Do roadway corridor design in AutoCAD Civil 3D? You know by now that the Edge of Travelled Way is on the critical path to better adaptive and dynamic roadway and intersection design solutions. Register and see the free Civil 3D training videos. Get documentation of the stock Civil 3D subassemblies too. If you do any form of civil engineering design or survey work in Civil 3D, the process involves edge identification and…
Travel on the Edge
Our Production Solutions for AutoCAD Civil 3D are an innovation. In the long history of Autodesk development the US Country Kit for AutoCAD Civil 3D remains a stellar formation event. Out of the early days of chaotic, cosmic soup we aggregated a world of life-changing support for AutoCAD Civil 3D for civil engineering and survey professionals and their organizations.
Frankly, back in the day I had a hard time trying to explain what this Standard Framework for Style Development and Management thing was all about. Such a thing did not exist.
“Isn’t your product a customization of AutoCAD Civil 3D?”
“Yes and absolutely not.
The customization (InstantOn) validates that our approach and that what we produce works.
A functional and whole product is what customers want anyway – the ability to sit down and just do their daily work.
In model-based software that by definition means the management of lots and lots of increasingly complex detail. Much of that detail in AutoCAD Civil 3D works behind the scenes. All that detail must be managed systematically.
Why? The complexity problem for design professionals and their organizations is going to get bigger not smaller.
Delivery of more useful information to different people is the central purpose of actualized BIM.
If we don’t help manage the core complexity problem, Autodesk users get stuck in a never-ending maintenance and fix-it cycle. That situation is not practical or economically sustainable for customers.
What we are after is a structured way to make the ability to customize and manage style details in Autodesk products approachable and doable to more users. Someone has to…”
Figure Out How
Some people heard the initial “Yes” and their eyes glazed over. Some even made knock-offs of the customization. Everyone knows what customization means in the CAD world. That is a user responsibility. Users will never be happy with what a developer does.
“Everyone wants a one off. Everyone wants it their way…”
“That’s the point.”
“Huh?”
“If the Autodesk users can be a lot happier, produce work, and users can do the customization faster isn’t that much better than leaving them to their own devices to figure out how and making repeated calls to read the next Best Practices article.”
At that point I like to say I got to, “Listen to the Sounds of Silence.”
Forgive me.
It’s not the only Simon and Garfunkel 60’s flashback tune I’ve heard lately.
We believe no AutoCAD Civil 3D customer should have to spend thousands of dollars more to make Autodesk’s expensive and powerful software product work in production.
“Dave? Can our Civil 3D templates and Civil 3D styles do that?”
This manifests as forms of customization, but users shouldn’t be forced to reinvent the engine and the wheels that power and underpin their daily productivity.
Is it possible to build a common framework to build standards from?
Yes. We did.
Get Jump Kit – The Framework for AutoCAD Civil 3D
Posts in the Framework for AutoCAD Civil 3D series
- Why the Framework is called the US Country Kit for AutoCAD Civil 3D
- Is the Framework a Customization? The Civil 3D Edge of Travelled Way
- Why the Framework is Civil 3D Innovation Beyond the Code
- Business Decision and the Civil 3D Painful Truths