2. Bob Mason Solutions Consultant – Civil Solutions
18+ years Industry experience working on Commercial, Site Design, Municipal, Transportation and Survey projects.
Degree in Computer Aided Design
Specializing in:
AutoCAD Civil 3D
AutoCAD Map 3D
Autodesk InfraWorks
AutoCAD Land Desktop
AutoCAD
Knowledge with:
Microstation
Geopak
ESRI

3. The Dynamic Duo
Civil 3D is a great tool that you may rely on every day
But when you put InfraWorks 360 next to it, the team is unbeatable
There are things that one product does better than the other
So why not use the best tool for the job?

4. The Dynamic Duo Are you currently doing these things with Civil 3D?
Establishing existing conditions
Preliminary road design
Detailed design and documentation
Let’s take a look at how well they can be done with Civil 3D together with InfraWorks 360

5. Establishing Existing Conditions
Goal: Develop a backdrop for preliminary design
Survey not feasible due to time, budget, geography restrictions
Done with freely available data
How long would it take you to complete this task?
What kinds of skills would it require?
Typically done with:
Various online sources of data
Civil 3D tools for surface building
Map tools for consuming GIS data
3rd party tools for data format translation

6. Establishing Existing Conditions
Note: Clock does not reflect time required to research and find data
Doing it with Civil 3D – typical workflow
Acquire data
Translate format
Configure Civil 3D environment
Create a surface from GIS data
Capture imagery
Import vector data
End result: Aerial image with contours and lines
Doing it with InfraWorks 360
Open Model Builder
Zoom into are of interest
Create model
End result: 3D model with terrain, draped aerial imagery, 3D roads. 3D water features, and 3D buildings
Pain points:
Locating data can take hours (and is not reflected by the timer)
Some data requires translation by 3rd party software
Configuring the Civil 3D environment takes expert knowledge of coordinate systems
Failure to properly configure coordinate systems makes data useless
Dealing with unknown or improperly assigned coordinate systems is a common frustration
Creating a surface from GIS data requires intermediate/expert knowledge of Civil 3D functionality
Importing vector data requires intermediate/expert knowledge of Map 3D functionality
InfraWorks 360 video starts at 4:33 of Civil 3D video

7. Establishing Existing Conditions
The story continues…
Civil 3D steps in when accurate ground data is obtained
Process field data
Build a surface
Detailed symbology and labeling
The accurate surface created in Civil 3D can be added to the InfraWorks 360 model, if desired
Remember that we’re not trashing Civil 3D – there are just things that InfraWorks 360 is designed to do that we previously were forcing Civil 3D to do.
Field data can be raw point data from a field crew, point cloud data, a deliverable from a photogrammetry company, LIDAR
Whatever the source of the data, Civil 3D is needed to turn it into an accurate base map and a backdrop for detailed design
Civil 3D is needed for
Contours and contour labels
Symbols like power poles, manholes, fire hydrants, sings
Labeling streets, buildings, site features, utilities, property boundaries, etc.
Establishing legal boundaries

8. Establishing Existing Conditions
With Civil 3D alone
With Civil 3D and InfraWorks 360 Together
Pre-survey
Potentially hours spent locating data
No time spent finding data
Expert-level skills and experience required
Simple process – minimal training required
Multi-step, messy process due to disparate data sources
Single step – “Create Model”
End result: Aerial image with contours and lines
End result: 3D model with terrain, draped aerial imagery, 3D roads. 3D water features, and 3D buildings
Post-survey
Civil 3D used to generate detailed existing conditions drawing
Detailed info can be visualized in context, in 3D
Results
Detailed existing conditions drawing
Detailed existing conditions drawing, and in-context 3D model
Compare these items by moving left to right on each line, don’t go down one side and then down the other
Remember that it’s not Civil 3D vs. InfraWorks 360 – It’s what you’re doing now (Civil 3D) vs. what you could be doing with InfraWorks Civil 3D
Overall 7 minutes (without time to find data) versus 2 minutes
More like 2 hours and 7 minutes versus 2 minutes
Perhaps ask the audience to estimate how long it typically takes them to find data and then add that on to the 7 minutes

9. Preliminary Road Design
Goal: Develop a road design quickly, but with design principles that work
Should use engineering-based horizontal and vertical design
Should consider reasonable cut and fill
How long would it take you to complete this task?
What kinds of skills would it require?

10. Preliminary Road Design
Doing it with Civil 3D – typical workflow
Doing it with InfraWorks 360
Launch road tool
Select style
Draw road
End result: 3D road with lanes, curbs, sidewalks, etc. & designed intersection
Sketch out path of road centerline
Create corridor
Create corridor surface
Create alignment
Design intersection
Create existing profile
Clean up surface
Create design profile
Design secondary road
End result: 3D “wireframe” with contours
Create assembly
Pain points
The process for creating a preliminary design road in Civil 3D is really no different than creating a detailed/final design road – the same steps are required
Generally the same skills are required, whether you’re creating preliminary designs or final designs
This process is multiple steps and requires the user to learn several areas of the software
InfraWorks video starts at 18:42
Video is at 8X speed
The following slide will allow you to show normal speed so don’t pause the video

11. Preliminary Road Design
Let’s see that again
The skills required to sketch out a preliminary design road can be taught in a few minutes
Additional training can be applied for someone who wants to take a more detailed design approach
Assumptions are made so that the design is automated
PVIs automatically selected based on terrain, design speed, etc.
Intersection geometry
Horizontal curves based on design speed
All geometry created from assumptions can be edited

12. Preliminary Road Design
The story continues…
After the design reaches a point in InfraWorks 360…
The InfraWorks 360 model can be opened in Civil 3D
Civil 3D is then used for detailed design and documentation
Then the detailed design in Civil 3D can be opened in InfraWorks 360 for visualization.
Civil 3D is still needed and a critical part of the process
Needed for
Plan & Profile sheets
Annotation of plan and profile
Section sheets (cross sections shown on slide)
Adding details and notes
Everything required for developing bidding and construction documents

13. Preliminary Road Design
With Civil 3D alone
With Civil 3D and InfraWorks 360 Together
Preliminary Design
10-step process, 20 minute process
3-step process, 40-second process
Expert-level skills and experience required
Simple process – minimal training required
More detail than necessary for preliminary design
Just enough detail for preliminary design
No assumptions made, requires 100% designer input
Assumptions made = quick, but “smart” design
Detailed design
Detailed design continues in Civil 3D
InfraWorks 360 model opened in Civil 3D – detailed design commences
Results
Detailed design model and construction documentation
Detailed design model, construction documentation, and in-context 3D model
Compare these items by moving left to right on each line, don’t go down one side and then down the other
Remember that it’s not Civil 3D vs. InfraWorks 360 – It’s what you’re doing now (Civil 3D) vs. what you could be doing with InfraWorks Civil 3D
Overall 20 minutes versus 40 seconds

14. Detailed Design Civil 3D is still a BIG part of the equation
Survey data processing
Needed for detailed design
Needed for “design without assumptions”
Needed for preparation of bidding and construction documents
Profiles
Cross Sections
Details
Labeling
Plan Production
Adherence to graphical standards
Civil 3D: can’t live without it

15. What about Civil 3D?
Until now, there has been nothing available for quick, visual, preliminary design
Until now, the industry has been using a tool that is best for detailed design (Civil 3D) to perform preliminary design
Now that InfraWorks 360 is available you have the best tools to do both jobs
Civil 3D is still a much needed tool – projects cannot be completed without it

16. Best tool for the job Civil 3D InfraWorks 360 Preliminary design
Completion of detailed design
Full user control
No assumptions
Documentation
Profiles & Cross Sections
Details & Labeling
Plan Production
Adherence to graphical standards
InfraWorks 360
Preliminary design
Early detailed design
Fast
Utilizes the cloud
Assumptions allow quick, automated solutions
Visual
Full-time 3D
Context
Easy to learn
You can’t use the best tool for the job if you don’t have all the tools
Civil 3D and InfraWorks 360 were designed for different purposes
Therefore, each tool has it’s strengths
You’ll get the most out of the technology if you use the best tool at the best time
Speed
End result