Carlson Survey 2014

We did not get along with the version that used intellicad. It is less expensive for Carlson, and I agree with the sentiment of getting away from ACAD, but it did not work for us. IF we had started with icad, well, maybe it would have worked.

Find out which one you are getting.

IF you are acad trained, then find out how different icad is. (at this date, as it may be changed now)

Nate

I am looking at the stand alone OEM version.

Stand alone, comes with one or the other.

In other words, Carlson starts with ACAD, or ICAD, and then adds surveying software.

Carlson is kind of the gold standard of surveying software.

You asked for issues, and that all I can think of.

N

oem means hes getting the embedded autocad..the other comes with a full version icad...

So If I am following you correctly I need to get the stand alone embedded AutoCAD version and not the intellicad that works with another already installed CAD driver like generic AutoCAD?

I have an old copy of LDD 2006 that I could use as the CAD driver - but you are saying that that method does not work very well?

Having the full blown Autocad with Carlson running on top is the best route to take. I am running Civil and Survey on top of Civil3D 2013.

> So If I am following you correctly I need to get the stand alone embedded AutoCAD version and not the intellicad that works with another already installed CAD driver like generic AutoCAD?
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> I have an old copy of LDD 2006 that I could use as the CAD driver - but you are saying that that method does not work very well?

Well, Carlson, STARTS with an engine. Usually the ENGINE is not FULL ACAD. THEN adds surveying software. In this case, it will be either ACAD, or ICAD.

I liked the ACAD one better.

You can buy FULL ACAD, and add Carlson to it. This would give you more features, and cost about 2x as much.

We are discussing the BASE product, that is then built upon.

N

Check With Carlson

If you have a licensed version of AutoCAD of almost any sort, they will tell you if Carlson Survey will work within it. I am rather certain that one can install the Carlson Survey w/ICad into an AutoCAD environment. A newer Carlson version will work in an older AutoCAD version.

Don't just believe me, call Carlson.

Paul in PA

"Stand Alone" means that it is not the network version. Nothing more, nothing less.
Embedded means you are getting Carlson Survey with Embedded AutoCAD and that will do absolutely everything that you will need to do. You will see NOTHING of Intellicad.
There is a conversion for the AutoCad auto line stuff built into the package, but I have not tried it.
Getting training on this new package will help a lot. IF you have BIG BUCKS, go to one of the Carlson College training classes. IF you are on a limited budget like most of us, go to thatcaggirl.com and order her training manuals. She has one on configuration and using points. It's $129. She has another one strictly focused on Field To Finish. It is $199. Both of these manuals are printed on high quality stock and are fully laminated and spiral bound and come with usb sticks with the data toy need to do the tutorial. Jennifer cut NO corners in putting these things together and they are written in plain English and VERY easy to follow.
IF you have any money left over, go to cadapult.com and get the manual on Carlson Survey. It is a VERY good beginning point.
After all of that, download some of the training movies on the Carlson web site. They cover just about everything that you want to do.
Your main problem along the learning curve will be doing something and trying to do it the convoluted AutoCAD way. You will read the manuals and think," I am missing something because it simply cannot be that easy to do this!". Forget it, it is that easy. Creating surfaces, merging surfaces and all that HARD stuff are as simple as 1, 2, 3 in Carlson. You will not believe that at first and you will resist and hunt for the "right way" to do stuff. Forget it, you are doing it right if you are following the prompts. Took me 3 months to finally understand that.
Also, go to the Carlson site's discussion group and dig through the posts. There you will find out how to get all of your Quick Keys into Carlson You will also learn how to get the ability to draw an arc by "start, end, direction" back into the program. Lots of good info there and lots of people to help you with the transition.

Check With Carlson

I have a hard time following the financial logic of purchasing a $6,500 cad package and then loading a $1,500 package on top of that just so you can use the $6,500 package efficiently.
Sure you can load Carlson on top of an older copy of AutoCAD, but there will be some items that may or may not transition well.
The embedded version is rock solid and all that a surveyor needs.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVED my LDD, but with Carlson I can do my work in about 1/3 of the time for about 1/4 of the cost. Bottom line is: it's all about the Benjamins!

Check With Carlson

Thanks for all the info! I feel like I have a better understanding on it now. The embedded version is what I want. I don't want to have anything to do with Autodesk anymore. The cost for one C3D seat will be the same as for all three of us in my department to have Carlson. Plus it sounds like we all be able to use it in a short time. And maybe, just maybe I won't have to worry about all those hidden International Foot settings in every project, drawing and Survey databases :pissed:

I just downloaded a newer 2014 30 day trial.. Time to play

Check With Carlson

Call me to discuss further, if you want to. My number is on my website. I feel your pain. You are making the right choice. I run Carlson with my LDD2007.

Check With Carlson

I would get survey with ICAD. They have had special pricing if you have a copy of survce. I would run survey on top of your current C3D. You can also load survey with ICAD and try transitioning over. I tried ICAD a while back but went back to running on top of C3D.

Check With Carlson

> ....I would run survey on top of your current C3D. ....
Reading between the lines, I gather that StLSurveyor's company is short on C3d licenses and is looking to free some up for their engineers. Given that, switching their survey department to Carlson with the embedded ACAD is a very good solution. Buying C3d and Carlson may be cost prohibitive.

Check With Carlson

That is exactly right. The cost for us to get another network license for C3D is more than a free-standing Carlson Survey.

Check With Carlson

AND that is EXACTLY why we switched from LDD to Carlson Survey with embedded AutoCAD. Autodesk's decision to roll LDD back into Civil3D and sell it for a BIG price cost them 7 seats at our shop. Not a dent in their overall program, BUT if MANY surveyors do the same, they will feel it.
Ours is a fairly large company and even we could not justify $6,500 a seat for software, but the smaller firms and the independents are facing even a bigger problem. The economics of the situation is simply impossible.

Check With Carlson

We upgraded to 2010 C3D and seen how this was going to be a major issue for our company. Especially the cost for the updates. So we purchased Carlson in 2010 and ran it with C3D 2010 as the CAD engine. Still do today. And sadly if we ever want to update AutoCAD, they had a price structure that basically made you pay for all the years you didn't upgrade plus the upgrade. AutoCAD is way out of reality here and I do hope it was hurt by loss of seats because of their idiocy.

The only issue I have encountered and someone here might now how to fix is surfaces built by newer versions. I have yet been able to get them to work with my older version even after saving back and trying multiple of ideas. None of them work and I might by out of luck. Luckily I don't deal with them that much but I am sure as time goes by there will be more. As AutoCAD works hard to eliminate older users ability to work with the newer drawings.

Check With Carlson

Our parent company is an engineering firm running AutoCAD Civil 3D.
We send them our Carlson Survey 2010 dwg files that include the tin lines (srf-view) our fault lines (srf-flt) and a text coordinate file and they rebuild the surface using that data with no problem.
They cannot use the .tin file that Carlson makes, just as they cannot use the .tin files in a dgn.
Conversion from the triangulation lines, break lines and coordinates rebuilds the surface to what we had in our drawing. So far, (3 years), we have had no problems with this method.