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    • Author: David Medeiros

    Civil 3D: Standardized Data Tool

    Posted on by David Medeiros

    This free tool from Autodesk will allow you to quickly collect data from across all your Civil 3D drawing files and manage those data in a single Excel spreadsheet. It can be downloaded from your Autodesk site. It is available for Civil 3D versions 2021-2024. Here is its home page. To learn more, read on.

    Autodesk Civil 3D image

    A few things to consider:

    • It’s all about metadata.
    • The new tool leverages the power of Civil 3D Property Sets exclusively.
    • Data across multiple drawings can be validated in a single operation.
    • Drawing objects can be queried. For example, from a selection of 12 drawings, list all pipes greater than 200mm diameter.
    • The project dashboard can be used to quickly summarize a project.

     

    batch updateCivil 3d program

    Here is a YouTube playlist prepared by Autodesk.

    To learn more about Civil 3D, feel free to contact us.

    Manufacture Scorpion

    Posted on by David Medeiros
    Success Stories

    Manufacture Scorpion

    Manufacture Scorpion Success Story

    Manufacture Scorpion is a manufacturer/distributor whose mission is to make the world’s best pneumatics and vacuum technologies available quickly and easily to North American companies. As the largest Pneumax partner, they have exclusive agreements with the world’s best suppliers to achieve their goal, allowing them to offer the best technology and help their customers be world-class.

    Based in Granby, QC, Manufacture Scorpion pioneered 24-hour service in North America for pneumatic cylinders. Their manufacturing employs the best machining technologies to achieve the fastest manufacturing speeds so their customers don’t have to wait. Their goal is to be the fastest to deliver.

    Rapid Expansion: Increasing CNC Programming Capacity to 300% with FeatureCAM!

    The Challenge

    As an industry leader, Manufacture Scorpion has experienced rapid growth, demanding fast expansion without sacrificing the quality and speed that their customers have grown to expect. With this expansion came challenges such as training new employees and acquiring new software licenses and post processors for new equipment. Knowing they needed a highly skilled team and could not afford delays; they reached out to SolidCAD to create personalized training program for new employees.

    Manufacture Scorpion already had a standing relationship with the SolidCAD team. They have used FeatureCAM for 10 years to program their CNC equipment and, as an Autodesk Partner, SolidCAD has often provided technical support to help resolve programming challenges. This long-standing relationship gave them the confidence to reach out and face this newest expansion together.

    The Solution

    To meet their increasing demand, Manufacture Scorpion acquired a new CNC machine, which required a new post processor created by SolidCAD. Along with the custom training, SolidCAD’s professional services team also continues to offer remote technical support for all their programming needs.

    The Results
    1. The ability to program parts on multiple workstations has allowed them to increase their CNC programming capacity to 300%.
    2. Their personalized training programs allow new team members to hit the ground running without losing unnecessary time in the onboarding process.
    3. Remote technical support with the SolidCAD team’s flexible availability allow for any challenges to be resolved quickly and avoid delays.

    Testimonial

    The availability and flexibility of the instructors, and their ability to offer services without delays made all the difference

    The team dedicated to remote technical support by phone and email is also unparalleled.

    They made the FeatureCAM software easy and efficient to use, which makes a big difference compared to other CAM software. It allows us to be aligned with our vision of the service and quality we want to offer our customers.

    – Bruno Roy, Director of Production at Manufacture Scorpion Inc

    Products & Services Used

    • FeatureCAM
    • Personalized Training
    • Post processor creation
    • Technical support

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    Civil 3D 2023.1 Update

    Posted on by David Medeiros

    Autodesk has released the Civil 3D 2023.1 update.  Use the Desktop App to install it or download it from your Autodesk Account.  Click here to find out what’s new and what’s been fixed. Please note that you must first install the AutoCAD 2023.1 update.

    Most of the enhancements are centered around Autodesk Docs features.

     

    Fixed Issues

    Autodesk Trust Center

    For the latest information regarding the security fixes in this Update, refer to the Security Advisory:

    ADSK-SA-2022-0014

    ADSK-SA-2022-0016

    Problems Reported Through the Customer Error Reporting Utility

    As a result of the detailed information that we received from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting Utility, we were able to identify and fix several defects including the following:

    Graphics

    Occasional crashes when selecting some objects with BLEND commands under “Shaded (Fast)” visual style.

    Occasional crashes when switching to “Shaded (Fast)” visual style in some drawings.

    Occasional crashes when launching AutoCAD on some machines with few specific graphic drivers.

    General

    Occasional crashes when opening and then saving some specific drawings.

    Occasional crashes when using PASTESPEC to copy Microsof Excel table into the drawing.

    General Update Content

    The following defects have been fixed:

    Display

    When you turn on/off layers, the objects in the drawing are reflected correctly.

    The dimension preview now displays under “Shaded (Fast)” visual style.

    The 3D objects can rotate correctly on the expected location when orbiting through 3D gizmo under “Shaded (Fast)” visual style.

    Bold and italic formatting in MTEXT now works as expected under “Shaded (Fast)” visual style.

    Markup Import and Markup Assist

    The Markup Assist boundary displays correctly when holding the wheel to pan on one of the locked viewports.

    The Markup geometry keeps the uneditable status after using the TRACEBACK command.

    Pressing the Esc key now cancels the Markup Import process.

    The imported images keep the embedding status after the Markup import is completed.

    Performance

    Improved performance when plotting a file with the raster image pasted and setting “Background Transparency” to Yes.

    Improved performance when orbiting the drawing containing multiple leaders with SHIFT+middle mouse button under “Shaded (Fast)” visual style.

    Improved performance on Hatch pattern previews on the ribbon drop-down list.

    Trace

    The Markup entity can be recognized successfully after undoing the new trace creation.

    The “Trace – Name Already Exists” message now displays when there is a duplicate trace name.

    Sheet Set Manager with Autodesk Docs

    The Edit button on the Sheet Set Manager for Web palette automatically adapts the palette width.

    The expand status on Sheet Set Manager for Web palette is now kept when switching the color theme in AutoCAD.

    The cloud DST file is now recorded on the Recent documents list.

    User Interface

    Drop-down lists now display clearly in certain dialog boxes in Windows 11.

    The QVLAYOUT thumbnail previews can be hidden automatically when selecting one of the layout previews.

    The underscore in the action macro name on the Action Recorder panel now shows in the drop-down list.

    The Close button now displays completely on the top-right side of the Start tab.

    The scroll bar and icons now show correctly in the Recent tab when setting display scale to certain values.

    An error message has been fixed when pressing the Esc key to close “Sort” pop-up list on the Start tab.

    Any layer can now be dragged into a Layer group filter in Windows 11.

    General

    TRIM and HATCH now recognize the edges of Civil 3D objects.

    All copied dimensions now appear at their specified locations correctly when associative dimension is copied multiple times.

    OLE objects now display correctly in Windows 11.

    Commands can now be entered immediately after switching layouts between multiple layouts.

    The renaming function in the Sheet View Category on the Sheet Set Manager is now implemented successfully.

    The Explode option on the Blocks palette is now retained after relaunching AutoCAD.

    The OVERKILL command behavior is now consistent with legacy products.

    Some specific STEP files are now imported correctly into AutoCAD.

    MLEADER objects converted from multiple text objects can now be set to a correct Z value.

     

    Parent page: AutoCAD Updates

    AutoCAD 2023.1 Update

    Posted on by David Medeiros

    Autodesk has released the 2023.1 updates.  Use the Desktop App to install it or download it from your Autodesk Account.  Click here to find out what’s new.  Additionally, the 2023.0.1 update is also available.

    Release Notes for Autodesk® Civil 3D® 2023.1

    This release includes new and updated features, performance enhancements, and fixes for Autodesk® Civil 3D® 2023. It is strongly recommended that you read this entire document before installing.

    Note: AutoCAD 2023 Update 1 must be installed before Civil 3D 2023 Update 1. AutoCAD 2023 Update 1 cannot be uninstalled independently. To remove the update, you must reinstall Civil 2023.0.

    New Features

    Find out about the new and improved features in the Autodesk Civil 3D 2023.1 release.

    Fixed Issues

    Find out what issues have been fixed in Autodesk Civil 3D 2023.1.

    Known Issues

    Find out about known issues in Autodesk Civil 3D 2023.1.

    Installation

    Detailed installation information can be found in the Autodesk Civil 3D installation help topics.

    • It is recommended that you first install all Microsoft® Windows® updates prior to installing Autodesk Civil 3D 2023.1.
    • Please close all applications prior to installing Autodesk Civil 3D 2023.1.
    • Autodesk Civil 3D 2023.1 can be installed side-by-side with prior versions of Autodesk Civil 3D.
    • If your team works in a multi-seat stand-alone environment, you can repeat this basic installation process for each computer seat. Alternatively, an administrator can create a deployment.

    Pages in this section

    Watch the video for a User Tour

    Civil 3D: Plan Production Styles

    Posted on by David Medeiros

    Do you use Civil 3D’s plan production tools?  Do you wonder where the styles come from, the design file, the production template?  Read on to find out.

    If you’re not familiar with Civil 3D’s plan production tools, here are the Cole’s notes.

    • Paper space layouts complete with your company’s title block and plan and/or profile viewports are created automatically along the entire length of a selected alignment.
    • A plan production template must be selected which contains a layout configured for use with this feature.
    • These layouts can be created in one of three places:
      • In the current drawing.
      • In new drawings, one layout per drawing.
      • All layouts in a single new drawing.

    When the option to create layouts in a single new drawing or multiple drawings is chosen, there are three files in play.

    • The design file
    • The selected plan production template
    • The production sheet file the tool creates

    Both the design file and the selected template can contain styles.  They could be the same styles, or they may be different.  When creating the new drawings, which of these two files does Civil 3D use as the template: the starting point?  Where do the styles and settings come from?

    The answer is both, sort of.  Here is what happens:

    1. Civil 3D uses the design file as the template.  All styles and settings come from this file.
    2. Any styles present in the production template are then duplicated into the new production sheet drawing.
    3. If there are any styles in the production template that are the same name as the design file, they are ignored.  The design file styles are maintained.

    Note that Style 3 is present in the Design and Template files.  In the Sheet file, Style 3 is the same as the Design file.

    Civil 3D: Pipes not Extending to Structures

    Posted on by David Medeiros

    Have you seen this before?  This is how Civil 3D’s pipes sometimes appear before and after the current annotation scale has been changed.  Not good.

    Read on to learn more…

    What is the cause?  This setting in the structure style.  You will find it in the Plan tab in the style editor.

    How to fix this?  There are several methods.

    • Never change the scale!  Easy to say, not so easy to implement.
    • Turn off that setting.  Problem is, you get this.

    • Swap each structure.  Choose the same structure.  What if there are 200 of them?  Too much time.

    • Grip-edit each structure and move them back onto their original positions.  Same problem as previous, too much time.
    • Add a wipeout to the block being used AND turn off that setting.  Our first real potential solution.  Some users report black blobs when printing to PDF when using wipeouts, however.
    • Use Project Explorer.  Select all the structures, right click, and choose the following option.  Then just click OK.  This kicks the structures in the butt and the pipes extend themselves properly.  Of course, next time the scale is changed, this must be redone but this only takes about 5 seconds.

    I prefer the wipeout option because it is permanent.  No other workarounds necessary.  If this is not an option for you, then the Project Explorer trick is likely the best option.

    Civil 3D: Alignment Creation – Free Entities

    Posted on by David Medeiros

    Alignments are created in Civil 3D by selecting AutoCAD objects or by using specialized tools.  Sometimes selecting objects is appropriate, but when the alignment is required to be very flexible in terms of editability, utilizing those specialized tools can be critical.

     

    There are three types of Alignment segments present within those specialized tools: Fixed, Floating, and Free.  The use of these tools is not always obvious, so we have created 3 video which explains the use of them.

     

    The last of the three videos, Free Entities, can be viewed at this link or below.

    Civil 3D: Alignment Creation – Floating Entities

    Posted on by David Medeiros

    Alignments are created in Civil 3D by selecting AutoCAD objects or by using specialized tools.  Sometimes selecting objects is appropriate, but when the alignment is required to be very flexible in terms of editability, utilizing those specialized tools can be critical.

     

    There are three types of Alignment segments present within those specialized tools: Fixed, Floating, and Free.  The use of these tools is not always obvious, so we have created 3 video which explains the use of them.

     

    The second of the three videos, Floating Entities, can be viewed at this link or below. Come back in a week or two for the next video.

     

    Civil 3D: Alignment Creation – Fixed Entities

    Posted on by David Medeiros

    Alignments are created in Civil 3D by selecting AutoCAD objects or by using specialized tools.  Sometimes selecting objects is appropriate, but when the alignment is required to be very flexible in terms of editability, utilizing those specialized tools can be critical.

     

    There are three types of Alignment segments present within those specialized tools: Fixed, Floating, and Free.  The use of these tools is not always obvious, so we have created 3 video which explains the use of them.

     

    The first of the three videos, Fixed Entities, can be viewed at this link or below. Come back in a week or two for the next video.

     

    HOW OUR AEC E-LEARNING SOLUTION IMPROVES EMPLOYEE RETENTION

    Posted on by David Medeiros

    This story was originally published by Eagle Point Software

    AN AEC E-LEARNING SOLUTION CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE FOR YOUR EMPLOYEES.

    Employee retention is one of the biggest ongoing goals for successful companies. Improving retention allows you to keep your top performers, promote from within, and avoid the time and cost of replacing staff.

    A recent survey from The Harris Poll found that 70% of employees would likely leave their current organization if its training and development offerings weren’t up to par.

    Let’s explore how our AEC e-learning solution, Pinnacle Series, can help deliver the development employees are looking for and improve retention at your architecture, engineering, construction, or manufacturing organization.

    1. Promotes lifelong learning
    2. Makes workflows more efficient
    3. Personalizes training
    4. Empowers their career goals

    PROMOTES LIFELONG LEARNING

    Learning helps us grow and achieve goals throughout our lives and careers. But often, employees feel like they’re growing stagnant. If you provide the opportunity for them to learn new skills on their own terms, you’ll build the kind of culture that encourages growth.

    MAKES WORKFLOWS MORE EFFICIENT

    Pinnacle Series is full of training videos, documents, and other resources employees can use to improve their skills at dozens of important AEC programs e.g., software skills, company guidelines, health and safety knowledge, and more. And they can do it the minute they need answers, for instance, in the middle of a project. Instead of interrupting a co-worker, they can hop onto Pinnacle Series, watch a quick how-to video, and get back to work with confidence.

    PERSONALIZES TRAINING

    Employees often don’t benefit from a one-size-fits-all course enrollment or seminar that doesn’t fit their individual needs. They feel it’s a waste of their time. In addition, it can be labor-intensive for managers to figure out the required training needs for every employee, especially within larger organizations. With Pinnacle Series, the concept of personalized learning is built in. Users can take KnowledgeSmart assessments to generate a custom learning plan that fills their skills gaps without repeating information they already know.

    EMPOWERS THEIR CAREER GOALS

    By equipping your employees with new skills to move forward in their careers, you’re helping them and your organization. You can invest in and promote from within.

    Want to see for yourself how our AEC e-learning solution can help your organization? Schedule a demo or free trial of Pinnacle Series today!

    Are you a current Pinnacle Series customer? Log in now or connect with your Customer Success Manager to see how you can leverage our platform in your employee retention efforts.