New Member here,
Anybody from California? Anybody have any interesting hobbies?
If anybody is in need of Land Survey Drafting Services... I'm available...
https://polygon999.wixsite.com/polygon
Drop by and say Hello!
B
Hello Everyone...
Anybody here use AutoCad or don't use Autocad?
B
Maybe not everybody, but, more than a truck load.
A number of people here are using Carlson or Microsurvey with IntelliCAD.
I know of at least one regular contributor (in California, I think) who swears by BricsCAD.
There must still be some Microstation users lingering here about.
But I'm sure that a majority are using AutoCAD, or something based on it. I use C3d, mostly.
Never heard of those software. Civil 3D is much like AutoCad.
Good to know!
AutoCAD user since R11. I know enough about Microstation to be dangerous. Now GeoPak, that's a program I could use.
T. Nelson - SAM
Mostly retired and running AutoCad R14, the last non-subscription version. Interface is not all that convenient for survey work, but it can be done.
We use Carson on top of autocad. Trimble Business Center and civil 3d on engineering side. A good bit of solo folks I know run either Carlson on autocad or intellicad. Know of a couple that run traverse pc. I mostly stick to Trimble business center. I very seldom get into Carlson cad. But I do mostly comps deed compiles boundary resolutions and all adjustments and qa/qc of all raw data. Once I have boundary resolved and LS likes its dwg gets exported to final drafting in Carlson cad.
Wow.. AutoCad R11 and R14... Haven't heard those since the 90's....
Wow.. AutoCad R11 and R14... Haven't heard those since the 90's....
The core functions of AutoCAD haven't changed much since my first introduction to R9. They've added many useful things -- and many more not-so-useful -- but I still use AutoLISP functions that I wrote in the early '90s. Though today I run them in BricsCAD, since Autodesk pretty much abandoned the small shop years ago.
Have used Autocad since 1990, Civil 3D since it's begging, currently in the process of switching to BricsCad for the same reason as Mr. Frame.
Abandoned the small shop?
What do you mean...
The nice people who I had doing my drafting for me starting about 1990 had started at about Release 6 of AutoCAD. I watched over their shoulders for several years before they sort of pushed me into to doing my own drafting. What that really meant was that a recent high school graduate did it for me in his home with a computer I bought for the situation and a "borrowed" AutoCAD R14. He was a wiz at drafting and I chose not to be. A few years later I was gifted a 2004 version (2D only) and I began doing my own drafting of boundaries. Still hate doing it. I love it for some things but hate all the "prettying up" required to make a proper plat. I remember once when I was maybe seven years old, fishing with my Grandma and Mom. Mom could not simply sit and wait for some stupid fish to bite on her hook. She complained that she could think of about forty other things she needed to get done and they weren't getting done while she was waiting for some stupid fish to bite. That's how I feel about drafting. Most of the critical pieces that come together to solve a survey are far more interesting to me.
What do you mean...
I mean their subscription-only strategy probably makes sense for corporate operations with multiple seats, but for the solo operator like me who doesn't need the latest bells and whistles, just a robust, reliable CAD platform with solid AutoLISP functionality, the choice between AutoCAD at $2k per year versus BricsCAD Pro at $1.6k for a perpetual license is a no-brainer. BricsCAD's interface is a virtual clone of AutoCAD, with the bonus that BricsCAD's LISP capability is better than Autodesk's, at least it was the last time I ran AutoCAD (R2013, I think).
I still use homebrew software for use inside BricsCAD, but I believe the current Pro version includes some civil design functions. I'm still using v21 Pro because it does everything I need it to do, so I'm not up on the details of subsequent releases.
I've used PC Survey for 26 years--it does most of what I need but has lacked in later years on keeping up with many of the improvements that might be helpful regarding importing of GIS layers, etc.
I've also forgotten more than I will probably ever know again about IntelliCAD.
Licensed Land Surveyor
Finger Lakes Region, Upstate New York
Same here. Got my first PC Survey licence in 1999 and have updated now to v23.2.1 which is not the latest but it does everything I need. Also the conversion to DWG is very useful and goes straight into my Acad R14 for making a fairly decent map. Some really very functional software right there then I top it off with Fieldgenius v11.4 in my T18 data collector that runs my trusty Leica TS15 Robot and a pair of Stonex S850A's. Happy New Year Guys.
@bobafett I started on AutoCad R10 importing points from Design Plus, that was a cool survey package back in the DOS command days.
Well going back as far as DOS I was using a program called Benchmark
Licensed Land Surveyor
Finger Lakes Region, Upstate New York
@holy-cow I feel the same way and do the same thing. I do my own deed plots and boundary calcs, resolve the survey, and then pass it on for somebody else to turn it into an appealing plan.
I believe that everybody has a role and mine, as an LS/department head, is not to sit there and draft, that's what talented drafters are for and they are worth their weight in gold.
My job is to make decisions, resolve boundary issues and hand it down to the craftsmen to turn it into artwork.