The best thing about the model-based nature of AutoCAD Civil 3D is that its Features contain real civil engineering DATA. Civil 3D provides visual access to most of this Feature DATA via a host of tools called Styles and Sets. Collecting, standardizing and managing those tools what the Jump is all about.

CAD Visuals are Not the Whole Game 

The published Sheet is far from the totality of your project's engineering deliverable.

Civil 3D does a decent job of providing some basic Feature DATA reporting with some basic and simple personalization capabilities for your organization. Many of these standard reports can be found collected in the Toolbox tab of the Civil 3D Toolspace. The Toolbox list of reports isn't the ONLY way at a lot of the DATA available in and from Civil 3D. Frankly, someone could write a thick book on that topic.

Data transparency is about producing USEFUL information in the FORM people understand NOW to make better decisions.

The basic Civil 3D reports are often NOT enough to produce the contunuously developing quality control and reporting processes that good engineering practice must embrace. Therefore...

You Will Need Custom Civil 3D Reports

It is possible to learn HOW to do this stuff yourself. A basic understanding of the principals of DATA are an essential set of skills for every Cadpilot. We always taught the DATA basics at each and every Jump School. But being a Datadude or DataDudette is another job. It's really another very deep skill set entirely. I think AEC firms need Datadudes. They will need them More and More each and every year going forward. 

If you DO have BOTH skill sets and AEC industry skill, you will always have a job. But you may need More than one organization as a customer. Welcome to my world. :) Please, let me know what you do. I'm always interested.

Larger organizations always have data people on the payroll. It's a modern IT must, but getting at the (GIS, IS, or accounting) DATA people to help you get at the Civil 3D data you need NOW can still be a very significant challenge. Data people often have other priorities. They also talk in completely different languages than the rest of us :) Expertise does have that price.

Get the Specifics and Particulars Together FIRST

This is a mission critical part of the process to getting to useful results. Don't assume that people "understand" or even can "understand" what you need. All of the What, Where, How, and Whys are important to get down in WRITING and hopefully supported with some visual real world examples. This process takes some thinking, time, and doing, but it pays off. It also will reduce your real costs significantly. 

If someone offers to help you for a fee and does NOT make you do this, you will get what they are selling NOT necessarily what you may expect. That can often be More than OK. Good skilled people with both vision and understanding can do that. They may really give you a lot More than you expect. This is what innovation is all about. 

"It Can Do That?"

I still say, "Do the work." The benefit to you is in the understanding you gain going through the process of defining your problem.

Then CALL the MAN

The best custom Civil 3D report person I know is Christopher Fuggit who writes the Civil3DReminders blog. This week he has a good substantive post on basic .Net Civil 3D Report customization. Check it out.

"What the heck is a Project Template? Why would I need such a stupid thing? We're doing projects all the time. We know how to manage our drawing files. Who needs that dumb junk."

Happy New Year!

The person who said this to me not long ago over the phone was a bit more irate and caustic than I am willing to put in print.

He works for a about a 40-person engineering and surveying firm finally moving from using LDT 2009 (now dying or dead due to Windows 7 upgrades and all the rest). They are trying to start to use Civil 3D every day. Sound familiar?

Me? I was trying to explain to him that the even the Free Jump 4 AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 includes More than drawing templates. You can use these other IMPORTANT templates to help manage projects and your work better.

I'd just finished up telling him that we had a UDS compliant Sheet Set Template. He didn't think that was something he needed either. He personally didn't like the Sheet Set Manager. He said he'd tried that once a while ago and that "didn't ever work". Sound familiar?

You Don't Know What You Don't Know 

That can kill you or at least make you mad as hell. What you don't know and/or what you cannot see can make you work too hard.

Do not ignore the potential of a Civil 3D Project Template

Let's see if I can briefly explain why Civil 3D Project Templates are neither dumb or any less important and/or significant than the couple of thousand Jump Styles and Sets included in our Model templates.

The Civil 3D Project Template

The Civil 3D Project Template was originally created to make adding new projects to a Vault easier and less tedious for the Vault Administrator. If you've ever had to do that work, you're grateful for it. 

"But we don't use Autodesk Vault. We use Data Shortcuts. A Project Template is useless."

WRONG! These days Data Shortcuts are the More common way many people and organizations appear to use Civil 3D. The Civil 3D Project Template is still an extremely useful tool. Without Vault you simply use Windows Explorer and the Copy and Paste commands to get what you need accomplished. Anyone can start a "standard" project this way.
But what is a "standard" project?

Projects are Not All the Same 

Your projects in the real world vary considerably in size, scope, and complexity. This says you probably need Simple, Medium, and Complex Project Templates that have varied degrees of structure and resource depth but obey the same rules. That second point is very important.

Follow the Path of Least Resistance 

The Jump Template Collection products all employ Uniform Drawing Standard (UDS) recommendations to this basic customizable project structure. That UDS structure is extended into the Sheet Set Template too. 
We're not smart - we're inherently lazy. We believe in KISS. If some smart people spent a lot of time figuring out a tool, I say use that tool until you can do better. It is really no surprise that the Jump Project Structure works in the real world in real projects.

What is More surprising to many people is that the Jump employs the Way Civil 3D works to do so much More for you in the long run. That is ByDesign. That is innovative. That can make your day and maybe make your year. Too Brash a statement? Perhaps. We'll see...

Get the Stuff Out of the Way

If you want to reinvent the wheel, be my guest. Like our LDT using friend above, your previous expertise and way of doing things may cause you to work harder than you have to in Civil 3D. It can certainly cause you to work at the wrong things as many Style creators and customizers soon discover,

While you reinvent, you need to consider these key differences between LDT/ACAD and Civil 3D:

    o   LDT had a project data structure that included Microsoft Jet database and connections to them. 
        You may believe that Civil 3D does not - 
        However, Civil 3D 2011 does use an MSSQL Server Express database.
        Civil 3D is really More project centric than LDT in practice except for very simple projects.

    o   LDT/ACAD relied on external references (Xrefs) to get complex project work put together
        Civil 3D uses Xrefs too.
        Coupled with Sheet Sets Civil 3D takes Xref usage to a whole new level.

    o   LDT did not have data references (DREFs). The LDT project databases gave you a
         glimmer of what DREFs can do. They are NOT the same thing.
        Civil 3D divides and conquers complex work using Feature DREFs.
        You HAVE to Manage THAT

On our webinars page you can find Free videos that detail Basemap construction and differences between LDT and Civil 3D. Search elsewhere in this blog for "Basemaps" too.

The Managed Dynamic Model

A Managed Dynamic Model depends on systematic and managed and use of these FEATURE centric DREFs. Technically, Civil 3D does not require an LDT like "project" connection to function. Therefore, Civil 3D is More dependent on project structure, organization, and an ongoing maintenance process. You can reference a Feature in another project or in a archived version of the project.

In Land Desktop we tend to think that the current drawing is the center of the universe.
We even talk about "My drawing" all the time. You cannot use Civil 3D with this mindset.

In Civil 3D, we must think "Dynamic Model" - interconnected Features stored in drawings.

It's unlikely that your classic LDT project structure is going to be effective at managing the Civil 3D Dynamic Model without some thoughtful and educated revisions.

Features you create within the Model may need to get moved inside the Project Structure because they've changed "state" and become direct References to other new Features as your project moves through the phases of your design process. Ignore this practical FACT OF LIFE at your peril.

The Jump's Project Template structure recognizes that you have a Model from which you will publish you work. Within the Model there are common tasks which have to be performed. There are direct References (both Xref and Dref) that may change. There are indirect References like Existing Conditions that change much less, require restricted access to changes, and/or don't get published at all and yet remain important to the project.

There's More to a Project than That

The Civil 3D Project Template is potentially than More than basic project folder Setup.

In a Civil 3D Project Template, we can even do set up work for future Model construction with simple "placeholder" Featues and drawings before we even have started the real work. As we work we may be just replacing parts in a standardized project Model. That beats redoing this every time.

To save download space the Jump Project Template does not include drawing files with pre-built placeholder Features, but your Project Template probably should. How much of your "standard" published Sheet Set deliverables you put in there is something to work on too.

Civil 3D's Feature DATA driven model and "automated" Style driven annotation is a huge productivity advantage. The Jump Model Templates and their Styles help you immediately take advantage of that.

Your "standard" Project Templates and Sheet Sets should be developed and maintained to take full advantage of that stuff. But More than ONE type of Model Template is usually a necessity for most firms. We have different kinds of work and different kinds of deliverables. That's why we propose 00_Resource folders as a ACTIVE and NEEDED part of a Civil 3D project.

We also supply a working Project with our products. We are NOT just showing off some Style and Set tools. We supply it because most people probably need the FUNCTIONAL example of a working project structure too. We even add documenting PDF files to folder so you and your users KNOW what's supposed to be there.

All we can do is provide you with a Better place to Start with your Civil 3D Project Template.

Every project you work on should help make YOUR Civil 3D Project Template(s) get better. 

That kind of systematic and incremental productivity gain was tough to do in LDT. It is easy to miss the fact that Civil 3D helps you do it, but that only WORKS if you PLAN to do it. 

What you get with AutoCAD Civil 3D out of the box is NOT enough.

What you get in the Jump is More.

Did a light go on? OMG!
I hope so.
Happy New Year

Last week I did a fun and well-attended webinar on Upgrading Civil 3D Projects. Sorry that you missed it. There is no recording. For the first time (in forever) we had technical recording problems. Ah Nuts! I guess that means I'll have to repeat myself and do it again sometime soon :).

I get the privilage of upgrading Civil 3D Projects from release to release and from template to template a lot. Some of you hopefully have enough work these days that you beat me to death in days of project upgrade experience. But it doesn't seem to be the norm for most of the people I talk to. That scares me a bit...

What Gives?
Project Upgrades Are No Big Deal

Aside from release particulars you might need to watch out for, the functional process of upgrading a project should be something a Civil 3D user does all the time.

Huh? No! I mean it.

The process and the actual steps involved are typical project quality control work you need to do on a regular basis. This isn't busy work. This is billable work needed to get 'er done, son. 

What you need to (or should) do to your Civil 3D project after a submittal or when you archive it is no different from performing a release upgrade. Less the fine details and the how to's:

Check and Edit the Project Structure for Integrity

• You do have one or more Civil 3D Project Templates that get better?
• You do have a simple diagram for project structure.
• How can we make this better next time?

Check and Edit Your Data Shortcuts for Integrity

• Every User knows how to check up and clean this stuff up
• Are all the Date References still useful?
• Are the Drefs in the project consistent?

Clean up Your Project Features and Drawings

• Do we still need THAT?
• Are all the Project Features stored in No Styles drawings? 
• Are the references in the right folders in the Project?

Check for New and Useful Styles and Sets Developed in the Project

• If things aren't getting better, things are getting worse.
• How are you are still wasting time and energy?

Check for New Edits and Adjustments to Settings for your templates

• See Above

Upgrade the drawings with the latest versions of your template

• You DO use the approved Styles and Sets?
• The BETTER becomes the new NORMAL

The Truth About Project Upgrades

is they put to the test how well our organization does the QA repetitions inside the work we "perform" every day. We either do Plan|Do|Check|Act loops or we cut corners and pretend. We are either More proactive today or we chose to fight the fires we created yesterday.

How much More Oil are You Leaking?