C3D Basics?

Hi,

I am looking for some basic pointers in the world of Civil 3D. I have been tasked with evaluating the program during the summer to see if we can customize it enough to fit our needs.

We do district heating, which is a pretty narrow field. But it is fairly similar to water and sewage so it is not a big stretch of the imagination that C3D would fit our need.

Does anyone have a recommendation on where to start? Tutorials, examples, books, anything and everything is welcome!

TIA!

New in Civil 3D 2013: pressure pipe networks. Before, you had to assume that all pipes depended on gravity, which meant you wasted all that capability if you had a water line or a force main. I don't know much about it yet, but you should be able to extend that functionality to steam conduits (or whatever you use).

The most obvious is the ability to draw pipe networks producing plan & long sections and setouts etc with obstruction checking. I am sure I read somewhere about water main design this is under pressure. Maybe Google & search here.

It may have been on Autodesk where I saw the bit about water pipe design, it can be done we run a 3rd party stormwater sewer design package sits on top of CIv3d.

Water pipes are also pressure pipes, the same as district heating. The difference is the water we carry is treated (and green...) and the pipes are pretty heavily insulated. But the techniques for drawing is the same. If I can just figure out the technique...