January Review

Thanks to URS for hosting the January meeting and providing pizza and refreshments. The meeting was conducted by Bob Gilman (Kimley-Horn), Dan Thill (Bonestroo) and Ian Burrell (URS).

Bob started the meeting off by going over KHA Civil 3D Workflow and Project Organization.

Dan gave a very in depth look at changes to Data Shortcuts in 2009. Then he gave a quick over view of the National Cadd Standards and why Bonestro has choosen to move to it.

Ian showed off the Autodesk University web site and all of the Civil 3D material that is available on the site.

Bob finished off the meeting by showing how to create 2 different profile styles. One style labeled both sag and crest curve with one style. The other was for showing the grade line on vertical curve. He also gave a tip on things to put in a template for creating existing DTM. We also looked at a couple tools in Map for drawing cleanup and trimming object using a boundary.

Thanks to Bob, Dan and Ian for presenting at the meeting.

The handouts have been loaded to the following FTP site.

The ftp folder has been created on the ftp site: ftp://www.kimley-horn.com/_secure

Folder name: MNC3D
Username: MNCivil3D
Password: civil3drocks

Every browser handles secure ftp sites differently. The link listed below will work with some browsers, it includes the folder and site name as well as the user name and password:

ftp://MNCivil3D:civil3drocks@www.kimley-horn.com/_secure/MNC3D

Note: Some email systems do not support hyperlinks. If this is the case, copy and paste the following url into the address line of your internet browser.

ftp://MNCivil3D:civil3drocks@www.kimley-horn.com/_secure/MNC3D

Internet Explorer 7 issues
IE 7 has implemented changes to browser FTP behavior. When opening an FTP site, you will be required to click on the "Page" icon in IE 7, and select to "Open FTP Site in Windows Explorer". An Access Denied error message may occur. Click on the "File" dropdown menu and select "Login As". They will then need to login to the folder with the appropriate username and password

Civil 3D 2009 Pipe Error

Just had a user call with a error they were getting when they tried to create a pipe network.
The error message was.
There is a problem with the Script Control (msscript.ocx).
This problem may be corrected by reinstalling Internet Explorer or by reregistering the control.

I filled out a Autodesk Subscription support reguest. And before I got a reply one of my IS guys already had fixed it with the same fix Autodesk suggested.
It has something to do woth Microsoft system scripting file.

Here's what my IS guy did.

Start à Run
Type: regsvr32 C:\Windows\System32\msscript.ocx
Hit enter and you should be given a popup message saying the file was successfully registered.

Here's what Autodesk's suggested.

You can try unregistering and reregistering the indicated file. To do this, open a command prompt in Windows (from the Start menu, select Run, type in CMD and then enter.) At the command prompt, enter regsvr32.exe msscript.ocx /u and then hit enter. You will receive a dialog box that says “DllUnregister Server in msscript.ocx succeeded.” Click OK. Still in the command prompt, enter regsvr32.exe msscript.ocx and then hit enter. You should receive a dialog box that says “DllRegisterServer in msscript.ocx succeeded”

Both of these would accomplish the same thing.

Issues with MRSID images in Civil 3D 2008 and 2009

I tried to open a drawing created in 2007 that had a MRSID file referenced in. The image did not show up. Well after some digging around on Autodesk website I came across these object enablers for 2008 and 2009.

AutoCAD Raster Design 2009 Object Enabler

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=11091617&linkID=9240618

AutoCAD Raster Design 2008 Object Enabler

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=9476871&linkID=9240618

Civil 3D 2008 Raster issues

Sometimes when you open a drawing with a aerial image (TIFF) referenced into, the aerial is shifted off coordinates. When it is unloaded and reloaded it it’s fine. Or when you are zoomed into a quadrant of the aerial then save the drawing, when it is opened back up, it’s shifted and broken away from the rest of the aerials. Sometimes it’s off coordinates and there are multiple copies of it staggered across the screen. This Hot fix should help with this problem.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=10189158&linkID=9240698

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.