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AEC TECH NEWS: Autodesk releases InfraWorks and Civil 3D 2018

AEC TECH NEWS: Autodesk releases InfraWorks and Civil 3D 2018

Figure 1. Bridge modeling - custom piers. Image courtesy of Autodesk.

Apr 13, 2017

On April 13, Autodesk released its latest versions of Autodesk InfraWorks and Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018. Following are highlights of some of what’s new in the two programs.

Autodesk InfraWorks

Autodesk said that it continues to extend the value of InfraWorks as a BIM for infrastructure modeling platform for civil engineers and architects. The latest features include enhancements that enable views of designs with greater engineering context and improvements to the modeling of roads and bridges.

Following are some of the new capabilities:

Manage bridge components — Manage inventor-based bridge components directly in the Style Palette, where users can add parametric content such as decks, piers, and girders and use familiar commands to manage these components.

Material quantities — Quantify more aspects of materials for a selected road such as road components, bridge materials, and drainage components. Export the quantities to a CSV file for further review, reporting, or cost estimating. Customize the quantities panel to show only the categories you would like to see or export.

Figure 2. Material quantities. Image courtesy of Autodesk.

 

Simplified trees — Substitute realistic trees for “simplified trees” to improve the performance (faster regen, panning, and zooming) when large stands of trees, such as forests, are part of the model.

Figure 3. Simplified trees. Image courtesy of Autodesk.

 

Usability enhancements — A new gizmo makes it easier to edit roadside grading, and making modifications to grading zones is faster and more responsive, Autodesk said. Performance of annotations on certain assets is improved, including selected roads, parcels, easements and rights-of-way and some measurement tools. Annotation styles have improved readability, are more responsive while zooming in and out, and respond more effectively when changing view perspective.

Figure 4. Improved grading zone editing. Image courtesy of Autodesk.

 

Figure 5. Improved annotation performance. Image courtesy of Autodesk.

 

Autocase for Sites — Directly from InfraWorks, users now have access to the Autocase for Sites solution, free for a period of one year. Autocase for Sites provides data and analytics to automate the business case for stormwater projects in North America. Using basic project data and carefully curated economic data, Autocase for Sites automates “triple bottom line (TBL) cost benefit analysis (CBA),” including life cycle cost analysis, to help prioritize design elements that will optimize the financial, social and environmental bottom line of a project. Autocase for Sites can help evaluate more than 25 stormwater design features to quantify and monetize the reduction in flooding, avoided gray infrastructure, water and air quality improvement, recreation improvement, reduced carbon emissions, and the property value benefits of green infrastructure.

Figure 6. Autocase for Sites. Image courtesy of Autodesk.

 

Other features and enhancements include:

  • road annotations,
  • converting design roads to component roads, and
  • feedback when standards are broken.

With this latest release, InfraWorks 360 is now officially, and simply, InfraWorks.

AutoCAD Civil 3D

AutoCAD Civil 3D continues to be Autodesk’s solution for detailed design and delivery of construction documentation of infrastructure projects. The release of AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018 focuses on three themes — design efficiency, production efficiency, and collaboration.

Following are a few of the new features in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018:

Launch InfraWorks — The new InfraWorks ribbon in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018 now gives access to InfraWorks-related commands and enables users to launch InfraWorks directly from that ribbon.

Figure 7. InfraWorks ribbon in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018. Image courtesy of Autodesk.

 

Resolve corridor bowties — In AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018, when corridor tangents intersect at a corner, or the corridor is created at a fixed width, the inner and outer corners of corridors are now cleaned up automatically. Corners from corridors brought forward from prior versions of AutoCAD Civil 3D also can be cleaned up by making an edit to the corridor and rebuilding it. The Clear Corridor Bowties command also can be used when the corridor is created at a non-fixed width (such as when daylighting to a surface).

Figure 8. Resolve corridor bowties. Image courtesy of Autodesk.

 

Plan production tools — New drawing templates have been added to accommodate the ability to create plan/plan and profile/profile sheets in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018. The plan production tools allow users to more quickly create construction documents by allowing creation of plan(s)-only, profile(s)-only, and section sheets.

Figure 9. Plan production tools. Image courtesy of Autodesk.

 

Connected alignments — The new connected alignment capabilities in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018 allow users to create a new dynamically linked alignment and profile that transitions between two intersecting alignments and their profiles. Use this feature to create a curb return, an exit ramp, a merging/diverging road, or to connect an existing road with a proposed road.

Figure 10. Connected alignments. Image courtesy of Autodesk.

 

Visit the product centers to learn more about the latest capabilities of AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018 (https://www.autodesk.com/products/autocad-civil-3d/overview) and the latest in InfraWorks (https://www.autodesk.com/products/infraworks-360/overview).

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