Switching Cad Software

Get the Carlson Demo... Test it for 30 days and see of it suits you.... I bet it does.

I would get Plain Autocad and Simply add Carlson Survey and maybe Civil.
I wrestle with the profiles in Carlson Survey.

Ralph

• Full version of AutoCAD
• Carlson Civil Suite (Civil, Survey, Hydro, GIS)

Solid combo.

AutoCAD plus Carlson Civil Suite :good:

> I use cad for boundary, topo and route surevys for the most part. Should I get Civil 3d? Do I add Carlson to it?

C3d, like LDT before it, is great for engineering but a lousy survey package. Unless you need to specifically deliver C3d format data to your clients I'd steer clear. After years of LDT I've been using Carlson for the last few months.

My only complaint about Carlson is also its strength. It gives the user a lot of freedom - enough to confuse a user, maybe enough to confound the beginner.

This is to say nothing of the price difference.

>

Why does a person doing boundaries and topos need the GIS and Hydro packages?

I second Pin Cushion's recommendation:

http://www.carlsonsw.com/PL_CS_Survey_AutoCAD.html

Great software, highly recommended.

They wouldn't

> > Why does a person doing boundaries and topos need the GIS and Hydro packages?

Hydro package is handy for drainage and pooling questions. Ask the surveyor, he'll tell you where the water flows.

GIS? Aside from geo-referecing (which may be part of the stand alone survey module), this one I use less. But in our industry, I think having a bit of awareness and basic working knowledge of GIS is a good thing.

Only 1 way to go in my opinion:

Carlson

Great software and great tech support. Reasonable upgrade prices too.

>

• >
• Full version of AutoCAD
  >
• Carlson Civil Suite (Civil, Survey, Hydro, GIS)
  >

>
> Solid combo.

:good:

For your use, you need to make the same change that I did. You need Carlson Survey with embedded AutoCad. There is NO reason to buy a separate AutoCad package, that is an extra expense that you do not need.
The Carlson College members offer a four day training series that will get you off to a running start. I would recomment the school in Front Royal, Virginia (ain't even going to try to spell THAT name!!) run by Harry Ward. I went there and can recommend it. OR try Jennifer Debona, aka "That CAD Girl". Carlson College training will pay for itself in no time at all. See the Carlson web site for a list of the Carlson College members, a training calander abd prices. (Don't EVEN let your local sales guy tell you that he can train you!! 90% of them do not have a clue. I can train someone better than they can. At least I have used the product on a daily basis. ;o) )
I work for a purely surveying company and have yet to be asked to perform any task that Carlson Survey could not do. If someone wants engineering work done, we send them to the engineers in the home office.
OH, and should you need GIS, my Carlson Survey pac has the GIS tab in it and it does all I need.
The embedde version of Carlson runs about $900 more than the Intellicad version and is well worth the extra funds right now, BUT they are improving Intellicade at a fast pace.
Go to the Carlson Software website and look at what is available. See if they can get you in touch with an area rep that can answer any questions that you have. I believe that you will find the transition from your current package to Carlson Survey a MUCH easier task.

> For your use, you need to make the same change that I did. You need Carlson Survey with embedded AutoCad. There is NO reason to buy a separate AutoCad package, that is an extra expense that you do not need.

Might want to double-check that. I've heard that the embedded AutoCAD engine doesn't support autolisp. Carlson does most of what I need, but I also rely heavily on my lisps.

Carlson with autocad and intellicad BOTH run LSIP

I'm a long time TM user also and as a CAD software is doesn't compare to something like AutoCAD or MicroStation. BUT plain AutoCAD won't do what TM does, not even close. TM is a surveying/engineering software specifically dealing with points, COGO and design.

So if you make the switch you are also going to need the related software to do the engineering/surveying stuff in AutoCAD.

I've tried to make the change but still find that I go back to TM a lot to deal with the points and lines and survey stuff in a simple manner. I've never understood why Trimble didn't convert TM to work inside AutoCAD or MicroStaion so that a user would have access to a real CAD package, but THEY DIDN'T!

You probably would not, except I think it is included in the package price, and really not cheaper to remove them. Check out Carlson, or CAD Girl for packages

Carlson does not support the *.LSP file format. HOWEVER, it does use *.FAS files. FAS is like a high speed "lisp routine". You will need to learn to write FAS code, which many are choosing to do in my area.
I had a lot of "custom lisp" routines on my old AutoCad set up and was amazed to find that all of them came with Carlson, except for one.....and I hadn't used that one in a LONG time.
There are several things that people will tell you that Carlson will not do, but upon investigation you will find that to not be true at all. Again let me state, there is nothing that I could do in LDD that I cannot do in Carlson Survey, and most of those I can do faster and easier.

I would trump up CAD to CAD Map as there are some goodies in there I like to use.

I just rubbersheeted some text for a stencil on the arm of an excavator. Only time I've ever been happy with the results of rubbersheet.

I also just became enamored with MPOLYGON.

Thanks guys! I am working with the Carlson dealer to look at the 3 different options. Itellicad-Carlson's cad (spelling), Carlson Survey with AutoCad embedded & the full autocad with the carlson suite. The prices are 1500, 2500 & 10000 approximately. I'm arranging some meetings where they show me about the different programs.