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We released the latest and greatest version of the Framework for Civil 3D Codes Spreadsheet Tool this week. The Codes Tool is intentionally both Civil 3D and Framework release agnostic. We are talking about managing the Codes we employ to gather and annotate locations in Civil 3D. The language that we employ to talk about locations (the Codes) doesn’t care about versions. I trust that makes sense.

For more specific details about the new Civil 3D Codes Tool AddOn features with benefits, see the detailed Civil 3D Codes to Cry For post.

The Release 8 Details page, which documents the on-going Framework for Civil 3D changes, and the on-line help and documentation for the Codes Spreadsheet Tool are now updated. Whew!

Code Meaning Matters

The Codes don’t care about versions or releases, but we do. We care a lot about the Codes and their meanings in the field, the shop, and as annotation in our plan set deliverables. The Codes play an integral role in our daily work. Folks can be downright ornery about that. You know the drill.

The Codes we employ are about the meanings that we assign to them. These can be totally arbitrary and understandably localized to our preference. Preference means that we are dealing with a Utility of Preference issue – that famous 80 20 Rule principal we all should consider when we tweak or customize standards.

We can assign the Code P to mean pavement. That’s short and sweet. But a Code PAVE versus a Code PAVS removes the confusion between pavement structures and the painted pavement striping standards that we often must deal with.

Open Standards Keys Support

It should be said that the Codes Tool supports Codes in sync with multiple variants of the NCS Layer System Keys. Our Open NCS 6.0 Layer Key Standards that are optimized for civil engineering and survey can be downloaded for free from here. Lots of people do.

The latest list of Open NCS Keys supports all the multi-discipline Keys employed in AEC applications. This Key system is compliant with the US Army Corps, DOD, and GSA NCS 6.0 Layer Standards. We tweaked the Open NCS Keys to be individual and consistent across all the official NCS publishing Disciplines.

It helps to be able to speak the languages and dialects that our clients and their people expect to hear. We can manage that.

Framework for Civil 3D Flavors

Of course, all Releases of the Framework for Civil 3D support multiple NCS Layer Standards System variants. They include all the Spreadsheet Tools, AutoCAD Standards files (.dws), Layer States, scripting, and other resources to manages and maintain all of that.

The Framework Style Library resources are available in any or all current, in-use NCS Standards and variants. The three current flavors of Jump Kit:

  • Release 8 Jump Kit
    NCS 6.0 compliant resources with conversion capabilities
  • Release 8 Jump Kit AIA
    NCS 6.0 s compliant resources with conversion capabilities for the AIA large building project utilities
  • Release 7 Jump Kit -
    NCS 5.0 compliant resources with conversion capabilities

Most flavors are also available for multiple releases of Autodesk Civil 3D.

The Managed System Matters

The latest Codes Tool does make a concerted effort to give you the ability to sync the Codes you use in Civil 3D to the NCS Keys employed in all these Framework flavors. Maybe that floats your boat. It probably should.

The Codes Tool can rapidly and easily produce filtered Key lists that drop directly into the supplied Description Key Set and the Figure Prefix Spreadsheet Tools.

How to Get the Civil 3D Codes Tool AddOn

If you are already a Release 8 2020 Jump Kit customer, you can now download the Civil 3D Codes AddOn from the download page. If you own an older release of Jump Kit and you want to new Codes Tool, you can upgrade to Release 8 2020 to get it.

If you don’t yet own the Framework for Civil 3D, it might be time to ask…

Can Our Civil 3D Templates and Style Do That?
Get the Framework for Civil 3D Release 8