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Civil 3D

Civil 3D

Overview

What is Civil 3D?

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.

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Recent Reviews

Autodesk Civil3d Review

8 out of 10
October 26, 2021
Incentivized
AutoCAD Civil 3D is used by the drafting and design department to create design drawings, design models and maps. The models produced with …
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Pricing

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Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.autodesk.com/products/civil…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Starting price (does not include set up fee)

  • $335 per month
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Product Details

What is Civil 3D?

Autodesk’s Civil 3D is a civil engineering design tool for engineers, architects, and designers, featuring tools to improve drafting, design, and construction documentation. The tool supports the design and visualization of an array of projects, like rails, bridges, pipes and sanitary systems, corridors, and works with a variety of surfaces and sites.


Civil 3D is available standalone with a number of licensing options. It is also available as part of Autodesk’s Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) Collection, a solution that includes Civil 3D with other CAD and BIM tools including Revit, AutoCAD, InfraWorks, and Navisworks Manage, in a discounted bundle for engineering and construction firms. This package also includes professional grade support and unlimited cloud storage for project files, and all the applications in a common data environment.


Many of Civil 3D’s features are enhanced or completed by inclusion in the AEC Collection. For instance, users can conduct grading design studies based on project constraints. Grading Optimization is available in Civil 3D only as part of the Architecture, Engineering & Construction Collection. Project Explorer is also an extension available in Civil 3D through the AEC collection, and enables users to simplify design review and modification and validate design objectives.


On its own, Civil 3D does support various design projects; popularly, road design can be done in Civil 3D with what the vendor describes as dynamic, flexible 3D models of road corridors that enable users to simulate driving and evaluate sight distance, as well as manage road rehabilitation projects and drainage design. Civil 3D also supports surface modeling, stormwater and wastewater analysis, and the software enables users to download, create, analyze, and adjust survey data, and conduct topographical and terrain modeling.


Autodesk announced expansions to the AEC Collection, including the additions of updated collaboration, project management, and document management tools, particularly Autodesk Docs, a document management tool available exclusively through the AEC Collection to improve approval workflows and data management, and an updated BIM Collaborate and BIM Collaborate Pro, presented as a tool to help teams execute on design.


Civil 3D Features

  • Supported: Collaborative Working Environment
  • Supported: Bridge Design
  • Supported: Surface Modeling
  • Supported: Railway Design
  • Supported: Road Design (materials, intersections, road rehabilitation)
  • Supported: Site & Survey
  • Supported: Corridor Modeling
  • Supported: Storm & Sanitary
  • Supported: Plan Production & Documentation
  • Supported: IFC Import & Export

Civil 3D Screenshots

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

Civil 3D Video

Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D Overview

Civil 3D Integrations

Civil 3D Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsWindows
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Civil 3D starts at $335.

MicroStation, OpenRoads Designer, and ARCHICAD are common alternatives for Civil 3D.

The most common users of Civil 3D are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(33)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Users of Civil 3D frequently recommend the following:

  • Attend training and stay updated with tutorials: Many users advise attending training to better utilize Civil 3D for 3D modeling. They recommend staying updated with tutorials on new features to make the most out of the software.

  • Utilize online resources and forums for learning and troubleshooting: Users suggest utilizing online resources, forums, and training to learn and troubleshoot with Civil 3D. They recommend learning different commands and tips from others to fully utilize the software.

  • Expect a learning curve for beginners: Several users mention that there is a learning curve when starting with Civil 3D. They advise newcomers to watch online videos and participate in forums to seek help and overcome challenges during the initial stages of using the software.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-7 of 7)
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Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I only have good reviews for Autodesk Civil 3D currently. It is very useful for completing designs, in my case, mostly the design of civil services such as stormwater, sewer, and water. Creating long sections and analyzing the long sections while analyzing the plan at the same time is a huge help. Updating the plan updates the long sections rather than having to recreate long sections etc. Updating input data automatically updates the long section results as well. Drawings are easy to create. Creating templates for different design scenarios is extremely helpful, especially when working on multiple projects of the same nature.
Mahmoud obaid | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is well suited when you are planning to create profiles, this is very helpful in such by generating these profiles, it becomes greatly interactive without wasting time in addition to the visualization tools that make understanding the project easier. It would be less appropriate if you are using it for a big-sized project since it may crash or take time to open but still it is somehow reliable. Also, it would be difficult to learn quickly since it requires proper training thus a company must have a fair amount of experts before starting any project based on Civil3D
October 26, 2021

Autodesk Civil3d Review

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Autodesk Civil 3D is well suited for: Site grading exercises that are limited to specific bounded areasSurvey checksShell models for existing, proposed and as-constructed civil structures (i.e. Basic roads, Dams, ditches)Creating site mapsAutodesk Civil 3D is less appropriate for: Large scale grading exercises management of large topographic data setsAnything that is not civil infrastructure related
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Autodesk Civil 3D is well suited to site development, modeling pipe networks, and topography. It is also great for converting surfaces over into other formats. I find that it is mostly used on the land development and aviation side. It is less useful if you are doing heavy roadway or highway modeling. Most DOTs require different software for transportation models.
October 25, 2021

Urban underground design

Halan Bastos Oliveira | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Civil 3D is the ideal software for infrastructure design, like earthworks, roads, excavation, drainage and sewers systems. However, it would be an even better product if it was possible for the users to create pipe networks parts in an easier way. It is extremely difficult to create pipe diameters or structures' dimensions when you need to design underground systems.
vijay kumar | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Well suited:
  1. Simple and self-explanatory user interface.
  2. Inter usability between other software such as MicroDrainage and Bentley CivilStorm.
  3. Autodesk customer service.
  4. Easily customizable.

Not suitable: The software is still very resource intensive on the machines and often crashes when too much data is being shown. Though significant improvements have been made in other Autodesk software like Revit, older applications like AutoCAD and C3D seem to be stuck on old, inefficient source codes.

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Most land design related software mimicked the paper-based 2D workflow, which has some error and is not very useful in reading. Autodesk Civil 3D shows a very effective 3D base plan design.
For example- For street and road design, Autodesk Civil 3D uses assemblies to generate cross-sections, with multiple cross-sections strung together along an alignment and profile to form a corridor. Because all Autodesk Civil 3D objects are parametric, their parameters can be edited to associate with different alignments. The style-based design and documentation automation and change-management features of Autodesk Civil 3D make the process transition worthwhile for any member of the land-design team. In my consulting work with design firms, I see that the more of these disciplines a firm combines under one professional service umbrella, the greater the practice benefit of Autodesk Civil 3D's integrated, dynamic-modeling approach.
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