Likelihood to Recommend I think AutoCAD is great for creating precise site plans that show the layout of buildings, roads, parking lots, and other features on a piece of land. you can use it for designing roads and highways, including lane configurations, intersections, signage, and pavement markings, as well as for designing utility systems like water, sewer, and stormwater drainage. Engineers can create detailed layouts and profiles for these systems. However, I think it is less appropriate for advanced 3D modelling tasks compared to dedicated 3D modelling software, BIM (Building Information Modelling), advanced geospatial analysis.
Read full review ORD is really focused on modeling of roads infrastructure projects, but includes a few design workflows that are in other disciplines such as stormwater and drainage design and site modeling tools for developments. This is really handy because you don't need a third-party application that you have to transfer your design files over to to carry on with the project. Including LumenRT for free with ORD is by far the most helpful feature because of the visualisation capabilities which most software does not include. ORD is well-suited for what the name of the product says - designing roads. I wouldn't say there are any scenarios in road design that it is less appropriate for.
Read full review Pros The tools are easy to use and the learning curve is fairly minimal to be able to create blueprints. The 3D application is very fun to use and it is nice to be able to see your product instead of having to imagine what it will look like. The speed and accuracy in which students can create plans is a huge bonus. Students can plan their industrial art projects out and use their own set of plans to build them. Read full review Creating linear models, since the app is based on alignment models and templates to extrude along the alignment. Precise long section/profile along horizontal alignment. The app practically flatten the horizontal alignment for profile generation. Template control. Though the template creation takes a bit of effort to create due to the point rulings. However when done right allows the model to be specifically modified with use of functions like super-elevation, point control, widening, parametric etc. Read full review Cons It needs more help in 3D world, eventually some parametric support Better connection with Revit or Inventor Dynamic blocks could get some updates Parameters can be more developed; excel capabilities could be added Sheet set could be more evolved to support a workflow involving data management Read full review Buggy at times and crashes Requires a lot of training to use the tools effectively Model management requires some work Read full review Likelihood to Renew Because rarely we [would] rather wait for a whole year to update, sometimes the new updates don't bring many new features and we are still ok with the current version. Also the change of interface is always something that takes time for every partner in the company to get comfortable with. So those are the main reasons we may want to keep the same version.
Read full review We would not use ORD if is was not for clients' contract requirement to use ORD.
Read full review Usability Is an extremely usefull and accurate software , yo certainly can do almost every task requiered to document a project drawings and specifications , the only is that to be confortable with it you need a little of practice and to be familiarized with the commands and the core functioning to get expected results.
Read full review Support Rating AutoCAD has the issue of crashing or slowing down the design procedure once a heavy design that includes several disciplines or multiple families/blocks is involved. Customer services gets the feedback from the crash reports but this issue seems like it has never been addressed in the software updates past several years.
Read full review Implementation Rating the implementation was realy easy , to set up our workstation we pay for the licenses we are about to use , there was a little bit of delay to get the payment processed to receive the serial but after that the install runs without any problem , so you can fell secure there will be not issue with the implementation.
Read full review Alternatives Considered I have experience with
Autodesk Maya , and am familiar with their user interface with creating 3D objects. AutoCAD while from the same family, requires a steeper learning curve and more in-depth knowledge of the software.
I have experience with this software because it is the industry standard in the jobs that I applied to, and was required to the company that I interviewed for. Part of the interview process was a proof-of-work test to create a mock solution for a client, which would demonstrate knowledge and skill with using AutoCAD.
I have little experience with
CorelCAD , but I found AutoCAD to be more in-depth with your options and what you could create.
Read full review ORD is a lot faster and a lot more modern than
Civil 3D even though they're essentially the same product under different names (in terms of workflows). I find that the DGN file format used by ORD is far better than the DWG file format used by C3D because DGNs can contain much more information and multiple models per file. C3D is very heavy on memorizing keyboard inputs while ORD is a much more modern interface that relies mostly on using the mouse for inputs.
Read full review Return on Investment AutoCAD has helped our smaller firm produce lots of finished products matching that of a much larger size firm. With its many features, we have been able to do so much more and meet deadlines that much faster. Since we do use AutoCAD, we're able to work with many other engineering firms to collaborate together to complete various building projects. We have many clients now who expect us to provide for them at the end of a project not just printed construction drawings but also the digital AutoCAD drawing so they can in turn use it for future modifications themselves. Read full review Drawing creation from model have speed up drawing delivery by 80% Model creation for linear project based on simple design speed up model delivery by 80% Capturing model change due to alignment change have help speed up change capture by 80% Read full review ScreenShots