• Author: SolidCAD

    AutoCAD 2020

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    Autodesk has release the latest iteration of their flagship drafting software, namely AutoCAD 2020.  Click here to see Autodesk’s page detailing what’s new.  Go to the Autodesk Account page to download the software of get it from the Desktop App.

    Here are the features of note in this release:

    • There is no DWG format change.  Files back to 2018 are compatible with this release.
    • New installation technology allows for an install time about half that of previous releases, when a Solid State Drive is in use.
    • A new block palette exists containing all of the blocks within the current drawing.  The INSERT command no longer displays the usual block insert dialog box, it now runs the BLOCKSPALETTE tool, displaying the new blocks palette.  The new CLASSICINSERT command displays the old block insert dialog.

    • The purge command now indicates the reason why some objects cannot be purged.  This has been a request for many releases.

    • Use the Quick measure tool to more efficiently measure objects.

    • Access to drawings saved to online services such as Box and Dropbox has been streamlined.

    Cumulus Architects Inc.

    Posted on by SolidCAD
    Success Stories

    Cumulus Architects Inc.

    Cumulus Architects Inc. is a multidisciplinary architecture and design firm located in Toronto, Ontario. Cumulus is founded on the principles of team-based design and integrated project delivery with the belief design intelligence results from broad staff, consultant and client engagement in the design process.

    Project Profile

    Products & Services Used

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    Oneira Corporation

    Oneira Corporation, An EPCM* Company, Is A Leading Engineering And Technology Company Providing Industrial Process And Solutions Based in Toronto, Canada, Oneira has more than 30 years of experience working with global leaders in the Specialty Chemical, Chemical, Oil…
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    DIALOG

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    SolidCAD wins fourth consecutive Autodesk Platinum Club Award!

    Posted on by SolidCAD
    PR
    Michael Kugan, President of SolidCAD and Peter McArthur, Sales Manager at SolidCAD accepting Platinum Club Award in Las Vegas, Nevada at Autodesk OTx Americas on March 4, 2019.

    TORONTO, ON, March 15, 2019 – For the fourth consecutive year, SolidCAD, Canadian Autodesk Platinum Partner and technology solution and professional service provider has received this prestigious award from Autodesk, Inc.

    Last week, resellers from across the globe gathered in Las Vegas, Nevada for Autodesk’s highly anticipated, One Team Conference (OTC).  During the annual event, Autodesk honoured its top resellers for their exceptional achievements in areas including outstanding customer service and sales performance. SolidCAD was recognized as one of Autodesk’s Top Reseller in Net Subscription Growth.   This award is earned by resellers who provide valued customer support throughout their entire investment with Autodesk software. SolidCAD was the only reseller from Canada to receive this recognition.

    “SolidCAD is very deserving of this recognition for the work they do here in Canada,” said Marcus Tateishi, Sr. Partner Manager at Autodesk “They have invested in customer success as a partner to both Autodesk and our customers, helping them realize better business outcomes.”

    “I’m very proud of the entire SolidCAD team for their hard work and dedication,” states Michael Kugan, president of SolidCAD. “In order to maintain this prestigious level, we continue to invest both our time and resources to hire new employees that offer specialized skills and expertise to the industries we service.  We are extremely devoted to helping our clients by providing quality training, services and technical support.”

    This marks the fifteenth Platinum Club Award SolidCAD has received from Autodesk since 2000. With each year, SolidCAD continues to demonstrate their commitment to client success and focus on continuous growth through best-in-class service. SolidCAD maintains its position as one of the largest Platinum Resellers in Canada.

    Civil 3D 2019 Update 2

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    A new update for Civil 3D 2019 has just been released.  You can find it in the usual places; the Desktop App or your Autodesk Account.  Here is the ReadMe; note that AutoCAD 2019.1.2 must be installed prior to this new Civil 3D update.

    See this video outlining some of the new functionality.

    As always, updates contain fixes to known defects and some new functionality.  Here are the notable new features:

    • Transparent commands are now included in their own ribbon.
    • Transparent commands can now be accessed via the right click menu.
    • There is some new transparent command functionality with Alignment Station and Offset.  This in the name of efficiency and it’s an excellent addition.
    • Linear crossings in profile views.  This is, in this blogger’s opinion, is arguably revolutionary!  For many years users have requested the ability to display in profile where something crosses your alignment.  Another alignment, feature line, etc.  now we can.
    • UNC paths for projects.
    • Sample lines data shortcuts are “Vaultable”.
    • Property set data is supported in LadnXML.
    • Rail platform edge improvements.

     

    SolidCAD is proud to announce its new partnership with CTC Software and becomes an exclusive Canadian reseller of CTC Express Tools.

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    TORONTO, ON, December 3, 2018 – Over the past two years, SolidCAD, leading Canadian Autodesk Platinum Partner and technology solution and professional service provider has gone through immense growth. From the acquisition of multiple Autodesk resellers across Canada to forming new partnerships with technology providers, SolidCAD is dedicated to offering the newest technology solutions and provide quality services for all professionals in Manufacturing and Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industries.

    Today, SolidCAD solidifies a new partnership with U.S. company, CTC Software, a worldwide leader in developing specialized tools for building information modeling (BIM). CTC Software offers custom built applications known as, CTC Express Tools that feature seven suites, and two productivity packs. This tool set is specifically designed to help AEC professionals better use Autodesk products such as Revit, Civil 3D and Autodesk’s Forge platforms.

    “CTC Software is thrilled to have chosen SolidCAD as the leading reseller in Canada,” said Saeid Berenjian, President of CTC Software. “Their ability to service clients in all provinces and both official languages of English and French, demonstrates the strength of their national presence. SolidCAD is a market leader within Canada, and like CTC Software, they are committed to solving the greatest business challenges facing their clients. We are excited to have the CTC express tools available for the Canadian AEC market through SolidCAD to ensure users have the resources needed to use our solutions properly and see the highest return on their technological investment.”

    “The CTC Express Tools are data-rich content packs that will offer a brand-new AEC solution and service to SolidCAD’s existing customers,” said Michael Kugan, President of SolidCAD. “SolidCAD will invest both time and resources to ensure our team is fully equipped to offer nothing but quality services, including technical support and training to the Canadian market. SolidCAD will operate as the only reseller in Canada to offer this line of CTC Express Tools. We are extremely happy to add this new solution to our extensive list of products and help our clients improve productivity and achieve business goals.”

    To learn more about CTC Express Tools, join SolidCAD and CTC Software for their webinar series this week. To register, please click here.[/gil_content]

    About CTC

    CTC Software is a worldwide leader in building information modeling (BIM) technologies and services. We’ve been working in Revit since before Autodesk acquired Revit Technologies, as a Revit Solution Provider. Our team of architects, engineers, and software developers work to create leading productivity tools on top of Revit, Civil 3D, and Autodesk’s Forge platforms. Custom application development and software integrations keep our deep bench of full stack developers sharp, working entirely on AEC industry solutions. CTC is a member of the Autodesk Developer Network and has been making add-ins available for Revit and Civil 3D since 2010. CTC Express Tools are used by more than 40,000 users world-wide and in more than 75% of the top firms in the United States. www.ctcsoftware.com

    Infrastructure Road Show Series – Recap

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    Recently the SolidCAD civil team conducted the first Infrastructure Road Show series across Western Canada!

    Our roadshow series was designed to uncover emerging technologies and new software, share best practices and industry trends and provide you with the best tips and tricks to streamline your workflow and finish your project faster.

    As those who attended know, there was a lot of information shown so feel free to download the Powerpoint files and view them at your own pace.

    Point Clouds

    Design Roundtrip

    Tips & Tricks

    Parkin Architects Limited

    Posted on by SolidCAD
    Success Stories

    Parkin Architects Limited

    Parkin Architects Limited is an employee-owned, award-winning architectural practice with over 60 years experience serving both Canadian and international clients out of their offices in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver with the same immediacy and attention that would be provided by a local firm. Parkin Architects Limited specializes in architectural services for institutional clients including: healthcare, recreational, research, justice, correctional, and education some of which are now recognized as some of the most notable buildings in Canada.

    Project Profile

    Challenge

    Parkin Architects Limited has been using Revit for many years and has participated in multiple BIM projects with consultants and trades. Being a firm that transitioned from AutoCAD to Revit, their BIM Management Team had put together a Revit Standards Manual. This Revit Standards Manual was made up of an array of documents which needed to be reorganized and edited. This made managing Revit projects with existing and new staff problematic because a consistent method of setting up and developing Revit models was required, which was often time consuming. The highly demanded Management Team at Parkin Architects Limited. had limited time to properly edit the Revit Standards Manual and knew a solution was needed to revamp the process and make it more efficient.

    Solution

    In need of a solution, the Parkin Architects Limited management team turned to SolidCAD. After analyzing the needs and desired outcomes of Parkin Architects Limited, the SolidCAD team of Application Consultants used their knowledge and expertise to edit, simplify and re-organize the information in the Revit Standards Manual generated. Information including: refining the existing structure, enhancing their BIM Execution Plan, define end-user skills development and add required workflows based on industry best-practices were all added to the Revit Standards Manual developed by SolidCAD.

    Results

    The Revit Standards Manual developed by SolidCAD’s team of Application Consultants is now used for the internal training of new staff, as well as a reference on how new projects are to be setup and managed. This new structure also allows for future modification and additions as Parkin continues to expand the technology they use to design, manage and share their designs with related BIM data.

    SolidCAD and Parkin Architects Limited continue to work closely together, helping the firm in their continued expansion of the technology used for their projects.

    Testimonial

    The SolidCAD team was able to fulfill a need we had in compiling and completing our Revit Standards Manual.

    They were able to work within our Revit Manager’s busy schedule and completed the task within a very limited time frame. The final document was well organized, well written and is used daily by our Revit staff.

    – David Brown, Senior Associate of Parkin Architects Limited

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    Civil 3D 2019.1 Update

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    Autodesk has released the first update for Civil 3D 2019. It is called the Civil 3D 2019.1 Update. As is the new norm, updates contain fixes and also feature enhancements. You can discover all of the details in the official Autodesk ReadMe; I’ve outlined some of the highlights below.

    Not everyone reads the readme before installing, so to avoid the likely error message that 2019.1 will not install…The AutoCAD 2019.1 Update is a prerequisite of the Civil 3D 2019.1 Update and must be applied prior to installing the update.

    New Features
    • Rail tools and content.
    • Rail alignment offsets and cant support.
    • Sample line groups can now be data referenced.
    • Multiple connection points for pipe structures.
    • Publish a surface to BIM 360 for consumption in Revit.
    Fixes
    • Data shortcut performance improvements.
    • Pipe rules are no longer automatically applied. (See this article.)
    • Vault fixes.
    • Many other defects have been addressed.

    Civil 3D 2019 Pipe Networks

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    Please note, this issue seems to have been fixed with the release of Civil 3D 2019.1.

    ————

    If you are still having issues with Civil 3D 2019 installed and you’re using pipe networks, please read this message.

    I have fielded two recent technical support cases exhibiting behavior that may not be immediately obvious, but is quite serious.  Edits to a surface can cause pipe rules to be automatically applied, changing pipe invert elevation when doing so.  Pipe rules should never be applied like this, they should only be applied when first creating pipes and then when manually invoking the Apply Pipe Rules tool.

    My customer edits a feature line elevation and his pipes all change invert elevations.  When the feature lines are edited, the surface updates, the rules are applied, and the inverts change.  Imagine this is a relatively minor edit on a Friday after which you print the construction documents without first looking at the pipes in profile.  Why would you?  The rules aren’t supposed to apply when a surface is edited.

    Other users are experiencing this issue and Autodesk is aware is the problem.  Let’s hope that this is fixed in the next Civil 3D update.

    Here are your workarounds:

    • Use 2018.  This may be a feasible workaround because the two are compatible.
    • Delete all of your pipe rules in any drawing that contains pipes.  Not the rule set, just the rules within the set.  There are no rules, so none can be applied when your surface changes.  Be careful though, if you have any reference styles and they are reloaded, the rules may get applied.  This does not work with surfaces that are DREFd into a pipe drawing.  Imagine that you edit your surface and save the file.  Then you open the pipes drawing, the surface updates instantly and the pipe rules get applied instantly as well.

     

    Autodesk Multi-User (Network) Licensing

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    Infraworks 

    Attention Autodesk multi-user customers!  Excellent news follow.

    The 2019 license manager provides additional functionality which resolves two issues present in previous versions:

    1. In previous versions, if you have multiple versions of the same software installed (AutoCAD 2018 and 2016) and you launched both 2018 and 2016 simultaneously, 2 seats were consumed from the license manager.  With 2019, only a single seat is consumed.
    2. In previous versions, one could run only up to 2 products within a Collection simultaneously (AutoCAD 2018 and Revit 2018 for example).  If you attempted to run a 3rd product, say Navisworks, it would not run.  This restriction has been lifted for 2019.

    To reap the benefits:

    • The 2019 license manager must be installed.
    • A new 2019 LIC file must be obtained.

    Autodesk’s official documentation can be found at this link.