Being Civil

Windows 7….revisited

So a while back I had posted that Windows 7 was not officially supported for Civil 3D 2010.  While we certainly continued to assist customers that were early converts, Windows 7 lacked that, ummm, “official” blessing.

While, some of you may have stumbled across this post in our Discussion Groups from our Sr. Product Manger, which stated:

The Civil 3D team is excited by the interest shown in Windows 7 and on
moving to a 64 bit operating system. We have tested Civil 3D 2010 and
Windows 7 and haven't found any issues that should stop you from deploying
Civil 3D 2010 on it. We are planning to update our website to list Windows 7
as an operating system for Civil 3D.
Windows 7 is one of the operating systems that Civil 3D will be tested on
moving forward.
Regards,

Peter Funk
Autodesk, Inc.

Could it be?  Is this legit?  Absolutely!  Peter stopped by my desk yesterday to confirm that this is truly official at this point. 

So for those of you waiting to jump to Windows 7, now is the time.  Just do yourself a favor and make sure you go for the 64-bit version!

Labels and Tables Panel is empty

For those of you running Civil 3D 2010, you may have noticed something missing on your Annotate Ribbon Tab.  The Labels and Tables panel is blank. 

Here is a quick fix to get this back working correctly.

1. Switch over to the Home Tab
2. Close Civil 3D
3. Reopen Civil 3D
4. Switch back to the Annotate Tab

Once reopened, the Panel will display correctly.  Enjoy!

edit: This was not associated with Update 1.  Edited to correct this.

Error Installing Update 1?

With the availability of Civil 3D 2010 Update 1, I have seen multiple instances of people not being able to install the update. When they try to run the update, they get an error message stating the following:

The service pack could not be installed because the expected Autodesk product could not be located on your computer. Make sure that you are using the correct service pack for the product.

This message is actually 100% correct, and the mistake is fairly common – when you visit the Data and Downloads page for Civil 3D, both Civil products are listed on the page – Civil and Civil 3D. Since it is human nature to only glance at the title, many people download the first link that says civ… However, the first one listed is Update 1 for AutoCAD Civil 2010, not Civil 3D. So the message is totally correct for most people – AutoCAD Civil is not found on their machine because AutoCAD Civil 3D is.

So – to sum up:

If you have AutoCAD Civil 2010, you can download the update here.

If you have AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010, you can download the update here.

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 Update 1 Released

Today, we released Update 1 for Civil 3D 2010, which can be downloaded here. Follow the link for a list of issues resolved with this update:

Windows 7 Support

We have been getting quite a few questions about this, and even a few requests for support.  Please keep in mind that Windows 7 is not supported at this time. 

I like to be on the cutting edge of technology as much as the next guy, but Windows 7 is not officially released yet, and won’t be for a few months.  Civil 3D 2010, on the other hand, was released back this spring.  There is no way our Development Team can design and test on an OS that was still in Beta form at the time of it’s released.

So remember, if you do choose to install on Win 7, we won’t be able to provide support on issues related interoperability. 

That being said, how about that new Windows Taskbar?  :)

QTO – Garbage In, Garbage Out

As you all know, Civil 3D 2010 includes some new functionality, including the much-anticipated QTO. No, this is not the Quick Turtle Option, nor is it Qualified Technical Overachievers. QTO stands for Quantity Takeoff, and is very powerful in helping estimating potential project costs.

I have been working in and around the QTO functionality, trying to gain more knowledge. In my quest for knowledge, I ran across a post in the Civil 3D discussion group about a problem with a Master Pay Item list. I had to ask for help on this one, but figured out what was going on. Follow the link to find out more.

Raster Design 2010 Hotfix for Licensing and Civil 3D Feature Update Released

The Raster Design 2010 Hotfix for Licensing and Civil 3D Feature Update has been released. It addresses the license issue and allows AutoCAD Raster Design 2010 network licenses to be installed with supported standalone AutoCAD 2010 applications. The hotfix will not allow a standalone AutoCAD Raster Design 2010 installation to install with network deployments of host applications.

Download the the readme and read before installing, please. You can find the download for both 32 and 64 bit operating systems here.

Survey Linework Without Codes?

As I sit here waiting on my telephone repairman to arrive to fix my DSL line (where is that guy, anyway?) I have had some much needed (and forced, to my dismay) time to sit down and write a post for the blog. I have been thinking about survey features a lot lately, and trying to put together a good workflow for a big posting (possibly even a white paper) but decided that I’d scratch out this little gem while I was brainstorming.

So let me set the scene – you’re a bit curious about your capabilities with automated linework. You’ve always realized that it would greatly increase your workflow efficiency, but you’ve always skirted around it and never really jumped too deeply into it. Perhaps one day while you were waiting on the day’s point file to arrive, you had a little time and played around with some settings. You read a few articles and maybe created a few figure prefixes just for fun, then promptly got distracted and never implemented it with your field crews. Then one day you bring some field data into the survey database and all this random linework starts showing up, even though you know your crews aren’t coding out in the field. You freak out a tiny bit, close your drawing, re-convert the data, delete the survey database, re-import the data – and you still get the random linework! You then proceed to throw your mouse, but forgot that it wasn’t a cordless mouse, and it snaps back, smacks you in the forehead, and requires a trip to the emergency room. Well, I’m here to save on your medical bills and explain why that is happening – remember, safety first!