Design Suite Premium versus Standalone Civil 3D

[neilyj666]

TIme to renew the subscription again and have been offered to upgrade from standalone to Design Suite Premium (for no additional cost this year but with an increase in subscription next year of 5-6%)

I'm not convinced that there is anything in the Suite that I could usefully use day to day (in fact I'd give up Storm and Sanitary Analysis from the standalone Civil 3D as I have no use for it...!!!!)

Has anyone upgraded in the way mentioned, has anyone seen a major boost in their productivity or is it just a case of more software packages that can't talk to each other directly unless a whole set of intermediate hoops is jumped through?? 

[neilyj666]

3ds max and raster design may have some use

[Neilw_05]

Has anyone upgraded in the way mentioned, has anyone seen a major boost in their productivity or is it just a case of more software packages that can't talk to each other directly unless a whole set of intermediate hoops is jumped through??

That's my opinion. I'm not at all impressed with Infrastructure Modeler (which was my primary interest in the suite). We don't need 3DS as we don't do high end renderings. Basically C3D does all the things we need that the other suite products do. The rest is redundant and requires learning more software.

If the cost goes up we'll probably not renew the suite.

[dgorsman]

Suites are usually only worth it if you actually use most of them.  Even if one or two don't and you are using another three to four, it can still be a good deal.  If you only use the one, well yeah - you aren't getting anything.

Never say never though - every time somebody here has said "Don't bother, we'll never use that!" somebody else will come asking about it in a month or two, and it will be standard procedure by the next year.  😉

[mathewkol]

If you're interested in AIM, it's certainly possible that the 2014 version will have some perks that will tip your favour. We won't know until t arrives of course.

Anyway, something to consider. I guess another option is Navisworks Manage. In C3D 2013 one cannot perform an interference involving pressure pipes, but Naviswork Manage can. I can't remember if Manage is included with Premium.

[neilyj666]

That's just in Ultimate I believe.

May be I'll just stick with the standalone this time around as it does pretty much what I need

[dgorsman]

I think you're right - most of the Premium Suites include Simulate, and leave the uber-pricey Manage program to the Ultimate Suites.