Today is Blogger Day here at the AEC headquarters in Waltham Massachusetts. Autodesk locked a few of us in a boardroom with the likes of James Wedding, Dana Probert, Dave Simeone, and David Mills. Then we were force-fed all of the new features and allowed to BLOG about it before the official press release.

Read on for the details…

You may recognize some of the attendees here from other BLOG sites and discussion group forums:
· me, Matt Kolberg
· Christopher Fuggit
· John Evans
· Jonathon Stewart
· Kevin Spear

As Civil 3D users, we’re lucky; we get 3 SAP’s in one:
· AutoCAD
· Map
· Civil 3D

Now, we were not given the software, due to the legal team, so we haven’t actually field tested it yet. We will get it when everyone else in the world gets it, which “should be very soon” (typical rhetoric – verbatim from Autodesk).  Look in your InfoCenter or your subscription page for when it actually becomes available.  Remember, this toolset is for subscription customers only.

No doubt you will want more details about these tools.  You can find those details in subsequent posts, on YouTube (the Autodesk channel), and in the BLOG’s of those named above.  Here are the meat and potatoes:

AutoCAD

• :WS Plug-in (formerly project Butterfly in Autodesk labs.
  This is an online DWG sharing tool.  You can vie and edit files online…and from your mobile devices, like an IPad.
• DWG conversion tools.  Convert to older versions of AutoCAD.
• IGES import and export tools.
• A DGN converter that is more robust that in previous versions.

Map 3D

• ARCGis FDO provider.  You can now connect to an ARCGis database without asking your provider to export a SHP.

And our favourite…

Civil 3D

• Style management tool.  This is a fully supported version of the undocumented AECIMPORTSTYLESANDSETTINGS command that can be found in Civil 3D 2011 prior to this SAP.
  Interestingly, James mentioned, more than once, that “There are 918 different style types in Civil 3D”  and they need to be managed.
• Import points refinement.  This allows parsing of your import file and a preview before you stab the actual import button.
• Superelevation control.  Copy superelevation data from one lane to another.
• COGO editor.  Much easier method to develop coordinate geometry instead of using the survey command language.

So these are not available as of the release of this BLOG post, but they will be soon.  Remember, there will be further updates and explanations…so stay tuned.

Matt Kolberg