Enhancements for strategic building design, construction and infrastructure solutions combine with flexible subscription options to advance the future of BIM-based projects
Autodesk today announced new and enhanced features for strategic 2017 software solutions to help advance the future of making things using a Building Information Modeling (BIM) process. The new or updated versions of Autodesk Revit software, InfraWorks 360, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Navisworks 2017 and Autodesk Structural Fabrication Suite embody improvements designed to help accelerate how the built environment is designed and constructed. Collectively, these strategic products offer the software and cloud-enhanced services needed to help meet the world’s growing demand for BIM, allowing firms who have adopted BIM to remain competitive and those seeking to move to BIM the flexibility to transition with greater ease.
“Cloud-enhanced, collaborative BIM is the engine behind the future of designing, making and operating buildings and civil infrastructure in a cost efficient and sustainable way,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president, Autodesk. “Collaboration doesn’t just happen in the cloud on project sites – we put collaboration at the center of our customer relationships. Many of these updates and performance upgrades are derived from customer feedback – and that’s why Autodesk is a trusted partner in construction and design.”
New features available in Revit 2017
Enhancements in Revit 2017 are aimed at helping drive more efficient processes within an extended, multi-discipline BIM workflow. These new and enhanced features help improve software performance, and help users better model and communicate design intent.
Key new or enhanced features include:
- Software performance up to 20% faster due to optimizations to more than 100 functions, including more operations running with multi-threaded capabilities
- View refresh and user navigation that is up to 4.5 times faster than before with new Draw Visible Elements only option that displays only the visible elements of a view and does not draw elements that are hidden.
- Global Parameters which help encode and capture design intent within a model by enable users to define relationships between building elements and to use parameters to drive dimensions and values across a project.
- New tools to help designers include the higher level of detail needed for downstream fabrication and building. Mechanical detailers can automate the fabrication model layout and convert design level of detail model elements to fabrication level of detail elements. Structural engineers can improve the definition of design intent, or the level of detail for reinforcement modeling and documentation, to better connect steel design to detailing workflows.
- Modernized text layout and editing, meeting user requests for better text tools and more control over text placement.
- Render compelling 3D visualizations more quickly and accurately with Autodesk Raytracer rendering engine, the default visualization engine in Revit 2017. Add pop and depth to views with Depth Cueing.
More information is available in this In the Fold blog post and here; as well as on the Autodesk Revit website.
Latest InfraWorks 360 advancements
The latest release of InfraWorks 360 delivers better interoperability with Civil 3D and Autodesk Revit, the ability to design in a richer, real-world context of the project’s environment, and improved detailed engineering capabilities.
Key new or enhanced features include:
- A number of enhanced interoperability features, including the ability to import roundabout design models from InfraWorks 360 can now be brought into Civil 3D; bridge designs can now be easily brought into Revit for more detailed design work; and design data can also be exchanged between InfraWorks 360 and Civil 3D, and Revit.
- A new, ground-breaking multi-modal transportation simulation capability in InfraWorks 360 combines the power of an integrated geometric model with analysis to help urban and traffic planners study the impact of their civil infrastructure designs to the movement of buses and trains; parking areas; taxis, ride sharing, autonomous vehicles; pedestrians, cycling and other personal modes of travel.
- A number of improvements that enhance detailed engineering workflows for transportation design including support for modeling merges, diverges and weaving lanes; new traffic simulation support for ramps and turn lanes, and enhanced editing for roundabouts and bridge girder sections.
More information is available in this BIM on the Rocks blog post and here, as well as on the InfraWorks 360 website.
New features in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017
With AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017, users can take advantage of improvements and new features to help streamline legacy workflows, centralize the management of design and drafting standards, and better integrate with Autodesk InfraWorks 360.
Key new or enhanced features include:
- Users can now also take advantage of the roundabout-related features available in Autodesk Vehicle Tracking software to enable the design of roundabout objects right from within AutoCAD Civil 3D.
- New features help improve legacy workflows, enabling users to easily simplify the management of drawing styles, allow teams to work better together and enforce standards more easily.
- Corridor modeling enhancements, including feature lines can be used as a corridor baseline; corner shapes are automatically cleaned up and more accurate; multiple feature lines can now be extracted from corridor regions; and corridor solids can now be assigned property data that is retained throughout the design workflow.
More information is available in this BIM on the Rocks blog post and here, and on the AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017 website.
Enhanced Capabilities with Combination of Navisworks 2017 and BIM 360 Glue
In 2015, Autodesk introduced the concept of the ‘connected desktop’ to Navisworks. Now, Navisworks 2017 [introduced March 31] continues to enhance these integrated workflows with BIM 360, supporting construction collaboration in the cloud. Navisworks 2017 continues to build and extend upon the connection with BIM 360 Glue; this interoperability provides project teams with a more complete, connected solution for BIM project collaboration and coordination. This connected solution provides construction project teams with the familiar, powerful features of Navisworks and the easy, accessible and collaborative capabilities of BIM 360 Glue seamlessly.
Key new or enhanced features include:
- BIM 360 shared views – enables project teams to more tightly integrate their workflows between desktop and cloud, using the Shared Views feature. From any connected BIM 360 client, shared views can now be created and used in workflows such as clash and coordination review.
- European Region [EMEA] Support – provides European Region Support access to BIM 360 Glue Projects. After sign-in, choose projects hosted in the United States and Europe through your regional server.
- Autodesk 2017 product integration – To help ensure the latest version of design models and data can be reviewed and analyzed, Navisworks 2017 has updated Autodesk file readers, exporters and integrations for Autodesk 3DS Max 2017, AutoCAD 2017, AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017, and Revit 2017. As part of an integrated workflow, Navisworks now also supports integration of Autodesk Vault 2017 and Autodesk Recap 2017.
More information is available in this BIM360.com blog post, and on the Navisworks 2017 website.
New features available in Autodesk Structural Fabrication Suite
The updated Autodesk Structural Fabrication Suite 2017 [announced 13 April at NASCC], which includes Autodesk Revit, Autodesk Advance Steel, Autodesk AutoCAD, and Autodesk Navisworks Simulate, has been enhanced to support better connected BIM-based steel design and construction workflows. The suite provides structural engineers, steel detailers, and fabricators with tools to help streamline the process from design to fabrication with model-based deliverables.
Key new or enhanced features include:
- Autodesk’s new Steel Connections for Revit extension provides access to a variety of parametric steel connections in Autodesk Revit software, enabling connections to be modeled with a higher level of detail.
- The release of Advance Steel 2017 extends capabilities that help users move even more quickly from design to fabrication. This release focuses on enhancements that improve modeling efficiency, productivity and documentation, and interoperability. Features of note include:
- The ability to synchronize steel connections between models created in Revit and/or Advance Steel
- Easier access to customized fabrication data
- Enhanced productivity tools such as custom clipping symbols, snap points on anchors, grid balloon placement control, repeating your last command, and templates for lists on drawings
- Improved object enabler tool that allows you to better access information from other software such as AutoCAD 2017 and AutoCAD LT 2017.
More information is available in this BIM and Beam blog post on 13 April announcing Autodesk Structural Fabrication Suite 2017, and the product’s website. With additional information about enhancements for Autodesk Advance Steel 2017 announced 14 April in this BIM and Beam blog post.
Availability
Autodesk Revit 2017, InfraWorks 360, AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017, Navisworks 2017 and Autodesk Structural Fabrication Suite 2017 availability, flexible subscription options, language support and related cloud services vary by country. See details and purchasing options at http://www.autodesk.com/subscription.
Autodesk, AutoCAD, BIM 360, BIM 360 Glue, Civil 3D, InfraWorks, Navisworks, ReCap 360 and Revit are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Autodesk is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.
© 2016 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.
Media Relations Contact:
Francis Christian Lubag
Senior Account Manager
Dominguez Marketing Communications Inc.
E-mail: francis.lubag@dominguez.com.ph
Direct Line: 897-7088 ext 105
Mel Dominguez
President and CEO
Dominguez Marketing Communications, Inc.
Email: mel.dominguez@dominguez.com.ph