AutoCAD Civil 3D

[#1]

Hi all! Its been awhile, how are things?

Just wanted to throw this out there. Has anyone in Washington State setup QTO Pay Item files for the WSDOT Standard items? Would love to collaborate if so.

Also any tips, tricks, or gotchas that you all have encountered would be great to hear!

Thanks!

Matt Wright

TD&H Engineering

Spokane, Wa

[#2]

I was just working on this last week, but I am having trouble with the categorization file. I can upload the pay item file for you, but you should do this yourself as they update the pay items frequently.  

If you download the spreadhseet from the WSDOT site,  then re order the collumns into STANDARD ITEM NUMBER, STANDARD ITEM DESCRIPTION and Unit of measure.  Civil 3d will only recognise those 3 collumns. Save this as a .CSV extension.  For the file I am attaching I also deleted all the metric unit of measure items.

I am still working on the categorization file.  If I can figure that out I will update this post.

Brian Strandberg

[#3]

Excellent! Thanks Brian. Yeah it looks like the Pay Item file should be pretty easy. Im not so sure about the rest. Maybe we can work together to get the kinks figured out and try to keep them up to date. 

Just curious where do you work? Do you guys do alot of TIB/WSDOT work?

Cheers!

[#4]

I haven't created/implemented a categorization file personally but if you haven't done so yet, you might want to get an XML editing program. Microsoft has one for free called XML NotePad. 

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=7973

[#5]

Yeah that looks to be the most difficult part? From the videos I've watched it works just fine without a categorization file right? Maybe we can slowly tweak that. The tutorials don't appear to be very good at explaining the intricate details. 

One question I do have Brian, that maybe you can answer for me. Say I have a project with alot of paving. Maybe in some areas we are just doing a 2" overal and in some others we are constructing  a 3" or 4" section of brand new paving. Is there way to apply a different formula file to each each area and keep them as the same pay item? Or do we need to setup more detailed pay items for each pay item with a specific formula? Thanks for your help! =)

[#6]

I don't think you can just swap out a formula file but I definitely could be wrong with that. You could try it. Create the formula file, copy it someplace else and then change the formula file. Check your quantities. Copy the old file back on top of the new file and check your quantities again.

[#7]

Matt:

The company I work for does do a lot of WSDOT / TIB work, the division I am in does not usually.  I wanted to understand the QTO process, and the WSDOT system made the most sense to use.

I am afraid that I cannot reveal who I work for on the Internet, less someone thinks I am speaking for the company.  I can tell you that the last WSDOT project I worked on involved the replacement of a floating bridge (still under construction)

Unfortunately I do not have the answer to your question with calculating the different thicknesses.  When I have a free minute to get back into it, I will try to figure that for you.

[#8]

Right on Brian. Thanks for the input. So did you get to work on the South Terminal at SeaTac as well? 

If I get it working I'll pass you the files. 

[#9]

Good luck with the QTO manager. I raised this question 3 years ago only to be received by a series of yawns from Autodesk. Three years later nothing has been done to make it work. All I get from their "Expert Elites" is "I think it can...it should.... maybe." In short the manager cannot calculate volumes, despite having pay items in CUYDS, and doesn't do much of anything useful. Maybe it can find you an area but not without a lot of wasted time. And Autodesk doesn't seem concerned. That's fine I'm not concerned about renewing my subscription.

[#10]

Jason,

I havent actually performed any QTOs with the software so far. Im waiting for IT to roll out 13 before I try to set it up. =(

But you havent been able to get it to report CY of mud or rock or anything? It appears to work pretty cleanly in the videos ive found on Youtube and from Engineered Efficiency.  Im interested in your expierences as it might save me some time tryingt to make it work. Thanks for your input!