20+ Years of Design, Technology & More
20+ Years of Design, Technology & More
Shaan has developed a Civil 3D plugin in C#, functioning as an audit tool to analyze AutoCAD drawings efficiently. It captures essential data on references and project health, providing detailed reports and insights. The plugin can run in headless mode, enhancing performance for large batches of drawings. Future enhancements will address sheet set detection and layer audit calibration.
My session "The Stack Inversion Is Real" was accepted for Autodesk University 2026, focusing on AI's impact on CAD management. While I'm disappointed my favorite submissions were declined, this presentation will reflect my current role as a practitioner. Attendees will learn about AI's changes in CAD functions and strategies for evolving expertise.
Managing a Civil 3D shop can lead to complex issues with circular data shortcuts that obscure visibility and hinder performance. Many users unknowingly create tangled reference chains, resulting in file corruption and slow operations. The author seeks insights from other CAD managers on preventing and managing these challenges for better collaboration and efficiency.
Most CAD managers underestimate the significance of Autodesk crash data found in Customer Error Reports (CERs). Regularly analyzing these files reveals underlying issues affecting user environments, often overlooked by support tickets. Cer data can identify patterns leading to crashes and help implement fixes, thereby reducing user frustration and improving productivity.
AutoCAD 2027, released on March 25, 2026, emphasizes AI-assisted workflows, featuring the Autodesk Assistant for enhanced user interaction with DWG files. Key updates include multi-user DWG editing, a Geometry Cleanup tool, improved layout tab switching, and significant upgrades in Civil 3D, especially in drainage tools, enhancing collaboration and efficiency.
If you’ve been managing or using Autodesk products for a few years, you’ve probably cracked open a CER file at some point. Customer Error Reporting is Autodesk’s built-in crash reporting system, and it’s been around for a long time. When…
One of the simplest and most effective things you can do to maintain a stable, high-performing CAD workstation is to reboot regularly and keep your machine current with IT and hardware updates. AutoCAD, Civil 3D and other CAD applications accumulate…
The post discusses the challenges of sending and receiving transmittals in Civil 3D and AutoCAD, highlighting common issues like missing external references and font conflicts. eTransmit simplifies this by packaging all dependencies accurately. It provides options for setup, packaging formats, and paths, ensuring recipients receive functional files. A checklist for effective usage is included.
If you have Autodesk Desktop Connector (ACC Docs – changing to Forma brand) installed – and in 2026 you almost certainly do – stop using the built-in AutoCAD and Civil 3D Reference Manager. Reference Explorer is sitting right there in…
In November 2013, Autodesk successfully ran full versions of its applications like Inventor and Revit in web browsers through a partnership with Mozilla, OTOY, AWS, and NVIDIA. Despite the groundbreaking performance, Autodesk chose not to launch the product due to pricing, internal politics, and fear of disrupting existing profits, ultimately opting for limited cloud features instead.