Software Review: Carlson Construction 2010 with AutoCAD
Written by Marco Cecala
Sunday, 03 January 2010
AutoCAD or IntelliCAD?
I have had the chance to work with IntelliCAD (ICAD) some. It used to be buggy, but has been stable with recent releases. I usually run Carlson programs in AutoCAD for 2 reasons. I have become familiar with it, and research material is more readily available. If you have no AutoCAD experience, ICAD is a good choice. Performance is similar, and there is nothing to relearn.
Program Features
AutoCAD is a line driven program. From its inception the company designed it as a drafting tool for the production of paper plans. With the advent of our new 3 dimensional world the program has struggled to adapt. Enter Carlson Software with functions for survey, engineering and construction. We now have the ability to manipulate a file in its native format, and commands that are suited to our industry.
Most of the files for site work are produced in AutoCAD, road and highways are prone to be built in MicroStation/InRoads from Bentley. The import feature of Carlson allows for customization of the file on import. Testing showed the routine kept the MicroStation elements intact.
Autodesk changes formatting of their drawing format every 3rd version making version 2007 files the last change. If you have version 2007, Autodesk has a free program that will save the file back to an earlier version. There will be functionality that will be lost, but it does not affect our scope of work. As the years and versions of CAD progress, more features are added to aid in drafting. AutoCAD has always been centered on drawing, the recent addition of 3D commands are geared towards mechanical engineering and not civil design. Carlson has made products that fill this void, allowing a user to work in the comfort of CAD, and produce files required of a surveyor or civil engineer.
Everybody loves automation. Using Carlson with AutoCAD is no exception. Sometimes a one button solution will work, and sometimes it causes more problems than it cures. I like the fact that Carlson Construction will allow you to use one button, or take things a step at a time in order to produce correct results. A quick example would be points. One button generation of spot elevations from a CAD file put the point marker in the wrong place. Using individual commands, you can move the location of the insertion point, verify the location and finally generate the points and make them part of a surface. Eighty percent of the time the one button command will work, but options allow you to fix the rest.
The real horsepower in Carlson Construction comes in the file translation utilities. The import/export options are comprehensive and robust. Here is a screen shot of the menu pull down;
Carlson Software remains consistent with its Open Positioning Architecture approach to data formats. As you can see, there is a host of options that allow you to import, convert and export various formats. These includes import and export routines for data files and also includes import and export to most machine control system files. This is critical when working with multiple Engineering firms as well as different brands of 3D machine control systems. I tried many of these commands. They make file sizes similar to the native program from the vendor. The import routines brought in correct formatting and layer designations.
Another function that can come in handy in a pinch is the pdf import. This will allow you to bring in a pdf file that was produced within AutoCAD as a plot command. Everything comes in on the same layer, and needs to be scaled, rotated and moved. In a pinch it can save your hide when the engineer is not releasing CAD.
Carlson Construction 2010 is priced well. Their emphasis was on an affordable “data prep/model software based solution,” says Mike Hyman of Carlson. “Much of the market already is using an estimating package or quantities package and need only 3D data prep solution.” Hyman adds. “This was Carlson’s response to the market.”
The only major functionality that is missing in Construction 2010 is the ability to produce takeoff quantities, which makes sense at this new data prep software price point. Carlson Takeoff is a scalable step up from Construction 2010 and has takeoff quantities, estimation, etc. In our training classes, we show users how to still get quantity numbers, though it takes a few steps and some other software.
I recommend Carlson Construction 2010 for producing sites and basic streets. There are some limitations when building data for complex highway jobs, but that is something 95% of the industry will never need to worry about. Support is readily available, and training is easy to get also. Demo versions of the software are available; they run out after a pre-determined number of commands are executed. Other than that, it is fully functioning.
Authors 
AutoCAD or IntelliCAD? 
Carlson Software remains consistent with its Open Positioning Architecture approach to data formats. As you can see, there is a host of options that allow you to import, convert and export various formats. These includes import and export routines for data files and also includes import and export to most machine control system files. This is critical when working with multiple Engineering firms as well as different brands of 3D machine control systems. I tried many of these commands. They make file sizes similar to the native program from the vendor. The import routines brought in correct formatting and layer designations.
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