The Dave and Dan Civil 3D Show
Dan Philbrick and Dave Simeone add their colorful and insightful views, opinions, and expertise on Autodesk Civil 3D and the civil engineering marketplace.
About Daniel About DaveLatest Post
- posted 04/27/07 by Daniel Philbrick Civil 3D 2008 and Vault
- It has been a while since I have posted. Once Dave started trying to compare his lawn tractor shed with my Barn...well enough said. How can you compare something that was designed on a napkin to a 3D Post and Beam building model that is continually used to showcase the Google Earth interoperability? I guess I'll have to post a picture sometime.
Anyway, onto more important topics. I want to point out some of the key changes with Civil 3D 2008 and the Vault functionality.
Civil 3D 2007 included the Autodesk Data Management Server (ADMS) 5. Civil 3D 2008 now includes the ADMS 2008 version. ADMS 5 and the ADMS 2008 cannot be installed side-by-side on the same machine. Therefore, you have 2 options when working with Civil 3D 2007 and Civil 3D 2008 in the same office.
First, you can setup a separate server for 2008 based projects and connect to the appropriate server from either Civil 3D 2007 or Civil 3D 2008. As an alternative, we are going to release a patch for Civil 3D 2007 which will allow you to connect to the ADMS 2008 from Civil 3D 2007. This will allow you to upgrade to the new version of the server independently from your upgrade to Civil 3D 2008. This patch is planned for late May. If you later decide that you need to continue to use ADMS 5, you can uninstall the patch and then connect to the ADMS 5 from Civil 3D 2007.
Vault and Civil 3D 2008 - what is new?
Have you ever wanted to be able directly browse from Civil 3D to the Vault to attach an Xref? You can now do that in Civil 3D 2008. There is a new option on the Xref dialog that allows you to directly browse to the Vault for your Xref.
Have you had ever had a user checkout a file, make some changes, and then go home for the weekend without checking the file back in? We now prompt (i.e. remind) the user that they have changed the file but have not checked it back into the Vault. A little enhancement but it can make a difference.
Have you ever wanted to turn off the publishing of the DWF file when you check files into Vault? You can now do that. Civil 3D 2008 uses a setting in Vault Explorer for controlling this option. This option is in Vault Explorer under Tools->Options->Define DWF Attachment Options.
In 2007, you could not create a Profile from a Reference Alignment and then publish that Profile for other users of the project data. This restriction has been lifted in Civil 3D 2008. This means that you can now share Alignments and Profiles independently, while maintaining the relationship between them. This is very useful in a collaborative project.
If you have started using the new Plan Production feature, you should now be familiar with the View Frame. The View Frame is a new shareable object in the Project environment.
Dave and I will be covering these topics in our webcast next Friday.
See you then.
Dan
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Previous Posts
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Green Design for Civil?
Posted 04/18/07 by Dave Simeone
For a while, I’ve been reading about the impact of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building rating system and its impact on the architectural world. It’s pretty clear – reduce the amount of energy used in a building for lighting, heating/cooling, water/wastewater, etc so you can reduce the building’s impact on the environment (while also saving money in long term building operation).
Even though I come from the Civil world, I understand that buildings are fairly important parts of most projects. Yes, there are times where they clutter up a beautiful land development project, but I guess people need places to work, shop, sleep, eat, buy rough-sawn lumber, etc.
Anyway… how does this whole LEED thing impact the professionals who are designing the subdivisions, sites, transportation, and water retention systems, etc?
LEED for Neighborhood Development
This new initiative (looks like it’s just started up) is an attempt to define a rating system similar to the LEED Green Building rating system that is in place now (aka, LEED Certified building). From what I can tell, the goal is to have a similar rating system for how a neighborhood is configured by 2009.
There is a preliminary (“Pilot”) for the LEED-ND rating system on the LEED website that’ll give you a pretty good understanding of the effort.
Actions:
If you aren’t aware of this initiative, seems like it’ll be something you’ll want to begin tracking. I wouldn’t be surprised if real estate developers begin asking you to create LEED-ND submittals as part of your scope of work at some point in the future. The U.S. Building Council website is the place to go for information on all of this.
If you are actively tracking this initiative, I’d love to know a bit more about how you feel it’ll impact your business (for better or worse). Post info here on the blog if it’s something that will benefit everyone else.
Thanks
Dave S
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Snow in April? Maybe it's time to move south...
Posted 04/05/07 by Dave Simeone
Yup - April 5 and we got 10" of heavy, gooey snow. Actually, I'm really just writing this as an excuse to post a picture of the garage I've been building. Philbrick's always making fun of it... Anyway, I finally got a garage door (paid someone to do that) and it's 100% complete (except for the parts that aren't finished yet...)
View image
Also - this was my first attempt (without Anthony G helping) at putting images in my blog. -
Looking for AU 2007 speakers
Posted 04/05/07 by Dave Simeone
Howdy – We're starting to build our class schedule for Autodesk University 2007 and the website is open for people to submit class proposals.
Autodesk University 2007:
When: November 27–30, 2007
Where: The Venetian Resort Hotel
Important: The deadline for proposal submissions is April 30, 2007.
Go to the AU 2007 website for guidelines and resources to assist you in preparing your submission.
Am I a potential instructor?
Those of you who’ve taught classes in the past should have already received a note requesting class proposals. Those of you have not taught before but have thought about teaching should submit a class proposal.
Here’s what we’re looking for in the presenters…
1. People who are comfortable in front of a LOT of people. Depending on schedule and numbers of class registrants, you may have 400-500 people in the room.
2. People who are energetic – the shortest lectures are 90 minutes and we frown on snoring in the audience.
3. People who can (and will) share real-world best practices and guidance that will help others successfully adopt Civil 3D in production. Heck – that’s what AU is all about!
What classes are we looking for?
The focus for classes for AU2007 (Civil/Survey track) include…
- Migrating to Civil 3D from other products (including Land Desktop)
- Surveying (including survey, point, COGO and DTM operations)
- Site Development
- Subdivision Design
- Road and Highway Design (new roads, intersections, rehab/reconstruction, urban roads and highways)
- Pipe and utility layout
- Environmental projects
- Production Drafting
- CAD Management (styles, standards, data interoperability between AEC and GIS solutions)
- Project/Data Management (Vault, Shortcuts, best practices for production)
- Visualization and Project Communication
Note that there are classes (lectures) and Labs (hands-on) sessions. You should define what you want the proposal to be, but we may need to change it as we juggle the agenda. Those of you who are new may also want to consider being a lab assistant.
Finally – those of you who have never been to AU, start making the case to your boss now to join us. One place to learn more about AU you is at the AU Online website. This site include recordings of a number of classes from last year. Very Cool! It really is an amazing event for learning how technology like AutoCAD Civil 3D can be used to solve real-world production problems. The people who are teaching classes have incredible experience and knowledge to share.
And Philbrick teaches as well…
Cheers
DAS
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Introducing AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008
Posted 04/02/07 by Dave Simeone
Hopefully you were able to join us last week during our weekly Civil 3D webcast. We were finally able to demonstrate some of the many improvements that you’ll find in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008. If you weren’t able to join us live, the launch webcast should be up shortly. I just checked and the “Sneak peek” session is up and available for viewing.
Over the next weeks, we’ll be going into a lot more detail on the new release in the webcasts, so please join us if you can. Note also that a number of the bloggers are starting to provide info on the new release. Many of these folks have been exploring the product in beta form for some time. The new Civil 3D website also has lots of good info on feature enhancements. This includes all of the Civil 3D 2008 documentation and the New Features Workshop (located on the Documentation page of the website).
I’m really, really, really excited about this release and strongly encourage you to start digging in when it begins shipping on … (oh that’s right, I’m not allowed to share info like that!). For now, the best option is to join us in our upcoming webcasts, check this and other blogs (yes, I “promise” that we’ll be more active on this blog), review the various launch and supporting materials/documentation on the Civil 3D website and ask your reseller about the new release.
Gotta run and I look forward to getting ya'll more info in the coming months!
See ya
Dave S
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Introducing AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008
Posted 04/02/07 by Dave Simeone
Hopefully you were able to join us last week during our weekly Civil 3D webcast. We were finally able to demonstrate some of the many improvements that you’ll find in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008. If you weren’t able to join us live, the launch webcast should be up shortly. I just checked and the “Sneak peek” session is up and available for viewing.
Over the next weeks, we’ll be going into a lot more detail on the new release in the webcasts, so please join us if you can. Note also that a number of the bloggers are starting to provide info on the new release. Many of these folks have been exploring the product in beta form for some time. The new Civil 3D website also has lots of good info on feature enhancements. This includes all of the Civil 3D 2008 documentation and the New Features Workshop (located on the Documentation page of the website).
I’m really, really, really excited about this release and strongly encourage you to start digging in when it begins shipping on … (oh that’s right, I’m not allowed to share info like that!). For now, the best option is to join us in our upcoming webcasts, check this and other blogs (yes, I “promise” that we’ll be more active on this blog), review the various launch and supporting materials/documentation on the Civil 3D website and ask your reseller about the new release.
Gotta run and I look forward to getting ya'll more info in the coming months!
See ya
Dave S
