Frequently Asked Questions

Can people without the Sincpac-C3D use the drawings?

Yes.  The Sincpac-C3D operates entirely on default Civil 3D entities, with no custom entities created.  So your drawings may be freely shared with others who do not have the Sincpac-C3D, with the following caveats:

• Other users may make changes to objects that are linked via Sincpac-C3D Dynamic Links.  The next time these drawings are opened on a computer with the Sincpac-C3D enabled, the Dynamic Links may refresh, and create unexpected results.  If this creates an issue, the initial refresh of Dynamic Links may be disabled by turning on the "Suppress Update on Load" option on the OPTIONS tab before opening the drawing.
• There appear to be problems with UPDs failing to display in Civil 3D 2009 after a drawing is closed and reopened.  So in Civil 3D 2009, values placed into UDPs by Sincpac-C3D Dynamic Point Links may not display when a drawing is closed and reopened.  This problem can typically be fixed by refreshing the Dynamic Links, which causes the data to become visible again.  But users who do not have the Sincpac-C3D installed cannot refresh the Dynamic Links, and may not be able to see the values stored in the UDPs.  This problem appears to be fixed in the 2010 release of Civil 3D.

Do you offer a "floating license" option?

Not currently.  At the moment, each license of the Sincpac C3D is tied to a specific computer.  You may also use the Sincpac C3D on an additional laptop, as long as the laptop is using the same license of Civil 3D, as allowed by Autodesk's licensing terms.

We are looking at options for a license server, which will allow "floating licenses".  But we currently have no estimate for when such a feature might be available, or how much it might cost.  We'll keep you posted as events develop.

Where are default command settings stored?

This varies depending upon the exact setting.  But in general, defaults are currently stored in either the Windows Registry, the current drawing, or a combination.

Most settings are stored in both places.  This means that as you open any individual drawing and run a Sincpac-C3D command, the default settings will be the same as the last time you used that command in that drawing.  When you use a command, the settings are also written to the registry.  If you have never used a specific command before in the current drawing, then the settings stored in the registry are used.  This means that when you create a new drawing, or open a drawing "from others", the default settings for commands will often be the same as the last time you used that command in any other drawing.

Command settings may also be stored in drawing templates.  So to pre-configure commands to the same values each time you create a new drawing, run the Sincpac-C3D command in your drawing template, and configure the settings as-desired.  Now every drawing created from your template will have the desired default settings.