When I first launched Carlson 2024 with IntelliCAD, my first reaction was, “What’s that cube-thingy doing in my drawing screen?? And how do I turn it off?”. The formal name for the “cube-thingy” is a VIEW CUBE and, as I learned, turning it off wasn’t as easy as I thought.

Here is what Carlson’s IntelliCAD manual explains about the VIEW CUBE:

The view cube is a navigation tool that indicates the current viewing direction and allows you to switch between preset views and custom viewing directions. You can also use the view cube to change the coordinate system and switch between ortho­graphic and perspective projections.

The view cube displays in the current viewport when working in 2D model space or a 3D visual style. It becomes active when you move the mouse over it, and it can dis­play with transparency or not at all when inactive.

I decided to upload a very short video that shows you how to turn it off – in case, like me, that’s your preference!

We’re very excited – and appreciative! – to the Land Surveyors of Washington (LSAW) and to the Western Federation of Professional Surveyors for inviting us to present sessions at their 2024 conferences!

We will have some fun and exciting events at our booth that you won’t want to miss, so make sure to come by while you’re there!

In Tulalip at the 2024 LSAW Conference, That CAD Girl will be presenting Survey Project from Field to Plotted Sheet with Carlson Software – tentatively scheduled on Wednesday, Feb 28^th.

At the Western Regional Survey Conference in Las Vegas, we will also have fun ‘n’ games at our booth and will be presenting Survey Project from Field to Plotted Sheet with Carlson Software.

And you won’t want to miss our other session! In Dueling Piano… err, Dueling CAD Stations: Civil 3D vs Carlson Software with John Dingwall of CAD Masters, we will go head-to-head to demonstrate how each program handles your day-to-day Survey work.

Early registration is still open for both Conference, so register today!

You won’t want to miss this year’s NCSS Conference coming up February 8-10 at the Sheraton Imperial Conference Center in Durham! As always, there will be a full agenda of great educational sessions and a chance to catch up, visit and share all the best surveyors stories of the past year!

That CAD Girl will be there and we’d love to have you stop by our booth to say “Hi!” since it’s been awhile since we’ve been able to attend.

I’ve been pretty impressed with the stability and performance of the Carlson 2023 products so it’s not a surprise that they have released Survey OEM 2023 so quickly.

Wondering what’s new in the latest release? Don’t miss our FAQ: What are the improvements to Carlson over previous versions? 

Anyone who purchased 2022 after 10/1/2022 is eligible for a free upgrade to 2023. Please send Claire or me an email at [email protected] and we’ll help you get your new serial number.

If you are interested in running a 30-day trial to try it before you buy it, please reach out to us and we will be happy to send that to you as well. 

PS: Carlson’s and That CAD Girl’s year-end specials are ongoing through 12/31/2022… don’t miss out!

I’m just finishing up the agenda for the first day of our 2022 Virtual Workshops – and I couldn’t wait to share! On Tuesday 11/15 we’ll have 6 hours together for an Introduction to CAD. I guess I’m well on my way to developing a “series” of these Fast Track to… sessions.

Whether you’re using AutoCAD or IntelliCAD, I think this is going to be a very helpful training session because it’s scheduled with plenty of time to dig into some of the necessities for beginners. And, although this is a lead-in to Introduction to Carlson Software next week, this is SIMPLY CAD STUFF and will be perfect for beginners!

Here’s a bullet list:

• Drawing Environment and Settings
• Basic Draw Commands
• Basic Edit Commands
• Layers, linetypes and lineweights
• Linetype Scales
• Blocks and External References
• Model and Paper Space
• Drawing Templates
• National CAD Standards

If you think this lesson plan would help you or co-workers out, there’s still time to register… only $199 for 6 days of training, and you can pick and choose which session(s) you’d like to attend!

What could be more exciting? Nevermind, no need to respond.

Anyhoo… If you are interested in learning more about the National CAD Standard (NCS) and how it might help streamline your projects, take an hour and attend this live presentation to get your questions answered!

Did you think the NCS is only for architects? Is it just for CAD? Or BIM? Wondering if it’s as scary as you’ve always imagined? Need a quick overview to see what’s in there?

Aside from default settings in the programs (hello CONT-MNR and CONT-MJR!), there have never really been CAD standards in the land surveying & civil engineering world but the National CAD Standard is a good option for those who want a quick-start. Carlson Software and Civil 3d both include NCS-based templates on installation and it’s easier than ever to implement.

Also, attend this webinar to learn more about what the Survey/Civil Task Team has already accomplished in making the NCS more applicable to those of us in the land development industries.

Here’s that link to REGISTER again

Many of you have been to our end-of-year workshops where we have a full day of presentations, software specials and giveaways but, because of holidays and travel etc, attending has not been an option for a lot of others who would like to attend.

So this is something new we’re trying in May – humor us as we’re going to try to replicate the workshops online! We won’t be able to serve our excellent Carolina BBQ but, other than that, we’re going to try to do everything else. Somehow.

Day One will be focused on Carlson Survey & GIS and Day Two on Civil & Hydrology – the details of each day’s classes are below.

Each day’s presentation will include 5 sessions and you will be able to attend any or all of them. Each session will vary in length and you will have an opportunity to ask questions and have them answered during the presentation.

Afterward we will be sending out email “confirmations of attendance” for each session that lists the name, date and time of the session, the presenter and how long you were logged into the session according to the Go To Webinar report. There is no guarantee you will be able to get PDH or CEU credit for the training but, depending on your state’s licensing board, the report we provide should be sufficient documentation.

Also, note that you must have registered and logged in under your personal name to get “credit” for attending each session. I will send reports of attendance based strictly on the details of the Go To Webinar report.

In addition to offering “day of show” software specials, we will also be doing software giveaways each day. It’ll be tricky but we’ll figure out a way!

The cost is $199 for each day of training but, if you are already eligible for my webinars (i.e. you’ve purchased software from me in the last 12 months) you can register for each day for $99. Also, we are offering $20 off for early registration.

There are limited “seats” available and the early registration deadline is May 6 – so sign up today!

See below for details and registration links

Survey & GIS Virtual Workshop  
Tuesday 5/17/2016 (registration deadline is Friday 5/13)

Register Here

All times Eastern

8:30 – 9:30 Jennifer DiBona – Tips & Tricks in CAD & Carlson Software

10:00 – 11:30 Jeremy Taylor PLS – Traverse Adjustment in Carlson Software

1:00 – 2:00 Jeremy Taylor PLS – Tips & Tricks in SurvCE/SurvPC & the Carlson Cloud

2:30 – 4:00 Scott Griffin, Director of Sales for Carlson Software – Field to Finish in Carlson Software (including tree surveys)

4:30 – 6:00 – Jennifer DiBona – Making Models from a Mess: Carlson Tools to Elevate 2D Drawings to 3D for Staking & Surface Models

Civil & Hydrology Virtual Workshop
Tuesday 5/24/2016 (registration deadline is Friday 5/20)

Register Here

All times Eastern

8:30 – 9:30 Jennifer DiBona – Tips & Tricks in CAD & Carlson Software (different material than 5/17)

10:00 – 11:30 Jennifer DiBona – Overview of Surfaces & Grading

1:00 – 2:30 Scott Griffin – Subdivision Layout & Design

3:00 – 4:30 Mark Long, Civil & Hydrology Support & Training for Carlson Software – Road Design, Site Design, Pond Design & Hydrology, Part 1

5:00 – 6:30 Mark Long – Road Design, Site Design, Pond Design & Hydrology, Part 2

I keep recommending you read his articles, so go ahead and subscribe to his newsletter already! Subscribe to Robert Green’s CAD Manager Newsletter Now!

Robert’s July 22nd article addresses The Rising Resistance to Cloud-Based CAD and he hits all the important points. This is the part of the whole concept that makes me so nervous…

This centralized model of CAD use obviously benefits the software and cloud vendors greatly (because it allows them to charge for their software and servers on an ongoing basis), but it also gives them ultimate control over your CAD system — they can disconnect you from your applications and data unless you keep paying them. [emphasis added by Jennifer]

I keep recommending you read his articles, so go ahead and subscribe to his newsletter already! Subscribe to Robert Green’s CAD Manager Newsletter Now!

Robert’s July 22nd article addresses The Rising Resistance to Cloud-Based CAD and he hits all the important points. This is the part of the whole concept that makes me so nervous…

This centralized model of CAD use obviously benefits the software and cloud vendors greatly (because it allows them to charge for their software and servers on an ongoing basis), but it also gives them ultimate control over your CAD system — they can disconnect you from your applications and data unless you keep paying them. [emphasis added by Jennifer]

Carlson is expected to release the 2016 versions of their desktop software packages that include IntelliCAD or run on top of your AutoCAD later this month. If it follows the same pattern we can expect the embedded AutoCAD (OEM) versions of Survey and Takeoff a couple of months later.

The 2016 products can be installed on top of any full-AutoCAD program versions 2010-2016. Since Autodesk didn’t change the DWG format this year, you should be able to open and work with 2016 files with programs based on AutoCAD 2013-2015 without having to save back to an earlier version.

The 2016 release will include IntelliCAD 8.1 which, so far during my limited time testing, seems to be working pretty darn well. I’m excited to see more support for Annotative Text  and a lot of interface enhancements (like a ribbon) that make it look more and more like the brand-name product.

The annual maintenance plan is still the cheapest way to keep your desktop software (ICAD/for CAD) up to date. If you have let your maintenance lapse but think you’re ready to upgrade, now is seriously the time to do it because your pricing to upgrade/reinstate maintenance will go up as soon as 2016 comes out. It’s also nice to be able to immediately get the 2015 upgrade and have access to the 2016 whenever you’re ready.

In addition, Carlson is trying to get SurvCE and SurvPC on an annual release cycle so we should see 5.xx come out this year. With this change, you’ll also see these products start showing up as available for an annual maintenance plan. If you’re running an older version of SurvCE and would like to upgrade, you can upgrade and purchase maintenance to immediately upgrade you to 4.xx and also receive 5.xx when it comes out. One word of caution though – make sure to check the table on this page to make sure the newer versions of SurvCE and SurvPC will still communicate with your equipment.

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