California Surveyors Forums

Hello,
I used Land Desktop 2009 for quite sometime and got comfortable with it in setting up points for staking, boundary, topo. and so on. I would create a folder with the project name and open a new drawing then I'm asked if I want to attached this drawing to any project then I've just created a survey data base for this project. At this point my data points are attached to all the drawing in the DWG subfolder and I can insert, delete and manipulate the points in any of the drawings and import field books. Also at this point all the subfolders (i.e. DWG, SURVEY, ALIGN,....)are created in the project subfolder.

Now here comes the dreaded AutoCad Civil 3D 2013 where I cannot do the same thing as in 2009, not exactly. It seems like every drawing has it own data base (am I right?). I can still setup for staking and import field books but cannot attacked the points to all drawing. Can anyone help please.

We learn on the fly where I work no training!
Thank you

I self taught Civil 3D (only as far as 2d survey drafting is concerned, I delegate all of the surfaces to the engineers) this year and it wasn't so bad. You may have to open a drawing and re-import your points. All of the project sub-folders are gone. There is a convert softdesk points command or some other recognition/conversion of points routine but I have not tried it yet.

The tricky parts for me are getting the line and curve labels to appear with the right components and sizes. I end up just using mtext for most of my labeling although it is inefficient, I prefer the greater control over the appearance. I have not had the good fortune of labeling many curves to date but I know the time will come.

I don't know that your surfaces will transfer easily but I'm sure there is a way to import or recreate them easily from the points.

The good news is once you get 2013 dialed (which may take you a few months of hair-pulling) it works very well and efficiently. I used LDD 2004 for about ten years prior to this summer and I don't think I would prefer to go back to it (I could if I wanted to).

Good luck

Thank you David for your input.

I've used AutoCAD from almost the very beginning. LDD 2007 was by far my favorite--more powerful without sacrificing too much user friendliness. Then something happened. Their relentless drive toward flexibility resulted in a product that, speaking as a surveyor, demanded more from me than I wanted (needed) to give. There's a point of diminishing returns here...increased hyper-flexibility creates more complexity than it's worth. More is required of the user to reach the same results. Too much more.

C3D is a civil engineering design tool, far more than what a surveyor needs. it is what it is.
As for data storage, manipulation, surface creation, surface pasting, etc., C3D blows LDD away.
Just get used to it and you will learn to like it better than LDD.

It is a nightmare. I have bitten the bullet and am now using version 2016. It would really be great to find someone who can teach a class on this. I'd help organize it if anyone else is interested. We can take it across the state to various chapters. Anyone interested?

Basim wrote:Now here comes the dreaded AutoCad Civil 3D 2013 where I cannot do the same thing as in 2009, not exactly. It seems like every drawing has it own data base (am I right?). I can still setup for staking and import field books but cannot attacked the points to all drawing. Can anyone help please.

In my opinion, when it comes to point management, LDT was a superior product. Our office was forced to Civil 3D a few years ago. An okay bandaid, as far as points go, is to have one drawing dedicated to points. Any new shots or calcs go in that drawing. Need them in a working drawing? Copy them in, but the master drawing must be maintained.

Surfaces are really nice with Civil 3D but for me that's about it. We do a lot of subdivisions and for closure calcs I've resorted to purchasing Carlson. I hate Civil 3D for closure calcs.

I have been a power user since autocad release 10 and softdesk 8. Civil 3d 2015 now. Getting used to styles is the hardest hump to get over. Once you familiarize yourself on how styles work the rest falls into place. I would create a template to keep your drafting styles and point codes consistent. Once you set it up the rest is easy. It is more of a engineers tool like the others have said. Do not rely on the pretty automatic features to take care of all needs. I still hand calculate and determine my information manually. Civil3d does not know how to handle every situation. If anyone is looking to get a certain labeling style for thier template, I can do my best to help.

Chiara wrote:I hate Civil 3D for closure calcs.

Me too, AutoCAD has never done what I've asked it to do for closure calculations and I've always thought it was a complete waste of time. I can't understand it, I've always felt that I must be doing it wrong but I've also never seen anyone else who could get an accurate closure error successfully. The automatic forced closure thing just never worked for me. Most of the deeds I get do not close perfectly, oddly enough.

I prefer Greenbriar Graphics Deed Plotter for closure checks and the software will export the figures to autocad as a dxf file and it delivers a nice formal one-page printout with date, scaled sketch, title and all relevant data. I use that for an independent check on my lot boundaries and to check for errors in deeds. It is quick, I can sketch deeds with the 10-key pad while I carry on a phone conversation and it will handle any curve data you can throw at it.

I've always used a stand alone COGO program for true lot closures. (TechMAC if anyone cares.) It traverses the input B & D and curve data to generate the error of closure, just like the old Traverse Sheets - remember those?

CAD seems to either inverse between 18 place decimal coordinates, or traverses using higher precision than reported on the map, so has an inflated "error". Of course, with a rectangular lot, it should have no error.