I hear “We Are New to Civil 3D” a lot this time of year. It’s winter. Do civil engineers and surveyors finally have time to tackle new software? Nah. Maybe it’s because they got new hardware with Windows 10 and discovered their old software won’t even run? Nah. Maybe they decided to leave the LDT, Microstation, Eagle Point, or whatever old fold because there is no new work in their neck of the woods on that old CAD platform? Nope. Did the boss have a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Future?
Such a Deal
Autodesk hands out end of year deals to upgrade each year in January. All the Autodesk Civil 3D bloggers get back to Civil 3D basics. Everyone Autodesk gets a bonus if the deal works. It usually does. Been there. Done that. Got my tee-shirt. To Autodesk the end of year report and shareholder value is king. The Autodesk CEO, Carl Bass, didn’t step down in January. He made the shareholder point as well in his farewell letter.
Deal or no deal the upgraded customers discover quickly they will need Civil 3D templates and Civil 3D styles that work. The example Autodesk templates and styles are ok for show and tell. I do argue they aren’t even an acceptable place to start customization. What do I know?
Mr Newto asks his Autodesk Reseller,
“How much to customize a Civil 3D template for us?”
Given the rather unexpected answer and after a bit of sputtering denial they do a Google search and find the Framework for Civil 3D. I do feel very sorry for those that don’t. After the recent Autodesk sales process experience they are bit befuddled by the Framework. We do KISS.
“Mikey Likes It”
Yes, Mr Newto. You can try the real thing for $25. We have customers who employ Templates Only who are happy returning customers. The templates and styles work. Is an extra $25 a seat for a Civil 3D that actually works out of the box a no brainer?
“But my Reseller said a Civil 3D customization would cost _____ !
When I brought up the subject of your product the sales person said you get what you pay for.”
A Bit of Banal Sales Babble But
That’s true. If you want something specially built just for you, you should certainly pay for it. We charge customers for tweaked versions of the Framework for Civil 3D too. Ok. We don’t charge that much. Most of our customers don’t choose that option because they simply don’t have to. We are happy to tell them that.
Do their Civil 3D Templates and Civil 3D Styles do that?
We are able to provide in-depth choice, and whole lot of preference right out of the box in Jump Kit. It’s what we do. We’ve worked for lots of Civil 3D customers for many years. That shows in the Framework’s nuanced details and production results. Check out the Framework Preview Videos.
What works for a few works for the many? Fancy that.
Civil Engineers and Surveyors need to get real work done and not customize software.
Our goal: Allow you to focus on your professional work that matters.
Learning and implementing AutoCAD Civil 3D in production is challenging enough. Civil 3D templates and styles that work may be the most important thing your new Civil 3D users need to succeed at that.
You should not have to pay anyone big bucks to reinvent the wheel for you. Civil 3D has been in production use is a lot of places for years and years. We been at the template and styles thing and nothing else since 2008. For everyone else it’s a part time job. Most sell software and the best ones also actually support it.
- Did they offer you a trial test drive?
- Do they support multiple releases of Civil 3D?
- Did they guarantee up front that their customization would upgrade to the next release?
- Did they show you documentation?
- Did they discuss and show you what the maintenance would cost?
- Did they offer to supply you with innovative tools to improve and maintain their customization?
- Did they offer to supply you with a totally integrated training dataset?
- Is their offer both Affordable and Sustainable?
Truth be told, you’d might be surprised how many folks employ renamed versions of our work. This is not a surprise if you know a bit of Civil 3D history. Our free Civil 3D template products were/are the most downloaded product for AutoCAD Civil 3D in history. I’m flattered. I’m befuddled too.
Mr. Newto you might ask your Autodesk Reseller,
Why Don’t You Offer and Support the Framework for Civil 3D?
Together we all might make the Framework for Civil 3D even better. Maybe it might help for all of us to think of that as our increased mutual shareholder value. That might make real sense.
What do I know?
Our public and curated Civil 3D video training pages feature videos from a number of Autodesk Resellers and their staff. If you are new (or experienced) in Civil 3D, we need all the expert advice and helpful reminders that we can get.
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