Autodesk released the new version of Infraworks 360 in early Sept 2016. Autodesk has been previewing features in the on-going bi-monthly Infraworks webinar series all summer.
If you are an AutoCAD Civil 3D user you don’t want to ignore this software any longer. Visit our Infraworks page to catch up. As with all Infraworks builds this is really a new install and features many new important updates to the Infraworks model. There are changes to the Infraworks 360 to AutoCAD Civil 3D workflows too.
Beyond Concept to Engineering Design
This Infraworks release is very feature rich from a civil engineering road design perspective. The new Component Roads, Bridges, Superelevation, Cross Sections, and integrated earthworks and drainage engines are all pretty significant. Some of these also cascade over into better AutoCAD Civil 3D functionality.
If you are good at corridor design in Civil 3D, most of this part of Infraworks will make sense.
Yes. Welcome to Interface Shock. How to do it looks so different.
Time inside the software is the only hope, but you already know that.
What’s New in Infraworks 360
Eric Chappell of Autodesk released this shorter video on what’s new.
You can clearly see Autodesk wants to please and meet the design demands of the State DOTs and larger transportation clients and governments worldwide. The 2016 fall release does meet complex roadway design challenges head on and in a different and very head ups fashion. Lots of this many of us can put to real world use. See the notes below on the new Infraworks to AutoCAD Civil 3D workflow. Yes. Civil 3D will remain the deliverables engine. That’s what the Framework for AutoCAD Civil 3D is there for.
Autodesk also includes new customizable Views (there are a lot more than you see at first) in Infraworks that help reduce the visual clutter that people have complained about in Infraworks. Views helps you get focused and…
Get To Work
You probably want to install the new AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017 SP1.1 and the new AutoCAD Civil 3D v1 Enhancements before the new Infraworks update too. Just saying.
Yes. There is a 30-day free trial if you don’t already pay for Infraworks 360 yet.
In the Autodesk Desktop App this release shows as Infraworks 360 2017.2.
This is a new install is a hefty 1.9GB download that balloons to 4GB during install.
It appears the install will overwrite the previous April update without an uninstall in Windows 10 Anniversary (1607), but leaves the newly installed Autodesk Desktop App saying the install failed.
You probably want to uninstall any earlier build to reduce the chance of quirks and problems.
The Fall Dave and Dan Show Webinar
This is an out take from the webinar for Infraworks 360.
Here’s a detailed Timeline so you can skip around if you like.
Video Timeline
- 10:15 Infraworks Sept Updates
- 11:50 Release Highlights
- 13:40 Roads and Bridges
- 14:54 Roadway Grading
- 15:33 Complementary Tools
- 17:45 Component Roads
- 18:40 Superelevation
- 19:40 Cross Sections and more Views
- 20:20 Grading and Materials
- 21:10 Earthwork Quantities and More Analysis
- 22:00 Pavement Drainage
- 22:45 ReCap Laser Scan Survey data into Infraworks and Civil 3D
- 31:05 Contours in Infraworks
Here the list of comments from the Infraworks 360 2017.2 readme.
Bridge Design
- A bridge must have 8 or less girders per girder group for deck haunches to be supported.
- Haunches are not supported if a girder crosses the centerline of the bridge deck. Therefore using an odd number of girders will not allow for haunches unless you offset the center girder from the center of the bridge deck.
Design Views
- If you are in Engineering View and have Show Sky disabled in View Settings, the sky will becomes visible again if you switch proposals. Toggle to Conceptual View then back to Engineering View to re-disable the display of the sky background.
- Some component textures, such as the bridge component deck texture, can be difficult to see using the default Conceptual View settings. To improve texture visibility, adjust model time in Sun & Sky settings, or reduce light intensity in the Visualization tab of the View Settings panel. You can also switch to Engineering View.
Drainage Design
- After creating a flood snapshot, toggling the display of the flood snapshot on and off more than once may cause your view to zoom in too far, and InfraWorks 360 will also select a piece of city furniture and show its attributes in the Stack. Single-click in canvas to de-select the city furniture object, then zoom out to see the flood snapshot area again.
Road Design
- The workflow to generate Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D drawings of design roads has changed. Instead of using the Generate Civil3D Drawing intelligent tool in InfraWorks 360, open AutoCAD Civil 3D and use the Insert InfraWorks 360 >> Open InfraWorks 360 Model tool to bring your InfraWorks 360 data into AutoCAD Civil 3D.
- Roadside grading materials may not display properly when fixed-slope roads intersect with fixed-width roads or planning roads.
- Roadside grading is not fully supported for roads or intersections with unresolved geometries, and may produce unexpected results.