It is common for a person that is using an extensive and complex software product to encounter a situation that requires the use of features that are outside of their normal workflow. What follows is an uncomfortable feeling while trying to poke around enough to force the software to deliver a solution and then hope that it was completed properly. When that software is Autodesk’s Civil 3D and the project requires a certain degree of precision, that uncomfortable feeling and hope for success can be substantial. During the course of a project, any software can be susceptible to errors and crashes and at the most inopportune times, such as when trying to finish a project to deliver it to the client on a scheduled date.
The intent of this blog is to provide information on where to get help with Autodesk’s Civil 3D software. There is a multitude of resources to get information for assistance when needed and it comes in many forms such as blogs, videos, webinars, forums, online eLearning and more but knowing where to look for the information you need is key.
Autodesk Resources
Autodesk’s resources for Civil 3D information is vast and covers everything from how-to, tips and tricks, forums and videos to trouble shooting problems. The Autodesk Civil Engineering Community Center contains a smorgasbord of information available to peruse.
From the Autodesk Civil Engineering Community Center, there are several sections to choose from. News provides latest information on upcoming webinars, release announcements and industry information. Forums is a place where users can share information and ask questions. Ideas is a venue for users to provide wish list items to Autodesk for new or improved features. These are just a few examples of the knowledge shared with the greater civil engineering community for Autodesk’s civil engineering software.
Have questions about installation or upgrades? Need help troubleshooting a problem? Want to learn workflow options for a specific task? The Autodesk Knowledge Network is a “rich repository of more than a million contributions from Autodesk, its community, and its partners”. This internet resource provides a robust search tool that can target a specific Autodesk product and filtered to narrow the results to specific areas of interest.
The Autodesk AEC Webinar Portal for Infrastructure presents upcoming webinars and registration links for them, as well as previous webinars that can be viewed on-demand. For multi-disciplinary firms and those interested there is also connected portals for Building and Construction webinars as well.
Civil Immersion is a blog authored by three members of Autodesk’s Infrastructure team. These blog posts are often task-specific and includes a video that provides the step-by-step workflow for completion.
IMAGINiT Resources
IMAGINiT extends the Autodesk resources to provide companies and users with means necessary to improve efficiency and deliver quality projects to their clients. A wealth of knowledge is shared via blogs, whitepapers, videos, webinars as well as a customer-specific web portal that is targeted at the needs for the customer.
The IMAGINiT Civil Solutions Blog is updated regularly with task-driven functionality within Autodesk’s infrastructure software solutions. Application Experts author the blog posts with topics based on their many interactions with customer needs and requests. Readers can comment on the posts and have questions answered by the author.
IMAGINiT Priority Support is a service that is available to customers of all sizes. This annual support offering provides phone, online or email access to a dedicated team of support experts with a maximum of 4 business hours response time. Included is unlimited tech support intended for troubleshooting errors, product installation and network licensing. In addition, two hours of design assistance is included for one-on-one assistance with “How to” related questions, an installation toolkit, a library of whitepapers and webcast recordings as well as access to live lecture webinar series.
ProductivityNOW by IMAGINiT provides a customer specific portal that provides not only technical support but also an eLearning solution with high quality courseware available on-demand at any time. The portal contains training videos, whitepapers, case studies and webinar recordings. The eLearning tool includes courseware direct from ASCENT, which is the same that is used in classroom instruction, additionally the platform contains Pinnacle Series eLearning content from Eagle Point. Civil 3D eLearning classes include Fundamentals as well as Survey and Grading and more. ProductivityNOW has two offerings, Standard and Professional depending on the size of the organization and needs.
Summary
There are many resources that provide help with Autodesk’s Infrastructure software solutions and a good number of them are outlined here. Links are provided to make it easy to learn more about each of the tools available from Autodesk and IMAGINiT. When you find yourself needing assistance with Civil 3D these are great resources to reach out to for answers.
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