Annie Phan
Introducing Project Explorer, enhancements to bridge design, better BIM project data management, and more
We at Autodesk recognize that the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to affect communities, families, and people around the world. This is a difficult time for all of us and our hearts go out to all those who have been affected, directly or indirectly.
We’re continuing to explore the best ways we can support our customers, flex to meet their changing needs, and minimize disruptions to their business during this challenging time. We invite you to visit our Resource Center where you can find updates on Autodesk initiatives intended to help our customers and resources that can assist with your collaboration and productivity needs.
While we in the AEC industry adjust to and reimagine a new normal, our infrastructure industry team here at Autodesk continues to work on creating exceptional experiences with the civil engineering tools our customers have come to love. Following the annual releases of Civil 3D and InfraWorks in April, much of our product development efforts have supported better data management – optimizing the flow of data across tools and platforms and help customers gain better insights into their project data. We’ve been hard at work and we have some big news to share with you.
Civil 3D 2021.1 delivers significant productivity enhancements, with new ways for users to navigate, interact with, and report on design information in Civil 3D, and enhanced tools for pressure network layout, rail design, and more.
The latest release of InfraWorks further builds on capabilities that support bridge design and civil structures workflows. In addition, users will find improvements to conceptual road design features, better support for reality capture processes, as well as improvements to Model Builder.
Let’s dive deeper into what you can expect with the newest Civil 3D and InfraWorks updates.
Announcing Project Explorer
First, the big news: Following our recent technology acquisition, Autodesk introduces Project Explorer in Civil 3D as a new extension available to customers with a subscription to the AEC Collection or with an Enterprise Business Agreement. Early adopters of this highly-anticipated extension to Civil 3D have already gained a better understanding of their design and saved time with Project Explorer. Learn more about the capabilities of Project Explorer here.
Connected bridge design gets even better
In April, we unveiled Autodesk’s new bridge design workflow with the 2021 releases of Civil 3D, InfraWorks and Revit. A number of enhancements have been made since. Read more about Autodesk’s bridge design solution.
We didn’t stop there. Additionally, these new releases come packed with updates and enhancements for several areas:
Overall enhancements
BIM 360 Design, Autodesk’s fastest-growing cloud collaboration solution offers secure, real-time design collaboration on your Civil 3D models with Collaboration for Civil 3D, which launched in October of last year. Earlier this year, we introduced a free 30-day trial to Collaboration for Civil 3D.
Now with the release of Civil 3D 2021.1, support for several file formats have been added. This customer requested update allows for MMS files to be stored, shared, and processed much faster than before. Sheet sets or DST files can be accessed and locked. Several other changes have streamlined the user experience.
Enhancements in InfraWorks (2021.1) have made it possible for users to specify their desired projected coordinate system upon model creation with new enhancements to Model Builder. We’ve also made improvements to the InfraWorks home page for quicker and easier access to data. We also introduced the ability to directly import native point clouds in LAS/LAZ format directly in InfraWorks, which will help save time.
Watch the below videos for more details:
Enhancements for roadway design
The latest InfraWorks now supports more complex corridor design workflows. Now Civil 3D corridors with a variety of complex geometries can be imported into InfraWorks 2021.1 allowing users to more easily view details about the corridor parameters for verification and to facilitate more accurate conceptual road design. In Addition, improvements to component road design give users more options to customize design elements, allowing users to create more detail-rich roadway design contextual models.
Watch the video to learn more about improvements to corridor and roadway design modeling:
For railway designers, Civil 3D 2021.1 comes with new capabilities, such as the ability to add additional profile band information for rail Cant and design speed, providing a more complete rail and profile design solution.
Enhancements for site design
Many of our infrastructure customers are involved in land development or site design projects. For these customers, we’ve continued to help streamline their design processes through enhancements made in Civil 3D 2021.1.
We’ve deepened the integration of BIM and GIS data through new features added to the
Autodesk Connector for ArcGIS with Civil 3D, giving the user great flexibility in creating, updating, and managing GIS data efficiently.
New features for pressure pipe networks make it easier to apply design changes. Lastly, new capabilities for feature lines and grading allow for greater control and precision. View the below videos for more details:
Just for AEC developers
For customers, third-party developers, and Civil 3D development teams, we have released powerful API additions to Civil 3D that can:
- Enable the creation of custom tools
- Extend the functionality of design automation with Dynamo for Civil 3D
Many additions to the Civil 3D API have been made, including the following areas:
- Pressure Networks
- Catchments
- Superelevation Views
- Corridor Sections
- Feature Lines
You can find more information about the design automation for Civil 3D public beta on Forge here.
All of these new capabilities and enhancements were built with our customers in mind to help them meet real project challenges. We invite all customers to connect with our product teams directly and influence our roadmaps. Sign up for our Infrastructure Futures program.
Discover what the AEC Collection can do for your infrastructure workflows.
The AEC Collection includes Civil 3D, InfraWorks, Revit, AutoCAD, ReCap Pro, and other essential BIM tools. The AEC Collection is the most cost-effective choice for accessing several of our leading software.