Civil 3D

Dave,

our engineering division uses C3d but the survey divisions does not yet use C3d, import of points and break lines works for us.

There's a lot to consider, you should at least start with the 2010 version, all that came before was not survey friendly in my opinion.  will you use the survey database or just import Pt,e,n,el,Feacodes? You do use Field to finish already, good news, a lot of new control codes ...

Don't know if you already checked the Autodesk civil-3d forum at their website, a lot of experts there that are online daily.

Learning curve will be steep but the product gets better ...
Good luck & keep us posted about  your transition,
chr.

I have it and hate it.   But then I was given only 3 days of training and I had to beg for it.  Have a 2 hour meeting tomorrow with local service people for "NEEDS ASSESSMENT."  It has a real big learning curve.  They have taken some of the simplest commands away or made them very hard.  I've been trying to figure out how to print a point list without exporting it, drawing a line by angle, and don't even think about rotating points brought in by the survey database. Your "project directory" goes away-where do you put your support data for the dwg.

My complaint list goes on for quite some time. Would go back to LDD6 in a heart beat.  first software I've ever used in 25 years that I had to get formal training for.  And there "help" function- piece of junk.  Understand it's great for design but pits for surveying.

David

Dave,
that's exactly why we started by importing just points and 3d-lines from our current GeOpus software, the designers make their models with this, and have the 2D referenced.
In my opinion it will takes us at least 6 months to set up a new C3d-survey environment, while doing our regular surveys with our current software.
Currently I'm reading one of the pdf' files found somewhere in the directory structure, it's huge, 73 chapters, but well documented with a lot of examples. I've printed the following to start with and try to understand what behind all the styles and settings.
3. Understanding Objects & Styles
4. Understanding Settings
8. Understanding Survey
9. Survey Settings
10. Survey Field to Finish
15 Points
17 Description Keys
that's just to start understanding, I had no classes yet, our designers did. You had 3 days on surveying or for the whole product?

It's definitely not a car you jump in, put in gear and start, it' makes me think of a F16, never been in one but can imagine the feeling you get entering the cockpit ... and a lot can go wrong when you start your engines and take off.

chr.

It's definitely a different beast.  I actually think that people who are used to Land Desktop have more trouble than others, because there is this tendency to try to do things in the same way with C3D as was done in LDD.  And there are definitely brain-dead and confusing things in C3D, especially from a Surveyor's perspective, so that doesn't help...

One thing to keep in mind is that training can vary widely.  The best bet is to get recommendations for SPECIFIC INSTRUCTORS (they vary widely, even within the same company) from people you trust, and then get your training from someone who is recommended.  At Edward-James Surveying, we had three days of training (from Prime Services), which got us oriented, then we figured out the rest.  One of the nice things about that training is that Michael trains on your company's data, and not on canned data, so you aren't left with that "Why doesn't anything work the way it did in training?" mess as soon as the instructor leaves.  By contrast, we hit our most-serious problems while the instructor was still there, and could help us.  Within six months, we were using C3D for all new projects (and most of our old projects), and no longer even wanted to start up Land Desktop.

I've also been thinking of offering my services, as well.  I'm a Land Surveyor who has actively been using Civil 3D in production, for Land Surveying in a real Land Surveying company, for almost four years now.  I'm also the creator of the Sincpac-C3D, which makes C3D dramatically easier to use for Surveyors - software I created precisely because I ran into many of the same problems with C3D that others are complaining about.  So I know an awful lot about C3D and how to really use it in production for Surveying.  The big question I have is how many people are actually interested in this sort of training...  If there's anyone out there who is seriously interested in something like this, drop me a line at "sinc" at "quuxsoft dot com", and we'll see what we can work out.  If there seems to be a serious demand, then maybe I'll extend to the official offerings of Quux Software to include training in "Civil 3D for Surveyors".

james mccann:

Is there any easy way to convert dynamic labels to floating text that can be easily edited and moved?

Thanks,

James

Kind of hard to answer your question.   You can still use MTEXT or regular text in Civil.   But the dynamic labels are dynamically attached to the item they are labeling.  You can grab the grip and move it and get leaders to what it is referencing.   You can also click the label and right click and change the label text.   Not sure if I answered your question.

Scott,

Thanks for replying - I guess I did not explain the question too well.

In Land Desktop you could label a line and get the measured distance and bearling which was anchored to the line.  You could then copy the label and move it above the line for the "measured" distance and bearing.  You could then copy it again, move it below the line, and edit it to show the "record" distance and bearing.  This was a lot quicker than using Mtext and does not work in C3D 2010.

As I am writing this I realized that I never tried to explode the label - maybe that will detach it and make it copiable/editable??

James 

yeah, explode it. But you may then have problems in the layout with the lable  size etc.

The folks at Autodesk have basically abandoned Surveyors; we are just too small of a market.

Way back when they included DCA (Dave Arnold's) software, written by a Surveyor, for Surveyors.

I detest Autodesk, someone should start a complaint of a monopoly against them.

In the meantime we hired the CAD trained from our local Cad company as a full time employee as he had a Survey background.

Well worth it having full time CAD guru sitting next to you.

We were up and running pretty strong in 2 months; still lot's to learn.

I don't see how a small company could justify hiring their own in house guru, but then again he was working on the project that required 3D, so he was mostly billable!
Then some of the clients (big ones) still don;t have 3D, so they struggle with our data!