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Civil 3D vs Carlson, Updated?


howitzer

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I've been offered a job with a firm that uses Carlson software. I have 20+ years experience in AutoCAD (civil work), the last two years in C3D. I am unfamiliar with Carlson, but have read good things in my internet research.

 

However, almost all the comprehensive threads at various sites seem to be 3-ish years old. What's the current status of pros vs cons regarding C3D vs Carlson for civil design work?

 

I'd be doing mostly street and roadways (w/profiles, etc.), but they want to get more into commercial site design as well. I have oodles of experience in site design up to LD 2009, and the vast majority of my work in C3D has been streets and plan & profiles.

 

Thanks.

 

p.s.: This seems like a good forum. I wish I had found it sooner.

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I though Carlson had pretty much gone out of business? Some of the software might still be out there, but I don't think they are around anymore.

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If the offer is right, I'd go for it. At the end of the day they should be hiring you because of your 20 years experience in civil design, not your X years of experience (or lack thereof) in a particular software package. Learning new software is easy enough.

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If the offer is right, I'd go for it. At the end of the day they should be hiring you because of your 20 years experience in civil design, not your X years of experience (or lack thereof) in a particular software package. Learning new software is easy enough.

That's pretty much what I thought. The owners of the firm say it's very LD-like, and more intuitive than C3D. I like C3D, especially for roadways, but sometimes finding all the settings is overwhelming.

 

Anyway, it was brought to my attention that one factor to consider would be keeping up with the civil design industry overall. In other words, while I'm working with Carlson my C3D skills are getting rusty and falling behind, and should I need to look for another position in a few years I am no longer up with the current times, and... let's face it, AutoCAD is still the standard (with MicroStation being significantly safe, but still #2). I wouldn't consider this to be a huge factor, but a factor nonetheless.

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  • 4 months later...

Update:

 

I'm about 5 months into the job, and have been using Carlson with Intellicad as a base, and have some thoughts. I'll keep them fairly generic.

 

Carlson: Not bad. I definitely do miss some aspects of C3D, but in other ways Carlson has a simplicity that is refreshing. It is more LD-like, which can be both good and bad. Once I got the hang of their set-up files, I often appreciated the fact that they were separate from the drawing itself. My biggest complaint is that the program lacks consistency, in the sense of how things are done, from one task to another. The manual and help files are weak, though help direct from the company itself is phenomenal.

 

Intellicad: I seriously and intensely do not like Intellicad. There are a couple areas where it is more stable than AutoCAD, but overall it is very flaky and shaky and unpredictable. My recommendation for anybody considering Carlson would be to go with the AutoCAD as a base option... though this would pretty much eliminate any cost savings that makes Carlson appealing to begin with.

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  • 8 months later...

Another update:

 

I ended up leaving that company and am now with another firm and back using C3D 2013. I don't take back the positive things I said about Carlson at the time, but... I'm glad I'm back with AutoCAD.

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  • 1 month later...

Good to hear.

There is a reason Autocad is still #1.

It may have a few problem areas (ok allot) but overall it is a great program.

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