LANDDESKTOP ~TO~CIVIL3D

[ESchomberg]

Dear sirs, I just found a new client who is willing to pay me for some side drawing. His drafts lady put one of their templates/ with their title blocks in the layout tabs(along with the survey points already in the drawing. When I clicked on the drawing it automatically opened up in civil3d(which is good) but I got somewhat of an error message on the screen which I will attach. Could anyone tell me what this message means, and if it will cause me any problems at all?

[Pointdump]

Erik,

What that means is that there's no way you can make a drawing that LDT can open, except as dumb vanilla autocad. So unless he's got C3D, he won't be able to benefit from your drawing. And yes, there is a world of problems bringing an LDT drawing into C3D.

Use the Crop Tool in Paint to cut out just the part of your screen that you want to show. Your PNG's are HUGE -- 2.7Megs!

Dave

[Neilw_05]

That warning message may or may not be a concern for your client. What it means is if you open it inCivil 3D and save it, your client will not be able to use certain Land Desktop functions if she tries to work on the file in Land Desktop. The functions that will be affected are mainly alignments,, profiles, and perhaps a few others I can't recall. Other than that she should be able to use the file as an XREF or as a plain Autocad drawing.

Another issue you will have to address is how to handle the Civil 3D objects that you create in the drawings that you send to your client. If she does not have a compatible version of Civil 3D then she will not be able to edit Civil 3D objects such as alignments, surface models, COGO points, etc. She would need to install an Object Enabler to be able to see the objects (do a Google search on Object Enabalers for Civil 3D). You could avoid numerous compatibility issues by converting all the Civil 3D objects to plain Autocad objects by using the Export to Autocad tool inCivil 3D. That tool will create a new drawing file with all the Civil 3D objects exploded to plain Autocad objects. Of course it will lose all of it's Civil 3D functionality.  

[Pointdump]

Neil,

I had forgotten about Object Enabler. I still see lots of problems, especially considering 2009 was the last year for LDT. And Erik didn't mention what year the LDT file came from. I know of a Civil office in Las Vegas that's still using LDT3 on ACAD 2002!

Erik,

One silver lining might be that its easier to go from LDT to C3D than the other way around.

Dave

[AllenJessup]

That error message doesn't necessarily mean the original drawing was created in LDT. I may have been created in a earlier version of Civil 3D where the objects were different. If you specifically know they're working in Land Desktop that's another thing. As mentioned. You need to know what type of drawing they expect back.

If you're not doing anything that requires Civil 3D. You could Wblock out your work to an earlier release and not touch their points. 

[Neilw_05]

One very significant danger your client must be aware of is she must be very careful to not allow any file you send her be used to start a new file.nThe reason is your version of Civil 3D upgrades the ARX components in the .dwg file to a version that is incompatible with LandDesktop. There is no way to fix a file that has this incompatability so the only way to salvage the linework in such a file is to copy it into a new file via the clipboard.

[ESchomberg]

The lady doing the drawing was working in Landdesk but showed me an icon on her computer that they had civil3d (because I mentioned that I hope it didn't create a problem).

She didn't speak great English and did not talk a lot so I have no idea what she gave me . I was wondering if that message came up because it was previously saved as a blank template?

[Neilw_05]

You will get that warning if she has an incompatible older version of C3D. If you are on ver. 2013 or newer and she is on 2012 or older you will get that warning.

[ESchomberg]

Do you guys deal with this issue? If so how do you handle it?

[Pointdump]

Erik,

Don't be afraid. Just...never work on the original drawing, only on a copy of the drawing. Here's a handy command you'll need.

There's more for importing LDT data like Deskeys and Alignments, but I haven't used those so I can't say whether they work. Everyone handles an LDT drawing like it's Plutonium, but every Survey Office eventually has to deal with them.

Dave

[rl_jackson]

We have drafters that still use Land Desktop, I have found the best way to deal with it is to stop using the drafters using Land Desktop. It's no longer a supported program, and cause some issues when converting data from a LDD drawing to C3D. Unfortuately your in a catch 22, since those your getting the work from dont use the supported software. The survey profession has been notoriously slow at adoption of C3D, those that havn't just dont know what there missing.

[ESchomberg]

I apologize Dave for not understanding"only work on a copy, not the original drawing". I'm not at my computer so I can't see the link you sent.

She sent me one of their templates with survey points already inserted and their title blocks already in the layout tabs... Would you be calling this "the original drawing"? (I have already connected much of the line work). Have I already messed up?

What exactly do you mean by " copy of the drawing"? And how would I make a "copy of the drawing"? If I have already messed up is there a way for me to correct up?

[ESchomberg]

OK Jackson, thank you for that info. Maybe the lady doing their drafting will know how to handle this.

[Pointdump]

Erik,

What I meant was to open up a copy of the LDT drawing, not the original. You haven't messed up, because if you run into trouble, she can always send you the drawing again.

Like I said, Plutonium. And every C3D user has a different way to handle old drawings, whether LDT or C3D.

Dave

[Pointdump]

Erik,

Here's a good Help Section Link for importing LDT:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad-civil-3d/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/...

Dave

[rl_jackson]

@ESchomberg

With regards to what @Pointdump posted that does work for converting old LDD points that are in the drawing and there are other things that can be converted from the LDD project files as well (dtm, profiles, alignment etc...) but I would extend a word of caution. When converting anything in an LDD drawing for use in C3D, covert the points (or what ever your converting at the time) and immediately export them to an ascii file or xml for import into a fresh clean C3D template based drawing, NEVER convert by blocking the drawing into the C3D drawing and then working in that drawing. Also, dont bring the old LDD point long for the ride into a C3D drawing. Nastyness seems to happen with old objects in new drawing, and will cause a great deal of heartache.

[ESchomberg]

OMG this is about to make my head explode, I am scheduling an appointment with my therapist right now. what you just said was slightly above my comprehension level. Are you suggesting that this LDT file could corrupt my civil3d program??

[Joe-Bouza]

It came up because of exactly what it said; to paraphrase you are open a file that is an older version compared to the one you are running. If you save it the older version may not be able to use it. OE and in a pinch export to a lower version. Let hope it doesnt come to that.

[Joe-Bouza]

"Dam the torpedoes! Full speed ahead"

[rl_jackson]

@ESchomberg,

No sir I'm not saying it will corrupt C3D, but starting with a LDD file will corrupt your drawing to the point C3D crashes. All I'm saying this from very valuable lessons learned be careful, and bring stuff that comes from LDD into your drawing slowly, or as @Joe-Bouza said you might just end up with a BIG torpedo (CRASH BANG BOOM, Oh Crap there went 2 hours that can not be recovered).