January Meeting

January Meeting
Topic: Various Things We Learned At Autodesk University

Presenters: Bob Gilman (Kimley-Horn), Ian Burrell (URS) and Dan Thill (Bonestroo)

We will discuss and demonstrate various things we learned at Autodesk University.

1) Civil 3D Workflow and Project Organization
2) Improvement and Use of Data shortcuts in 2009
3) Increasing move to NCS
4) Feature of Map 3D-Drawing Cleanup Wizard
5) Profile Styles for Labeling Vertical Curves
a. Creating 1 profile curve style to label both the Sag and Crest curve.b. Creating a short line on the profile from BVC to the PVI.
6) Favorite quote; “Discontent is the first necessity of progress” Thomas Edison – so why haven’t we made more progress?

Location:
URS
Fifth Street Towers
100 South Fifth Street, Suite 1500Minneapolis, MN 55402Phone: 612-370-0700 (Main)

Date: January 13th, 2008.

Time: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. (pizza and soda will be provided)

See attached map for directions and parking.

If you are planning on attending please contact Ian Burrell at Ian_Burrell@URSCorp.com or 612-373-6424
Who should attend: CAD Managers, Civil Engineers, Surveyors, Engineering Designers, and Production Drafters?

Tip from AU

Trying to remember a command someone told you about or you seen in a demo but can’t remember the name. The TAB key can be your best friend. Start typing in the command in the command line, and start hitting the TAB key after a few letters. The Tab key will scroll you through the list of command that begin with letters you typed in. If you ever wondered what all of the Civil 3D commands are type in AEC then start hitting the TAB key and it will scroll through all the commands.
Picked this tip up from a class called Best of Blogs: Hot Tips and Hacks for Autocad Civil 3D presented by James Wedding

November Meeting Review

Thanks to Avatech Solutions for hosting the November meeting and providing pizza and refreshments.

Chad Studer gave a demonstration of the Leica High-Definition Surveying system. He showed how to edit point clouds. After that Jon McNelis gave an overview of the Survey portion of Civil 3D. How to import a field book then showed how to edit a field book. He went over using the Survey Database. We also had a discussion of the difference between using points brought into the Survey Database vs. points that are brought into Civil 3D using the import points.

Thanks again to Rob Black, Jon McNelis and Chad Studer of Avatech Solutions.

November Meeting

November Meeting
Topic: Using Civil 3D Survey and a demonstration of Leica Geosystem high Definition surveying system

Presenters: Jon McNelis and Chad Studer (Detroit office) application engineers from Avatech Solutions

Jon is Avatech Solutions local application engineer and has over 20 years of residential & commercial engineering experience, Jon applies his proficiency with Autodesk software products to assist Avatech clients through consulting services, training and technical support. His spirit of detailed project and technical management help customers create a streamlined environment through the use of design technology.

With an extensive background in civil engineering, Jon has helped firms design and manage projects in a variety of situations. He was also instrumental in the design and implementation of CAD Standards at three different organizations, increasing each firm’s efficiency and training staff in the use of the software.

Location:
Avatech Solutions
101 East Fifth Street Suite 2100St Paul, MN 55101Phone: 651-298-0990

Date: November 11th, 2008.
Time: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. (pizza and soda will be provided)

If you are planning on attending please contact Rob Black at Avatech Solutions 651-298-0990 or e-mail at rob.black@avat.com

Who should attend: CAD Managers, Civil Engineers, Surveyors, Engineering Designers, and Production Drafters?

Best Practices of Road Reconstruction

Autodesk webcast available for viewing. Click on the link to view.


https://www120.livemeeting.com/cc/autodesklearning/view?id=GOV_10_01_08&pw=Audience

For a copy of the white paper on Best Practices of Road Reconstruction.
Click on the link below.

ftp://TWCCivil3D:Autodesk@www.kimley-horn.com/_secure/MNCivil3D

AU 2008 Annual User Conference and Exhibition

The Premier Autodesk Learning and Networking Event:

Autodesk is expecting over 11,000 users to attend this years event.
The event is being held December 2-5, 2008 at the Venetian Resort Hotel in Las Vegas.

Some of the highlights of the AU experience include:

• The opportunity to explore the latest trends and technologies—including concepts such as Digital Prototyping, building information modeling, and sustainable design.

• 600+ classes, labs, and lectures to help you boost your productivity and take your capabilities—and your company—to the next level.

• The chance to meet face to face with Autodesk executives and product managers, giving you a better understanding of where Autodesk is going and the opportunity to influence the future development of the products you use every day.

To signup go to.




http://au.autodesk.com/event/

Annotation Scale

Annotation Objects where introduced into the Autocad world in 2008 and have caused performance issues in Civil 3D.

With the use of External References has produced and spawned a very large list of Annotation Scales. A set of drawings end up having a large number of Annotation Scales. All the files are relatively small. But the load time for each drawing is long.

Autodesk has released a tool to cleanup multiple files of the other items that will slow Civil 3D drawing – Registered Applications. These RegApps can cause performance issues with opening, plotting or e-transmitting any Autocad drawing.

Click on the link below to download the application.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=11807875&linkID=9240618

To learn more about unreferenced RegApps click on the link

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=11817088&linkID=9240617


Bob G