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Does Carlson Still Work With AutoCAD?
File this under “Myths”…
I hope this isn’t widespread, but I received the following email yesterday and think it’s important to respond publicly. The email is posted in its entirety except for the name and contact info of the author.
Hello Jen & Jeremy,
I became acquainted with your site (and I believe Jen was on a “webcast” or video I had watched) when my former employer made the switch from Civil 3D to Carlson Civil several years back. I am an engineer and have been put into the role of upgrading AutoCAD and Carlson or making sure that my current company can continue to do what is necessary, which involves using CAD much less that in my consulting life.
A local Autodesk reseller paid us a visit and indicated that Carlson and Autodesk as companies have not reached an agreement to continue further compatibility. Sounds like a licensing ($$) agreement issue, to me, that may or may not be temporary. This salesperson also indicated that the new version of Carlson would not work with anything beyond AutoCAD 2010 which we are currently running with Carlson 2011. As a note, My former company did not update AutoCAD every year depending upon what features were actually new so I am very OK with not upgrading if not entirely necessary.
I would greatly appreciate any information or insight you could give on the subject. You can reach me via this e-mail or the phone number in the signature.
Kind regards,
I contacted Carlson and requested a direct reply:
Hi Jennifer,
Carlson Software is a current member of the Audodesk Developer Network (ADN) which gives access to the current Autodesk products. We expect to release Carlson’s 2014 products, including those running on top of IntelliCAD, AutoCAD 2014 and AutoCAD OEM, in the Summer of 2013.
Dave Carlson
Also, for the record, I currently run Carlson 2013 on top of IntelliCAD and on top of Civil 3d 2012.
CAD Standards Manager 2013
Updated: Next live webinar will be on Wednesday, April 10th
You can sign up here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/859901974
Sooo…. This is pretty intriguing.
Anyone who has attended one of my CAD Standards Round Table classes has heard me say, “To have an effective CAD Standard, you must make it easier to do things the right way than it is to do it the wrong way.”
Well, I’m not finished with my research yet, but the CAD Standards Manager developed by CAD Masters may be just the application to make that happen. It can be installed on top of your AutoCAD-based programs to help organize your standardized layers, symbols, linetypes, dimension styles, etc. One of the best parts, to me, is that it supports multiple standards. If you have a client that requires you deliver your work product to their particular standard, this program can accommodate that too.
You can check out a pre-recorded webinar demonstrating their 2013 release here or download this flyer detailing the highlights of the program.
Or, better yet, sign up for their next live webinar here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/621720174 See Above. It will be held on Tuesday, March 12, 2013 from 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM PDT (2:30-3:30 PM ET) See Above. Since this is a live presentation, you will have a chance to ask questions to see if the program will support your specific needs.
I have a simple request… If you sign up for the live webinar, please let them know you heard about it from That CAD Girl.
Carlson Software User Conference – Celebrating 30 years
Carlson’s 30th Anniversary User Conference will be held in Cincinnati Ohio from April 7-10, 2013.
In addition to 3 days of instruction and having the chance to work directly with Carlson programmers and tech support staff, they have a super-special offer for current users of SurvCE. User Conference attendees who are also license holders of SurvCE 1.x or 2.x will be able to claim a free upgrade to SurvCE 3.0, to be released during the conference. Just bring your older SurvCE serial number(s) with you to the User Conference. (Note: there’s a limit of two SurvCE serial numbers per registrant.)
There are a lot of great classes covering the desktop products as well as data collection and hardware.
Click here for class descriptions
and
Sponsors this year are:
Carlson Software and Windows 8
Now that many (most? all?) new computers are shipping with Windows 8, Carlson Software users are curious whether or not their software will run on the new operating system.
I recently asked Carlson’s tech support team about the compatibility of Carlson with Windows 8 and received the following response:
At this time, Carlson 2013 is not officially supported on Windows 8. However, testing we have done on Windows 8 has been largely successful with the following observations:
- If Carlson installs cleanly without error, it should run correctly.
- In some cases, you may encounter install errors. We are currently addressing these issues for Carlson 2013 products – these updates will be available in the next builds that we post.
- Older Carlson products will remain AS IS – we will not be updating the installs. But again, but if a given product installs without error, it should run fine.
- As a general rule, products supported on Windows 7 should run on Windows 8.
- It has been our experience that using the “compatibility mode” option is not recommended.
Freebies from Esri for Users of Carlson with IntelliCAD
I’m re-posting this once more because of the continued interest.
For several years Esri has been offering a FREE “GIS Starter Kit” for anyone who uses Carlson with IntelliCAD. This program will not go on forever but, to my knowledge, is still active.
There are a couple of limitations that I’m aware of: existing Esri customers are not eligible and you can only take advantage of the offer one time… Not once for every seat of Carlson with IntelliCAD that you purchase or own.
The GIS Starter Kit includes:
- ArcGIS ArcView desktop software
- A copy of the book A to Z GIS: An Illustrated Dictionary of Geographic Information Systems
- A copy of GIS Tutorial: Workbook for ArcView 9, Third Edition
- A 10% discount for the ESRI Survey & Engineering GIS Summit ($325 – standard registration price)
If you are a current user of Carlson with IntelliCAD and meet the requirements above, you can call 1-800-GIS-XPRT (1-800-447-9778) and request the Carlson-IntelliCAD GIS Starter Kit – You will want to have your Carlson serial number handy.
You can read more about ESRI’s commitment to survey and engineering services by visiting http://www.ESRI.com/engineering.
That CAD Girl Newsletter | November 2012
Our November newsletter has been posted… Read it here: November 2012 Newsletter
Carlson Software End of Year Specials
Last week Carlson announced their end-of-year specials for 2012. This year’s offerings include steep discounts on Carlson Civil Suite, Survey with embedded AutoCAD, Takeoff and Survey.
All discounts will end at noon on 12/31/2012.
As with all of my pricing, I’m prohibited from advertising my actual lowest prices so call or email for Coupon Codes for further discounts.
$2,795 for Carlson Civil Suite 2013 (includes one year of maintenance) – Retail price is $3,954.50
$2,295 for Carlson Survey 2013 with embedded AutoCAD – Retail price is $2,995
$5,000 for Carlson Takeoff 2013 with IntelliCAD – Retail price is $9,000
$6,500 for Carlson Takeoff T6 (2013) with embedded AutoCAD – Retail price is $9,000
$875 for Carlson Survey 2013 with IntelliCAD and one-year Maintenance for anyone who already owns SurvCE, Fast Survey or Triton. A valid serial number is required prior to purchase. Retail price is $1,754.50.
Carlson Software Self-Study Manuals
In order to reduce the amount of time I’ve been spending in online training, I’d been considering putting together Carlson Software training manuals. But, in order to truly offset the majority of the training I do, the first book had to be more than a standard software training manual that covers a broad range of topics.
So, I’ve just completed and started shipping the first 2 books that I’m calling Self-Study Manuals. They will be a great substitute for training for beginning users of Carlson Software and also as “fill-in-the-blanks” training for more experienced users. The lessons are very detailed, down to every pick and click. You do not even need to know AutoCAD or IntelliCAD to complete them. I think you will find them very beneficial if you’re new to Carlson or even to help bring your field crew up to speed as office help.
At this time, there are 3 lessons available: Carlson Configuration and CAD Settings (about 0.5 hours of instruction), Getting Started with Points for Survey or Civil (about 4.5 hours of instruction) and Field to Finish (about 6.5 hours of instruction). I’ve combined the Carlson Configuration and CAD Settings and Getting Started with Points for Survey or Civil into the first book and the Field to Finish is a separate book. Additional books are on the way… some will be detailed, self-study manuals and others won’t. I will be focusing on the ones that most closely follow the demand for training.
The books can be purchased separately or as a bundle from my online store. Introductory pricing is available through the end of 2012.
View a sample of the Getting Started with Point Self-Study Manual here
View a sample of the Field to Finish Self-Study Manual here
That CAD Girl Newsletter | September 2012
Our September newsletter has been posted… Read it here: September 2012 Newsletter