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.

I’ve just updated my list of Upcoming Webinars for the next few months. There are several new and reconfigured sessions and I’ve got Mark Long, Carlson’s Hydrology expert, on board to show a lot of the design capabilities in Carlson Hydrology in March. Mark’s the best and I think you’ll get a lot out of his training.

A couple other classes are on the list because you asked for them! They’re narrowly focused classes on very specific topics: Carlson Annotation, Surfaces and Breaklines and Working with Paper Space, Sheet Set Manager and Creating Custom Title Blocks. You’ll have ample opportunity to ask questions and start using what you learn right away!

Here’s the link to pre-register and, if you’re not eligible to attend for free, here is the link where you can purchase a year’s access to the webinars.

It’s trade show season again and I am happy to get the chance to go visit old friends and meet new ones over the next few months…

Next one upcoming is the SAMSOG Technical Seminar in Atlanta later this week. I appreciate the opportunity to present my classes to this group for the first time and I understand it’s going to be quite a crowd; but they take walk-ins on the day of the event. I’ll be covering Tips & Tricks in CAD and Carlson and an Introduction to Field to Finish.

Next will be the NJ SurvCon in Atlantic City which starts on 2/4. I think this is my third year and I really enjoy seeing everyone although they all tell me I talk funny! Again, it’s Tips & Tricks but I’ll also be presenting How to Take a Project from Field to Finish with Carlson Survey.

February 11^th thru 13^th I’ll be in Columbus, Ohio for the 40^th Anniversary of PLSO’s Annual Conference. I’ll be in the exhibit hall for most of the time but on Friday will be teaching CAD & Carlson Tips & Tricks. Make sure you visit my booth and see how your CAD skills match up to surveyors in other states!

And, lastly (I think), I’ll be in Murfreesboro TN at the TAPS 47^th Annual Meeting & Exhibition from March 12-14. I’ll be in the exhibit hall most of the time but will also be teaching Field to Finish for Survey and GIS Collection from a GIS Dummy on Thursday March 12^th.

It’s not a trade show but don’t forget Carlson’s 2015 User Conference at the end of April. I’ll definitely be there since it’s practically in the backyard of my hometown in Kentucky.

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

I’m a few days late in posting this but Carlson has announced their end-of-year CAD pricing specials for 2014.

So, what’s on the shelf? For desktop software we have specials on:

• Carlson Civil Suite 2015 plus maintenance through 9/1/2015 Everyday retail price for this bundle is $4,125, Carlson’s year-end price is $2,995 and my price is… less than that!

• Survey 2015 with embedded AutoCAD Everyday retail price for this is $2,995, Carlson’s year-end price is $2,695 and my price is… less than that too!

• Takeoff 2015 (T8) with embedded AutoCAD Everyday retail price for this bundle is $9,000, Carlson’s year-end price is $7,500 and my price is… you guessed it… less than that!

All software purchases include 12 months of access to my live, interactive webinars. These are exclusive training sessions that are not publicly posted online and I’m currently scheduling approximately 3-4 hours per month on various topics. This is my way to help as many of my customers as possible use your software and keep it from becoming shelf-ware!

But, that’s not all!

I also have additional discounts on new purchases of Carlson Survey, Civil, Hydrology, GIS, Takeoff Suite, Construction, CADNet, Trench & GeoTech with Maintenance. These links go to my online store where you can see my standard discounts but I’m not allowed to advertise the super-duper special pricing. You’ll have to email me or Request A Custom Proposal to find out details…

Both Carlson’s specials and the ones I’m running on my own will expire on 12/31/2014…

A CAD/Carlson Software buddy – Dent Cermak – passed along a response from FEMA to questions regarding the features available on FIRM maps. The FEMA rep recommended using National Flood Hazard Layer data to view flood data overlays on aerial, street and other imagery. The NFHL data is available  via an online viewer here: http://fema.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=cbe088e7c8704464aa0fc34eb99e7f30.

Another way to access the NFHL data is to download it as a KMZ file that can be opened in Google Earth: https://hazards.fema.gov/femaportal/wps/portal/NFHLWMSkmzdownload.

So, I thought this was pretty cool and when I asked for Dent’s permission to share on my website, he passed along a couple more .kmz files that were even more cool! These are courtesy of Ladd Nelson at Carlson Software.

If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, you only have to double-click to open these files in Google Earth.

KMZ file with US State Plane NAD83 Zones overlay – ZIP file

KMZ file with UTM Zones overlay – ZIP file

Problem: You’re running Carlson Software and need a new computer… What do you need and how much do you need to spend?

The shortest answer is to follow this link to Carlson’s website: Carlson Software System Requirements

The short answer, if you’re running one of Carlson Software’s programs with embedded AutoCAD/OEM or on top of a full AutoCAD, is to follow Autodesk’s system recommendations/requirements for the platform. The Carlson part that runs on top has a relatively light footprint compared to the AutoCAD underneath, so you’ll need to make sure your new computer can run the AutoCAD-engine and the rest will be fine.

Carlson running on top of IntelliCAD also has a pretty light footprint compared to anything developed by Autodesk. Unless your drawings are loaded with a lot of layout tabs and viewports, there’s a very good chance an off-the-shelf computer from Best Buy or Wal-Mart will be sufficient.

Since I’m a self-described hardware “dummy” and that’s not the most technical answer, I asked Leonid Entov, the Assistant Director of Office Software Development at Carlson Software, for a better, layman’s-terms answer:

In one sentence, I would summarize recommended computer as i7 processor, discrete graphics (not integrated), preferably Nvidia chip since we seen more of driver issues with ATI/AMD and 8 gb of RAM (Windows tends to eat too much of 4gb these days). You do not have to go to gaming computers, something like this would be possible to find in $700+ range in laptops.

Since there are too many CPUs on the market, this site helps to compare individual CPUs : http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

Thanks Leonid!

And I can’t post this without reminding everyone that Carlson’s tech support team is great and will be happy to answer any specific questions you have. Their tech support is free, all the time, whether you’re using a 30-day trial or if you’ve already purchased and whether you’re using the most current version of the software or one that’s 10 years old.

Click here to request a 30-day trial of Carlson Software

It’s workshop and PDH time again!

We’re mostly following the same calendar as last year with a 1/2 day in Asheville and 2 full days in Statesville and Raleigh. Each event includes drinks, snacks, lunch, door prizes/giveaways and “day-of-show” pricing for Carlson Software including new seats and maintenance renewals.

Register for the Statesville events by Sept 30^th or for the Raleigh events by Oct 31^st for early registration discounts. Late fees will be applied to registrations within one week of each event.

Carlson Software Workshop in Asheville NC, Monday Nov 17^th
View Announcement  –  Register Now!

Statesville Workshop for Surveyors and Contractors, Tuesday Nov 18^th
View Announcement   –  Register Now!

Statesville Workshop for Engineers and Designers, Wednesday Nov 19^th
View Announcement  –  Register Now!

Raleigh Workshop for Surveyors and Contractors, Tuesday Dec 9^th
View Announcement  –  Register Now!

Raleigh Workshop for Engineers and Designers, Wednesday Dec 10^th
View Announcement  –  Register Now!