Autodesk released Autodesk Civil 3D 2021 Update 2 this week. The Civil 3D 2021.2 Update arrived with a complementary Infraworks 2021.2 Update and a significant update to the capabilities of the Autodesk Connector for ArcGIS. A hearty hear here for the new and improved support in detail for ArcGIS raster imagery and surfaces. If your civil engineering and survey work is focused on Operations Engineering, the work again got easier in Civil 3D 2021.
Autodesk Civil 3D 2021 Update 2
Note that Autodesk did not yet release a new version of the Autodesk Desktop Connector for BIM 360. Don't be surprised if one arrives any day now.
The current August release of the Connector for BIM 360 remains the official standard.
Autodesk will certainly release new versions for the planned Autodesk Construction Cloud integrations and new products sometime before Jan 31, 2021.
See the recent and important The New in Civil 3D Land from AU 2020 post and links for those details.
See the Autodesk InfraWorks 2021 Update 2 News post for the Infraworks improvements and fixes that are substantial.
Civil 3D 2021.2 ArcGIS Improvements
Autodesk’s John Sayre quickly covers the 2021.2 Update improvements to the Autodesk Connector for ArcGIS. Yum!
Civil 3D 2021.2 Pressure Pipe Improvements
Autodesk also delivers some often-requested improvements to Pressure Pipe Network and Run capabilities in the Civil 3D 2021.2 Update. These include:
- Support for Multiple Pressure Pipe Catalogs
- Offset Control By Station Range
- Expression Support for Pressure Pipe Band Styles
See below for the official details.
Project Explorer Interface Essentials
Jeff Bartels' short introduction to the Project Explorer for Civil 3D (PE) interface essentials is to remind you to install the PE and get more work done in Civil 3D.
Sadly, there were no updates or fixes included in the PE in the Civil 3D 2021.2 Update.
See the must read - The Project Explorer for Civil 3D Primer post and the Project Explorer videos page for more important PE information and help.
The Framework for Civil 3D and Civil 3D 2021.2
The Framwork for Civil 3D Release 8 for Civil 3D 2021 upgrades and appears to run in Civil 3D 2021.2 Update. Hoorah!
I easily and quickly employed the Civil 3D Batch Save Utility to update a detailed version of the typical Framework Sandbox projects to the Civil 3D 2021.2 public build without issues. The projects consist of 100+ drawings with lots of DREFs. The Framework’s supplied Sandbox projects in both STB and CTB employ Reference Templates.
I encountered some minor Reference Template issues with Pressure Pipe Catalog resolutions in the supplied Parts Lists for understandable 2021.2 Update reasons.
99.9% of the Framework for Civil 3D Style collection libraries appear to upgrade to Civil 3D 2021.2 Update without issues.
The Civil 3D 2021.2 Object Model
There are minor Civil 3D Object Model changes in Civil 3D 2021.2 to support Expressions in Pressure Pipe Band Styles.
The Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis 2021.2 Update should follow real soon now. The SSA 2021.2 Update was not yet available at the time of this posting.
Here’s the rest of the skinny on the Autodesk Civil 3D 2021.2 Update…
Autodesk Civil 3D 2021.2 Update
The latest Autodesk Civil 3D 2021.2 Update includes new enhancements and improvements.
See the What's New in Civil 3D 2021 Updates page
Pressure Pipe Improvements
Support for Multiple Pressure Pipe Catalogs
- Pressure Pipe Network Parts Lists may now load and include parts from multiple Catalogs.
- Pressure Pipe Runs and Networks may include a mixture of Pipes, Fittings and Appurtenances from separate catalogs. For example: Design pressure systems that include a mix of PVC or HDPE pipes with ductile iron bends and fittings.
- The Information tab of the Pressure Networks Parts List dialog box now allows loads, unloads, and reports on the use status of catalogs.
Offset Control By Station Range
- Override pipe run offsets for specific station ranges.
- In the Overrides tab of the Pipe Run Profile Settings dialog box, supports the ability to override the pipe run's offsets for specific station ranges.
- Specify a specific offset distance or supply a reference profile for a station range.
Expression Support for Pressure Pipe Band Styles
- Expressions created for profile label styles for both pipe networks and pressure networks can now be used when creating labels for Pipe Data Bands Styles and Pressure Network Data Bands Styles.
ArcGIS Connector Improvements
Refresh ArcGIS data in drawings
- Refresh an ArcGIS dataset in your drawing so that it matches the ArcGIS dataset online by using the Refresh option in the Data Source Manager dialog box.
Import ArcGIS raster data sources as imagery and/or surfaces
- Imagery and surface are different raster data source types.
- If you want to import imagery and create a surface from the raster data at the same time, you can select an imagery layer and a surface layer in the Autodesk Connector for ArcGIS when you are importing the data.
- When you select the option to create a surface, a grid surface is created in the drawing from the data.
- You can import the same raster data multiple times into a drawing so that you can specify different resolution settings and areas of interest.
Autodesk Civil 3D 2021.2 Fixes
The following fix it list seems to include some fixes also included in Civil 3D 2021.1 Update.
See the Release Notes for Civil 3D 2021.2 page
API
- Fixed an API issue in which reading subassembly shape data required opening the database object for write.
- Fixed an issue in which a sample line could not be created at an alignment start station or end station using the API.
Autodesk Collaboration for Civil 3D
- Fixed a stability issue that would occur when opening a drawing from BIM 360.
- Improved performance when switching data shortcut projects for projects that are stored in BIM 360, downloading source files only when required.
- Fixed an issue in which opening a drawing with circular references would cause a message to be displayed in the Desktop Connector pending actions list that the file cannot be accessed.
Data Shortcuts
A new system variable named DSFolderXMLCreationOption has been added to provide control over where the ShortcutsFolders.xml file will be created. When DSFolderXMLCreationOption is set to 0, the ShortcutsFolders.xml file will be created in the top level project folder. When DSFolderXMLCreationOption is set to 1, the ShortcutsFolders.xml file will be created in the _Shortcuts folder inside the project folder.
The search path order for the ShortcutsFolder.xml file is now as follows:
- _Shortcuts
- Data shortcut project folder
For example, if there is a ShortcutsFolder.xml file in both the Shortcuts folder and the project folder, only the file in the Shortcuts folder will be used.
- Fixed an issue in which data shortcut reference data was not updated after using the Repair Broken Shortcuts command if the source was changed before repairing the data shortcuts.
- Fixed an issue in which data referenced pipe networks appeared as disconnected parts in the Structure Properties dialog box.
- Fixed an issue in which data shortcut reference data was not updated after using the Repair Broken Shortcuts command if the source was changed before repairing the data shortcuts.
- Fixed a stability issue that would occur if the _Shortcuts folder is readable, but its contents such as ShortcutsHistory.xml are not readable.
- Fixed a stability issue that would occur when opening a drawing with circular references from a BIM 360 project.
Feature Lines
- Fixed an issue in which the elevation of a feature line elevation point could not be edited in the Grading Elevation Editor.
- Fixed an issue in which feature lines that were used as corridor baselines and located in a site would disappear from the site.
- Fixed a performance issue that would occur when selecting feature lines while the Properties Palette was open.
InfraWorks Workflows
- Fixed an issue in which vertical curves were discarded from roads that were imported into InfraWorks from Civil 3D using either DWG or IMX source files and appeared only as PVIs in the profile view in InfraWorks.
- Improved stability in InfraWorks when editing a road that was imported from Civil 3D.
Miscellaneous
- Fixed a stability issue that could occur when creating a new drawing or opening a drawing when the STARTUP system variable was set to 2.
- Fixed a stability issue that could occur when opening a drawing.
Parcels
- Fixed an issue in which parcel label properties would change when a drawing was reopened.
Pipe Networks
- Fixed an issue in which the Rim to Sump Height structure property was not read only.
- Fixed an issue in which the Rim to Sump Height structure property was always 5 feet when a pipe network was imported from GIS data.
- Fixed an issue in which a pipe run profile would not appear when the Profile Layout toolbar was floating.
Points
- Fixed an issue in which an invalid query in a point group resulted in the display of unexpected characters on the command line.
Pressure Networks
- Fixed an issue in which the pressure pipes tab was not shown in the Panorama vista.
- Fixed an issue in which the name and description for pressure part bands displayed the name and description of the profile view.
- Fixed an issue in which band labels for pressure network fittings and appurtenances were not displayed in profile views.
- Fixed an issue in which appurtenance label styles for pressure networks in profile view could not be specified.
- Fixed an issue in which only one pressure network fitting would be selected after selecting a pressure network in the Prospector tree.
- Fixed an issue in which the check boxes for some pressure pipe fittings could not be selected in the Profile View Properties dialog box.
- Fixed an issue in which pressure pipe labels in a profile view band were not shown when the offset style is set to Cut Length.
- Fixed an issue in which the pressure pipe fitting boundary was not shown in profile view.
- Fixed an issue in which the 3D length of a pressure pipe vertical curve was not correct.
- Fixed an issue in which pressure network parts could not be selected in the Prospector tree.
- Fixed an issue in which a pipe run profile would lose its link to the pressure pipes.
- Fixed an issue in which the parts list on the ribbon could not be changed when a pressure network that was created with a different parts list was selected.
Quantity Takeoff
- Fixed an issue in which the earthwork quantity type values were not displayed in the material list when running quantity takeoff.
The Liberty to Make Civil 3D Work Better
Get the Framework for Civil 3D Release 8