Autodesk officially announced this week the release of the Autodesk 2020 AEC Collection products including Autodesk Civil 3D 2020, Infraworks 2020, Revit 2020, Navisworks 2020, Vehicle Tracking 2020, Recap Pro 2020, etc. This is notably the first truly simultaneous release of all the Autodesk civil and related products.
If you are an Autodesk subscription customer, your subscription Administrator should receive an email real soon now about the download availability of the various Autodesk 2020 AEC Collection products. Some were available when this post was written, but many were not yet available even as trial installs.
None of the 2020 AEC Collection products including Civil 3D 2020 were available for download via Ava as of this posting. This may not still be the case by the time you read this.
The Autodesk 2020 Release Help Files are Live
We updated the Autodesk Online Help page on the site with all the updated links for all the 2020 product help, AKN pages, forums, etc. All the common in use Civil and related application links are included with detailed references to important apps like the Subassembly Composer, Infrastructure Parts Editor, Vehicle Tracking, etc. Many of the AutoCAD Toolset help file links are there too.
Autodesk Civil 3D 2020
The What’s New in Civil 3D 2020 Playlist
Everyone usually asks the typical release upgrade compatibility question first. Civil 3D 2020 supports the same current AutoCAD 2018 dwg format.
Civil 3D 2020 to Civil 3D 2019 and 2018 Interoperability
Civil 3D 2020 does not introduce any new official changes to the Civil 3D Object Model. Aside from the issues introduced previously in Civil 3D 2019.2 drawings function between Civil 3D 2018, Civil 3D 2019, and Civil 3D 2020. Your real-world project performance may vary based on your workflows and the Civil 3D Features employed.
If you review in detail the new goodies and changes listed below, you will probably note there appear to be minor changes that do affect the Civil 3D object model. They just do not restrict Civil 3D version interoperability significantly.
All the previous Civil 3D 2019 Update changes are now included in Civil 3D 2020.
The Survey Database got a storage change from the old Microsoft SQL Server Compact (SQL CE) format to the more common SQLite database format. The previously released Survey Database Migration Utility converts survey databases from SQL CE to SQLite. The Survey Database Migration Utility is supplied in the 2020 install. The database conversion process does not destroy existing SQL CE databases so those can still be employed with older Civil 3D versions.
Official New Civil 3D 2020 Features and Enhancements
New Common Dark Theme for AutoCAD based 2020 products
- New theme and Ribbon icons that perform better on current technology. This is in synch with the new Dark theme introduced in AutoCAD 2020 and the supported Toolsets like Map 3D 2020.
A new modeless Analyze Gravity Network command
You can use the Analyze Gravity Network command to perform the following analysis types:
- Resize Pipes and Reset Inverts: Analyzes the flow through the pipes, and then resizes the pipes and resets inverts to accommodate the flow.
- Compute Energy and Hydraulic Grade Lines: Calculates the energy and hydraulic grade lines, and reports whether each line in the system is in a normal state, surcharged, or flooded.
- Inlet Analysis: Analyzes the capacity of the inlets and reports the flow, depth, and spread at each inlet.
There are new added properties in Structures to support the new Analyze Gravity Network command.
Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis Updates
These reflect the changes listed above.
New SSA features:
- Tailwater conditions can be set separately for each storm while running multiple storm events.
- The Peak Rate Factor for a dimensionless hydrograph can be set for each subbasin.
- New and updated storage chambers from Advanced Drainage Systems® (ADS) and CULTEC® are available.
Alignment Reports
- Alignment reports for alignments that employ chord-based stationing- chord-based calculations are now used to report the station values and the end station.
Production Efficiency Updates
Support for Autodesk Dynamo for Civil 3D
- Autodesk Dynamo for Civil 3D is a visual programming application that allows users and developers to develop and run scripts for automating tasks and workflows in Civil 3D.
- Dynamo is a separate install.
Gee. There are now Dynamo driven Spreadsheet Tools in Civil 3D. Who would have thought of that?
Fixes to the Reference Template Tool
- When you attach a new additional reference template resource to a drawing, it is now added to the bottom of the list of templates. Customized settings that have already been specified for the previously-attached templates are preserved.
Hopefully, this actually fixes this annoying and buggy Settings behavior of the Reference Template Tool.
Property Set Synchronization
- A new system variable to control whether or not Property Sets are automatically synched on open. This also reflects changes and upgrades to the ArcGIS interoperability support.
Data Shortcut Synchronization
- Changes to more types of superelevation and/or cant parameters in a source alignment will prompt you to synchronize a data referenced alignment. In drawings that reference them, this improvement keeps alignment data behind model in better synch without the need to manually checking for updates.
Collaboration and Data Exchange Updates
Export Civil 3D Drawing command Updates
- Labels with background masks are no longer exported with bowtie-shaped hatches.
- Xrefs are exploded appropriately on export.
- Proxy state messages are no longer displayed on export.
- The option to convert feature lines, parcel segments, and survey figures to 2D or 3D polylines that was included in the Autodesk Civil 3D 2019.2 Update is included in Autodesk Civil 3D 2020.
A New Alignment Feature Setting for Export and Infraworks Interoperability
- The new setting for Alignments controls whether rail alignments are exported from Autodesk Civil 3D for use in Infraworks as centerline alignments or rail alignments.
- The setting applies when using the Export IMX command in Civil 3D and when opening a Civil 3D drawing directly in InfraWorks.
See the What’s New in Civil 3D 2020 page
Just for fun and profit and without all the details here’s visual peek and…
Autodesk Infraworks 2020
The What’s New in Infraworks 2020 Playlist
See the What’s New in Infraworks 2020 page
Gee. What do you know? There are now Spreadsheet tools for Civil Structures in Infraworks.
Release the Power Beyond the Code
Get the Framework for Civil 3D Release 8
You can make a safe bet you will get a free upgrade to the Framework for Civil 3D Release 8 for 2020 that is coming soon.