When you’re out on the road this much, the days tend to run together. Luckily, our crew gets along really well (we’re like family), and can travel together. Two more weeks on the road, then I’ve got an extremely busy June planned, with several Civil 3D Implementations, classes, and consulting projects. If you’re looking for a Civil 3D class (or Map 3D, I’m teaching it as well), check out the ALACAD Training Website.
Since I’ve had a little (VERY little) spare time in the evenings, I’ve been spending some time in the Autodesk discussion groups, especially the Civil 3D newsgroup. I’ve made a few observations, a few allies, and a few enemies. Yes, I’m a very outspoken fan of Civil 3D. Yes, I work for a reseller. However, I’m not out selling this software – I’m selling ways to make this software work for YOU.
Are there issues with the software? Yes. Several people have reported serious crashes when saving drawings. I personally haven’t seen this, but I’m sure that many people can’t be wrong. Yes, certain features are still missing. I’m not going to get into those issues. What I am going to do is challenge you to go through one project with Civil 3D. You’ll have to work around certain issues, and there may be some things that you actually have to think about. But once you do this, let me know if Civil 3D is really the horrible product some people seem to think it is. I personally compare it to three other products – products that I have personal industry experience with: Eagle Point, Microstation with Inroads, and Land Desktop. OK, that’s not quite honest – I can’t compare those products because there’s no comparison!
I see people in the newsgroups bashing the Civil 3D development team. I have to say, I don’t think there’s a better team at Autodesk. They’re doing a great job getting a product out in a deadline and then take a bashing because something’s missing. Personally, I really believe the yearly release cycle is hurting the software. Notice I didn’t say that it was hurting Autodesk – I’m sure profits are pretty high for the shareholders. However, rushing to get the software release out before all the problems are addressed doesn’t help you the customer. Dave, Dan, et al, you’ve got my utmost respect. You’re doing one heckuva job.
Go ahead, blast away. And once you’re finished ranting, ask me how I can help you. It doesn’t matter where you are, we can work with you to implement the software.
