This is a digital download product of an AutoCAD Civil 3D Template called AutoCAD Civil 3D Surface Essential Template Framework (2011).

I created this C3D Surface Essential Template Framework (2011) as an entry point to use AutoCAD Civil 3D for creating Surfaces, in response to many who were having difficulties with this functionality. At its most basic level, you can simply import/insert/create points in a drawing created from the template, and those points will create the pre-setup surface. This is a good way to begin working with AutoCAD Civil 3D, while gaining understanding of how surfaces are created, displayed and annotated.

As your comfort level increases with use, you might want to expand and build upon the base template to customize your own template to suit your needs. For instance, by adding your own custom point styles, labels styles, point groups, and editing how the pre-setup Surface is defined, you can add customized functionality specific to your existing workflows and company standards.

To sum it up, this is AutoCAD Civil 3D Template is an essential, fundamental or base framework to get you headed on the right track in setting up and using your own template expanded from this template, saving you many hours of tedious work.

Included is a sample points list that you can insert into this template, or a DWG created from it, to see how the pre-setup Surface works and an overview of the template and a C3D Surface Essential Template Framework (2011) Overview (PDF).

This file is available for free to registered Premium Members of EricColburn.com!

Included in the digital download:

  • AutoCAD Civil 3D Surface Essential Template Framework (2011).
  • Sample point file to create a surface.
  • AutoCAD Civil 3D Surface Essential Template Framework (2011) Overview (PDF).
  • This file is available for free to registered Premium Members of EricColburn.com.
  • Contact us if you’d rather pay by check, and after we receive your payment we’ll email you the files.


Buy the AutoCAD Civil 3D Essential Template Framework (2011)

 

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks: Using Layer Source From Other DWGs When Creating Styles

August 12, 2010 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Land Surveying, Surveying Software

AutoCAD Civil 3D With Two Drawings Open

AutoCAD Civil 3D With Two Drawings Open

In today’s AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks I will show 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.

Read the rest of this entry →

Professional Land Surveyor Video-AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 for Land Surveyors: Create a Surface From a Point Group

June 25, 2010 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Business, Continuing Education, Land Surveying, Land Surveying Videos, Surveying Software, Videos

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 for Land Surveyors - Create a Surface From a Point Group

In this installment of my Professional Land Surveyor Video series, AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 for Land Surveyors: Create a Surface From a Point Group, I will show you how to:

  1. Create a Point Group specifically for project surface points.
  2. Create a Surface.
  3. Use the Point Group to define the Surface.

Watch the video after the jump Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks: How To Setup and Use Surface Styles To Edit Surfaces Efficiently

June 22, 2010 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Land Surveying, Surveying Software

Surface Banded

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks: How To Setup and Use Surface Styles To Edit Surfaces Efficiently

In today’s AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks I will show you How To Setup and Use Surface Styles To Edit Surfaces Efficiently. This technique increases your CAD drafting and AutoCAD Civil 3D Surface creation and editing productivity by employing proper template setup and reducing switching between Toolspace Tabs and drilling down through what can be a rabbit-hole of options and settings AutoCAD Civil 3D uses to do the voodoo that it do.

This really leads to an important note: The overall techniques and processes that I’m showing you here are specific to setting up Surface Styles in your AutoCAD Civil 3D Templates so that you can Edit Surfaces Efficiently, but if you concentrate on the bigger picture, that of setting up your AutoCAD Civil 3D Templates with preset Styles to increase your productivity, then this is really what this post (and more to come) is all about. In fact, using the techniques that I describe below is really just one small part of a mindset and process which will allow you to take many small efficiencies and accumulate them into big increases in productivity, efficiency, and profit.

Two things we’re trying to accomplish are:

  1. Have a preset Surface Style setup for editing AutoCAD Civil 3D Surfaces in your Template Drawing so that you only have to do this step once, saving you time from this point out.
  2. Speed up the AutoCAD Civil 3D Surface editing process, reducing the need to switch back and forth between Prospector Tabs, find an appropriate Surface Style, and then drill down to switch on the Surface Style Components you’d use for surface edits, like Points, Triangles, and Border, for instance.

Read the rest of this entry →

Are AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 Label Style Layers Not Working?

June 11, 2010 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Business, Land Surveying, Surveying Software

Professional Land Surveyor Forum

Professional Land Surveyor Forum

Last night I posted on the Professional Land Surveyor Forum a discussion topic, “Are AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 Label Style Layers Not Working?” Here is what I posted there:

Is anyone else having this problem? I’m now using AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011, and when I set a layer in any Label Style the label, when created, does take on the attributes of that layer, but does not reside on the layer specified in the Label Style. It looks to me like the overrides are not fully functioning.

I bring this up for three reasons:

  1. I’m looking for an answer.
  2. I’m curious as to how many people this is happening to, besides me.
  3. I want you to be aware of this before you create a ton of labels and then have to manually select them all and switch them to the layer you wanted them on to begin with.

Follow this Professional Land Surveyor Forum »» Are AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 Label Style Layers Not Working?

I first noticed this earlier this week when I was creating a whole bunch of General Note Labels and General Line Labels. After the labels where created, and I was selecting labels to be on/off and/or thaw/freeze in different viewpots in paperspace, I noticed that when I turned the layers off, or froze them, nothing was happening.

Read the rest of this entry →

Professional Land Surveyor News: NVIDIA Quadro Lets AutoCAD 2011 Designers Achieve Maximum Productivity

April 9, 2010 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Business, Land Surveying, News, Surveying Software


Professional Land Surveyor News

Professional Land Surveyor News

Professional Land Surveyor News: NVIDIA Quadro Lets AutoCAD 2011 Designers Achieve Maximum Productivity.

NVIDIA has announced improved workflows for AutoCAD 2011 designers using NVIDIA® Quadro® certified  graphics processing units (GPUs). NVIDIA promises visual accuracy, fast 3D performance and high reliability with their Quadro professional graphics solutions.

About NVIDIA and Autodesk

NVIDIA first shook up the computer graphics industry in 1999 by inventing the GPU. This new visual computing standard provided enhanced interactive graphics on a wide range of devices including tablets, portable media players, notebooks and workstations. NVIDIA’s expertise in programmable GPUs has led to breakthroughs in parallel processing which make supercomputing inexpensive and widely accessible.

Autodesk and NVIDIA are strategic partners collaborating extensively, yearly investing thousands of hours of collective engineering, to certify the Quadro GPUs for AutoCAD. NVIDIA has also invested more than 10 years in application specific optimizations to optimize AutoCAD performance.

With the release of the AutoCAD 2011 line of software by Autodesk, and all of the new features and visual styles designers can implement in 2D plans or 3D models, the NVIDIA professional-class Quadro GPU promises to let designers expand upon the complexity of their designs. The ability to better visualize our designs using the AutoCAD 2011 should bring increases in productivity and eliminating waste as we move closer to BIM.

Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks: Create A Surface From A Point Group

January 21, 2010 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Land Surveying, Surveying Software

In today’s AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks I’ll will show you how to Create a Surface From a Point Group. There seems to be a lot of confusion as to how to create a Surface in AutoCAD Civil 3D which is a task you will no doubt use often in your professional land surveying practice.

Click the button below to buy access to this post

There are many methods and types of surface data you could use to create a surface in AutoCAD Civil 3D. In this AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks I will concentrate on what I think can become your most used workflow in creating surfaces, and in the next AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks I’ll give you a few extra tips and tricks to automate surface creation, save time, and get your project out the door more quickly.

In general, what we will be doing is: Read the rest of this entry →

5 Nice Features of AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 Parcels

January 8, 2010 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Business, Land Surveying, Premium Membership, Surveying Software


AutoCAD Civil 3D Parcels

AutoCAD Civil 3D Parcels

5 Nice Features of AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 Parcels

I was recently working on converting an older AutoCAD drawing to an AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 drawing in order to modify a parcel and add a few new parcels to it. Also recently, I’ve been writing a soon to be released article about whether or not AutoCAD Civil 3D is a good tool for land surveyors. Having both things on my mind, the big picture and the one Parcels feature set of the software, gave me the idea for this article.

As I focused on using the features of AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 Parcels I realized that there are some very nice features built into this part of the software. Using the Parcels functions and feature set in AutoCAD Civil 3D, for any release, is probably one of the most used functions of AutoCAD Civil 3D. Parcels in AutoCAD Civil 3D give the professional land surveyor powerful tools they can use every day in their land surveying businesses, while not being too much of a burden to setup.

One of the biggest concerns I hear from users of AutoCAD Civil 3D is how laborious and complex it is to setup AutoCAD Civil 3D. It is true that AutoCAD Civil 3D can take an enormous amount of upfront time to get setup and organized. This is expected with a software package designed to be standards oriented. In fact, standards based setup and design is one of the most powerful aspects of AutoCAD Civil 3D.

Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks: Finding the Description Key Sets

September 10, 2009 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Land Surveying, Surveying Software

In today’s AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks I’m going to show you how to find the Description Key Sets. Yesterday this issue came up as a few of you were busily learning to use, or just trying to use, AutoCAD Civil 3D and couldn’t find the old Description Key Sets file.

Unlike in older versions of AutoCAD, where the Description Key Sets file where stored in a file, you now find the Description Key Sets file within your AutoCAD Civil 3D DWG (and DWT) drawing file. Read the rest of this entry →

AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks: Apply Description Keys

August 21, 2009 in Associate Membership, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks, Business, Continuing Education, Land Surveying, Surveying Software

In today’s AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks I’m going to show you how to apply Description Key codes to a point. This may be necessary in the following situations.

  1. You created a point in your AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing and inadvertently entered an incorrect description. Now you want to correct the description to match your description keys and update the point in your drawing.
  2. The point’s description, while accurate in the past, may require an updated point description. Why you ask? Well let’s say that you created a point at a lot corner, and you called it “LOT”. Then, as part of your professional land surveying practice you go out to the field and set a monument at this corner, perhaps an iron rod. So the description in your AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing now needs to be revised from “LOT” to “IRS”, as an example.

The real issue isn’t really with the description itself, which can be easily edited in your AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing, but with the control and standardization Description Key Sets and coding achieve in layer placement, Point Label Styles and Point Styles – Particularly the placement of the right Marker at the point node. With that said, it is important that the new description is first coded in your Description Key Sets file.

Read the rest of this entry →

s2Member®