Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Civil 3D 2007


As Autodesk introduces the NEW family of 2007 products (shipping in the next month or two) there will be lots to talk about. Here we will focus of course on Civil 3D 2007. What will be there? What will not? I will mention a few general topics today with detailed posts in the near future.

Lets begin.

One of the most obvious additions to Civil 3D is the entirely new Survey functionality and the survey observation object.

The Project environment will now be managed by the core data management capabilities of Autodesk Vault. It will allow for the sharing of:

Points
Surfaces
Alignments
Profiles
Pipe Networks (NEW)
Survey Data (NEW)

Corridors will create named surfaces directly. We will no longer have to export non-associated surfaces. We will also be able to select an existing polyline as a corridor boundary (cool). There will be new subassemblies.

Profiles will now be element-based (free, floating, fixed). This allows for similar constraints as horizontal alignments.

Grading Feature Lines will be controlled by a new set of tools which include the ability, similar to LDt, to create offsets with elevational differences.

Quick sections will be able to be created from AutoCAD objects.

We will be able to create a Pipe Network from a polyline and create an alignment from an existing pipe network. Pipe interference detection will be possible.

Styles management will include the ability to Merge, Copy, or Rename any duplicates found during drag-and-drop operations.

Labels will be able to contain data from various object types in our models. We will be able to include expressions (formulas) in a label style. The labeling of lines, arcs and polylines with style based labels will be possible. I am confident that many will appreciate that masks will be able to be added to labels to hide object behind the label.

We will be able to reset a Point's elevations based on an existing surface. Changing an individual point's rotation angle graphically will be possible.

LandXML 1.1 support for survey and corridor data will help matters.

These are just a few of the enhancements that caught my eye. These plus those found in AutoCAD 2007 and Map 3D 2007 (because Civil 3D is built on top of these products) will give us lots benefit from.

OK, that is enough for now. As I said, I hope to add comments and details in the coming days, and weeks, as time permits.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for keeping us posted Angel. These seem like great enhancements that we've all been looking for.

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