New Features

New Features in Autodesk® AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2015

Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2015 contains the following new features and enhancements.

Integration of Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 Productivity Pack 1

The features in the Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 Productivity Pack 1 have been integrated.

• The ability to create sliced solids of pipe networks in section views has been integrated.
• Autodesk® Vault support for pressure networks has been integrated.
• The Export Civil 3D Drawing command for exporting DWG and DGN files has been integrated and is now available on the ribbon. The command now provides the ability to export multiple files simultaneously. The user interface has been updated and some of the settings are in a new Export Settings dialog box.

Corridor Modeling

• 3D areas for corridors can now be reported in a quantity takeoff report.
• When you replace a subassembly in an assembly, you now have the option of retaining the existing corridor targets that are similar.
• New options are available for controlling the frequency to insert assemblies along curved portions of corridor baselines and offsets. You can also use a setting to insert assemblies adjacent to the start and end of offset targets.
• You can now specify that sample lines are incremented relative to the start of the station range.
• Changes have been made in Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 SP1 and Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2015 to the Check Sight Distance command. The manner in which the actual sight distance is calculated (as reported in the sight distance report) has changed, and the graphics created in the drawing to illustrate the sight distance features have changed.
• The Extract Corridor Solids command, which was formerly in the Toolbox, has been added to the ribbon.

Criteria-Based Design

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2015 includes new design criteria files that are based on A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, 6th Edition, 2011, published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).

Profiles

• New options are available for creating free vertical curves. You can now create an entity-based free circular vertical curve or free parabolic vertical curve by selecting a pass through point in the drawing.
• A new command is available for converting free vertical curves (created with the new Free Vertical Curve (Circular) command or the new Free Vertical Curve (Parabola) command) which use a pass through point as their constraint type to curves that use length as their constraint type. This command is intended to provide backward-compatibility with previous versions of the application.
• You can now unlock and change the constraint types of vertical curves in the Profile Layout Parameters dialog box.
• A new command is available for extending fixed and floating profile entities to the extents of the profile view.
• Options are now available for controlling how layout profile geometry is anchored in relation to the associated alignment. You can now specify an option to lock profile geometry points to the previous alignment geometry points, or to the alignment start.
• When you project a solid to profile view, the projection can now be created to represent the solid exactly where the alignment crosses it by selecting the Section check box in the projection style.

Labels

• Options are now available for staggering corridor point code labels in section views.
• You can now use Properties palette to change the object reference that is used in alignment station offset labels, surface slope labels, surface spot elevation labels, and surface contour labels. Previously, the labels had to be deleted and recreated if you wanted to change the object that was being referenced in the label.
  Note: If you change the object that is referenced in the label, question marks (???) may appear in the label. For example, this may occur if you select a different surface to label in a surface spot elevation label, and label is not located within the extents of that surface.
• You can now use a drop-down list in the Properties palette to change reference text objects for label types that support reference text objects. Previously, an object selection button was available for selecting a different reference text object.
  Note: The mechanism for selecting points as reference text objects continues to be an object selection button.

Exporting Data

• You can now export data to KML and KMZ formats.

Help

• The offline Help is now provided in a separate installation file which you can access at http://www.autodesk.com/civil3d-helpdownload-2015-enu.
• Many of the Help topics now include Find links. When the Help is opened from within the application, you can click the Find links in topics to locate the components in the user interface.
• The Learn page of the New Tab replaces the Welcome Screen.

New Features in the Autodesk® Subassembly Composer for Autodesk® AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2015

• A new Offset Geometry tool is available for adding positive or negative offsets to open or closed shapes.
• A new Enabled In Preview check box is available on the Target Parameters tab. Select this check box to enable the target parameter in the preview window. Clear the check box to test how the subassembly will react when the specified target is not found.
• A new ApplyAOR setting is available for specifying whether to apply superelevation or cant to a link.
• New input/output parameter types are available for applying superelevation to a subassembly.
• A new Cant tab is available for previewing the cant effect on a rail subassembly.
• When defining a shape, you can now select an area that encloses another area in the Preview panel.
• The following new sample PKT files are available:
  • IsValid_Example.pkt
  • Offset_Example.pkt
  • Rail_Cant_Example.pkt
  • Superelevation_Example_1.pkt
  • Superelevation_Example_2.pkt

  You can access the sample PKT files at http://www.autodesk.com/civil3d-subassembly-pkt-files-2015.

New Features in Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2015

For information about new features in AutoCAD, please see the New Features Overview Video and the New Commands and System Variables Reference in the AutoCAD Help.

The following sections provide information about some of the new AutoCAD features in relation to AutoCAD Civil 3D.

Online Map Data

For information about how to display online map data in AutoCAD Civil 3D, please see To Display Online Map Data in an AutoCAD Civil 3D Drawing.

Point Clouds

• The new AutoCAD point cloud object provides improved 3D navigation and visual fidelity.
• A Point Cloud contextual ribbon tab improves usability and efficiency of managing point cloud appearance.
• Support is provided for point clouds processed in Autodesk® ReCap™ (.RCS and .RCP files).
• Support for legacy point cloud file formats (.ISD files) is available by using the AutoCAD Civil 3D point cloud commands.
  Note: The AutoCAD Civil 3D point cloud commands will work only with the legacy point cloud file formats.

New Features in Autodesk® AutoCAD® Map 3D 2015

For information about new features in AutoCAD Map 3D, please see the New in This Release topic in the AutoCAD Map 3D Help.

Note: Please note that not all of the AutoCAD Map 3D functionality is included in AutoCAD Civil 3D.