I’m very excited to announce the official lineup for our end of year workshops!

We’ll be in the same locations this year and will generally follow the same format with a couple of exceptions. Based on your feedback we will have half-day sessions with Dean Goodman covering SurvNet Least Squares in both Statesville & Raleigh. And, by popular demand, we’re giving Mark Long his own room this year and he will be covering some pretty advanced material for roadway design and grading and also advanced hydrology.

Registration is now open!

Please note that the Hendersonville event has very limited seating and, once we hit our capacity, we’ll have to shuffle others off to Statesville. So, if Hendersonville is your first choice, make sure to register early.

All events are $99 for 8 hours and NC licensed engineers & surveyors will receive 8 PDH credits. Early registration discounts are available for Statesville & Raleigh only.

Also included at each event? Lunch! Snacks! Day-of-show pricing on software, hardware and maintenance renewals! Software giveaways!

2016 Hendersonville Workshop for Surveyors & Engineers on Tuesday, Nov 15^th

Topics: CAD & Carlson Tips & Tricks, Traverse Adjustment in Carlson Survey, Basics of Surfaces, Grading & Road Design

See More Details or Register Here

2016 Statesville Workshop for Surveyors on Wednesday, Nov 16^th

Topics: Dean Goodman with ½ day SurvNet Least Squares, CAD & Carlson Tips & Tricks, Beginning Surface Modeling, Centerlines & Profiles, Annotaton & Labeling Secrets of Carlson, Field to Finish from Start to Finish and Beyond Field to Finish – Using SurvCE, SurvPC & Carlson Survey to be More Productive

See More Details or Register Here

2016 Statesville Workshop for Engineers & Designers on Thursday, Nov 17^th

Topics: Mark Long with ½ day Advanced Roadway Grading and ½ day Advanced Hydrology, Drawing Cleanup & SiteNet for takeoffs and model building, Site Grading project from start to finish, Design Tools of Carlson Software and Profile & Cross Section Sheet Production

See More Details or Register Here

2016 Raleigh Workshop for Surveyors on Tuesday, Dec 6^th

Topics: Dean Goodman with ½ day SurvNet Least Squares, CAD & Carlson Tips & Tricks, Beginning Surface Modeling, Centerlines & Profiles, Annotaton & Labeling Secrets of Carlson, Field to Finish from Start to Finish and Beyond Field to Finish – Using SurvCE, SurvPC & Carlson Survey to be More Productive

See More Details or Register Here

2016 Raleigh Workshop for Engineers & Designers on Wednesday, Dec 7^th

Topics: Mark Long with ½ day Advanced Roadway Grading and ½ day Advanced Hydrology, Drawing Cleanup & SiteNet for takeoffs and model building, Site Grading project from start to finish, Design Tools of Carlson Software and Profile & Cross Section Sheet Production

See More Details or Register Here

Late yesterday afternoon Carlson Software released the 2017 version of their desktop software products! Click here to download 2017 and here to see the list of improvements in 2017.

If you are current on your maintenance plan, you can visit this page and use your 2016 serial number to retrieve your 2017 serial number.

If your maintenance has expired or you’re not able to generate your new 2017 serial numbers, please send me an email or request a proposal to find out pricing.

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

One of Carlson’s Year-End Specials this year is for existing Carlson users to add Carlson CADNet for $995 – the retail price is $1,595 and maintenance is an additional $159.50. (Hint: I provide additional discounts for existing and new customers!)

Understandably this has generated a lot of renewed interest in this module. I have received a lot of calls and emails from folks requesting more information and wondering if, and how, CADNet might increase your productivity.  So, in response, I’ve decided to post the recording of my October 8, 2015 webinar on the topic, “Overview of Carlson CADNet – Working with Images & Converting to Linework”.

Click here to request a custom proposal for adding CADNet to your existing license, for a new “Super-Sweet-Suite” that includes Survey, Civil, Hydrology, GIS AND CADNet or other Carlson software or hardware products.

Click here to request a custom proposal.

Click here to learn more about my webinar series that’s included with every software purchase – We help you buy what you need AND use what you buy…

See below for access to the CADNet webinar recording:

Thanks to everyone who attended our workshops in Statesville & Hendersonville this month! We were pretty much busting the seams of our event space in Hendersonville and we’ll be better prepared for the crowd next year. I think it’s safe to say we’ll be back for a full day.

Here are a few snapshots of me and “the crew” who helped create this 3-ring circus.

From left: Jeremy Taylor, aka “That CAD Guy”; Mark Long, Civil & Hydrology Training and Support for Carlson Software; me; Scott Griffin, National Civil Sales Director for Carlson Software; Butch Herter, Director of Hardware for Carlson Software and Mike Jones, Inside Sales Support for Carlson Software.

Pardon the smirks – a crude comment was made instead of just saying “Cheese!”

Yeah, this is a little more honest.

I think we were at the end… of the day.

Tuesday in Statesville

Tiny bit of false advertising.

This is Jeremy, That CAD Guy, explaining the ins-and-outs of Traverse Adjustment in Carlson Survey.

Feel like you missed out? There’s still time to register for our encore presentations in Raleigh in mid-December. Click here to find out more

[See below for 8-7-2015 update]

Carlson Software made the 2016 version of their desktop software available for download yesterday. The products released include all desktop products that run with the included IntelliCAD or on top of your own AutoCAD-based software. The 2016 OEM/embedded AutoCAD versions of Survey and Takeoff are expected to be released in a month or so.

The programs included in this release include Civil Suite, Takeoff Suite, Survey, Civil, Hydrology, GIS, Basic Mining, Geology, Underground Mining, Surface Mining, Natural Regrade, Field, CADnet, GeoTech, Trench, Construction and Point Clouds. Carlson 2016 includes IntelliCAD 8.1 and can also be installed on top of any full AutoCAD-based software from 2010-2016. This includes AutoCAD, Map and Civil 3d but does NOT include AutoCAD LT.

You can see the full list of Carlson 2016 Improvements here.

One thing that’s new for 2016 is that there are separate downloads for 32- and 64-bit systems. You can download the 150731 Build of either file here.

If you are currently on Carlson’s maintenance plan, you can click here to find your 2016 serial number. You’ll need your 2015 serial number and primary contact information for the owner of the software. If you have trouble, feel free to email me and I’ll do what I can to help get you up and going. Or, request a proposal to upgrade or renew your maintenance now.

I can provide a 30 day trial if you’d like to test-drive for a bit and am also offering a free test-drive to one of my upcoming webinars. Starting with tomorrow’s Introduction to Carlson Software – Settings, Setup, Configuration & Points webinar, I’ll be presenting in the 2016 software.

If you’re curious how Carlson compares feature- and price-wise to Civil 3d, Land Desktop, Eagle Point, Terra Model or others, email me or follow these links to request a demo or request a custom proposal.

8/7/2015 Update: One other change to the platform support for Carlson 2016 will be important to a lot of you: Carlson 2016 with IntelliCAD no longer works on top of Windows XP; however, you can run Carlson 2016 on top of an AutoCAD 2010-2016 on an XP machine.

Microsoft released the Windows 10 operating system for PCs this week and a lot of Carlson users have jumped to install the shiny (and free) new thing. I always recommend waiting a few weeks for kinks and bugs to be worked out before installing anything that affects all your program installations and can have such a big impact on your productivity.

However, I’ve heard from a lot of you who’ve already tried it out with Carlson 2015 and even earlier versions. Most have had success but some have called or emailed with questions. I reached out to Carlson’s tech support to ask what Carlson users can expect with Windows 10 – this is the response I received:

We have tested Carlson 2016 on pre-release Windows 10 and did not see any issues in limited testing. We expect to have 2016 compatible with Windows 10 when it ships. We may address some minor issues with Carlson 2015 if they arise, but not older versions.

If you haven’t renewed your maintenance plan or upgraded for awhile, now is really a good time. If you renew your maintenance now, before 2016 is released, you will get an immediate upgrade to 2015 and then will also receive the upgrade to 2016. Also, if your maintenance has expired, your cost to renew maintenance will increase once 2016 is released because you’ll be an additional version behind.

Click here to request a proposal for new licenses, for upgrades or maintenance renewals and find out what other goodies That CAD Girl includes with your purchase.

Update: Carlson has now posted this to their website

That CAD Girl is working with Carlson Software and Advance Acceptance to offer special, low rate financing through 8/31/2015.

Rates of 0%, 1.99% and 2.99% are available for new software purchases and for Carlson BRx5 GNSS Receivers. Minimum purchase is $5000.

A few other details apply – call or email to find out more or click here to download the promotional brochure.

With the end of perpetual licensing for some/most Autodesk products coming on January 16, 2016, Autodesk is running a few promotions to encourage current users to embrace the switch.

Click here for Autodesk’s Buyer’s Guide or email me to request access to the recording of my recent webinar with an Autodesk reseller and Carlson Software programmers explaining how these changes may affect us going forward.

You will want to touch base with your local Autodesk reseller or, if you don’t currently work with anyone, email me for a recommendation…

Some of the promotions include:

• Discounted purchases of AutoCAD LT
• Rebates on new seats, maintenance and desktop subscriptions – Ends July 24, 2015
• Financing options and discounts for multi-year renewals – Ends July 24, 2015

If you missed this presentation, you can watch it here

I’m very pleased to announce that Bruce Carlson, President of Carlson Software, will be presenting an encore of his Intro to Precision 3d Culverts webinar for me on Tuesday March 31st.

Even though he’d barely finished the first webinar and I was asking him to do another one, Bruce was excited and ready for the next one! He emailed:

Perfect—I kicked myself after yesterday’s webinar for not showing multiple barrels, which shows solid cutting into the headwalls instantaneously and is very impressive, searing in the memory when people see it (since pipes cut in and re-size accurately to smaller pipes). I won’t leave that one out on March 31st.

This is a bonus to my regular monthly webinars and no previous purchase is required… It’s open to all and you can register here: Register Now! for Precision 3d Culverts Webinar with Bruce Carlson

Also, don’t forget that Carlson will be hosting their User Conference at the end of April. You can learn more by following this link. I’ll be presenting 3 training sessions and I hope to see you all there!

From the 3/15/2015 press release: 

Just released, Carlson’s revolutionary Precision 3D Design-Culverts software is an easy-to-use program for designing stormwater-related systems.

Much more than just a visualization tool, the software utilizes the newest technologies to allow drag and drop options for strategically placing pipes and culverts and for selecting headwalls and endwalls from an ever-growing list of manufacturers. It enables the sizing of culverts and delineation of drainage areas, plus tracking of runoff from surface models.

“You can place and also easily move culverts and headwalls to new locations with full dtm restoration,” says Bruce Carlson, president of Carlson Software. “Engineers will get instant feedback to changes to their on-screen design.”

Once a digital terrain model from CAD, Google Earth, or other source is imported, the on-screen image accurately reflects the materials represented, such as roadways, embankments, rocks, fields, etc.

Other innovations in the software include the ability to:

• Grade surfaces for both upstream and downstream designs;
• Delineate drainage and ponding areas;
• Determine peak flow automatically from CN and C factors and terrain;
• Size culverts and place at low points;
• Choose from multiple barrel options;
• Output PDF reports for any selected culvert pipes having flow and headwater across multiple storm events; and
• Use for retention pond design and pond dewatering.

Carlson Precision 3D Design-Culverts is made to integrate easily into Carlson engineering software, Carlson Civil and Carlson Hydrology. It is also made to work with AutoCAD® and MicroStation® software applications.