So not to beat a dead horse with the Carlsons versus Civil 3-D but we need to be educated on a few items and hopefully Ladd will shed some light because Google certainly hasn??t. We have used Carlsons Survey OEM in some form or fashion since 1995 recently have switched over to civil 3-D for the only purpose but to deal with civil 3-D engineer in files from clients. ?ÿWe have tried every trick with exporting XML files etc. and nothing works in Carlsons like it does in civil 3-D. However for the type of work we do we certainly would rather stay with Carlsons. One thing I do like about civil 3-D is how it works with points and the lack of coordinate file utilities and updating screen points like we have to do an Carlsons. Does anyone know any trick in Carlsons that works like Civil with points? Also we cannot copy and paste or copy any line work or information to the clipboard from a civil 3-D file while in Carlsons. ?ÿ
If you adjust the points in civil or rotate the points in civil or twist the screen the points go with you. In Carlsons you have to update the file. When dealing with points we love civil 3-D. When dealing with the other drafting task we like Carlsons. I think our trial period with civil 3-D is over and we will have to deal with not being able to utilize line work and points from civil 3-D files.?ÿ
And yes we tried the W block trick to explode the civil line work and Carlsons still Won??t let us copy and paste or utilize the line work in civil
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Does anyone have any experience or suggestions?
The horse is not only not dead, it has barely broken a sweat.?ÿ
One thing you can do in C3d is "Export to AutoCAD", which will turn all those C3d Survey Figures and Contour objects into polylines and the cogo points into blocks, text, and AutoCAD points more palatable to your Carlson.?ÿ
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@mark-mayer so if we go away from Civil and stay with Carlsons we would request the files from the clients that use civil to be exported as Autocad or dumb down files or other formats. I have tired everything to utilize the line work and symbols from a civil dwg in carlsons but can not so on this one I??ll be using civil
My approach would be to prepare to take whatever the clients throw at you and make it work. So I'd have a copy of C3d available. But, yes. Export to AutoCAD from C3d, then use that in Carlson. If you insist on working in Carlson.
Carlson does a lot of things well that C3d does not, but preparing topographic mapping, through field to finish, for use by engineers, is a real C3d strength.?ÿ I might use the functions of Carlson to reduce raw data to coordinates, then import those coordinates to C3d to do the mapping.?ÿ ?ÿ?ÿ
Are you running Carlson on top of Civil3D or on top of the OEM? I would recommend on top of civil 3D to start instead of AutoCad OEM if you can (keeps those hidden C3D lines on the screen). As to the clipboard, once you make that switch you should be able to copy and paste. I just learned this week you can run Carlson on top of C3D and C3D only at the same time on different screens and cut and paste. If you still can't use the clipboard, then there are some C3D updates that need to be run to fix that issue.
You can wblock what you need from the C3D dwg to something else then insert/explode in your Carlson dwg.
While ADESK is trying their damnedest to make their product proprietary, Carlson is hard at work to adapt to those hurdles.
You can export points back and forth with text files, or you can change points from C3D/LDT in Carlson.?ÿ It can be awkward, but it works.
Also, for the record, twist screen or dview twist doesn't do anything to the points in C3D or Carlson, it just changes your orientation.?ÿ
My suggestions are the following...
We have tried every trick with exporting XML files etc. and nothing works in Carlsons like it does in civil 3-D.
You might explore the Import Civil3D -- All and Export Civil3D -- Drawing (All) commands as adjuncts to your use of the LandXML file. These routines provide the ability to short-cut some of the more commonly used data types in and out of Civil3D (more work is being done in this area through Carlson's support of the Open Design Alliance).
So as not to get on a "high horse" (because I know it will get beaten), I am a FIRM believer (regardless of the technology solution people use for their deliverable) that people should have a reliable means to access their data now and into the future. This has been discussed before here because (to me) data longevity and the ability to access that data provides value and much needed peace-of-mind to a firm. To put it into a musical analogy:
Suppose in the mid-1970's you had purchased a copy of Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" on vinyl LP for your home listening pleasure. Good stuff. You like the album so much that you want to purchase the "album" again but this time on 8-track which you have in that rusty Jeep Cherokee that has been getting you by. Good tunes in that dependable Jeep. Life is still good. Then, a year or two later you want to listen to it on that high-fidelity cassette player you have in your new LTD Crown Victoria wagon during those long-haul family outings. You purchase it again... now in the more compact cassette form (perhaps once more over the course of the vehicle's life if the tape deck happens to "eat" the tape). A few years later, that original vinyl LP is filled with pops and crackles as your worn needle can't get down into the groove of the flip-side and the album seems to have lost its appeal because it doesn't sound as good as it once did. Suddenly, you hear it on the digital compact disc (CD) and with wallet in hand, out comes the cash for a new CD-player and yet another copy of the "Rumours" album. This is surely it. A media for all time, right? A perk here is this disc can even be played in the CD player of the new Chevy Silverado that has just been purchased. As a safeguard, perhaps a notion of even extracting the song(s) from the disc to digital file format(s) for personal enjoyment for years to come. But which to choose? WAV? WMA? OGG? M4A? MP3? Something else? Ultimately, it comes to choice and that choice now survives the longevity of the format of the compact disc.
To summarize, I recommend that we all figure out how to adapt to evolving data and interoperability standards. Just as the media formats of the music (and video, remember VHS vs. Betamax vs. LaserDisc?) industry have evolved, the ability to take the content from one provider and place it into the play-back mechanism of another provider has been (in my opinion) very beneficial. Some of use might have been on the curve of having purchased that album four or more times. Others maybe only once. However, these standards continue to evolve (both the file types and the reading mechanisms) so having the data available in an open standard is something everyone should weave into their work-flow.
However for the type of work we do we certainly would rather stay with Carlsons. One thing I do like about civil 3-D is how it works with points and the lack of coordinate file utilities and updating screen points like we have to do an Carlsons. Does anyone know any trick in Carlsons that works like Civil with points? ?ÿIf you adjust the points in civil or rotate the points in civil or twist the screen the points go with you. In Carlsons you have to update the file. When dealing with points we love civil 3-D.
Under the Settings menu of Carlson, explore Carlson Configure -- General Settings and enable the various Linking methods (especially the Link Points with CRD File). In this fashion, CAD edits (such as Move or Rotate) to the points in the DWG are also reflected into the underlying coordinate file. In the attached screen capture, I've also shown the SQLLite *.CRDB coordinate file format (as opposed to the more Carlson accepted *.CRD file) which allows points to be Locked if you desire. While in this area of the software, you may also choose to configure Carlson as to whether or not it should make use of Annotative Text and/or Annotative Points as described within this thread.
we cannot copy and paste or copy any line work or information to the clipboard from a civil 3-D file while in Carlsons. And yes we tried the W block trick to explode the civil line work and Carlsons still Won??t let us copy and paste or utilize the line work in civil
This might be because the "linework" from a Civil3D file might be their proprietary ARX-object data (as opposed to lines, polylines, etc). However, because both applications read/write DWG files, it should simply be a matter of opening the DWG from one application (or perhaps even referencing it) in the other (even if in read-only mode) to make use of the Copy/Paste functionality. The current Carlson OEM product does have Clipboard menu functionality:
The other issue might be due to having one drawing open in Civil3D and the other drawing open in (for example) Carlson Survey and the data not surviving the trip between the application memory spaces. Try opening the Civil3D drawing within the confines of Carlson Survey (or vice versa) and see if the clipboard functionality gets you any further.
I hope this information helps.
@terminus-nc no completely separate machines and software. 2 drafting computers have Carlsons. 1 has Civil that was just built. We use the civil enough to know we like Carlsons Better for small residential surveys. On topo and layout I prefer Civil. But once you open or start a project in Civil you have to stay in it -.......from what we have learned from opening it in Carlsons after the fact.
But once you open or start a project in Civil you have to stay in it
I don't find that to be the case, but to each his own.?ÿ I pretty much use Carlson for everything except for topo/contouring where the client needs the dwg.?ÿ But will still jump back to Carlson for other work.?ÿ
Topos where they're just getting a paper plan, I'll do it all in Carlson
