Skip to main content

Autodesk introduces new software tools

As World Highways was going to press Autodesk was due to announce the 2014 versions of its entire range of programs including AutoCAD, Civil 3D, NavisWorks and Revit Structural and others programs used by the road industry. As previously, they are packaged in suites; Standard, Premium and Ultimate. Key aspects focus around the inclusion of a completely new and fast point-cloud “engine” developed from the Alice Labs company acquisition made last year. Part of a new Autodesk Recap, standing for reality captur
April 25, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
As 3260 World Highways was going to press 685 Autodesk was due to announce the 2014 versions of its entire range of programs including AutoCAD, Civil 3D, NavisWorks and Revit Structural and others programs used by the road industry. As previously, they are packaged in suites; Standard, Premium and Ultimate.

Key aspects focus around the inclusion of a completely new and fast point-cloud “engine” developed from the Alice Labs company acquisition made last year. Part of a new Autodesk Recap, standing for reality capture, this will be able to open point-clouds in the main tools used in civil engineering such as Map, Civil 3D and Revit. Recap is included in all of them. The company says the new engine is fast, inputs most of the major formats, and can translate point-clouds into different local coordinate systems to match other data.

The Infrastructure Modeller tool, for conceptualising projects and testing sketch scenarios is now relaunched as a enhanced version, re-named InfraWorks.

In the Ultimate suite this will include roads and highway modules which allow early design sketches to be done with precision data, so that they can be imported directly into Civil 3D for further work. It will also link to the cloud for tasks like optimisation of the vertical alignment

– part of a general philosophy for all Autodesk products using more "infinite" computing power of the cloud for heavy "grunt" work, instead of the local desktop.  Rendering capacity is another aspect.

The cloud will also be used for communication, and design and construction collaboration, with BIM360 Glue, a cloud accessed tool for design integration and class detection, which is a “NavisWorks light" - accessed via a very small client application with full high quality graphics whatever the capacities of the local laptop.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Tampere road tunnel - a strategic link for central Finland
    April 4, 2016
    Progress has been good for an important underground road link in Finland reports Adrian Greeman. Assuming all goes well, the new Ranta, or Lakeside, tunnel in Tampere will open in full six months early; traffic could be running by the end of this year. Work on transforming the rundown city centre with new developments will get a major boost. It is a major achievement on a four-year-long project bringing significant benefits to one of Finland's largest cities. From the government's point of view the scheme w
  • Faster surveying with Leica Geosystems
    June 16, 2016
    Leica Geosystems says that the new LS15 tool can be used to complete all the key stages for levelling. The system has a high accuracy of 0.2mm, which can be achieved by aiming at the target via the colour touch display and pressing the measuring button. Key working features include an electronic bubble and tilt checks prior to each measurement and autofocus. These are said to help to reduce fatigue over a shift and help minimise the risk of working errors, ensuring consistently high accuracy of measureme
  • What happens when you run out of land for roads?
    November 1, 2021
    Mumbai, the financial capital of India has a population of 12.4 million located in a small area of 437sq.km, surrounded by the sea with nowhere to expand. An increase in congestion on Mumbai’s roads has put a strain on the city’s infrastructure. The result has been long commute times with idling cars contributing to an alarming rise in poor air quality, impacting the quality of life for residents
  • Plain sailing for Caterpillar’s PM 300 series
    February 22, 2019
    Caterpillar’s revamped small cold planers have upped the stakes in the urban refurbishing market. World Highways deputy editor David Arminas recently caught up with A.J. Lee, global segment manager, on Spain’s Costa del Sol