Autodesk released Civil 3D 2020.2 Update last week and then re-released a new build of Update 2 a couple of days later. Oops. I can only guess someone discovered some fault in the sexy new BIM 360 Civil 3D projects in the cloud tools that are the big new thing in Civil 3D 2020.2. More on that in a bit. Who knows what? I searched in vain for Civil 3D Object Model fixes to known issues.
Civil 3D Update the Update Mechanics
If you installed the previous version 13.2.1748.0 Civil 3D 2020.2 Update, that build must be uninstalled before this newer 13.2.1758.0 Civil 3D 2020.2 Update build can be installed.
In Windows 10, the tools to uninstall an update is squirreled away in
Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features\Installed Updates.
Just so you know that these Autodesk Updates do not show up in the installed programs list.
The Civil 3D Business Challenge
We must address the need to find a better path to systematically manage our customization of Civil 3D.
The Framework for Civil 3D is designed, built, and continuously improved primarily to address these ever-present, mission critical, and often expensive Civil 3D issues.
Framework for Civil 3D 2020.2 Updates
The Framework for Civil 3D is an Adaptive Managed System for all the many resources required to create and maintain a Civil 3D production environment. The latest versions of the Framework for Civil 3D are more flexible, more consistent, and more robust.
We released the latest and greatest Release 8 and Release 7 builds of the Framework for Civil 3D 2020.2.
Most of the new and improved Style Tools and significant Layer Standards upgrades were already recently released in the Release 8 Framework for Civil 3D 2020.1 update and the Release 7 Framework for Civil 3D 2020.1 update.
Follow the links above to read the summaries.
Framework for Civil 3D 2020.2 Release 8
Affordable Civil 3D Templates and Civil 3D Style Tool Libraries that Work
See the Release 8 Details page for the specifics.
- The new updated 2020.2 Style libraries can be employed to upgrade 2019 and 2018 Style collections in older drawings and templates that employ the latest Civil 3D Updates for those older releases.
- Release 8 comes with resources supplied in the NCS 6.0 CAD Standards by default
- Support for other Multiple Adaptive Layer Standards and customizations are included
- Built-in resources for both classic Civil 3D Templates and Civil 3D Reference Templates for both STB and CTB
- Advanced in-depth Adaptive Build Block resources for easier and better task-based design in Civil 3D
- Full suite of Excel-based Spreadsheet Tools to systematically manage the resources and customizations
- Jump Kit and Templates Only are available for Release 8
Framework for Civil 3D 2020.2 Release 7
Affordable Civil 3D Templates and Civil 3D Style Tool Libraries that Work
See the Release 7 Details page for the specifics.
- The new updated 2020.2 Style libraries can be employed to upgrade 2019 and 2018 Style collections in older drawings and templates that employ the latest Civil 3D Updates for those older releases.
- Release 7 comes with resources supplied in the NCS 5.0 CAD Standards by default
- Support for other Multiple Adaptive Layer Standards and customizations are included
- Built-in resources for both classic Civil 3D Templates and Civil 3D Reference Templates for both STB and CTB
- Basic Adaptive Build Block resources
- Full suite of Excel-based Spreadsheet Tools to systematically manage the resources and customizations
- Jump Kit is available for Release 7
Civil 3D Projects in BIM 360 Design
For reasons that might be obvious based on my recent Civil 3D Interoperability posts, I got a rush of emails about BIM 360 and Civil 3D Projects in the cloud when the Civil 3D 2020.2 Update splashed down.
Collaborating in BIM 360 with architects and others does not require you host your Civil 3D projects in BIM 360.
Put simply- BIM 360 Docs is not BIM 360 Design. Civil 3D 2020 Update 2 enables the Civil 3D project functionality to work inside BIM 360 Design.
BIM 360 Collaboration is Not Design
A Civil 3D project in BIM 360 may or may not get a useful form of collaboration working for you and your partners. It might confuse things. We have both the management of our Civil 3D projects and what we want to publish to our partners. These are two different matters for most folks and civil engineering and survey firms in Civil 3D Land.
If you need to have your Civil 3D projects worked on from multiple offices, BIM 360 Design can make that easier. Of course, a System Managed set of resources for Civil 3D like the Framework for Civil 3D can also help a lot.
If you want to have cloud-based projects your Civil 3D Project Templates are probably going to matter more than you think. See the Civil 3D Projects and Setup posts and videos page.
BIM 360 Docs
I recommend that people take baby steps to mutually learn to employ the Shared Reference Point Tools for Civil 3D and Revit and/or the basic use of Shared Views to get up to speed on BIM 360 Docs.
This is well worth the effort. It may save you many hours in back and forth emails etc.
There are a number of useful videos about these topics in the site’s Public Video pages.
There is an entire section of videos on BIM 360 Tools.
BIM 360 is about document, file, and resource management in the cloud. It is not a Windows file system no matter how much any Autodesk management interface tries to make it look like that. Someone has important and well-informed Administration work that must be accomplished and performed more than once if not regularly.
New BIM 360 Users will need the independent install of the Autodesk Connector app and the BIM 360 entitlement lit up by their Autodesk license adiministor.
There are good Autodesk tutorials on the BIM 360 Admin and the User tools and skills available. Take the time individuually to do the basic training or be prepared to be dissatisfied with your progress.
Cloud Permissions Caveats
Cloud-based permissions do not work like Windows operating system and the basic network permissions that most of us are used to. The cloud is considered a hostile place. When in doubt lock it down.
For good security reasons, you can and should assume that no one has any rights or permissions to anything unless someone explicitly grants those explicit rights to persons or groups. For example: as an Admin you could potentially make folders but have no rights to even see the contents of the folder you made. Yes. There’s a reason for that.
You should never assume that your local permissions will get moved up to a cloud-based structure. The rights or permissions might employ the same names, but they are not exactly the same thing. Sorry that’s confusing.
Most folks in Civil 3D Land have some basic experience with file-sharing apps like Dropbox et al. BIM 360 is designed to be more than that and those differences matter for better or for worse.
Make Civil 3D Work Great
Get the Framework for Civil 3D Release 8