putting cad camp to use ...

Busy converting an Inroads project, actually really no more than Microstation information, into Civil 3D as a test project.

First time I've created a number of large drainage networks and it seems pretty easy, pretty stable and pretty simple to manage, at least so far as the 250 drainage structures added so far.





Getting closer all the time to completing the network. Its a pretty big job for a single user but I'm having fun.

I'd like to to see a good real world procedure for multiple users designing a single large network, practice is not the same as doing it for real. It's certainly going to require pretty strict standards, conventions and policing.

yay success

AUGI Top DAUG Contest: Be sure to take advantage of the opportunity to understand your Autodesk product proficiency and participate in the AUGI Top DAUG Contest during the San Francisco CAD Camp. The top 10 participants will be announced at the wrap-up reception, and the participant with the highest score will receive a one-year subscription to augieducation.cadlearning.com with an "All Access Pass" for all of the courses available on the site ($399.00 value to AUGI members, $499.00 value to non-AUGI members). The national attendee with the highest score will win a free pass to Autodesk University in December, 2010.

Even with the competition set up leading to lots of chances for people to lean over shoulders and see upcoming questions and groups of users collaborating to come up with a team score, I still managed to get the top score.

Not bad for a Microstation and InRoads user.

A kinda low turnout, perhaps understandable in today's economic environment, but still some interesting products to be demonstrated, experts to be quizzed and fellow professionals to be networking with.

I ended up going to all of the Rick Ellis' Civil 3D presentations and the first of the Lynn Allen general drafting tips presentation. Lots of praise for Rick's presentation which was excellently done and with some good solid advice for practical use of the program rather than a sales pitch (Reminder to look into maybe buying some of his books Amazon)

damn fine animation from the kids at autodesk

Love it.

Cad Camp

I've signed up for Cad Camp in SF, this coming Thursday, and I'm all aflutter.

I like Cad Camps even though I'm not sure that its an opportunity to learn that much in detail. The format, I guess, is simply to let Autodesk demonstrate newer products and there isn't much detail that you can get in to. There is probably more to be gained from questioning the experts in between presentations and quizzing the other attendees.

OK. Now what ...

So, I've officially Mastered Civil 2010 ...

I'm going to go through the fun process of taking the most complex InRoads at my last place of employment using NJDOT deign guidelines and convert it to a Civil 2010 project using Caltrans design guidelines. (and of course for good measure I've have to do a Caltrans InRoads version too, since it it their preferred format).

Should be interesting.

No News ...

An observation, but probably a criticism also.

I'm looking at a news report in the Chronicle on Commissioner Paula Daniels proposals for legislation to force builders to mitigate stormwater run-off; the report looks like this.

Los Angeles may try to rein in storm runoff by having builders capture it.
More Bay Area News

A proposal making its way through committee would require new homes, larger developments and some redevelopment projects to collect and reuse rainwater or build systems to filter it.

Commissioner Paula Daniels — who authored the proposal — says it would prevent 104 million gallons of polluted storm runoff from reaching the sea. She hopes it will be approved this year and take effect in 2011.

Builders would have to deal with all the runoff from a storm that drops three-quarters of an inch of rain or pay a mitigation fee of $13 a gallon.

The ordinance has won approval from the Department of Public Works.

And that is all the news that's easily accessible. Every one of the dozens of news reports into this story is simply a recycled version of the Associated Press' content, with slightly different font and formatting.

Are there no journalists any more? Does the profession of journalism consist simply of ctrl-c and ctrl-v?

Mastering

I was looking for something to use as practice and reference to make sure my Autodesk Civil familiarity was at the same level as my Bentley InRoads skills, and Mastering Civil 2010 seemed to get some good reviews.

Just working through it from page 1 to page 900, following examples and cross referencing with the online best practices shipped with the product, and so far it seems I've been using the software pretty much as intended.

Still not sure how exactly it shapes up to InRoads, an likely won't know for sure, at least until I get to use the product in anger on live projects.

But I'm feeling pretty confident in working with it, and looking forward to Autodesk's One Day CAD Camp, coming up in a few weeks.