The post I was going to write this week was on an entirely different topic. I had done a bit of research on another technology trend I thought might be interesting, but because of a question that came up late last week, I’ve decided to put that one on hold. The question I was asked that changed the topic path was regarding the relationship between Autodesk Infraworks 360 and Civil 3D. Is Infraworks (when I say Infraworks, I am referring to the 360 version) going to replace Civil 3D, or does it serve a completely different purpose?
It’s a good question and one that doesn’t, as of yet, have a really clear cut answer. Both of these applications talk about using 3D models, but a model in Infraworks is handled quite differently from one in Civil 3D. We all remember the early days of Infraworks where you could only produce these cartoonish models which were good enough for a preliminary rendition of an area, but little else. The more recent versions of Infraworks have added significant capabilities, not the least of which is Model Builder. With Model Builder, you now can select a project area just about anywhere on the planet and Infraworks will gather whatever data is available within its search capacity and create the base model for you. While the available information varies depending on the project location, Infraworks generally does a pretty good job of producing a model, even over a fairly large area. This is one of the key differentiators between Infraworks and Civil 3D. While you can gather much of this information and use it in a Civil 3D drawing, it is time consuming and the modeling environment in Civil 3D is not as fluid as that in Infraworks. Civil 3D works within the DWG environment, while Infraworks is a database backed application.
Civil 3D is detailed design software, and as such, works best when the model area is small. Scaling Civil 3D models over a large area has always been and continues to be challenging. While there are a number of strategies for optimizing the Civil 3D environment, things bog down when the drawing size gets too large. As Infraworks does not work in a drawing environment, it is not hampered by those constraints.
For some time now, we’ve been using Civil 3D for everything from conceptual design through final plan production. While many of the Civil 3D objects are three dimensional, we’ve mostly been working in plan, profile and section views throughout the process. You do, of course, have the ability to style and render your model, orbit around it, drive along the roads, etc., but this really can’t be thought of as a full 3D context. Infraworks sees things differently, and you always are working within a dynamic three dimensional framework and seeing the existing and designed objects within a representational real world context.
The inclusion of the roadway, bridge and drainage tools and their continuing evolution make Infraworks suitable for more detailed design at the early stages of a project. Granted, these tools are not yet perfect, but they are gaining capabilities in each release (which is quarterly, so there generally is quite a bit of momentum). Functions like traffic and movement analysis are not the sort of thing that are impossible within the Civil 3D environment, but doing them in an Infraworks model allows you to see the results in a broader and richer context. The amount of factual information may be the same in both cases, but seeing the results as part of an active model does help clarify their relationship to other objects within the model.
My feeling, at the moment, is that Infraworks will not be the replacement for Civil 3D in the near future, although with rapidly changing technologies like these it’s difficult to predict things farther out. The meaning of “near future” can be nebulous when dealing with software evolution. Right now, though, these two products compliment each other, one being for concept and rapid design, the other being for detailed design and preparation of engineering drawings for permitting and construction of selected portions of the overall area.
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