InfraWorks 360 March 2015 – What’s new?

What’s new? That’s easy. Just go go HERE and it will show you what’s new.

What’s new that you should be using? That’s a different story. Here are my favorite new features in the March 2015 release of InfraWorks 360. I’m not going to go into detail on everything that’s new, I’ll just touch on a few of the things that I think are interesting. The topics I’ll cover are Model Builder changes, Drainage Network additions, the new Land Areas and Grading, and the new (and very exciting) Traffic Simulation.

Model Builder

Last release we were no longer restricted to rectangular areas to create a model from, we could choose an area based on a polygon (great for transportation projects). This year, we don’t even have to draw the area our self! Have a shapefile representing your area of interest? Use that to create the model!

Model Builder Area from Shape File

In my opinion, this is a good start. Unfortunately, a shape file is the only file type that it currently uses. In Map 3D, it’s REALLY easy to create a .sdf file but a little more involved to create a .shp file. Can we use the Autodesk .sdf file format? Nope, not yet.

Another limitation is it must be a polygonal area. What I would love to be able to do is bring in a linear file (such as the centerline of the road I’m working on), apply a buffer width to it, and create a model from that. Perhaps in the next release.

Drainage Networks

Drainage networks is one area of InfraWorks that has seen a lot of improvements over the last few releases. It’s an interesting concept and I’m definitely excited about where Autodesk is going with this. So, what’s new in this version?

Outfalls

When you add a drainage network to your design road, it adds an outfall at the low points of your roads.

Outfall

Inlets

When you select an inlet, it will show you the spread of water in the road as well as the contributory area to the inlet. Unfortunately, the contributory area is ONLY the roadway. It does not take into account any contribution from area outside of the pavement that will flow onto your road but, hey, it’s a start!

Selected Inlet

The blue outline shows the contributory area and the dark shaded area shows the spread of the flow. Additionally, the asset card gives you the hydraulic and hydrologic properties of the inlet. Things such as intensity, spread, capture efficiency, etc.

Analysis

You can “Inspect Performance” on your network. When you do this, InfraWorks will let you know if your pipe and/or inlets are surcharged as well as the EGL, HGL, and elevation of your pipe at any point along the pipe.

Inspect Performance

Land Areas and Grading

Now, this one is cool! We’ve been able to use coverages pretty much since the inception of InfraWorks but the grading around the coverage has been very limited. Sure, we can add a smooth radius to the coverage but in my opinion, it just doesn’t cut it. With the new Land Areas and Grading, we can apply a different slopes depending on the cut/fill condition as well as different materials to those conditions.

Land Area and Grading

Traffic Analysis

This one is very exciting! You can run a traffic analysis directly within InfraWorks 360 now! It’s still in a preview mode but it’s coming! The capabilities are still somewhat limited but you should give it a try and provide some feedback to the developers on what you like, what you don’t like, and what’s missing. Look for a future post with additional details on the traffic simulation tools.

Traffic Simulation

So, what do you think? Are you excited about the new functionality in InfraWorks? I know I am!

InfraWorks 360 2015 R3 is Here!

Happy holidays to all!

All I want for Christmas is the next version of InfraWorks and guess what, I GOT IT!

InfraWorks 360 2015 R3 is now available for all to enjoy! Where do you get it? Well, if you have a prior version installed, just go check out the Autodesk Application Manager on your system and you can find it there. Don’t know where that is? Go to your Windows Start Menu and start typing “Autodesk Application Manager” and you’ll find it.

Autodesk Application Manager

So, what are some of the new features?

Homepage

Well, there’s a new streamlined home page. It’s much cleaner and less cluttered then the older version. Plus, you don’t have to close your model to get back here! Want to go see something on the home screen? Just click the home icon and then click back on your model and you’re back!

New Home Page

Animations

Add animations to your model! Want to see that tower crane rotate? Want to see that wind turbine spinning? You can do that now! Personally, I haven’t had a chance to try this one yet but I’m definitely looking forward to getting into it!

Model Builder

Model Builder has graduated into a full fledged feature! It’s no longer in the preview state! What’s new? Well, you are no longer required to use a rectangular selection. What this means is, for example, if you have a corridor type project you are working on, you can select just the area along your corridor and not approach the data limit by selecting all that unwanted/unneeded area!

Model Builder Polygonal Selection

Mapped Network Drive Support

So, you want your model backed up on a network drive? Now you can do that! To keep things moving quickly when working in a shared location, InfraWorks creates a tile cache on your local drive (which you can specify the location for).

Set Local Cache for Network Models

Drainage Design

If you haven’t taken a look at the drainage design features, they are pretty cool and getting better with each release. In this release, you’ll have more options on how to control the spacing of the structures, types of structures, and cover over your pipes when creating a drainage network for a design road.

Drainage Network Options

Additionally, you’ll be able to create your own custom drainage content using the Autodesk Labs technology preview called Project Kameleon (yes, it’s spelled with a K). If you are interesting in trying out this new technology, click HERE for more details.

Project Kameleon

Enhanced Civil 3D Workflow

In my opinion, this is the big one for this release! You’ll be able to import a Civil 3D drawing directly into InfraWorks and you’ll be able to open an InfraWorks model in Civil 3D! For this to work, you must have the Civil 3D 2015 Service Pack 2 as well as the Productivity Pack 1 installed. Want to import that Civil 3D drawing? It shows up as a data connection. Made a change to the Civil 3D drawing and you want to see the new updates? Simply re-import the drawing and you’re done.

Want to start doing some detailed design in Civil 3D using the data from InfraWorks? Simply import the model into Civil 3D and away you go!

Open in Civil 3D and Configuration Settings

Oh, so you want to open your model in Civil 3D? Well, fear not for I’ve written a post on my other blog with the instructions on how to do that HERE.

And More!

I didn’t list all the new features, want to check it all out? Click HERE for the online help showing what’s new.

So, what are you most excited about? What did Autodesk do right? What did they do wrong? What’s still missing? Leave a comment for others to see!