With the number of different variables that civil planners need to consider in any public works project, and the task of coordinating dozens of design elements coming from a wide array of engineers, architects, and other designers, all while maintaining the high standard necessary to guarantee public safety, managing a public works project is no small challenge.
Civil 3D, Autodesk’s flagship civil engineering solution, is one way in which people working on public works projects have been able to streamline their workflows and make projects—all the way from design to construction—easier to execute on.
By adopting Civil 3D, users have realized a whole host of benefits: new ways to collaboratively work on a common platform, more effective modeling of storm events and pipe networks, and many more with each progressive update of the program.
That does not mean, however, that the transition to Civil 3D’s more advanced capabilities is necessarily seamless. As Brad Hollister, a civil engineer with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation told us, “it’s a whole new design methodology – a whole new culture” compared to traditional design methods, and such changes take time.
To help users adjust to Civil 3D, and to help veteran users who want to make sure that they’re getting the most they can out of their applications, Brian Johnson, applications expert at IMAGINiT, has compiled a list of resources where Civil 3D users might find the help that they need.
“There is a multitude of resources to get…assistance when needed and it comes in many forms…but knowing where to look for the information you need is key,” Johnson said.
Here are just some of his recommended resources:
Autodesk’s resources for Civil 3D information are vast and cover everything from how-to, tips and tricks, forums and videos to trouble shooting problems. The Autodesk Civil Engineering Community Center contains a smorgasbord of information available to peruse.
From the Autodesk Civil Engineering Community Center, there are several sections to choose from. News provides latest information on upcoming webinars, release announcements and industry information. Forums is a place where users can share information and ask questions. Ideas is a venue for users to provide wish list items to Autodesk for new or improved features. These are just a few examples of the knowledge shared with the greater civil engineering community for Autodesk’s civil engineering software.
Have questions about installation or upgrades? Need help troubleshooting a problem? Want to learn workflow options for a specific task? The Autodesk Knowledge Network is a “rich repository of more than a million contributions from Autodesk, its community, and its partners”. This internet resource provides a robust search tool that can target a specific Autodesk product and filtered to narrow the results to specific areas of interest.
The Autodesk AEC Webinar Portal for Infrastructure presents upcoming webinars and registration links for them, as well as previous webinars that can be viewed on-demand. For multi-disciplinary firms and those interested there is also connected portals for Building and Construction webinars as well.
Civil Immersion is a blog authored by three members of Autodesk’s Infrastructure team. These blog posts are often task-specific and includes a video that provides the step-by-step workflow for completion.
To read through all of Brian Johnson’s recommended Civil 3D resources, click here.
