Civil 3D will be a great product, when it is finished.
Currently it is about 50% there, in my opinion.
Training will only take you so far, the product still has a lot of bugs that no amount of training can resolve.
(See SOLUTIONS: down below, just in case you don't make it past the 'rant' portion of the post)
Stability and usability of current functions should be autodesk's main focus.
The weakest area are the gradings, followed closely by feature lines. I'm still learning what you can and can't do to avoid a fatal error. It's like a minefield trying to complete a grading plan. I have 30 incremental saves of my current design. I save and audit continually to project what work I have completed.
Managing the civil 3d drawings has become more complex than the actually engineering. I'm spending more time thinking about feature lines interacting and what site elements of the design are in than I am thinking about earthwork balance, slopes, and controlling stormwater.
Once your grading model is complete the finished surface still requires quite a bit of editing to produce decent contours. And the editing process is prone to fatal errors as well. Especially when deleting lines around the perimeter. And then the finished contours still have areas that could use some stretching to provide a finished look. This isn't possible in C3D, there are work arounds but it would be nice to have the flexibility to tweak a contour without modifying the surface.
Another disappointing turn of events is that autodesk will not be releasing land desktop in 2010 (Apr 2009). So now our management team is pushing for all projects to be completed in C3D and for LD to not even be installed to save IT costs. All of Land Desktop's features need to be incorporated into C3D.
SOLUTIONS:
Part One:
One of the biggest problem is the release cycle with only 2 patches in between. C3D needs more updates. Autodesk needs to offer the option of users signing up for monthly C3D patches at our own risk of course, eventually getting to the point where they have weekly patches (Tuesdays?). Also some kind of user interface to post request for updates/features by the users and a way for users to vote them up or down. And actually have a team of programmers who's job is to monitor the requests and put out patches addressing them.
Some of them would be minor but would make a huge difference for the user experience.
Part Two:
Start REcoding to make the software more efficient/multi threaded. We have virtual super computers on our desks and they can't calculate a daylight without running out of memory. Going to a 64 bit version with a massive amount of ram may allow the poor coding to remain in place, but will require another outlay of hardware expense for users.
Part Three:
Realistic hardware requirements. Post what we really need, especially with the graphics card. Our companies will only purchase what you list as the sys requirements. I feel like we're being short changed on this end.
Part Four:
A faster time frame for new features. I would like to see new features/improvements added at a faster pace, this could be tied to the user request/ranking system mentioned above.
Part Five:
A truly dynamic model. I keep hearing how C3D is going to save us time with updates and changes but I keep seeing disconnects in the model. We need feature lines with parameters like:
Hold existing grade/grade at this endpoint
lockable feature lines
acceptable slope ranges with warnings by changing colors.
styles for feature lines that display the elevation at each end and the slope along the feature line
dynamic link for offset feature lines.
We'll move on to stormwater and pipes next time.
Hopefully this finds it's way to Peter and the gang.
Keep up the hard work, you're half way there.
![Autodesk Design & Make Report](https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/1350519iCB55845EBFC43016/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999" "Autodesk Design & Make Report")