Autodesk Civil 3D vs. Rhino 3D

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Civil 3D
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
Autodesk's Civil 3D is a computer aided design (CAD) application designed to support a variety of civil infrastructure projects including rail, roads and highways, land development, airports, drainage, storm and sanitary, and civil structures.
$335
per month
Rhino
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Robert McNeel and Associates headquartered in Seattle offers Rhinoceros 3D (or Rhino 3D), a 3D modeling and design application. Rhino can create, edit, analyze, document, render, animate, and translate NURBS curves, surfaces and solids, subdivision geometry (SubD), point clouds, and polygon meshes.
$995
one-time fee
Pricing
Autodesk Civil 3DRhino 3D
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Rhino 3D for Windows & Mac
$995
one-time fee
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Civil 3DRhino
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsCan be licensed monthly ($305), Annually ($2,430), or every 3 years ($6,560).Available free for one year on a student license.Discount available for students and faculty.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Autodesk Civil 3DRhino 3D
Features
Autodesk Civil 3DRhino 3D
Computer-Aided Design Software
Comparison of Computer-Aided Design Software features of Product A and Product B
Autodesk Civil 3D
-
Ratings
Rhino 3D
4.5
1 Ratings
48% below category average
3D Modeling00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
2D Drafting00 Ratings2.01 Ratings
Rendering and Visualization00 Ratings4.01 Ratings
Parametric Design00 Ratings5.01 Ratings
Collaboration and Sharing00 Ratings1.01 Ratings
Compatibility with other software and formats00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Assembly Design00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Simulation and Analysis00 Ratings1.01 Ratings
Documentation and Annotation00 Ratings1.01 Ratings
Customization and Extensions00 Ratings4.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Autodesk Civil 3DRhino 3D
Small Businesses
Revit
Revit
Score 9.1 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 7.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Revit
Revit
Score 9.1 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 7.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Revit
Revit
Score 9.1 out of 10
CATIA
CATIA
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Autodesk Civil 3DRhino 3D
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(8 ratings)
8.0
(9 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
7.5
(4 ratings)
User Testimonials
Autodesk Civil 3DRhino 3D
Likelihood to Recommend
Autodesk
Civil 3D is best suited for medium to large-scale projects, as it may be overkill for small projects. It is very efficient in design and drafting work, as well as creating reports. It also helps in creating surfaces using external data and building assemblies, as well as providing drainage for infrastructure projects. It can also provide outputs as DWG files to be directly used in the AutoCAD application.
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Robert McNeel and Associates
One of the main highlights of Rhino is the built-in visual programming system "Grasshopper". It is widely used for parametric architectural design, by a variety of world-class architectural offices. It is also very popular within architectural schools and universities. Its usefulness has increased a lot by having add-ins, plug-ins, scripts, and integrations with Revit and ARCHICAD for BIM workflows.
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Pros
Autodesk
  • We use this software for the optimal and advanced design of pipelines and complex structuring, or it can also be said that we use it mainly for a geotechnical model, due to its high definition of the large proportion of the works that are carried out through of this application, since the tasks that are used with Civil 3D require extreme patience, precision and a lot of time to develop a model in its entirety, but we managed to acquire all the necessary and strategic points, to establish and start the production of a prototype digitized in particular.
  • Easy to export to normal AutoCAD or collaborate with most Autodesk products.
  • Vehicle Turning Simulation and Stormwater analysis is great addition to the package. Ability to use the all familiar AutoCAD tools, as well as LISP and SCR to automate some processes is one of the greatest advantages of the software.
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Robert McNeel and Associates
  • Parametric Modeling - Grasshopper allows for easy/rapid iterative process
  • White box renders display - looks great as a quick diagram export with no post-production required.
  • robust command prompts - rhino was originally made for industrial design and it flexes a lot of unique modeling commands that put it up there with SolidWorks
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Cons
Autodesk
  • I think I need more experience in using Autodesk Civil 3D as it is a huge jump from the previous software that I had been using
  • Some functions could take less steps to complete
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Robert McNeel and Associates
  • Rhino has very limited sheet layout tools.
  • Grasshopper could be better integrated into the main interface.
  • Lack of backwards file compatibility can be frustrating.
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Usability
Autodesk
It is one of the most standard Designing and drafting tools for infrastructure projects and is the go-to for including it with the Autodesk ecosystem. Its strong collaboration with GIS and Other tools helps us to create a software workflow as a digital twin platform as well. The Drawings and plans generated can be easily imported into other applications, allowing for full control over the workflow.
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Robert McNeel and Associates
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Autodesk
They have a vast open community, which has helped us understand Autodesk Civil 3D from the beginning. They have provided many templates and tutorials videos to our team due to that we can learn every new feature from them. Autodesk Civil 3D has also helped us to interconnect all its software in an internal bridge, which helps us switch between software as we need.
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Robert McNeel and Associates
A majority of the support for Rhinoceros 3D does not come from the company itself, but from online forums and boards where other Rhinoceros 3D users outline their issues and solutions. The Rhinoceros 3D website does not offer much in-depth support and just outlines general how to's. At the same time, online forums allow for more specific issues to be addressed and solved by the Rhinoceros 3D community.
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Alternatives Considered
Autodesk
As mentioned before, using Civil3D got its own pros such as creating different profiles that are interactive such if you change any level, the profile will be updated automatically while in AutoCAD you will suffer by updating them manually. In addition, creating models that also are interactive and help in clash detection for different utilities in a project.
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Robert McNeel and Associates
It's hard to compare Rhino to other modeling software as Rhino is in a niche of its own. No other software (to my knowledge) is as customizable/programmable and has such a large community and such a large amount of free, open-source addons. Rhino (and Grasshopper) can be intimidating at first but once you get familiar with it and grow your toolbox with your own scripts, so much time will be saved
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Return on Investment
Autodesk
  • positive: saved us time on setting up sheets/sheet set manager
  • positive: saved time and effort on cutting profiles
  • positive: saved us money on printing, since it is easy to bind the dgns it creates
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Robert McNeel and Associates
  • Right away Rhino3D is useful for simple and accurate 3D model import, repair and export all in a variety of formats.
  • Rhino3D is easy to use and learn. The time to productivity is very short with this modeling tool.
  • The price is low for the value received, a great investment.
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ScreenShots

Civil 3D Screenshots

Screenshot of Civil 3D - Infrastructure Software from AutodeskScreenshot of Civil 3D - Rail Alignments