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CAD Software Support Team

Updates

TIPS will only support three versions of Autodesk software prior to the 2020 release. If you are using versions previous to 2017, you must upgrade to versions 2017 or newer. Please contact your TIPS Contact or Service Manager to obtain the latest version.

New Course Offering

The newest CAD course offering: CAD 300: Bridging the CAD and GIS Gap in the SMCRA Workflow. The purpose of this course is to assist personnel in integrating both CAD and GIS processes into SMCRA workflows. Exercises will include use of Title IV and V data to show mechanisms of interoperability between CAD and GIS. Check out the TIPS and NTTP class survey for this new course offering.

Team Members

The TIPS CAD Team/Workgroup includes members from the States and OSMRE who work together to provide a variety of services to TIPS customers. All members are proficient in the Autodesk and Carlson software provided by TIPS, and continually reviews changes and enhancements to the software packages. New software is also evaluated by the team as needed, to ensure that TIPS is always up to date on what would be useful to our customers (most recently, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Design Review, and Carlson's GeoFluv/Natural Regrade module).

Team members oversee the distribution of and provide installation directions and assistance for new or updated software for TIPS customers, including managing and monitoring the software licenses. The team also creates, maintains and updates training materials for 6 courses in the TIPS Training Program, and provides instructors for scheduled TIPS courses and any requested on-site training. Further training assistance is made available by the group through online learning materials and tech support.

OSMRE Team Members:

 

State Team Members

Software and Installation Instructions

Links to the TIPS pages for each software package and installation instructions for the latest versions of CAD Software are linked below. To complete a successful installation, you will also need the distribution letter that came with your software, containing the Serial Numbers and other settings that need to be done for the TIPS installation, the instructions are in PDF format.

AutoCAD Map 3D - The leading engineering GIS platform for creating and managing spatial data. Also provides all the tools available in "basic" AutoCAD.

AutoCAD Raster Design - Extends the value of scanned drawings and maps, aerial photos, satellite imagery, and digital elevation models. Take advantage of raster-to-vector conversion, raster editing, and raster data preparation capabilities.

Carlson Mining - A collection of modules that perform civil and mining engineering functions. TIPS has licenses available for the Survey, Civil, Hydrology, Natural Regrade, Field, Geology, Basic Mining, Underground Mining, and Surface Mining modules.

Autodesk Design Review - The all-digital way to measure, mark up, and annotate 2D and 3D designs, all without the original design creation software. Free Download.

DWG TrueView - Accurately view, plot and publish authentic DWG and DWF files. Can translate any AutoCAD or AutoCAD-based drawing file for compatibility with AutoCAD Release 14 through AutoCAD 2017. Free Download.

AutoCAD Map

AutoCAD Raster Design

Carlson Mining

Note: each document size is approximately 2MB 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Below are some of the most common questions we get from our AutoCAD users.

What happened to my Model and Layout Tabs? How do I get them back?

In some newer versions of AutoCAD, the tabs don’t appear by default. Instead, they appear as two icons at the bottom of the screen.

To switch between these and the tabs, right click on the buttons, and choose "Display Model and Layout Tabs" from the pop-up. If you want the buttons back, right click on the tabs and choose "Hide Model and Layout Tabs" from the pop-up.

With the newer versions, there is a lot of "stuff" that appears around my cursor. What is the purpose of it, and how can I get rid of some of this clutter?

Read our Dynamic Input Tool Fact Sheet.

How can I get my Autodesk product to run on Windows Vista?

In Windows Explorer, right click on the acad.exe file. Select the "Compatibility" button and tell it to run in the Windows XP compatibility mode. Also, be sure to check the box to run as an administrator.

How can I open AutoCAD drawings that were saved from a later version? (Such as opening a 2013 dwg file in AutoCAD Map 3D 2009.) Can I convert dwg files to different file versions?

There is a free program from Autodesk which can open dwg, dwf, and dxf files. DWG TrueView translates (converts) any AutoCAD drawing for compatibility with AutoCAD R14 and later.

 

Why do I have to register my software?

If you are asked to register your software, you have probably missed an important step in our installation instructions. Our licenses are “Network Licenses”, not “Stand-Alone” licenses. During installation, make sure that you change the default selection in the step where you enter our serial number – otherwise, our TIPS licenses will not work.

What do I do with licpath?

Make sure that you've changed the licpath.lic file located in the C:\Program Files\Autodesk Map 3D 2009 folder to licpath.txt

What is the setting for environment variables?

Check that your environment variables are set as outlined in the distribution letter. If you are unsure how to set/check your environment variables, read this instruction sheet. If you don't have permissions to do so, see your IT personnel.

What about Carlson Mining license issues?

For Carlson Mining license issues, make sure that you have edited the hosts file as outlined in the distribution letter, as well as the environment variables.

Set your environment variables for the westls server first, since the majority of our licenses reside on that server.

If you still cannot get a license or are having problems with the installation, please contact our Software Manager, Stefanie Self (sself@osmre.gov); (412) 937 - 2105

 

Additional Resources

The TIPS CAD Team has put together reference files for our users. These are intended to assist our customers with shortcut keys, command aliases, commonly used setting changes, etc.

Newsgroups are a great resource for posting questions to a group of software users. There are several different newsgroups available for AutoCAD issues. Here are a few of the main ones :

Autodesk: This discussion group has links to both new reader and html based discussion groups for all Autodesk products. https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community

Carlson Software: News reader based links to Carlson Software newsgroups (for Carlson Mining and various modules). http://www.carlsonsw.com/support.html#discussion

Through the TIPS Autodesk Subscription, there are a large number of E-learning courses available to the TIPS customer. Courses are comprised of 15 to 30 minute self-paced exercises. Additionally, there are numerous training videos available, developed by industry experts, which present intermediate concepts and workflows.

To take advantage of this online learning opportunity, contact the CAD Software Manager, Stefanie Self at (412) 937 - 2105.

Autodesk provides TIPS with online support as part of our software subscription. This online support is available through the Autodesk subscription center. A user account is required to access the subscription center. From the subscription center, you may submit an online support form, and Autodesk will respond usually within 24 hours. If you would like to access the online support, please contact Stefanie Self at (412) 937 - 2105.