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General
Topics not relevant to a category, Latest news & updates re: ASE Civil, Nick Merchant, all found here.
44Licenses
Issues, questions, suggestions, requests for custom licenses, Trial access, scheduled blackouts, more.
10Vertical Design
Design Markers, Constraints, Flow Labels, Civil 3D Profile Sync, [ASE] Pads, Corridors, Basins, Surface Mgt
12Paving
Ideas to increase success when modeling complex, multi-line profiles and corridors using ASE Civil's 'Paving Features'
4Profiles
Curb & Gutter Profiles w/up to: 5 components 8 Paving Feat's, many combinations. There's lots to talk about here!
7Plans & Production
Road Profiles, Sheet Views, Plan Labels, Plan Symbols, Profile Symbols and more
7
- GeneralChanges as of this post: • Removed "File Center" from the main menu • Removed "Home" from the main menu (Always available at top of every page on site) • Removed obsolete pages from "Software Center' • Removed secondary pop-ups for downloads of ASE or a trial license • Trial licenses have been re-enabled and may now be downloaded directly from the "Software Center" menu link • ASE Civil 2017 build# 14.9.0 may now be downloaded directly from the "Software Center" menu link • All other download links to any previous release of ASE Civil have been removed from everywhere within this website • The document found on the page "About -> ASE Civil Overview" has been updated to show the current compatibility range of ASE Civil 2017 • Added Basins content to the gallery More In-Progress Based on some recent discoveries made in a client support case, I'm anxious to share my experience from this support session. I know serious ASE clients will find it very helpful. For example, remember those places on curb returns that sometimes don't match the elevation on the intersecting street? Finally got a solution for that scenario. Most of the coming changes will include adding content to the "Users Guide" and "Use Cases" sub-pages.Like
- GeneralI truly appreciate the patience my clients have given me re: the next release of ASE Civil. Please accept my sincerest apology for taking so long to get this out. Status Development is still in-progress. It's slowly coming together. My current estimate for the release of ASE Civil 2026 is 8/18/2025. I promise you it will be a better version of ASE Civil than you have right now. I'm pretty excited about it myself and I'm anxious to get it out to the community ASAP. "What About 2025?" Since both releases of Civil 3D (2024/2025) are functioning in the .NET 8 framework their architectures should be similar enough that the 2026 release of ASE Civil should also work fine on Civil 3D 2025. I started out developing a 2025 release of ASE but then realized it was so late in the Autodesk release cycle that it made more sense to just target 2026 instead, so that's what I decided to do; Start over with a new product release compatibility target year. Don't Wait for Me Though! If you're already using Civil 3D 2025 or 2026 right now, and you're somehow "magically" able to continue using ASE Civil17 like nothing ever happened, you'll be pleased to know that (if you haven't already discovered this on your own): ASE Civil 2017 build# 14.9.0 has been tested and proven to already be compatible with Civil 3D 2026 (See this post). So everything you're currently using in ASE Civil will work in virtually every version of Civil 3D you run it with. The release I'm currently developing will: • Fix some broken items • Resolve some ribbon issues • Improve performance • Extend capabilities in some areas • Simplify & reduce the required user input for some features • Add some new items • Refine selected functions and objects • Totally rearrange the installation structure and streamline the setup process so no additional configuration is required. Install ASE Civil 2026, start C3D and start working. Thank you all, once again for your patience. I'll make this next release well-worth your wait. Nick MerchantLike
- GeneralHuh? I was surprised myself too. I thought the current version would be crashing all over my desktop, but once again, Autodesk continues its cadence of consistency when creating new libraries. Since ASE is written mostly using Visual Lisp (reserving .NET for forms and minor support logic), this makes staying compatible with AutoCAD & C3D much easier. Proven with Testing So, I'm not just making the statement without doing some real-world testing on actual client support projects. I opened some of the ASE drawings using C3D 2024 and all worked fine. I simultaneously opened other drawings in the same project from a different computer using C3D 2026. I then ran ASE commands which accessed ASE data as well as C3D alignments and surfaces and ASE ran normally, without any issues thus far. "Thus Far?" I say this because testing is only about 75% complete. I have to test every single system to be 100% sure. However, the only element of compatibility that has ever been an issue with ASE is connection to the civil database. Since ASE's connectivity has been well-established with those civil databases in 2026, if anything else breaks at this point, it will definitely be a first. "What About 2025?" I have not tested on C3D 2025. If all testing passes on 2026, then 2025 will be spot-checked for critical functions in ASE that must work fully and have no workaround, like profile generation or Marker Constraints. Editorial (Developers Only) How can this be the case? Two reasons: 1. ASE contains custom logic that searches the registry to get the digits it needs to call the correct COM interface objects based on what's actually installed and in use at the time. So you can have multiple versions of C3D installed side-by-side on the same system and ASE will always resolve the libraries it needs. 2. Visual Lisp/Active code does not require external libraries to function or to build a solution, unlike .NET languages. Everything Visual Lisp/ActiveX needs to function is right there inside AutoCAD. Because Visual Lisp transcends all compatibility boundaries. Unlike .NET languages, all of ASE Civil's interaction with the Civil 3D database is accomplished using Visual Lisp, not .NET. There's nothing at all (inside AutoCAD or Civil 3D) that can be done only in .NET which cannot be done with Visual Lisp/ActiveX instead, resulting in about 1/10th the volume of code and that much less coding complexity (Why would anybody ever want to manage transactions, when it's done for you in Visual Lisp?). I continually fail to understand why anybody would want to develop AutoCAD plugins with .NET. It's painful, especially in .NET 8, which is far more critical re: transaction misuse and mishandling of COM objects. I feel like I should write an article sharing this with other developers, but it would be a total waste of my time. More people would want to argue & debate than just ask ChatGPT if I know what I'm talking about or not, which will also verify my claim. I've been automating AutoCAD and several of its verticals for almost 25 years now and I've used both Visual Lisp and C#.NET as well as VB.NET. As one who knows first-hand about AutoCAD development, with decades of experience, I can say without a doubt that there is no comparison. VisualLisp/ActiveX does the job, runs just as quickly and involves FAAAAR less overhead. Did You Know? Autodesk never allowed AutoCAD LT to use automation in the past. However, starting in release 2024 that has changed. You may now run custom plugins inside of AutoCAD LT, with one minor hitch; .NET (.exe, .dll) is not allowed. You can ONLY use Visual Lisp/ActiveX, so that means the plugin must be either a .LSP or .VLX. FWIW...Like