September 2, 2015
New Roadway Design for InfraWorks 360 Tutorials
We have added a set of tutorials to help you get up to speed quickly with Roadway Design. See Tutorials for Roadway Design.
Improved Collaboration
- Improved user role recognition ensures that users have the most updated permissions when working with models.
- Improved security and stability of cloud services.
- You can now download your data if your account expires.
Proposal Merge and Data Import
We have made significant improvements to the way we identify features. These improvements enable more accurate proposal merging, better data refresh, and elimination of duplicate features. Specifically, we have:
- Improved the integrity of data during Proposal Merge operations.
- Included more granular statistics in the Proposal Panel for assets that have been Added, Modified, or Deleted compared to the master proposal.
- Made enhancements to the Data Import process including more robust handling of reimported data to avoid losing user edits or introducing duplicate features.
Improved Rail Performance and Visualization
- Enhanced visualization of railways, bridges, tunnels, and underground stations.
- Railways can now share support structures such as bridges and tunnels. You can define assets for grouping, group and ungroup them, and define a leader asset for the group to use as you create and revise your design. For more information, see To work with railway units by combining railway tracks.
- More accurate visualization of tunnel entrances and exits. Better shading along transportation assets. We have added a horizontal section to rail styles so you can specify the width of a railbed within a natural trough. Use the subgrade setting in the rail style definition to widen the trough as needed. For more information, see To edit railway styles.
- Better display of style transitions.
Unified Login Experience
We have implemented the login look and feel common to all Autodesk products.
Read-only Models
Enhancements to the Reader role enable you to share a model with collaborators in read-only mode. Models shared this way can be viewed but not edited regardless of the user’s entitlements. For more information about roles, see About Roles in Groups.
Roadway Design
Staggered Intersections
Staggered or offset intersections are now supported. You can edit turning and widening zones for these intersections like any other intersection. See To specify design parameters for intersections.
Lane Turn Arrows
You can see and modify which turns are possible from each lane at an intersection.
Traffic Simulation
Traffic Simulation has been fully integrated into InfraWorks 360 and is no longer a preview feature. See About Traffic Simulation. The service is no longer free. Cloud credits are charged based on the size of the traffic study area and duration of simulation.
Interactive traffic simulation enables you to preview the traffic behavior directly in the traffic analysis panel.
You can now define additional traffic demand zones inside the traffic study area. This enables you to assess the impact of traffic travelling to and from an area of interest, such as a site under development.
You can now include roundabouts in the traffic study area.
Improved Performance of Road Layout
- Better response of layout tools to pointer movements when the Profile View is open.
- More rapid display of the Profile View on long roads.
Component Road Decorations (Preview)
Component road decorations have been improved. In addition to adding and deleting component road decorations, you can now edit properties such as rotation and offset.
Convert Style Zones to Components (Preview)
Right-click a design road to convert style zones to matching component assemblies.
Bridge Design
3D Parametric Piers and Pier Foundations
In addition to girders and abutments, you now have access to a catalog of parametric piers and pier foundations. Select from a variety of component types, then modify their attributes to customize your bridge.
Apply To...
This new feature enables you to make changes to the attributes of one object and then apply them to a variety of other objects of the same type. Simply select an object, right-click, and select one of the Apply To options.
New and Revised Asset Cards
We have added asset cards for Piers and Pier Foundations, as well as revised and improved the asset cards for Quantities, Girder Group, Girder, and Bridge. In addition, girder section dimensions are now located in the girder asset card as opposed to the Properties panel. Click the girder’s catalog thumbnail to compare them to the legend image.
Line Girder Analysis (Preview)
The Line Girder Analysis preview now has an option to open your bridge model directly in Autodesk Structural Bridge Design 2016. Once you have completed Line Girder Analysis, click the icon next to the Get Report button. If you have Autodesk Structural Bridge Design 2016 installed, the line beam model containing the selected girder will be opened directly in the application so that you can continue with detailed design. If you do not have it installed, you will be directed to a website where you can learn more about Autodesk Structural Bridge Design.
Significant Performance Improvements
We have made the following changes to improve performance:
- You can now make multiple edits in the asset card without regenerating the scene. Simply edit the fields as needed and then press Enter or click away from the asset card to apply your changes.
- We now calculate bridge quantities only when the Quantities panel is open.
- When you edit your bridges, we regenerate smaller areas to reduce regeneration time.
- We now lock girders by default. We have also added a Reset Girder option to the right click menu. This option reapplies the bridge rules.
Watermarks and Points of Interest when Viewing Models in a Browser
- Text or other attributes
- HTML Tooltips
- Hyperlinks to external URLs
Right-click the point of interest to edit properties.
See To add watermarks, To create a tooltip for the selected point of interest (POI), and To publish a model to the cloud for the first time.
June 8, 2015
New Terrain Styles
New terrain styles provide more realistic effects at various levels of detail such as pedestrian view and distance view. Find the new styles in the Style Palette, Material tab, Terrain folder. See About Styling Features.
Sign-in Experience
The sign-in experience continues to improve to provide the best user experience possible.
Conceptual Rail
Improvements include more precise texture transition between styles, improved terrain handling around tunnel exits, improvement to tunnel wall visualization, enhanced terrain shading for break lines around transportation assets, addition of a subgrade to the rail bed for definition of rail bed width in a trough. You can now import 2D profile curves for creating and defining custom rail styles. See To add custom profiles to road and railways styles.
Roadway Design
Component roads (Preview)
The new Road Component Model preview enables you to add, delete, and modify every component and assembly that makes up a design road. Rather than applying styles to an entire road, you can now design roads in the context of the surrounding scene. For example, add lanes and curbs where needed. Create and save road assemblies for reuse. See About Component Roads (Preview).
Traffic Simulation (Preview)
In this release we've made improvements to quality, usability, and performance including faster animation on large models.
The Traffic Analyst Panel enables you to fine-tune traffic-specific parameters, such as traffic demand or traffic light timings. Previously, any changes made in the Traffic Analyst Panel were lost if you edited the road network inside the Traffic Study Area in the main Autodesk InfraWorks 360 canvas. In this release, changes made in the InfraWorks 360 canvas are merged with changes made in the Traffic Analyst Panel, so that demand and control changes are not lost.
- Quick Simulation (10 minutes of simulation time)
- Short Morning (60 minutes, simulating the period 8am to 9am)
- Long Morning (180 minutes, simulating the period 7am to 10am)
- Short Evening (60 minutes, 5pm to 6pm)
- Long Evening (180 minutes, 4pm to 7pm)
Roundabouts
Create rule-based roundabouts to assess feasibility in context. Use the Intersection asset card or right-click an intersection to switch between intersection and roundabout junction styles. For roundabouts, select the style from a set of standards. Edit roundabouts by adjusting arm grips and using the Intersection asset card. See To change an intersection to a roundabout.
Drainage Design
Drainage Design analysis rules now support adjustments for component roads. Design rules take into account component road material, properties, and geometry to adjust runoff coefficients, tributary area and spread, and roadway slope when placing inlets and manholes.
When using the Add Pavement Drainage or Sketch Drainage Network layout tools, you can now choose parts from a custom component part catalog, if you have created, published, and posted one to the model from Project Kameleon (Preview). You can share a custom catalog with Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D.
The Inspect Performance tool now enables you to set the Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP) condition before running the analysis. See To inspect the hydraulic performance of a pipe run.
Bridge Design
Select abutment styles from a catalog of realistic, detailed abutments created in Autodesk Inventor. Using the Abutment asset card, modify a variety of properties to customize the abutments on your bridge. See About Bridge Design.
InfraWorks 360 Web Whole Model and Panorama Views
Collaboration teams and stakeholders can now share entire models in browsers on tablets and PCs.
Experience the entire model in Top view and Bird’s Eye view. Use panoramas to guide viewers to specific areas of interest and offer high-quality, 360 degree, 3D views. Create panorama views by adding bookmarks in the model. See To add, locate, and delete bookmarks.
April 13, 2015
Model Builder
Model Builder now offers the option to use a shapefile (SHP) to specify the area of interest. See To import a polygonal area of interest for model builder.
Drainage Design Updates
Drainage Design adds outfall pipes and structures to a drainage network. The tool also spaces inlets based on analysis and allowable spread when creating the network. See About Pavement Drainage.
- Provides size and slope for capacity from the crest of the roadway network to the outfall location.
- Sizes manholes based on connected pipes.
- Adjusts pipe diameters and their slopes as well as underground structures to accommodate changes to the pavement drainage network.
- Adjusts affected pipes if you move an outfall to a new location.
See To size pipes.
- Inlet analysis: Analyze surface drainage performance between two inlets. View inlet capture, spread, and bypass in the model and view analysis information including the inlet efficiency rating on the asset card. Analysis results update as you change the size or location of an inlet. See To analyze surface drainage between inlets.
- Inspect Performance: Analyze hydraulic and energy grade line performance of the network. View surcharged pipes and flooded manholes. See To inspect the hydraulic performance of a pipe run.
Bridge Design Updates
The Bridge Line Girder Analysis (Preview) performs analysis and design checks on the pre-stressed girders on your bridges. For more information, see About Line Girder Analysis (Preview).
Send your bridge and other InfraWorks 360 model objects to AutoCAD Civil 3D by referencing a local InfraWorks 360 model or an IMX file that you exported from InfraWorks 360. For more information, see About Exchanging Data with AutoCAD Civil 3D.
Watch Bridge Design update videos.
Land Areas and Grading (Preview)
The new Land Area terrain feature provides an easy way to define horizontal, flat areas for building sites, parking lots, airport sites, and so forth. Land areas flatten the terrain surface, provide sharp corners, and cut and fill grading styles at the perimeter. See To add or modify land areas (preview). Drag and drop grading styles from the grading section of the Style Palette. See To apply styles to individual features.
Traffic Simulation and Animation (Preview)
Analyze traffic flow through intersections, display color-coded traffic analysis results, and generate traffic simulation animations to play in your model. See About Traffic Simulation (Preview).
Watch Traffic Simulation videos.
Point Cloud Enhancements
Point cloud performance and theming have been improved. Two new point cloud theming analysis types are available: Intensity and Elevation + Intensity. See To theme point clouds. In addition, two new options enable you to adjust point size and density for point cloud data. For more information, see About Options.
Enhancements to Web Viewing (Preview)
You can now publish an entire model and view scenarios in the context of the entire model. The model is now presented in a high-quality prerendered view in browsers on PC and tablets. A portal that matches your InfraWorks 360 Home provides search and sort of model thumbnail tiles. For more information, see About Viewing Models in a Browser.
Watch the video.
December 19, 2014
Updated Tutorials
We have developed four new tutorials for InfraWorks 360 2015.3: Getting Started, Design Concepts, Collaboration, and Communication. Intended for first-time users of InfraWorks 360, these tutorials demonstrate most of the essential features. For more information, see New Tutorials.
New Videos
Enhanced Workflow between InfraWorks 360 and AutoCAD Civil 3D
The process of moving InfraWorks 360 designs to AutoCAD Civil 3D for detailed design work, and then back into the InfraWorks 360 model, has been enhanced to streamline data sharing while maintaining high quality visualization and accurate design detail. For more information, see About Exchanging Data with AutoCAD Civil 3D.
New InfraWorks 360 Home
InfraWorks 360 Home has been redesigned and streamlined. The display, scrolling, and filtering of models has been improved. Hover over a tile to view the model storage location. A new Notices section displays links to messages. For more information, see InfraWorks Home Quick Tour (Video) and InfraWorks 360 Home.
Collaboration Enhancements
You can now control when to push changes for sharing. Publish a scenario or update it by including it in a sync of the model containing it. Include it by selecting the Share My Changes checkbox for Scenarios and Web Views in the Synchronize Model panel. For more information, see To define and publish a scenario by syncing it with its model.
Add Animations to your Models
Create 3D animations in an application such as Autodesk 3DS MAX. Add the animations to Collada (DAE) models and import them into InfraWorks 360 to run as loops. Turn animations on or off in the Rendering Options section of the Visual Effects panel. A new animated Wind Turbine has been added to the 3D Model tab of the Style Palette for inclusion in your models. For more information, see Animated Objects (Video).
Model Builder Enhancements
The Model Builder is no longer a preview feature and has been fully integrated into InfraWorks 360. In addition, you can now select a region of interest of any shape for your model. Improvements have been made to the stylization of roads and pathways, the incorporation of bridges and overpasses, and the support for multi-polygon and other buildings. For more information, see Model Builder (Video).
Mapped Network Drive Support
You can now store models to and share models from mapped network drives. To improve model display time, a tile cache is created on your local drive. You can set the cache location in Application Options. For more information, see To set language and general application options.
For more information, see Sharing a Model on a Network Drive (Video).
Drainage Design Enhancements
During the Add Pavement Drainage operation, you can now specify the content used for inlets and manholes, as well as geometric offsets such as centerline offset for manholes, and cover for pipelines.
You can change the content and size used for an inlet or manhole through the asset card. Select Type to launch a Select Component content browser. After you specify the type of component, you can specify the size. Many more inlet and manhole types are now available.
Select a material to use on a drainage pipeline from the asset card. This selection improves interoperability with AutoCAD Civil 3D because it specifies the part family used to transfer the pipe to AutoCAD Civil 3D through IMX.
We have improved the placement and manipulation of culverts and have provided an improved culvert analysis report at the bottom of the asset card.
For more information, see Drainage Design (Video).
Project Kameleon Content Editing and Authoring
Visit Autodesk Labs for a technology preview of parametric model content editing and authoring tools for InfraWorks 360 and Civil 3D roadway drainage content. The Parts Editor works with Inventor IPT shape templates and our own Part Family & Catalog framework. A Part Shape Modeler is built on Inventor OEM. These tools are tightly integrated with InfraWorks 360 and create reusable content published in size families with support for per-instance dynamic sizing. For more information, see Project Kameleon.
Autodesk Screencast Integration
Autodesk Screencast enables you to capture InfraWorks 360 processes and hosts them for free for secure sharing with team members. Screencast is integrated into InfraWorks 360 and is available for launch directly from the application. You can use Screencast to record the Intelligent Tools you use, files opened, and products launched. For general information about Screencast, see Screencast.
New Data Export Formats
You can export 3D models to DAE (Collada TM) and OBJ (Wavefront). For more information, see To export 3D model data.
Circular Tunnel Style for Rail
A Circular checkbox has been added to the Tunnel style on the Railway tab of the Style Palette. Not all style settings are available. To adjust the tunnel width, adjust the width of the rail bed. For more information, see the Readme.
Project Commuter Vehicle Simulation
Visit Autodesk Labs for a technology preview of simulation software for analysis and visualization of people traveling from one place to another. For more information, see Project Commuter.
Corridor Optimization (Preview) Enhancements
A new design constraint, Minimum Radius for Alignments has been added. For more information, see To optimize a design road corridor (preview).
Introducing Suitability Maps (Preview)
Suitability maps help you determine optimal locations for corridors and sites as well as the analysis of existing features. Features include, qualitative cost layers based on your selection of different features and feature groups in your model, layer settings for gradient function and parameters for a cost gradient around the selected features, weight adjustments for each layer in the final cumulative suitability map, visualization of suitable areas with gradient colors indicating cost from high to low, evaluation of cumulative maps in corridor optimization to produce alternative corridors. Activate the Suitability Maps preview feature in the Preview section of InfraWorks 360 Home. For more information, see Suitability Maps (Video).
July 3, 2014
This release of Autodesk InfraWorks 360 contains new features, updates, and enhancements, including improvements to the Model Builder preview and the introduction of Drainage Design for InfraWorks 360.
- Improvements to the Model Builder preview to include global data. See a video or click here for more information. The Model Builder preview lets you easily generate a model for a selected area.
- Faster proposal switching and streamlined web and mobile model synchronization.
- For Roadway Design for InfraWorks 360 customers, new features that enable the automated conversion of GIS roads to design roads, the addition of left-hand driving support, and new standards-driven pavement marking.
- For Bridge Design for InfraWorks 360 customers, the ability to explore a wider range of precast concrete bridge concepts that reflect local construction practices with quantities accurately reflected.
- Introduction of Drainage Design for InfraWorks 360, which provides tools for watershed creation, culvert design and pavement drainage network design for transportation projects. See videos about Drainage Design here.
April 11, 2014
Fast Proposal Switching
Switching between proposals updates the view almost instantaneously.
Model Builder for InfraWorks 360 (Preview)
Preview a new tool that enables you to generate a model for a selected area within +60 and -60 degrees of latitude using NASA SRTM terrain data, Microsoft Bing imagery data, and OpenStreetMap road, water, and buildings data. For United States terrain data only, Model Builder uses USGS elevation data.
For more information, see About the Model Builder.
Read-Only REST API (Preview)
- Access to model data stored on-line in InfraWorks 360.
- Full representation of objects in a collection through collection items resource.
- Spatial queries specifying bounding box coordinates in collection items query.
- Property selection in object representation by specifying the desired property list.
- Property filters by specifying conditional expressions to match property values.
Content Library Enhancements
Parametric content enabled for drainage features. Culverts, Inlets, and Manholes are now based on real world parts, which dynamically size to fit the design requirements of their usage. Culverts adjust to the length, skew angle, and slope needed, and both Inlets and Manholes adjust depth to match the pipe depths at their point of insertion. For more information, see About Drainage Design.
Roadway Design Updates and Enhancements
Optimization Enhancements
You can now draw avoidance zones manually in canvas and apply the information to optimization.
Optimization performance has been improved through the use of design road cross-sections which have more intelligence.
Bridge and tunnel styles are applied when you import optimization results into InfraWorks 360.
Roadway Design Enhancements
Better performance for roads in mountainous areas.
You can now convert a planning road to a design road. Right-click the planning road while in Edit mode and click Convert to Design Road.
Introducing Autodesk Bridge Design for Autodesk InfraWorks 360
Autodesk Bridge Design helps you explore preliminary bridge design options as part of the overall roadway design. Model and visualize civil structures in the context of the surrounding proposed site.
- Create realistic bridge structures and evaluate bridge design options as part of the overall roadway design project.
- Automatically generate a bridge when you draw a road over a water body.
- Simplify and accelerate the layout of concrete and steel plate girder bridges to investigate alternate solutions using a parametric workflow.
- Maintain more consistent data between highway engineers and bridge engineers.
- Update the bridge and pier layouts in context. Define and adjust designs based on clearances.
- Update bridge conceptual level quantities dynamically as you make changes to the bridge.
- Review and modify girder groups within a bridge as well as individual girders.
- Choose different girder types from a catalog and view schematics of girder cross-sections.
For more information, see About Bridge Design.
Introducing Autodesk Drainage Design for Autodesk InfraWorks 360
Autodesk Drainage Design provides tools to support culvert and pavement drainage network design for transportation projects.
Delineate watersheds and streams across large terrain surfaces. The analysis examines the terrain model to find the watershed tributary to a single point location or to locate all of the watersheds that are tributary to a portion of a design road. The resulting terrain analytics provide the crossing streams and the tributary watersheds for use in cross-drainage design.
Analyze watershed hydrology (peak flow values) using USGS regression equations or rational methods. You can also supply user-obtained flow data. Design culverts and determine preliminary culvert size directly in the InfraWorks model. Drainage Design uses Peak Flow Q100 value (100-year flow) for culvert designs.
For more information, see About Drainage Design.
Drainage Analysis
Watershed Peak Flow enhancements. For more information, see To obtain peak flows data.
Watershed analysis in the cloud identifies the tributary watershed and streams.
Watershed runoff calculations compute peak flow Q values using model data.
Culvert design and analysis calculations size and compute culvert hydraulics.
Drainage Modeling
Culvert Creation: Automates culvert placement at linear waterway crossings.
Culvert Design: Rules determine initial culvert solution. Designs are resized for culvert configuration changes.
Culvert modeling is associated with road layout. Culverts are adjusted as roads change.
Create and modify a pavement drainage network along a design road. For more information, see About Pavement Drainage.
Quantities
Quantities of drainage network materials are available for selected design roads. For more information, see To review quantities of drainage network materials .