Autodesk has released the latest version of InfraWorks with big updates in the areas of collaboration, design, and interoperability. Autodesk Civil 3D 2019 was also announced.
InfraWorks 360
Autodesk says that InfraWorks is “infrastructure design reimagined” and the software enables designers and civil engineers to plan and design infrastructure projects in the context of the real world. The focus is on preliminary designs for infrastructure to win work or accelerate stakeholder buy-in. InfraWorks enables the input of real-world data from various sources, including GIS, raster, lidar, and databases. Then design tools enable users to quickly develop whole-project scenarios for roads, bridges, rail, and buildings. With built-in analysis and visualization tools, InfraWorks 360 is a complete package for developing and communicating infrastructure design.
New is the ability for teams to collaborate on InfraWorks models using the Autodesk BIM 360 platform. Utilizing BIM 360, a cloud-based platform, users can store new InfraWorks models created with the Model Builder. Team members can utilize BIM 360 integration for document management functionality to view and markup valuable project data. And shared views enable stakeholders to view models online without having to invest in an enterprise-level solution like BIM 360. An Autodesk account is all that is needed to allow others to view and comment on models online.
New design capabilities in InfraWorks 360 include improvements to terrain contours display options and display performance of terrain models. All road modeling tools have been consolidated in this release, new parametric tunnel design is added, and detailed bridge design is possible with a connection to Autodesk Structural Bridge Design.
01 – InfraWorks 360 is newly updated as well as Civil 3D in version 2019.
Interoperability now extends to Autodesk Revit, where InfraWorks bridges can be dynamically updated in Revit. And when component roads are imported from InfraWorks to Civil 3D, they will automatically become corridors with surfaces and subassemblies.
Civil 3D 2019
New in Civil 3D 2019 is the ability to define a new type of fixed vertical curve in an alignment profile by specifying a high and low point—enabling users to start the profile design from a specific point. For example, if a road has a low point (such as for a box culvert) and that low point will control the design of the whole road, that point can be used to define a vertical curve. This feature allows users to develop the rest of a design from a known point and adhere to that design constraint throughout their design process.
Rail subassemblies created in Subassembly Composer now have the ability to read the cant that has been calculated on the alignment and then use those cant values to build a corridor that accurately reflects the calculated cant.
Multiple drawings and template files can be opened and saved to the latest versions of Civil 3D using the Autodesk Batch Save Utility. Custom scripts can also be included in the batch operation, such as a script for drawing cleanup that runs the PURGE and AUDIT commands on every drawing. This feature can be an enormous time-saver when moving a project to a newer version of Civil 3D—eliminating the need to individually open, save, and perform cleanup for the hundreds or thousands of drawings in a project. In addition, it runs outside of the Civil 3D software environment and therefore doesn’t slow down ongoing production.
There is now a new drawing comparison feature. The new AutoCAD DWG Compare feature identifies and visually displays the differences between two drawings. Objects that were modified, added, or removed are displayed in a new comparison drawing using different colors to highlight the differences.
Collaboration and data exchange is also improved. Component roads imported from InfraWorks will automatically become Civil 3D corridors of simple assemblies and subassemblies. This expands the interoperability between InfraWorks and Civil 3D and strengthens the connection of BIM processes on infrastructure projects.
And the Shared Views tool provides a quick and simple way to share models and drawings in the cloud. Anyone can view and comment on the shared view by using a free Autodesk account, even if they do not have an Autodesk product installed.
To learn more about InfraWorks 360 and Civil 3D 2019, visit each at the link.