Man some of you guys work on HUGE sites; 2,000 acres...that's nutz. For such a large project all I can say is break-it-up, brake-it-up and brake-it-up. If your project is in LDT already DO NOT SWITCH IT OVER. Only start new in Civil 3D. Also, to tackle a 2,000 acre site you should also have 100 projects at your firm in C3D and been using it for a 1-year+ to make sure your template is together and you have "run the gambit" if experience needed to run that monster. For such a large project the way you set it up and how you separate files will be critical. Read the Autodesk whitepaper on setup and follow it to a "T".
No labeling in the base files and keep profiles in their own base.
Our largest project isn't near that size and folks require the 3GB switch to be able to view the plan sheets that display the overall site so I can see how anything larger just won't work without the prefect setup. I would think your surfaces are the big issue but maybe you can build smaller surfaces, past them together to build a large surface and extract the contours as Plines
(at least for EG). Once you have Plines that represent the EG set the big surface to "_No Display" and just use it for data purposes. Just a though...
Also, are you using Vault? I would recommend for such a company that does large projects. A lot of folks have troubles with
pulling the trigger and moving to Vault and we did too, but from the other side it is VITAL to our C3D success. If you are having issues and don't use Vault you may want to talk to someone about that and re-consider. On that end I'm a big advocate that check'out should be to your C:\ drive as Autodesk intended.
"...wait, did I say big advocate; I meant HUGE advocate"Another point: Have you reached out to your regional Autodesk rep. on this one? I know we have a guy that is interested in our success and maybe you can find the same. The question is how do you find that person. Maybe I can ask my guy if I knew were you were located. In our situation he found us...
My 2 cents on modeling: All sites should be modeled; we do. It is faster
(once you are experienced) it reduces the chance of errors through connected models between different groups at your company, provides a better designed \ final product, and grading with Featurelines \ Corridors doesn't allow you to cheat those contours. Besides, 1' contours don't cut it if you want to set Network Structures and spot from your surface. For anyone that grades by-hand
(and if you need to convince someone at your company) just ask them to pull their LDT or C3D surface at 0.2' contours. The mess they will get needs to be clean to really leverage the model.
My rant: "Crap in = crap out", in my experience a lot of folks in Civil Engineering have trouble with that concept. They want to put "crap in" by CAD techs (not designers) but want gold out. Why is that? Well because we are not use to modeling yet like the Mechanical and Industrial industries are, but we will be soon
(at least the firms remaining). Often I get "it takes too much time"! My response is "I do it all the time and am faster"
(them in agreement) so what is the difference? THE USER....
If you say it "takes too much time" you should revise to state it takes "YOU" too much time. That said, YOU simply need to keep working at it. It is a skill like anything else...
The reason Civil companies have a hard time moving into the modeling world is because of staff experience. I hate to say it but everyone needs to be DESIGNERS. Engineers need to break down and use CAD as a design tool
(not a toy) and drafters need to get on the stick and learn how to grade and use the advanced tools. If both do they get my respect and are now "designers"; what most Engineering firms need; goodness knows we don't need more PMs \ chiefs, we need the indians. Don't believe me, ask your boss and see if he\she agrees...
Too many times I see management pushing folks to do things in computers that they don't understand; engineers
and CAD operators. Don't be pushed and blame the software. Be honest...it is you and maybe management should not be pushing with out some
over-the-should.
"Over-the-should, what is that? Oh wait, I forget we don't have time for that anymore either." "Sorry, I always forget we don't have time to do our jobs anymore ... no-one every has time until they are reading the newspaper in the morning." Don't let them push you around...
All of the above is why I think
(again, just my 2 cents) why Civil 3D get a bad wrap sometimes. Inexperienced (bad) setup, use, and skills of staff is a big part of the issue. How can I be so harsh and say such a thing? I truly believe other experienced firms and if Autodesk were running these projects
(even "mega projects") they could make it sing. I do think however with the releases thus far they would need to concentrate on setup of the projects and think out-of-the-box a little but it is production ready! It is not a question, it is a fact! My firm and thousands of others are doing it RIGHT NOW! In fact I'm off to work to live that reality right now...