I am a long, long time Civil3D user. Way back to the days of DCA. I am looking at upgrading software, and I prefer to buy and own my software (no subscriptions).
So, I am probably going to turn away from Civil3D...and I am more than a little concerned.
What are your experiences with making the switch from Civil3D to Carlson Survey? Is it that difficult?
Did you use built in AutoCAD or iCad? How was that?
Is iCad difficult to pick up if you are a die-hard AutoCAD user?
Can you make a PGP file (or its equivalent) for iCad? Can I make iCAD "feel like" AutoCAD?
Are your Carlson iCad drawings compatible with AutoCAD that your clients use? Are they compatible with Civil3D?
Will Calrson Survey drawings from iCAD work with straight iCAD?
What else should one wanting to make this switch know? Gimme your 2 cents.
Using CAD since beginner with Autocad 12. Could walk the dog with Land Desktop. Used C3D a few years, but couldn't stand having to create standards for everything I could already do with 'the old stuff'. Switched to Carlson Intellicad and found it very similar to ACAD, especially if you know how to enter commands, set switches and variables in cad. C3D creates proxy objects that icad will not fully 'read', but Carlson has done a good job of providing conversion tools that allow you to get most of the data. You can also have C3D users provide the "data" for point files, surfaces, etc. in xml files or text files. Either way works. I've never looked back after switching to icad with Carlson. To me, C3D is like a 747 jumbo jet in complexity. I think you would find the switch to Carlson iCad very easy based on the background you gave. hth
Did you use built in AutoCAD or iCad? How was that?
I'm using the Carlson/Autocad combo at the moment and it's close enough to Civil 3D that I didn't lose much productivity during the switch. My biggest complaint is for some reason Carlson crashes a ton on me. Even when I was in school and during a class where we learned Carlson it crashed all the time on me. I save my drawings frequently so it's more of a nuisance than anything, but I'd go back to Civil 3D in an instant just because I'm more familiar with it.
What else should one wanting to make this switch know?
You can probably get a free 30-day trial of it to test out before you purchase which might give you an idea of how rough the switch will be.
The IntelliCAD based version of Carlson has come a long way since I first used it in 2011. It is way more refined and stable now. I really wouldn't think of paying the extra for the AutoCad based product if I was going Carlson full time. ICAD itself is almost identical to ACAD - to the user.
You will find that Carlson has a lot in common with LDT, more so than C3d. Your experience with that platform will ease your transition if you go that way.
@learner In my experience with Carlson with Intellicad, constant crashes were caused by hardware capabilities. The biggest hardware issue we experienced was the wrong graphics card and insufficient RAM.
This page has the minimum hardware requirements listed: https://www.carlsonsw.com/support-and-training/system-requirements/
The Quadro card hardware issue is bothersome. Seems like this might be a problem for me, but Carlson/NVIDIA do seem to have a work around.
I was actually liking the "more stable now" part of that post. Guess I should have clarified. I love Carlson with iCAD for small survey and civil engineering projects.
For the record, adding RAM to a computer, even a laptop, is something anyone with a small phillips screwdriver can do in 20 minutes. There are loads of youtubes. 16Gb might cost $25, 64Gb might run you $100.
I have a similar experience with cad. Started out with Autocad/DCA/Softdesk, Eagle Point, Generic Cad, Civil3d. At my employer, I run Carlson on top of Civil3d. For my personal business, I run Carlson/Intellicad for all of my surveying work. I have no issues with Intellicad. There is alays a small quirk to work around, but Carlson has come a long way in getting Intellicad to work like Autocad.
Our engineers use civil 3d we run Carlson civil survey on top of autocad. I am no cad guru but what little I use Carlson for has been a much easier learning curve for me. I use YouTube and the Carlson help menu to figure out things when I can’t ask the guru that sits close by. The older LS folks have all used everything and they all prefer Carlson than civil 3d they say.
I use mostly TBC and calculator for whatever I am doing now days. I use Carlson when I am reviewing plats to open up what the drafting person did as I check and mark up the paper copy. To make checks or changes. I use TBC for all raw data and processing . I have used carlsons RDE some not much for raw data and open the rw5 files or use to. But we use Trimble gear so it’s much easier to just bring in a job/jxl file to dive deeper into raw data if I need to.