Civil 3D – SAP Point Clouds

Autodesk released the Subscription Advantage Pack recently, and can be downloaded at he subscription site.  I’ll summarize some of the items that we were shown during the preview.

Point Cloud support

• New point cloud objects
• Control display density, thematic display control
• Ability to snap to points in object

The point cloud utility is included in this SAP to prepare the market, and to stage future integrations into other applications.

Dana Probert added a 1 gig dataset of the Manchester office, and showed us some properties that included dataset count limitation (she was at 500K), and styling (which included display size and categorical coloring by elevation range). While the main dialog was up, I noticed that multiple sources can be used to create the cloud.

It looked awesome.  You could see every detail.  Imagine being able to walk the site, preplan your storage and parking, and see vertical problems that might not have been noted on a survey.

I am concerned about the impact the dataset will have on a processor and RAM.  There is no way currently to thin the cloud density.  Subsequent discussions with co-workers has brought up various scenarios for the use of the tool, but also many reasons not to.

I think that as Autodesk enhances the toolset, and broadens the scope of it’s adaptation, we will see many more demands for this type of data, and many uses we have not yet conceived.

 

Next is Roundabouts!

Autodesk University – LinkedIn

Are you going to AU this year? Stop by the LinkedIn AU group and tell us what you have planned, and what you are looking forward to. 

Come join he discussion and help me figure out who is going where and when ( and where I am supposed to be next). 

Autodesk University LinkedIn Group

Civil 3D – Subscription Advantage Pack

Recently Autodesk hosted a blogger day invitation to preview the new Civil 3D subscription advantage pack.

I missed the meeting.  I had formatted my machine, and had no updates or email for a few days.  David Mills was kind enough to get me up to speed.

The SAP contains numerous tools, but here are the highlights:

• Point Cloud support
• Roundabout layout
• Visualization and Analysis tools
• Transportation productivity tools
• Survey productivity tools

Dana showed us the layout of the SAP, which shows up in your toolbox located in the Toolspace.  Each category is contained in the familiar tree view containing Alignment, inquiry, Point Clouds, Points, profile, Roundabaouts, Surface, and Visibility Checks.

I’ll cover various topics on this over the next few days, and add some screenshots as well.

You can download this from the subscription site.  You must have Civil 3D SP2 installed before attempting this addon.

Will work for AU, the reality show!!!

That’s right ladies and gentlemen…  I got a sponsor, so…

I’m goin’ to Autodesk University 2009!!!

No one here would take a picture of me tap dancing on my desk, and no video either. 

Now all I have to do is figure out how to get there…ummm.

In an attempt to fill in the gaps, I’ll also be working my oshiri off as a lab assistant.  It appears as though I will be assisting in the following classes:

• CV214-4L Designed for Success
• CV118-6L  Making the Grade
• CV204-1L  Making the Grade

I was unable to get any manufacturing labs, sorry folks.  But that’s ok, I’m happy to get any of them. It’s kind of like going off to college and getting a part time job.

If you will be nearby, check me out after the class (just not during please, as they will string me up if I am chatting during duty hours, very strict).  Manufacturing, Education, and Civil Engineering, everyone.

The fine print on the lab assistant agreement was real small and hard to read,  so if you see me dressed in a bellhop getup, carrying some Autodesk tech’s luggage, don’t worry.  Just laugh and point, and get a cold one ready. 

Vault – Renaming Computer hazard

Ok, I blew it.  I recently had a fight with my domain server, and lost.  I ended up renaming my computer to work around it.  It’s never been a problem in the past.  Well, at least I didn’t realize it was.

ADMS is getting its content from an SQL server on a site.  That site is my computer, and when renamed, it was lost.  My entire ADMS and Vault was gone for all applications.

Autodesk had this to say about the errors

Issue

During the installation of Vault or Productstream Server (ADMS), you received the following pre-check error message:

The SQL Server instance you have selected is not enabled with Autodesk Productstream Replicator. To enable it, upgrade site '<computername>'. Contact your reseller for Autodesk Producstream Replicator.

Solution

This error is the result of renaming the computer or adding it to a domain while the previous version of ADMS was installed even though replication has never been enabled on this particular computer.

This can be resolved by uninstalling SQL 2005, using Add or Remove Programs (Windows), and then reinstalling it either manually or automatically using the Vault/Productstream Server installation.

Alternatively, you can run the ADMS Console in command line mode and use the -OSiteRename switch. For detailed instructions, refer to the ADMS Console Help menu (available by pressing the F1 function key).

oSiteRename

 

Inventor – Weld Gap nominal parameter

I’d like to see a way to get the Frame Generator tools to access the parameters.  I am a top down kind of guy, and like using extrusions and dependent sketches for my frame skeletons.  I derive almost everything to keep all my parameters centrally located. 

The design I am currently engaged in was started without some specs, and after receiving them I find that he builder does not want any weld gapping.  So I have to run through every weld and remove the gaps.

It would be nice to set the gaps a local parameter that is factored from a derived parameter, like ‘NomWeldGap = MatThickness * NomWeldGapFactorl’ or something similar.  This way I can change the NomWeldGapFactor in the skeleton, and all the gap would alter in relation to their individual material thicknesses. 

Autodesk University Video Contest

Recently Autodesk released the Free trip to AU contest.  3 winners chosen from popular vote will be given a free pass to AU 2009.  Now that’s cool. 

Why AU?

Everyone knows I am a nut for AU.  I mean over the top.  Why?

• The technical classes
• The instructors
• The people you meet
• Mentors
• The awesome amenities
• The ability to reach Industry people that were normally ‘out of reach’
• The new business and personal relationships built
• The advertisement and networking
• Vegas
• Free Certification opportunities
• Amazing shows, food, and meetings
• Chance to solidify a relationship with AUGI JP
• Did I mention Vegas?

The classes I attended in 2006-2007 helped propel my career forward.  People I met there advised me through the years, and continue to be valuable sources of advice and encouragement.  I used all the awesome information and notes, and began pushing what I learned to new levels, and applying it in ways that was not part of the mainstream application. 

Certifiable

I got certified.  It is possible that those wonderful people in training and certification that I met at AU would work so hard for anyone, but I sincerely believe meeting them at AU made a difference.  They bent over backwards to get me through my tests.  For a week I was some kind of freakshow novelty.  ‘There is this guy who wants to take 4 tests in 1 day…’.  ImaginIt and Autodesk did a jam up job.  Awesome group.  Make sure you thank them if you see them at AU…Barbara, Nancy, and Michelle.

New Possibilities

By the grace of God I still have my Civil Engineering job at GCT.  They have permitted me the flexibility to pursue my troubleshooting/ manufacturing authoring career in parallel with my daily routine.  AUGI World Mag has picked me up as a columnist; Dennis Jeffrey has invited me into the Tekni fold; I just got up a new client via raw motivation and performance.  None of this would have been possible without cementing the relationships and skills developed while attending AU. 

Emotions, AU, and Poker

Most of my followers know I love blackjack and poker.   Some of us Autodesk community peeps even get together to play now and then.  When I watch poker pro’s on TV, my wife shouts, “Hey, this must be like Entertainment Tonight for poker nuts”.  You damn skippy. 

Phil Helmuth, a popular pro is repeatedly shown putting a guy on notice, saying “It’s just poker to you, but to me this is my life!!!”

Well folks that is EXACTLY how I feel about AU.  For me it is the goalposts, endgame, the finale for the year, the icing on the cake.  It’s not reaching the top of the mountain; it’s sitting on it and looking at where you just climbed all year long (with a beer in hand).  That’s AU to me.

Civil 3D – Lost Corridor Targets

Recently I was trying to work around more an more missing EG data, and trying to retune my corridor to get a early preliminary plan out.  I was so in such a hurry to get thing out, and so frustrated in how things were going, that I failed to retune my corridor after adjusting the assemblies.  I thought it might be a good post.

I am using some lame cross section colors; EG ad FG are the same red.  Sorry.

Notice below that the daylight in the template really isn’t trying.  Where it does cross the FG, the telltale intersection marker is not there.

Think methodically.  The daylight is carried out by following the instructions in the assembly.  Double check the assembly, and we find everything is ok.  We just changed it.

Then the daylight instructions are carried out in accordance with the targets passed down by the corridor.  Check the corridor.

A review the target assignments leads us to the problem.  It can’t daylight if it is blind. 

When we remove and replace an assembly daylight, that old corridor component link is gone, and with it the instructions of what to target.  When the new link comes in, there are no target instructions either since it’s new to the corridor.  So we reassign the targets and rebuild the corridor.

Now the corridor responds properly.

Inventor – iFeatures provide a quick fix

This weekend I was up to my neck in a problem with having to rebuild a fast and dirty project.  It was built for pretty only.  The problem was that a weekend build did not cover enough time to do the job right. Shortcuts lead to failures in Inventor.

I had constrained latches of a door in the door assembly, and then reversed my build and snapped the cut edges off the latch in the door part, and cut out the hole.  It was fast and I didn’t need solid build, just fast.  Hmmm, sounds familiar.  Don’t have time to do it right, but always have time to do it over….  And do it over you will.

I started the job with a skeleton containing the global resources, and the overall shell.  This worked like  champ.  Eventually as I began to run out of time, I started to cut corners.  Portions of the projected geometry began to fail for one reason or another (because of the shortcuts).  Everything was fine until I had to make a change.

So was tired of recreating my ‘shortcut’ doors, and decided to get a better shortcut.  The latch plate had to recut for each change. 

Use the iFeature to reduce repetitive steps

Rather than create it for the third time (eventually even I learn from my mistakes), I created an iFeature.  This part however had no geometry and was just the solid model.  Fine.  I created a cut extrusion from sketched cut edges, an sent it out in all directions.

Civil 3D – FileDia Switch

A buddy of mine took 2 subscriptions of Civil 3D home, while brooding over the need to reinstall his Civil application.  2009 or upgrade…. The rest of his project team are on 2009.

It appears as though the whole platform was fouled, because every time he tried to open the non-default drawing, Civil 3D would crash.  I was neck deep in an overdue project, so he went on his way.

This morning he reported to me that before wiping everything, he set his FileDia switch back to 1.  That’s the switch that initiates a dialog for file operation such as Open, Save, etc.  Without the switch, you just get command line options.

I like command line, but not that much…

Lo and behold, everything perked right up.  He was able to recover his drawings, and open anything from Civil, inside or out.

The moral to this story is before you reinstall due to crashing while opening a DWG, try checking your FileDia switch first.  Just type “filedia” at the command line, and set it to1.