The update / upgrade process of C3DTools is done differently than the rest of our products. Instead of building a collection of tools that are released together annually, we develop and test each tool in house and include the new functionality right away. End users can choose when they want to download the new tool(s) by either running our Check for Updates (from the web) periodically or by downloading a replacement complete install (MSI file).
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Most users won’t hit this limit and shouldn’t worry about it until they do. However a handful of our users processing extremely massive surfaces have reported an error message like “System.OutOfMemoryException” and/or “Array dimensions exceeded supported range”.
Lidar data in its delivered state usually contains many more points than PC CAD based systems can handle. Not naming any names, but we’ve personally seem 30 million plus points bring well known PC CAD software to a grinding halt, locking up the session leading to a task manager shut down. All the points in a 30 acre project could hit that point. So there must be some filtering (weeding) in place even for small projects.
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A common desire for Civil3D users is the ability to export the contents of the civil tables, which are not standard CAD tables. However, the copy to clipboard approach results in an image that (while better than nothing) will not allow data extraction by other applications. We’ve had this capability in our C3DTools add-on for years but since everyone doesn’t have a budget for add-ons, we chose to chip this one off as freeware.
When gravity and moisture begins to work on steep slopes (disturbed or natural) the results are often less than optimal and slides occur. This can present the need to install anchor bolts and plates going from the loose surface to a more stable rock strata underneath. Boreholes can help determine the location of the stable strata, but from the surface it’s not readily apparent how far (on a given slope) you will need to drill to reach the stable member. Read More →
Sometimes when you receive a drawing, the contents can often be far from what you need, but you have no choice but to make the best of it. Such is case when (one instance) Civil3D users have moved labels away from the point, exported to AutoCAD then exploded the resulting anonymous blocks.
The list of file formats that CAD users need to deal with never seems to stop growing. For a long time the ESRI Shapefile was pretty much the exclusive format from ESRI users but it was always an export from the GIS. Now users find themselves receiving folders of content with the folder having a .GDB (GeoDatabase) extension.
In mapping environments, the problem occurs when you receive a drawing that has not been properly assigned a coordinate system. Without a proper system assigned it’s nearly impossible to merge data from other systems or view the project in tools like Google Earth. A glance at the coordinates indicate large numbers that should reflect a known system, not random coordinates.
When we were approached to add a Catchment Report tool to our Civil3D tools package, we were pessimistic at first, since the API exposes very little about catchment objects. However, if there’s one thing we have plenty of it’s determination and after some experimentation we found a way to collect the necessary data. The results turned out better than we initially hoped.
A common request in Civil3D is the ability to add station and offset values to CogoPoints placed along an alignment. Since this is not a built-in ability we approached the problem and found a very good way to do it. Also, since Civil3D users expect dynamic results, we added reactors so that if the points are moved, the station offset values update instantly.