Atkinson Engineers in Harris County Texas is looking for an experienced civil CAD operator… proficiency with Carlson Civil Software is preferred.
Click here for a complete job description
Qualified individuals should email your resume to Neil Atkinson at [email protected].
Carlson released the 2014 version of their desktop products today. This includes: Civil Suite, Civil, Survey, Hydrology, GIS, Takeoff Suite, Construction, Point Cloud, Geology, Surface/Underground Mining and Natural Regrade.
The 2014 embedded-AutoCAD versions of Takeoff Suite and Survey have not yet been released.
Carlson Desktop products include IntelliCAD 7.2b and can run on top of full AutoCAD-based products versions 2004-2014. This includes AutoCAD, Map, Land Desktop and Civil 3d. Also, anyone using the FREE IntelliCAD that comes with Carlson is still eligible for a FREE GIS Starter Kit from Esri which includes ArcMap. [This offer ended on 12/31/2013]
You can download Carlson 2014 here.
View the “Survey and Civil – What’s new in 2014” webinar here
If you are using 2013 and are current on your annual maintenance contract, you can click here to look up your new 2014 serial number online. You will need to enter your contact information and your 2013 serial number in order to generate the 2014 serial number. You can find your serial number by opening Carlson Software and going to Help > About Carlson Software > Change Registration.
If you have trouble finding your serial number or would like to know the cost to upgrade any product to 2014, please email me with your request.
Click here for the full list of improvements in Carlson 2014
As we’re all getting ready for the release of Carlson’s 2014 desktop products, Carlson Software has scheduled a series of 5 lunchtime webinars to introduce new features and enhancements. See below for details and registration links:
Carlson Survey and Civil 2014
Wednesday, July 24th – presented by Scott Griffin, Director of Sales
Carlson Construction 2014
Wednesday, July 31st – presented by Todd Carlson, Takeoff Product Manager
Carlson Hydrology 2014 and all new Carlson Trench
Wednesday, August 7th – Mark Long, Developer, & Todd Carlson
Carlson Mining 2014
Wednesday, August 14th – Grant Wenker, Director, Mining Division
All new CADnet
Wednesday, August 21st – Jim Carlson, Regional Sales Director
All new GeoTech
Wednesday, August 28th – Dave Sanford, Regional Sales Director
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.
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.
FLATTEN is an Express Tools command in AutoCAD and a standard command in IntelliCAD. It allows you to quickly convert 3d objects to a 0-elevation, flat version of itself.
Most of us in the civil/survey world have gotten frustrated when we’ve received a drawing from someone who used lines more than polylines and apparently snapped to everything in the drawing that had an elevation! The result is that you have lines drawn on a slope and with which it’s nearly impossible to inverse distances or even perform simple drafting commands.
So, next time that happens, try the FLATTEN command and see if that helps get things back where they’re supposed to be!
Anyone who has used AutoCAD or IntelliCAD for any period of time will be familiar with a few of the selection methods available to you during editing commands… although you may not know the “official” name of the method.
When your Command: line prompted reads “Select Entities:”, you can use the following methods to add entities to the selection set:
A Single selection is when you use a “Pickbox” to select one entity at a time.
An Implied Window selection is when you drag a rectangular area, from left to right, around the entities to be selected. This method will select any entities that are fully enclosed within the area. To force a Window selection, you can also type “W” at the Command: line when prompted to “Select Entities:”. Window selections are indicated by the solid outline of the rectangle and a color shading within the rectangular area.
An Implied Crossing selection is when you drag a rectangular area, from right to left, around or across the entities to be selected. This method will select any entities that are fully enclosed or touch (cross…) the outline of the rectangle. To force a Crossing selection, you can also type “C” at the Command: line when prompted to “Select Entities:”. Crossing selections are indicated by the dotted or dashed outline of the rectangle and a color shading within the rectangular area.
So, these are the ones you probably know about. But, what about these?
Again, when prompted to “Select Entities:”, you can do any of the following:
Hold the SHIFT-key down while selecting objects using Single, Implied Window or Implied Crossing selection methods will un-select any objects previously selected.
Type “P” at the Command: line to use the Previous selection method. This method will automatically select the same objects that had been selected for the most recent editing command. This obviously doesn’t work if the Previous selection set has been ERASEd from the drawing.
Type “L” at the Command: line to use the Last selection method. This method will automatically select the entity most recently added to the drawing. The entity must also be visible on the drawing screen in order to be selected.
Type “ALL” at the Command: line to use the All selection method. This method will automatically select all entities visible in the current space.
Type “F” at the Command: line to use the Fence selection method. This method allows you to drag a line (by picking points) across the entities to be selected. When picking the points for the Fence, the sketched line is dashed or dotted. This method is similar to a Crossing selection as it will select anything that touches the Fence.
Type “WP” at the Command: line to use the Window Polygon selection method. This method allows you to sketch an irregularly shaped area (by picking points) around the entities you wish to select. Any entities that are completely inside of the non-rectangular area will be selected. This is simply a non-rectangular version of the Window selection method. Window Polygon selection areas are indicated by the solid outline and color shading of the irregularly shaped area.
Type “CP” at the Command: line to use the Crossing Polygon selection method. This method allows you to sketch an irregularly shaped area (by picking points) around or across the entities you wish to select. Any entities that are completely inside of the non-rectangular area or touching its outline will be selected. This is simply a non-rectangular version of the Crossing selection method. Crossing Polygon selection areas are indicated by the dashed or dotted outline and color shading of the irregularly shaped area.
If you have a complex selection set and need to un-select several entities, you may find it impractical (and frustrating) trying to un-select everything by using SHIFT+<select> to do so.
Another way to un-select a bunch of entities is to use the Remove selection mode. When prompted to “Select Entities:” at your Command: line, type “R” to change your Command: line prompt to “Remove Entities:”. Now, any entities you select, using any method, will be Removed from the selection set. You do not have to hold SHIFT and you can use Fence, Last, Window Polygon, etc. to remove those items.
After Removing entities from the selection set, type “A” at the Command: line to return to the Add selection mode. This changes the Command: line prompt back to “Select Entities:” and you will once again be able to Add objects to the selection set.
Some of us are old enough to remember life without the CHSPACE command… and what a great addition it was when the command was finally introduced to AutoCAD several years ago. And, with the release of IntelliCAD 7, it’s now in that program as well.
CHSPACE is a command that allows you to move one or more entities from Model Space to Paper Space (or vice versa) very easily. In AutoCAD, the operative word there is “MOVE”. You have to be a little careful because the command does exactly that: It MOVES it from paper to model or from model to paper. In IntelliCAD, you are given the option of COPYing the selected entities from one space to the other.
The command actually does more than just move or copy selected entities, it also scales the entities by the viewport scale so they’re correct size-wise. For instance, let’s say that you have a drawing in model space that’s been rotated so that it more easily fits on a sheet of paper. Also in model space, you’ve inserted a North arrow. And, in paper space/layout view, you have inserted a title block at a scale of 1:1 (18″ x 24″, etc.). Inside of the title block, you’ve created a viewport you’ve scaled to 1″=40′.
For drafting purposes, it’s desirable to have the North arrow in paper space to that it can be moved around and positioned outside the viewport. If you’re in AutoCAD, the first step is to make a copy of the North arrow. If you’re using IntelliCAD, this step isn’t necessary. Then, while in paper space/layout view, double-click inside the viewport to make it active. Type CHSPACE at the Command: line. Follow the various prompts within the command and Voila! Your North arrow is now in paper space and it’s been scaled down by 40 times so that it fits properly on your title block.
Carlson released the 2013 version of their desktop products today. This includes: Civil Suite, Civil, Survey, Hydrology, GIS, Takeoff, Construction, Point Cloud, Geology, Surface/Underground Mining and Natural Regrade.
The 2013 embedded-AutoCAD versions of Takeoff and Survey have not yet been released.
Unlike previous versions of Carlson that support running on top of IntelliCAD or AutoCAD products 2000-2012, Carlson 2013 can only be run on IntelliCAD or AutoCAD products 2004-2013. This includes AutoCAD, Map, Land Desktop and Civil 3d. Also, anyone using the FREE IntelliCAD that comes with Carlson is eligible for a FREE GIS Starter Kit from Esri which includes ArcMap.
You can download Carlson 2013 here.
If you are using 2012 and are current on your annual maintenance contract, you can click here to look up your new 2013 serial number online. You will need to enter your contact information and your 2012 serial number in order to generate the 2013 serial number. You can find your serial number by opening Carlson Software and going to Help > About Carlson Software > Change Registration.
If you have trouble finding your serial number or would like to know the cost to upgrade to 2013, please email me with your request.
Click here for the full list of improvements to Carlson 2013
Click here for improvements to the General commands in 2013
Click here for the additional data file & conversion support in Carlson 2013
Click here for improvements to Survey commands in 2013
Click here for improvements to Civil commands in 2013
Click here for improvements to Hydrology commands in 2013
Click here for improvements to GIS commands in 2013
Click here for improvements to Takeoff commands in 2013
Click here for improvements to Point Cloud commands in 2013
Click here for improvements to Geology commands in 2013
Click here for improvements to Surface/Underground Mining commands in 2013
Click here for improvements to Natural Regrade commands in 2013
Several years ago when I started my business, my first contract was as an outside CAD manager for a civil & land planning firm. In trying to document their pen weights, screening, etc. I found a utility available on Autodesk’s website that allowed me to export all the values in a CTB file to a .csv file that could be opened (and printed) with Excel.
Here is the old Autodesk Knowledge Base article – it still works for anyone using AutoCAD-based programs version 2007-2008.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a more current version of this utility until recently. Govert’s Tools has a program called PlotStyleViewer. You can download it here.
In his words,
This inspired me to create a CTB/STB view/print application that works completely independent of AutoCAD and Autodesk tools! The program consists of just one executable file, there are no other exe’s or dll’s needed. It should work with CTB’s/STB’s from AutoCAD 2000 upto the latest version. The purpose of this tool is that you can view CTB’s, print them and save as text file that you can open in Excel etc.
It’s a handy little utility and doesn’t seem to be limited to a particular version. Hope you get as much use out of it as I do.