My general experience with a traverse adjustment in C3D is crash, followed by a reboot.?ÿ As far as I know it doesn't work.?ÿ
That's how you know the adjustment was successful!
There have been a lot of good suggestions here. I will second the comments about styles - if you can learn how to set them up properly it will make a world of difference in efficiency.
Although I would never use the Survey Database for networks and adjustments, it works well for linework.?ÿ Survey figures are in 3D (with elevated curves) and can be added to a surface as breaklines as soon as they are generated. Add a "surface points" point group and your surface is 95% done.
So on that note, bring a copy of your field codes, especially the feature control codes (begin curve, offset, draw circle, etc) to the training and get the trainer to show you how to set up the corresponding functions in C3D. You may have to tweak your codes a bit depending on your field software, but you want to avoid having to edit raw descriptor codes in bulk.
If I am not too late.?ÿ Ask about how to use .cui files to keep your settings from install to install.?ÿ If you have to change machines, or loose a hard drive, if you have your .cui file stored somewhere, you dont have to rebuild your workstation.?ÿ Ask about being shown how to set up ribbons, especially how to add stuff tot he ribbon that is not there now, like the geolocate function.?ÿ That is a nice feature.?ÿ
I will 2nd on this bug if you call it such. A client sent us a C3D 2018 which he was saved as v2015 because that was our existing version at the time. It was supposed to contain contours & breaklines. When we tried to open it in 2015, no contours, just breaklines & point layer.
Got him to export in DXFv14 which I think was the oldest version available today for export. Got the contours, points & breaklines. Needless to say, there are no styles or settings available since it was in DXF. We then just reprocessed the surface using the points & breaklines.
If you want ready out of the box export with all the settings then I suggest that you ask them to do a demo on how to do this. And maybe post the process here for future reference.
For the record, I didn't call it a bug. It's just the way it works.
I would not go as far as exporting to dxf. There is a function called "ExportToAutoCAD" which will convert your C3d drawing to a dwg file which vanilla AutoCAD and earlier versions of C3d can read. To a degree. I'll wager that those "Contours" you report seeing weren't contours, per se, but rather polylines with an elevation.
To take what Mark said a little further, Export to AutoCAD will still not give you a surface. It will turn all smart objects, such as a surface, in to dumb objects so that a user without C3D can see those objects. So similar to DXF, you will have polylines for the contours, but not a C3D surface.
Your problem, @jt50, is that, almost without exception, smart objects are not backwards compatible. You're using an old version of C3D. Any smart objects created in a newer version of 2015 will not be compatible.
Perhaps the best thing to try would be to have your client create an XML file of the surface and then you may be able to import that XML file to have a C3D surface. I tested this with a 2019 version surface and a 2017 version drawing and it worked, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it will work with 2015.
I second everything this guy says. The firm I worked for started with 2012 C3D and now they’re still using 2015 C3D. I’ve dabbled a bit with 18, 19 & 20 on my workstation but it’s tough to convince others to move forward too, despite the serious advances they’ve made. We’ve had several, multi day seminars and have still barely scratched the “surface” so to speak on how to fully utilize the software. Like he said, a survey database is VERY important along with the alphanumeric code descriptions in order to save time on the data import. Also, the styles are extremely important to understand as they affect how things such as points, labels, alignments, profiles, cross sections, surfaces, earthwork volumes & pipe networks appear.
Threads like these always leave me wishing we had an update from the OP.