Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D Country Kits

As the ENI Team Lead at Ideate, I had the opportunity of attending Autodesk Technical Academy in Texas earlier this year.  Not only was it a great opportunity to meet and network with the Autodesk Team, but also a chance to find out what tools and tricks they use when assisting customers.

One of the great tips that we received came from a Civil 3D troubleshooting session that was hosted by Jason Ferrelli of Autodesk.  Along with techniques for troubleshooting common issues, he also brought up some frequently requested features that customers are asking for.  Some of these features happened to be available already, but only with the added installation of a Country Kit.

For those who are not familiar with Country Kits, Autodesk releases additional tools and utilities that were created for specific workflows or tasks from different countries around the world.  At last count, 22 of these were available to download for free from the Autodesk Knowledge Network.  Although they are referred to as “Country” Kits, they are not restricted to use in that country, or with that version.  Anyone can download and install a Country Kit to gain access to the tools and features that are included in it. 

We looked at some of the tools in the Australia & New Zealand Country Kit, and that’s now something that I personally have added to my Civil 3D installation.  Some of the tools that are included with this kit are:

•  2D to 3D Contour Conversion 
•  Surface Analysis Import/Export from a File (this is awesome if you’ve ever spent time setting up a Surface Analysis only to realize it’s only for ONE surface in ONE drawing)
• Surface Analysis Copy to another Surface (also a great way to apply the same analysis settings to a second surface in the file without having to manually set it up again) 
• Convert Blocks to COGO Points
• The download links and instructions for installing the Country Kits (along with detailed ReadMe files explaining the features) can be found below...

Civil 3D Country Kits
 

As of May 29, these have also been updated for the 2016 release of Civil 3D.  Once the Country Kit is added to your installation, it appears under the Toolbox tab of Civil 3D’s Tool space. 

If any of those features were ones that you’ve been looking for, or if there are others that seem like they should already be around, maybe they are… just not in your country.  Take a look at the Country Kits to find out if one of those as the tools you’re looking for.

 

For information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com



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Matt Miyamoto, P.E., ACI
ENI Manager and Senior Application Specialist
Matt is an ENI Manager and Senior Application Specialist in Ideate, Inc.’s Seattle office. He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and is a licensed Civil Engineer. Prior to joining Ideate, Matt worked as a civil engineer, using Civil 3D on a variety of projects including site development, roadway improvements and infrastructure design. With over 10 years of experience in the civil engineering industry, Matt now provides training, consulting, technical support, and implementation strategies for organizations transitioning to Civil 3D. Matt is an Autodesk Certified Instructor (ACI), as well as an Autodesk Certified BIM Specialist: Roads and Highway Solutions. Additionally, Matt is and Autodesk Certified Professional for AutoCAD, and AutoCAD Civil 3D. He can be found on twitter as @MattM_PE

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