This week represented the fifth installment of our bi-weekly “30 min. Workout” webinar series. The goal of these sessions is to demonstrate lesser known Civil 3D / AutoCAD / Map3D workflows. Our hope is that each “workout” will be a valuable resource for users to explore concepts falling outside the scope of traditional training courses.
This week’s session featured a multitude of Civil 3D / AutoCAD tips and tricks. In true “lightning round” fashion, more than thirty helpful features, system variables and keyboard shortcuts were demonstrated covering a wide array of topics. If you are interested, I’ve added a link to the session recording below…
Likewise, if you are interested in downloading the script files used in this session, they can be found here! - https://a360.co/2YMqNnP
Today we start exploring some underutilized features of commands most users rely on every day. The challenge that we are trying to overcome is the fact that, because the commands are very familiar to us, we tend to rely on only a small amount of what is possible.
That begins changing now!
During today’s 30 min workout, we will focus on the following...
Undo – Building a time machine SAVE – Typing it does something different XCLIP – Improve performance (INDEXCTL) Wildcards – Lots more than just * MSLIDE / VSLIDE – Quick view
I even threw in some “Simple LISP” at the end when I showed how to create a custom command you can start using immediately.
In 30 years, I have never worked on a civil project that did not require some interaction with GIS data. Whether it is referencing GIS data to get started, using GIS data to help make better design decisions or exporting as-built information to GIS at the end of a project, GIS is an essential part of civil projects.
Having said this, our ability to engage with GIS data hasn’t always been as easy as it should be. In some cases making a connection to the data could be challenging. In others, the GIS data required conversion to CAD geometry. In others, the performance may not have been what we expected. Or worse yet, what we thought was a “live link” was more dead than alive. 😊
At the end of the day, we all found ways to get our jobs done but always thought there really should be a better way.
The recent partnership between Autodesk and Esri is that better way!
New tools are being developed to create more seamless integrations between the worlds of BIM & GIS. One of these tools is the Autodesk Connector for ArcGIS. Using this tool, we can link solutions like InfraWorks and Civil 3D directly to ArcGIS online. Once linked, we can push and pull GIS data back and forth in ways that were never before possible.
Much has been accomplished as a result of the Autodesk & Esri partnership over the past couple of years. I am super excited to see how much more will be accomplished moving forward into the future.
When you think about it, practically every command requires some user input in the form of an Object Snap. Move from the END of this, Rotate around the INTERSECTION of this....
The problem is that typically, a handful of Object snaps become our "Go-tos". As a result, we attack most drafting and design challenges with only a subset of what is actually possible.
In today’s installment, we explore how to do more with Object snaps. This includes reviewing several very powerful (and underutilized) Object snaps, locating Object snaps in space, performing mathematical operations on Object snaps to compute other Object snaps, saving running Object snaps and more.
In fact, during this 30 min session, we’ll explore greater than 30 ways you can get even more out of Object snaps.
If you’ve ever taken a formal training course to learn an application like Civil 3D, you know there’s never enough time to explore EVERYTHING the application can do. (Not to mention all the features and tools included with Map 3D and AutoCAD.) Typical courses cover the “need to know” functionality to get you up and running using the application. The remaining features, tools, and shortcuts are then learned over the course of years using Civil 3D in production.
To help fast track some of the on-the-job learning, we’ve started a new bi-weekly webinar series called “30 min. Workout”. Each session is designed to demonstrate features and functionality not typically shown during traditional classroom training. This week we launched the series by exploring the many ways the AutoCAD platform allows us to select objects. When you think about it, most commands require object selection. The more selection methods you know, the more efficient you can be using virtually every command!
If you are interested, I’ve included a link to a recording of the session…
Today’s installment is all about ways to work together. Whether your Civil team resides in a single office, spans multiple offices, works from home… the ability to collaborate efficiently on a project is critical.
This collaboration includes more than just file access. It also requires ALL of the typical “face to face” interactions that happen countless times a day. For example:
Marking up large format plan sheets, Assigning and tracking critical tasks, Facilitating communication, Understanding who is working on what and when, Comparing current and previous documents, Exchanging files, and more.
Fortunately, there is a single tool that can help with all of this. The tool I am speaking of is BIM 360 Docs.
Click on the video below to see it works!
FYI – If you do not currently have access to BIM 360 Docs, at the time of this post, Autodesk is making it easier than ever to access their cloud services as part of Autodesk's COVID-19 response.
Recently, I had the opportunity to present a live demonstration focused on the advantages of using the AEC Collection for a civil site plan. The goal of the session was to demonstrate how the many tools in the collection can work together to take a project from conceptual design through finished visualizations. Fortunately, the session was recorded, giving us the opportunity to share it here!
If you have access to the AEC Collection and are using a small handful of tools, this presentation can help you take advantage of even more applications and increase the value of your investment. If you are someone who leverages Civil 3D to accomplish most of your design work, this presentation will introduce you to many of the purpose-built, time-saving tools and workflows made possible using the AEC Collection.
If you are interested, I’ve added a link to the recording below…
If you organize your Civil 3D projects into sheet sets, you’re probably familiar with the concept of Fields. Fields represent “smart” text objects that populate automatically when they’re added to a sheet set. On occasion, individual fields may present a challenge when linked to an empty (or unknown) value. That’s because fields have an inherent need to show SOMETHING. In today’s installment, we’ll learn a trick for displaying empty fields.
The trick involves using a pair of “%” symbols. Back in the day, these symbols were used to incorporate special characters into text objects. (%%C for example, placed a diameter symbol.) By simply “pulling up short” and eliminating the character after the %% will cause a field to have an empty display. Using this technique, you can create nice clean fields that only display data when you want them to.
If you're interested, I’ve created a quick video that walks through the workflow…
-Jeff
Note: In my example I am working in Civil 3D. This trick also works in ANY other AutoCAD based application.
A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of teaching an AutoCAD course at a small school in northern Thailand. Part of the training included some 3D modeling. Typically, when I teach 3D modeling, I give students small inexpensive objects (usually toys) and ask them to model the objects using the commands they’ve learned.
In today’s installment, I thought we would model one of those objects because it’s a great way to explore some of the many 3D tools available in AutoCAD. Please note, that as we go through this we are not looking for the “fastest” way to create the object. Our goal is to explore as many tools as possible. Hopefully, along the way, you’ll see a command or two you haven’t tried before.
If you are interested, I've created a quick video below that walks through everything...
Today’s installment is about extending the usefulness of our rollover Tooltips. Specifically, how to customize them so they show us exactly the information we are looking for.
For example, when hovering over a Block object, the Tooltip shows us the Color, Layer and Linetype currently assigned to the Block. While these are helpful, showing the Block's name could also be very beneficial.
When hovering over a Viewport, the Tooltip shows us the Color, Layer and Linetype currently assigned to the Viewport. Wouldn’t it be great if the Tooltip also reported the Viewport's Plot Scale and Lock status?
The great news is rollover Tooltips can be easily customized to show these kinds of information and more. Additionally, they are not limited to only AutoCAD objects. Any of our Civil 3D objects that support rollover Tooltips can be quickly customized to display additional or alternate information.
