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  • As of July 31, 2020 Steltman Tools are discontinued

    As of July 31, 2020, SolidCAD a Cansel Company has discontinued the sale of new subscriptions for Steltman Software, Steltman Tools. From this date and onward, new subscriptions, or renewals for maintenance plans to Steltman Tools will no longer be available for purchase.

    SolidCAD is committed to help improve our customers’ engineering design workflows. This decision will allow us to better partner with leaders in the Autodesk Developer Network market, such as CTC Software. SolidCAD and CTC will be delivering technologies that maximize productivity with custom applications and tools for Civil 3D. This collaboration strengthens our ability to enable more connected workflows and deliver high-quality services to optimize your workflow.

    For those located in the U.S, SolidCAD will continue to support you and your products for the remainder of the year until July 31, 2021, but during this time, you will be contacted by your new Account Manager from CTC Software to help you make the transition over.

    Book a meeting today to discuss your options

    Have Questions?

    We understand that this change might prompt questions, please review our FAQ to ensure you have all the necessary information.

    FAQ

    SolidCAD has made the difficult decision to discontinue Steltman Software, Steltman Tools as a product. With this decision, we intend to collaborate with other industry leaders who can better support your custom application and tool needs. As such, the current release of Steltman Tools ,2021, is the last release of that product.  Since that release, no updates or enhancements have been delivered and no new release versions are planned in the future.

    • Perpetual licenses do not expire and customers may choose to continue to use them after the expiry date of their maintenance contract.
    • No renewal or replacement licenses will be issued after the customers maintenance contract expires.
    • Perpetual network licenses do not expire and customers may choose to continue to use them after the expiry date of their maintenance contract.
    • No renewal or replacement licenses will be issued after the customers maintenance contract expires.

    SolidCAD has worked with CTC Software to enhance the capabilities of Civil 3D, and improve workflows historically supplemented by Steltman Tools. The modern but simple interface, installation, deployment, licensing and functionality of the CTC Software is improved over our previous offerings. We at SolidCAD are committed to bringing the best quality tools to you and your engineering/design teams. Our partnership with CTC Software, and the fantastic, proven offerings they have around Civil 3D are unmatched.

    Please contact your SolidCAD Account Manager so we can schedule a technical orientation of your use of Civil 3D, projects, and workflows and advise on the tools best suited ongoing for your firm.

    You may find that previous custom functionality you’ve had developed is included, or overlaps with existing features within the CTC Software CIM Project Suite, or CIM Manager Suite. They have been working for many years to solve many common shortcomings of Civil 3D. CTC’s development has been driven by customer feedback from day one many years ago, and will continue. SolidCAD would like to work with you to ensure existing features and functionality are fully leveraged within your firm to achieve the best project results possible

    Please contact your SolidCAD Account Manager so we can schedule a technical orientation of your use of Civil 3D, projects, and workflows and advise on the tools best suited ongoing for your firm.

    • If the customer needs to move an existing license to a new system prior to the expiry date of the customers renewal period a new perpetual license will be issued.
    • There will be no license renewals or replacement licenses after the customers current renewal period expires.

    Contact the SolidCAD support line at 1-877-438-2231 or Ramil Laxamana via 1-877-438-2231 ext. 238 or ramil.laxamana@solidcad.ca

    • We can help you with new Civil 3D workflows to accomplish what you need to achieve
    • New, similar, enhanced tools continue to be added to the CTC Civil Project Tools Suites
    • We do not support any specialty/custom tools previously created that are not in the standard Civil Essentials Tool set.
    • All Civil Essentials software and licensing support ends on July 31, 2021.
    To learn more about SolidCAD’s additional tools that can support your projects today, we encourage you to visit us at:  SolidCAD Products or visit CTC Software.

    Working with Bluebeam Studio Project – Part 1

    Introduction: What is Studio Project

    Studio Project is a cloud-based light document management system that allows people to centralize and access their project data using Bluebeam Revu Interface. Files within Studio Project can be checked out for editing (ex: revisions) and checked back in to create different version of a single document instead of creating multiple duplicate of the same or, overwriting important data.

    Before Starting

    1ST STEP – Create a Bluebeam ID

    In order to be able to use Bluebeam Studio services, you need to create a Bluebeam ID. It’s free and simple.

    Basically, open your Bluebeam Revu, then go in Bluebeam Studio section and click on Sign In

    Right after, the following dialog box will appear fill the form and finish by clicking on CREATE AN ACCOUNT button

    You will have to review the terms of use and click the I ACCEPT button if you agree with these terms. A confirmation email will be sent after to confirm your Bluebeam ID.

    Check your email (and spam box if you don’t see the email in your INBOX after 5 mins) and confirm your Bluebeam ID.

    You are now set to start using Bluebeam Studio.

    Part 1: Creating a Project

    As previously written, Bluebeam Studio Project acts as a single source of truth for all your project documents. So, to maintain this statement, you will need to be able to understand what you can or cannot do with Studio Project. You will also need to know how to set up a project, to configure permissions and to share the information internally or externally.

    To create a new project, go to Bluebeam Studio section and click connect. From there, you have 2 options: creating a Session or creating a Project.

    Now, select Projects and then, click on the + (add) button (as circle in red) and select New Project as shown in the picture below

    After doing so, a dialog box will appear, and you will be asked to name your Project

    Subscribe to our SolidCHAT blog for Part 2.

    Civil 3D Surface Points

    Easily differentiate points appropriate for a surface model from those that are not.

    A typical topographical surveys consist of hundreds or even thousands of points, most of which must be added to the definition of a surface model.  Some of these survey points are not appropriate for use in defining surface models.  Such as those points not taken on the ground.

    Many Civil 3D users use a special point group to exclude those points that are not appropriate for surface models.  The group is defined by including the survey points, but excluding those points whose raw descriptions match those in the list.

    This works well, but it will fail when the surveyor shoots a point with a non-standard code, that point does not belong in a surface model, and this is not communicated with the design staff.

    Consider this technique instead:  Define description keys for all points and define the Format column as usual with one exception: add a special character, such as a plus, to the end of those points which are appropriate for modeling surfaces.  Points that are not shot on the ground are devoid of this plus at the end.

    Then define the point group with only one custom setting, Include points whose Full Description ends with that special character, in this case a plus.

    When a surveyor in the field encounters a feature which requires a new code, and that point is appropriate for a surface, they can simply append that special character to their raw description.  If no communication between them and the office staff takes place, that point will automatically be included in the point group and therefore in the surface model.

    In the rare case where a point normally appropriate for a surface model is not appropriate for a single shot, the surveyor can append another special character to exclude that point from the surface.  MHD-  Then the surface point group can exclude points whose raw description ends in that character.

    Manhole where the lid is above ground…

    How SaaS EDM Solutions makes remote work effective during Covid-19

    Many industries have been affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic including Manufacturing, Utilities, and Transportation. As projects need to stay on track despite today’s challenges, we have all had to assess our normal collaboration strategies to focus on remote work and staying effective.

    Common questions that arise with so many employees working from home:

    • How do we collaborate with both our internal and external partners as we work from home without our usual access to our full suite of tools?
    • How do we confirm the accuracy of information received from external sources?
    • Do we have controls and workflows in place for project document sharing?

    Some companies have adapted quickly to the remote work reality as they have modern SaaS tools in place. They have had little impact on their day to day operations.

    Others are struggling to shift to this new paradigm. They are now forced to look for new collaboration tools to empower their employees and minimize downtime.

    When searching for the right capital project management tool the following questions arise:

    • How do we track project progress and meet compliance standards?
    • Can we control, digitize, and monitor tasks in our typical project workflow?
    • How do we provide access to all technical documentation to various stakeholders?
    • Is there a tool that is easy to learn and to use for rapid user adoption?

    A SaaS EDM application will tick all these boxes and provide the ideal solution to keep your projects on-time and your customers informed.

    Available in either SaaS or Cloud-based offerings, an Engineering Document Management (EDM) suite will provide the following instant benefits:

    • Web-based access to allow maximum flexibility for remote external and internal stakeholders.
    • Bi-directional updates to engineering documents and drawings with full workflow support.
    • Mobile access to all documentation which leads to increased employee collaboration and efficiency.

    A SaaS-based EDM solution will provide an adaptable tool for your remote workforce needs. If you have not implemented an EDM solution, now is the time.

    Accruent’s Meridian Cloud connects Engineering, Management, and Maintenance teams to ensure all documents and asset data are compliant and up to date.

    The SolidCAD Meridian team is available for your EDM implementation needs.

    Property Set Data in Civil 3D

    We use the Manage Tab in Civil 3D for some important stuff like data shortcuts, managing styles, and Dynamo. But how often do we look at the panels between those tools?

    So today let’s talk about Property Set Data.

    Property Sets are a great tool to attach additional information to any AutoCAD or Civil 3D objects in your projects. They are pretty easy to use and incredibly versatile.

    Property Set Data can be set up in a drawing (DWG) or in a template file (DWT) so that it can be brought into each new project. The opportunity to have these in a template is often overlooked, but can offer a nice solution for adding data to objects and aiding in the transfer of information throughout a project’s life cycle.

    When you select Define Property Sets in the Manage Tab, it will bring up a filtered style manager window where you can create Property Sets, determine what objects they can be applied to, and add definitions.

     

    While pipes have a lot of meta data behind the scenes, utilities are often drawing using Feature lines or Polylines. Layers absolutely give us some information as to what these lines represent, but property sets can take this transfer of information to a new level. In this case we can ensure consistency across revisions and eliminate dangerous assumptions about existing utilities.

    There are several ways to add definitions to your property set, but all of the definitions above are manual property definitions. The type of definition will restrict the value input options for the user. There are many types of inputs from plain text to True/False options to integers or even predefined lists that we can use to get useful and quantifiable data added to any object.

    In your drawing you can select multiple objects and add a Property Set to them all at the same time in the Extended Data Tab of the AutoCAD Properties window. Likewise, we can remove a Property Set from multiple objects at the same time. Then depending on the data type, you can pick from a dropdown list or enter a year of installation to add important information needed for the project design.

    From the additional information I added, not only can we see what these polylines represent, we also have a better idea of how accurate this information is. Knowing that this utility information was confirmed through daylighting gives me much more confidence that it is 75mm conduit, or that it is even drawn in the correct location.

    This custom meta data stays with these objects and can be leveraged in other applications like NavisWorks or Infraworks.

    Or we can manually code our own label styles to sit in the template with our property set

    <[PS:Property Set:Definition Name]>  Keep in mind this is case sensitive.

    Or we can create a Schedule in the template to show this information in table form. Creating schedules is a little tricky and somewhat hidden in Civil 3D, but using the command < SCHEDULE [Style] > we can create a schedule style. Then < -SCHEDULEADD > we can create a schedule of this data.

    This information can also be linked to Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access for more flexibility.

    Hopefully this example has shown you some of the flexibility of Property Set Data. But this is only the tip of the iceberg when we look at the possibilities that come with creating these customized properties for objects in our designs. So get creative with these tools and use them to streamline communication, minimize errors and assumptions, and create more informative designs.

    Here are a couple useful commands to speed things up when working with Property Sets:

    • AECPSDAUTOATTACH – Automatically attaches all property set data to all the objects they apply to in the drawing. Also allows automatic updates if property sets are edited.
    • PROPERTYSETCLEAN – Use when AECPSDAUTOATTACH is OFF. Updates property set information associated to objects after edits have been made to property set data.

    The Multi Space Dimension of Autodesk Inventor

    Relativity says we live in four dimensions. String theory says it is 10. What are ‘dimensions’ and how do they affect reality?

    With three axes, we can describe forms in three-dimensional space. And Every point is uniquely identified by three coordinates. A Sphere can be described as:  x2 + y2 + z2 = 1.

    So, a sphere that sit in four-dimensional space can be legitimately described as:

    x2 + y2 + z2 + p2 = 1

    Our human brain can only receive and interpret a 3D world. When it comes to a 4, 5 or more dimension, our Engineering drafting become completely useless. Here are some examples I did with Inventor using its solid bodies Sweep feature:

    1. Colliding 3 dimensions to a common point, Inventor created an object that can be both sphere/cube. Is it a sphere or a cube?

    2.  Inventor can also be used to create a Hypercube frame in which our Engineering Standard CAN NOT present it on a drafting paper.

    These are 6 views of the same object, but why the 3 isometric views are completely different? Inventor showed that the shadow of 4D cube frame is the 3D cube.

    3.  Turn 3D cube frame into a 4D spiral ramp, we can see how De Vinci created a staircase that have the same entrance, but King, Queen, servants, and chauffeurs can never run into each other 😊

    4. My Klein Flower Vase is a 4D object of a 3D möbius loop.

    The log was inspired after watching this fantastic video:  Things to See and Hear in the Fourth Dimension. A great and simple mathematic lecture where it shows how four-dimensional shapes appear in a 3D world in a hands-on talk. Another great reading is this Radical dimensions