Last week I presented a webinar sponsored by Carlson Software on the topic “Updates and Overview of IntelliCAD 7”. Unfortunately we had some technical difficulties and didn’t get a complete recording to post to the Movies collection on Carlson’s website.

For those who are interested, we will be re-doing the webinar on Thursday, March 29th. By that time we expect to have additional updates and improvements to announce.

Keep an eye on this site to register for the next IntelliCAD webinar

You can register for these future webinars by clicking the link below:

• Tips and Tricks for Setting Points
• Debunking the “Carlson Isn’t Dynamic” Myth
• Carlson Annotation and Labeling

Congratulations to Keith Garrison who won the software giveaway at the NC Surveyors Conference and to Xan Holland who won at the SC Education Conference and Trade Show.

We had a CAD Test with 25 questions for attendees to test their wits and the first person to get 100% or the high score won a free copy of Carlson Survey 2012 with IntelliCAD. Keith got a high score of 88% in Greensboro and Xan tied with Greg Flowe at 84% in Columbia. Xan and Greg went through two rounds of tie-breakers before Xan was declared the winner.

Look for our booth at the SC Engineering & Surveying Conference in June 2012 to test your CAD skills!

Carlson released a new build of their desktop software earlier this week. This includes updates to the IntelliCAD/for AutoCAD versions of Survey, Civil, Hydrology, GIS, Basic Mining, Geology, Underground Mining, Surface Mining, Natural Regrade, Field, Takeoff, Construction and Point Clouds.

To confirm your current build number, go to Help > About Carlson. You’ll see the build number on the top line of the text box.

You can download the latest full version or updates to your current installation here.

If you would like to try out any of the Carlson Software products for 30-days, email me here.

For those anxious to try out the very latest and greatest updates in the testing versions of IntelliCAD 7.1, you can also send me an email to gain access to a new blog, “The Little CAD Engine That Could”, administered by Leonid Entov of Carlson Software.

Participation in the testing and access to the blog is by invitation only, so email me and I’ll pass along your request.

It hasn’t been around forever, but this Object Snap is such a handy little tool you’ll wonder how you ever managed to live without it! The best news is that it’s available both in AutoCAD and IntelliCAD.

Whenever you’re prompted to “Specify a point:”, you can enter “M2P” at the Command: line or you can hold your shift key + right-mouse to display the pop up box and select “Mid Between 2 points” option. This allows you to snap to the MidPoint between two other points. The pop up box is shown below.

Next you’ll be prompted to specify two new points for which you can use additional OSnap settings. The example below shows a new line that starts at the Midpoint between the ENDpoints of the two existing lines.

Since the focus of my class and of the NC Surveyors Show as a whole is GIS, I thought it made sense to bump the information about the free copy of Esri software to the top…

Those currently using Carlson with IntelliCAD are eligible for a new “GIS Starter Kit” from ESRI. The 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)

To take advantage of the offer, call 1-800-GIS-XPRT (1-800-447-9778) and request the Carlson-IntelliCAD GIS Starter Kit and please have your Carlson Serial Number available.

You can read more about ESRI’s commitment to survey and engineering services by visiting http://www.ESRI.com/engineering.

Here is a great story about another customer of mine, John Prevette with Gooden & Associates out of Hope Mills, NC, and his successful transition from Civil 3d to Carlson Civil Suite.

http://info.carlsonsw.com/blog-1/bid/121528/Moving-to-Carlson-from-Civil-3D
And, I know what you’re thinking but the answer is “No.” Carlson did not pay him to say this – I asked just to make sure! In all seriousness, it’s great he was willing to be interviewed and confirm just how great a design tool Carlson is and just how quickly you’re able to get up to speed.

I’ve been a little slack in requesting feedback from my customers over the past year so I was very pleased to receive the following unsolicited feedback from Aaron Hahn this week:

I purchased the Civil Suite last month and I wanted to thank you for all your pdf tutorials you posted on your site. They have been extremely helpful and they have made the switch from Civil 3D to Carlson quick and easy.

I can confidently say, that I prefer this software over Civil 3D already (used Civil 3D for years)! It’s faster, has more control, and is generally cleaner than Civil 3D. Clean and simple.

Thanks for all your help! Looking forward to getting up to speed on more of your tutorials and webinars 🙂

Aaron Hahn
Hahn Engineering & Consulting
British Columbia, Canada
Software Purchase – December 2011

See other testimonials here

POB Magazine has just posted a new article about Carlson’s Supervisor+ GPS Tablet that includes an interview with Butch Herter. You can see the full list of specs on the Supervisor+ here.

Come visit us next week at our booth at the North Carolina Surveyors Convention at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro NC. We’ll have the new Carlson Supervisor+ RTK GPS tablet available for you to test drive and you can learn how to use Carlson’s field software to collect GIS data that meets the criteria and that will import directly into Esri GIS software.

I will be teaching a concurrent session from 10:00-11:00 on Friday 2/3 on the topic of Carlson Software and GIS.

Also, if you’re brave enough, come by to take a quick CAD test – top scores eligible for great prizes!

Carlson Software and the ITC (IntelliCAD Technology Consortium) are getting pretty close to an official release for IntelliCAD 7.1…

If you’re interested in joining an “exclusive” group testing ICAD, let me know – we need your feedback. Email me at [email protected] if you would like to join the testing group.