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In This Issue
Carlson Workshops featuring Bruce Carlson
Based on the success of our December 2007 workshops in Statesville and Raleigh we are expanding our offerings for December 2008.
| What did they say last year? |
- Very well done. Jennifer's info is very helpful.
- Well done. Look forward to other seminars held by same company. Great value for the PDHs
- Good class. Kept my attention all day - very informative.
- It was very informational - I like the tips and tricks a lot.
- Seminar was well thought out and planned. Food was also good. Cookies & brownies nice touch! Thanks!
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This year's events will include breakout sessions that allow for separate surveying and engineering/hydrology sessions to run concurrently - you decide which session(s) to attend!
| We will have sessions that focus on: |
- AutoCAD Tips and Tricks
- Carlson Survey & SurvCE
- Simplicity Sight Survey for AutoCAD, Microstation & IntelliCAD
- Carlson Civil & Hydrology
- Surface Modeling (for machine control)
- LotNet, RoadNet, StormNet
- Construction Stakeout
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Want a preview? Take 5 minutes to see how Carlson:
It is no secret that the economy has been tough on everyone in our industry. Many companies are laying off
employees and many of those employees are deciding to venture out on their own. Some companies are downsizing their facilities and equipment while
new start-ups need reasonably priced used equipment or office space.
Because I have been contacted so often recently about different personnel, space and equipment needs, I have decided to re-launch
a "Classified Ads" segment on my website. Job-seekers will be able to remain anonymous. Please contact me to discuss ad placement.
Carlson Software End of Year Specials
Through December 31, 2008, Carlson Software is offering the following special pricing for data collectors and software:
- Carlson Civil & Survey 2009 with one-year maintenance - $2,295
- Carlson Civil & Hydrology 2009 (does not include HydroCAD) - $1,995
- Carlson Surveyor+ Data Collector - $1,500 off with hardware & software trade-in or $500 off with hardware only trade-in
Learn more about Carlson Survey, Civil & Hydro
Is it Time for IntelliCAD?
Carlson Software now includes a copy of the IntelliCAD engine with each copy of their software so that users
who have planned to install Carlson on top of their AutoCAD-based program can try it out, do a comparison and judge for
themselves whether it is a good option for their office. You can see the
history, a comparison to AutoCAD and a 5-minute video demonstration of IntelliCAD by following the links.
I have been told that the current IntelliCAD platform (version 6.6) contains approximately 70% of the functionality of AutoCAD.
Also, some commands currently run slower than in AutoCAD and some will run faster than in AutoCAD. The next major release will be IntelliCAD 7 which will have ObjectARX type abilities and will run faster.
For current AutoCAD users who dive into every new feature or push customization to its limits, I doubt
you'd be happy with the IntelliCAD version at this time because some of those commands are missing or have legacy
behavior.
For current AutoCAD users not as invested in the bells and whistles, IntelliCAD will probably be a fantastic,
cost effective alternative to your AutoCAD.
The ideal situation(s) for IntelliCAD?
- Offices currently using AutoCAD LT as a "gap-filler" instead of more costly CAD licenses. Why? Because IntelliCAD supports
LISP files, 3D data, XREFs, Images and several other AutoCAD functions that are not included in AutoCAD LT
- Survey/inspection field crews using an IntelliCAD version on laptops to be taken out of the office
- Offices needing a low-cost CAD option for project managers
- Offices needing short-term CAD licenses for summer interns
Read More About IntelliCAD
Upcoming Training Classes
AutoCAD Tips of the Month
| NCOPY & XLIST |
NCOPY is a handy command that is short for "nested copy". NCOPY allows you to select entities that are "nested" inside of a block or XREF entity and copy them
as a "live" object into the current drawing and places them on the current layer.
XLIST is similar to the NCOPY command in that it allows you to list the properties of entities that are nested inside of a block or XREF entity. The properties are shown in a dialog similar to this:
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| To execute the commands from the Command: prompt, type in NCOPY or XLIST. |
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| The commands can be found in the pull-down menus under Express Tools --> Blocks and then --> List XRef/Block Properties (for XLIST) or ---> Copy Nested Objects (for NCOPY). |
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| REFERENCE MANAGER (per AutoCAD Help Files) |
| AutoCADŽ drawings can reference several types of external files including other drawings, text fonts, images, and plot configurations. The paths to these referenced files are saved in each AutoCAD drawing. |
| Sometimes you may need to move drawing files or the files that they reference to different folders or to different disk drives. The saved reference paths then need to be updated.
To open each drawing file and then update each saved reference path manually can be a tedious process. |
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The Autodesk Reference Manager provides tools to list referenced files in selected drawings and to modify the saved reference paths without opening the drawing files in AutoCAD. With Reference Manager, drawings with unresolved references can be easily identified and fixed.
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| Reference Manager is a stand-alone application that you can access from the Autodesk program group under Programs in the Start menu (Windows). |
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Carlson Software Tips of the Month
Shrinkwrap Entities
This command creates a closed polyline which encloses a given set of entities. It is basically the opposite of the "BPOLY" or "Draw Boundary" command
that is in AutoCAD.
The resulting polyline is created in the current layer and can be either 2D or 3D. The command will "shrinkwrap" point entities, polylines or a
combination of both. For points, the program creates a closed polyline through the points around the perimeter of the area defined by the points. For
polylines, the shrink-wrap polyline follows the outside border of the selected polylines.
This command is available in all Carlson Software programs under the DRAW pull-down menu.
See some examples in the figure below.
Create Building Offset Extensions
This command creates 2 new points at every corner of a polyline. The points are perpendicular to the adjacent polyline segments and are at an offset distance that you specify.
This command is available in Carlson Survey under the COGO pull-down menu.
See figures below.
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