Mastering Civil 3D Winner - Tips and Tricks

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Tips and Tricks contest. I apologize for the delay in selecting the winner. I'm finally on summer break from uni and had some time to revisit this.

This post is about the winner of the Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 book!

Congratulations to Dave Drahn! As promised, an impartial party was given the names of all of the tipsters, and he selected one at random. 

Tipster: Dave Drahn

Product: Civil 3D

With C3D came a crapload of new layers and time to wrap our head around (usually) the NCS layering standards. To help us handle these a little easier, in our C3D template(s), I've included a set of layer filters like these:

 

The time it took to set these up in the template undoubtedly paid for itself in the first week of use by just one user and is now a standard at our company.

Finding these filter codes in help was trickier than doing them. Here are 3 of them, but I can post the rest somewhere if desired:

All Civil 3D Layers
[A C V O]-* (all layers beginning with A-, C-, V- or O-)
Layer* (any new layer created while in the filter will display initially as "Layer...")

Profiles
C-PROF* (All layers beginning with C-Prof...)
Layer* (See above)

No C3D Layers
~[A C V O]-* (Layer name Not beginning with A-, C-, etc)
Layer* (see above)

Also, if you need to show No C3D or Xref Layers, simply select the "All C3D and Xref layers" filter and check the Invert Filter box.

Thanks to everyone else submitted tips but did not win, your sharing is very much appreciated!

Tipster: Zane Zigmund

Product: Civil 3D

Adding notes to objects in Civil3D
1. Select the “General” menu followed by “Utilities” then “Notes”
2. In the drawing select the object that you wish to add the notes to, followed by ENTER!
3. The Text Dialogue box is displayed and you can now enter the required information, followed by “OK”
4. To view any text that may have been attached to an object simply bring up the properties of the object (by double clicking the object). Select the “Extended Data” tab and any notes attached to an object can be read.

 Tipster: Earl Kubaskie

Product: Civil 3D

Got a flat surface at an even elevation where contours jump across instead of going all the way around? Get sloppy! Set the elevation of the features that define the surface "close enough", like 39.99999 instead of 40.0! Your "40" contour will now wrap all the way around, label properly, and you won't have anyplace where the contour pops across the feature. And the effect on volume calcs and such will be nil unless you're covering a LOT of ground.

ps - you might have to do it the other way (40.000001) if your feature is a plateau instead of a pond!

 Tipster: David Renaud

Product: AutoCAD

 Having trouble seeing your QLEADER during the command so that you have to guess where it ends up if the angles are constrained? And DRAGMODE and DRAGP1 don't do a thing for you? 

Try switching from model space to paper space, and back again. Don't ask me how or why, but it works!

 Tipster: Kyle Nishioka

Product: AutoCAD

Use the Shift + Right-Click context menu and a shortcut key to select Object Snap points instead of using the OSNAP lock.

For example, start the LINE command then Shift + Right-Click and hit "E" for the Endpoint snap.  Most of the common Object Snap shortcut letters are typed with the left hand (e.g. E = Endpoint, A = Apparent Intersection, C = Center, R = Nearest). 

This makes it easy to select only a particular type of Object Snap among a dense cluster of snapping points.

Tipster: Sam Lucido

Product: AutoCAD

Use the express tool LAYDEL command but at the command prompt type N to bring up a dialog box to dispay a list of layers that you can choose from and delete.  This is a great tool for managing drawings with large amounts of layer information.

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Moving forward (when your company won’t)

I've got a guest poster today, Matt Stachoni. Thanks for sharing, Matt! 

I hope my readers enjoy his practical advice. 

Q: My company is refusing to move to Revit because they think… (there’s a huge learning curve)(training costs too much)(we’ve got too much work to have people out of the office for a decent amount of training)(BIM is a fad)(Autodesk sucks)(etc).

I feel like I’m being left behind everyone else in the industry by using outdated tools and methodology.

How do I keep myself educated/efficient/marketable when I don’t have the financial resources of my company behind me?

A: I very much sympathize with your situation, because falling behind the technology curve is a terrible feeling. Even working for a reseller, I often feel behind the cutting edge, especially reading some of the BIM and Revit blogs I scan on a daily basis. The stuff people are doing with the product is really crazy nowadays.

I’ve seen many instances where a few people were interested in it, but the attitudes of managers and principals made it all but impossible to be on any sort of cutting edge. In this economy, firms are faced with a real problem... Spend a ton of money to FINALLY get on Revit – and use it - or simply miss out on project work because you fail to move ahead. I've seen it happen in this area. Two years ago, no one used Revit. No one wanted to. No one felt they needed to. Now, it's a completely different story. Many of the subcontractors are using Revit and Navisworks just to make sure their designs work.

Everyone knows it's rolling over the area like a huge tidal wave. If you want to survive, you want to be out of the crashing surf, riding the waves up and down. And if you are still standing on the beach, you at least need to be looking in the right direction.

Yeah, it's expensive. But how expensive are cause delays and interoperability problems with your projects due to your current software? Using old, outdated CAD applications probably hurts your people more than anything else. This artificially limits your employees' progress and overall market worth, and it makes it harder to find quality new employees, because no one wants to work for someone who is still stuck in 1992.

Learning Revit? First get yourself a copy of the software. Download and install Revit Architecture 2012, then after 60 days, get Revit MEP, then Structure. After six months of diligent work, you’ll understand all three applications and be the most valuable person on the planet. If you can still get 2011, get that first; now you have a complete years’ worth of Revit fun.

Then download the Architecture, MEP and Structural tutorials for 2010 from the Autodesk support site. They really do help get you off the ground and understanding the program's thought pattern. The online videos, while helpful, only give a very cursory introduction to the software. YouTube is your best friend – there are lots of Revit videos full of tips and tricks.

Then get a copy of Navisworks Manage and learn that. Download a copy of my “Introduction to Navisworks Manage” class from last year's AU, 'cause it totally rocks, here: http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=class&session_id=6765.

Get two books: “Introducing Revit Architecture” by Patrick Davis, Charlie Busa, Steve Stafford, et al, and “Mastering Revit Architecture” by Eddy Krygiel, Phil Read, and James Vandezande. Read the Introducing book first, and do all of the exercises. Then read the Mastering book to reinforce how it all comes together, as well as learn valuable out of the box techniques.

For the first few weeks, build a project a day. Nothing special, but concentrate on one aspect, such as creating compound walls with articulation (regions, sweeps and reveals), roofs of various kinds with fascia, gutters and soffits, and stairs. Build lots and lots and lots of stairs.

Get Paul Aubin's DVDs series on Mastering the Family Editor and creating parametric families. These are really good instructional videos. http://paulaubin.com/blog/master-the-family-editor-series-available-on-dvd/ I also liked his Revit Essentials videos as well.

Download and read AUGIWorld Magazine, which has some of the bestup to date Revit/BIM Info anywhere.

Subscribe to all of the Revit blogs you can find. Here are just a few of the ones I like:

http://insidethefactory.typepad.com/

http://revitclinic.typepad.com/my_weblog/

http://revitclinic.typepad.com/my_weblog/

http://www.architecture-tech.com/

http://whatrevitwants.blogspot.com/

http://therevitkid.blogspot.com/

http://dorevit.blogspot.com/

http://www.revitzone.com/

http://autodesk-revit.blogspot.com/

http://buildz.blogspot.com/

http://revit-detail.blogspot.com/ (follow the details tutorials from day one)

http://blogs.rand.com/architectural/

http://revit.blogspot.com/

http://do-u-revit.blogspot.com/

http://bimtroublemaker.blogspot.com/

http://cad-notes.com/category/revit-architecture/revit-architecture-tutorial/

http://bimboom.blogspot.com/

http://allthingsbim.blogspot.com/

http://mep-cad.blogspot.com/

http://ductductpipe.blogspot.com/

http://inside-the-system.typepad.com/

http://doddsandends.typepad.com/blog/

http://jasongrant.squarespace.com/

http://www.goodrevit.com/viewforum.php?f=9

http://thesustainabledesigntoolbox.typepad.com/blog/

http://sites.google.com/site/revitblogdirectory/

http://www.revitup.co.za/_mgxroot/page_10937.php

Regards,
Matt Stachoni
Senior AEC Applications Technical Specialist
CADapult LTD

3 Mill Park Court, Suite A

Newark, DE 19713

(302) 733-0477

matt.stachoni@cadapult.net

http://www.cadapult.net

AEC Blog: http://www.cadapult.net/aecblog

Matt Stachoni is the senior AEC Applications Technical Specialist and BIM implementation consultant for CADapult LTD, an Authorized Autodesk Silver reseller in Northern Delaware, and has over 20 years’ experience working with Autodesk applications.

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OT: School Update redux

In the Summer of 2009 I gave you an update on how my continuing education was progressing, and I thought it was time for another.

Returning to School
I started attending St. Louis University in the Spring of 2008 (coincidentally, we found out we were expecting our second child about two weeks before classes began... yikes! I decided to stick it out, though, as I'd already taken a brief ~cough~five year~cough~ break from my studies after my first son was born and didn't want to be deterred again).
I joined the School for Professional Studies (which has evening, weekend and online classes) because of a special program at work. They actually brought SLU teachers to one of our buildings on campus and the other students were all employees. I only stayed with this program for a year, after that, I started scheduling my own classes and attending on the University campus.

I wasn't sure what the demographic was going to be. It turns out that a majority of the students are female (yes, even in my Computer Science classes). Also, a majority were in their 40's and 50's (many of whom have children in high school and college). There were some folks in their 20's and 30's, but, not all that many.
Of course, we have all felt a certain kinship, despite any age gaps, because we had something pretty major in common... we were all balancing full time work in addition to school.

Declaring my major was somewhat difficult. In the summer of 2009, I made my decision and signed on for the new (at the time) Organizational Leadership and Technology program (it's a combination of two programs, the Computer Science and Organizational Studies coursework). I thought it would give me a more well-rounded education over a straight Computer Science degree.

Although, if they had offered the Informatics degree back then, I probably would have signed up for that instead (:sadpanda: seriously, when did they add that? Sneaky little so and so's.).

Fun Fact:
The AUGI Annual Salary Survey reveals that, in 2002 27% of responding members had a Bachelor's degree or higher. By 2010, this percentage had increased to 41%.

Handling the Coursework
The program I'm in operates on a compressed class schedule (a class only runs for nine weeks, allowing students to complete at least five classes in a year, one at a time), but, don't let that fool you into thinking it is easy. Almost all of these classes will still cover an entire textbook in that time. The class meetings are four hours long, we still have tests, papers to write, chapters to read in our books, as well as a host of multimedia supplements (darn the technology!!!). It is VERY intense and you have to stay on top of it.
But, it's doable. I have told myself so many times since I began, "you can do anything for nine weeks".

As an applied sciences type of girl, I thought that the core studies would be a boring waste of time, but, I've found that I actually really enjoyed them. I suppose maturity and perspective might have had something to do with that change of heart?
Something a few students don't care for is the fact that many instructors require us to get up and speak in front of our classmates...  
Seriously, don't spend time worrying about public speaking. Just pick a topic you're familiar with and trust that you know what you're talking about, it will get easier every time you have to do it, and an increased comfort level in front of an audience will benefit you at work, guaranteed.

I do most of my homework during my lunch hour at work. I am fortunate enough that I have an hour break, and my own office. So, I shut my door, eat at my desk, and catch up on class discussion group posts, read articles, listen to any online lectures and write my papers (I'm so sick of APA formatting guidelines).
Although, since the university upgraded their online classroom platform (Blackboard), I have been able to check into content and discussion posts from my iPhone, so I can use the time normally wasted waiting in line at the DMV, etc.
I might read textbook assignments while watching a movie with the family, or driving around on our weekend errands (obviously, I'm not the one driving, my husband is... I'm riding).
I tend to take my quizzes online after dinner or at some point during the weekend.
~looks around conspiratorially~ Okay, I confess, sometimes, I just can not get everything done in the time I have allotted... so, typically toward the end of the semester, I will schedule a day off of work, and spend it tucked away into the corner of our local library (which is much quieter than the university library). I use this time to finish up any major projects and study for my final exams.
I also try to take my notes in an electronic format as often as possible... when you're cramming for an exam, it's a lot easier to do a search for a specific term, than to have to flip through an entire notebook in a vain attempt to locate a single piece of data.

Paying for Classes and Textbooks
Obviously, cost was a major consideration in my education. I'd only pursued an Associate's degree as a youngster because it was all that I could afford at the time (although, I was pleased at finishing that without owing anyone any money). I wanted to obtain a Bachelor's degree, but, I just wasn't sure how I could pay for tuition and books and fees, etc.

My employer will agree to reimburse a set amount of tuition (and fees and books) per year, once a degree program has been approved by our educational benefits department. That is something for which I am extremely grateful, of course.

I wanted to take more classes than they were able to pay for, though, so I completed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is the first step for obtaining grants and loans to help with the expenses. The financial aid office also links to resources to find specialty scholarships.
Unfortunately, I will have some student loans when I graduate, but, I wanted to complete my degree in four years, rather than eight, so I bit the bullet.

I don't buy my books from the school bookstore, I buy them from Amazon. You have to keep an eye on the class information and try to purchase your books as soon as possible... if you wait until two weeks before the semester starts, you'll notice the prices jump as the book sellers realize certain books are in demand. Sometimes, you just cannot find used books at a reasonable price, so, I've actually rented them.

In order to pay for the books, I've done some work through Amazon's crowd-sourcing program, Mechanical Turk. Most of the gigs (hits) don't pay diddly, but, you can sift through and find some that are easy enough to do while you're watching TV, and, if you get fast enough, the earnings can add up.
Also, I like to do some usability studies with Autodesk. Some of their longer studies provide an Amazon gift card as a 'thank you'.
While my employer finally added the benefit of reimbursing for textbooks (last year?), I'm the one purchasing them up front, and I'm not going to be wasting funds.

What Now? 
Last night... ~pausing for dramatic effect~ last night I received written confirmation of my application to graduate. It is official, I will be completing my coursework (with all classes already scheduled) in 2011.
~waits for applause to die down~
I'm happy to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm sure my family is, too.

I really think that, given my tendency to do most of my work during my lunch hour, I've minimized the impact on my family as much as humanly possible (although that effort may not have been as noticeable, as I was still freelancing a bit during this time)... but, we will all appreciate my extra energy, when I no longer have to get up early, stay up late and come home from work worn out because I didn't have a single break during the day.

No. I'm not entirely sure how I will put this degree to work. Over the past couple of years, I have become more involved in Project Management roles for our department's technology initiatives, which enables me to use my experience with 'that computer stuff', as well as my experiences with the details (scope, specifications, bidding, budgeting), so expanding on that might be the logical way to get some use out of my education. I obviously love my coworkers and believe in the work that we've been doing together for over a decade, and it will be nice if we are able to put our heads together and find something for me to do. ;-)

I will also be continuing my education and pursuing a Master's (MS) in Informatics. Thanks to an accelerated program at SLU, to kick start things, I've already taken one class toward this degree and will have another this Fall.


I hope that, in recounting my experience here, I can give others an idea of what it has taken to complete a goal like this (answer summary: stubbornness, time and having superman for a spouse).

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