CIVIL3D & CARLSON ISSUES

[Nevin1025]

Hi All!!,

Has anyone come upon any issues with drawings created with Carlson Software and trying to manipulate the file in Civil3D and having issues with the file.
I have had issues when I try to copy to clip board something from one tab in a drawing and pasting to another tab in the same drawing and the text becomes bigger than what it was in the previous tab. Also, at my company, someone created protoype files which they use here to create the base drawing files from i.e. they do not use xrefs and everything is dumped in the file and the drawing scale is set to 1:1 and they scale the drawing in the page setup manager instead of using the scale feature in Civil3D and using annotative text. This causes me headaches to no end. All text is dtext, not mtext. All dimensions are exploded and nothing has any intelligence what so ever. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Nevin Miller

[Opie]

Looks like you have multiple unrelated issues.

I have no experience with Carlson Software, so I can't help there.

Could the text be Annotative? Probably not. Are the viewports in the different tabs set to different scales?

One way to improve drawings is to start with the first drawing. My company did not use XREFs when I started. They do now for the plan production side of the company. The other side uses single drawings that are not completely related.

Page setup does not scale drawings. It sets the plotting configuration to output the drawing. I would recommend creating layouts with viewports that are set to the appropriate scale for output. You can then plot 1:1 for output.

There is nothing wrong with DTEXT. It can be converted to MTEXT using the TXT2MTXT Express Tool command.

Exploded dimensions could be caused by a system variable. I don't have that one on my mind at the moment because it is a set it and forget it in your template drawings.

[Ed Jobe]

I don't use C3D or Carlson, but our civil eng dept does. So take this with a grain of salt. But I wouldn't expect a Carlson dwg to be compatible with C3D. They both use different addin's to create objects. You might check with Carlson to see if they make an Object Enabler for AutoCAD so you could at least view the Carlson objects. But it sounds like they exported or exploded everything to prevent you from benefiting from their work. All the other problems you describe, as Opie noted, they are just common AutoCAD configuration issues. If you expect to get more files from the same source, you could use the standards checker to update them to your standards.

[MCH1968]

Hello Nevin,

I tend to agree with the statement made about exploding the daylights out of everything before giving the drawing to you for use. Might display/view/print OK, but zero intelligence, just as you said. What I might know is that I'm not sure that any of these issues are caused by the software, but more by the personalities involved:
(1) Ask th other company to share with you the "native" file(s) with nothing exploded. In this case, yes, there might be an object enabler for Carlson objects. I'm not sure because I have not used or interacted with Carlson-produced drawing files. Perhaps they could be persuaded to do this based on the fact that both companies seem to be partnering on the project, and when you return information to them, you might give them better information instead of just primitive objects.
(2) I'm not sure what's going on with the text changing sizes on you like that. I suppose you could get a piece of "example" mtext that has all the properties you want, and when you copy and paste text that you need, just match properties of the "example" text to the text you're working with. Not sure if this would work.
(3) Sounds like your CAD management/leadership is living in the dark ages. What are the benefits of using modern-day AutoCAD and Civil3D if they are being utilized as if they were Release 10 or something like that? I'm a conservative old-style guy, but that sounds a little bit nuts. I suppose there is nothing wrong with working in the dark ages...keeps things very simple...but if a dimension does change and it doesn't update as modern associative dimensions do, how is any change or error found other than meticulously checking every dimension by hand before releasing a drawing for use by others?

[remi678731]

HI
Sounds like you really don't understand the differences between Civil3D and Carlson. Carlson doesn't use styles it is more similar to the LDD than Civil3D. It would probably be a benefit to you get a free trial of Carlson and play with it Civil3D will come right in. Carlson holds some real promise I'm eagerly waiting the day when my company switches to Carlson but until then I will continue to keep up on both environments