Autodesk Civil 3D 2025 Unleashed E-Book

Stephen Walz

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 320

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Autodesk Civil 3D 2025 Unleashed is a comprehensive guide that equips civil engineers and designers with advanced skills to unlock new levels of efficiency in their projects and careers. Divided into four parts, this book addresses different aspects of Civil 3D capabilities and extensions.
Starting with elevating Civil 3D designs using Building Information Modeling (BIM) principles, you’ll develop a strong foundation in BIM and its integration into civil engineering projects. By focusing on design customization with Civil 3D extensions, this book will empower you to harness reality capture technologies, optimize grading designs, and explore content catalog customization. You'll delve into information management and automation with Civil 3D, covering property sets, Project Explorer, and workflow automation using tools like Dynamo for Civil 3D (D4C3D) and scripting. The book will also demonstrate how to prepare BIM designs within Civil 3D for a multitude of downstream uses. Finally, you’ll discover how to extend infrastructure designs beyond Civil 3D and integrate them into the BIM process with Navisworks and InfraWorks for better project collaboration and visualization.
By the end of this book, you’ll be able to prepare and use BIM designs within Civil 3D and several other products for easier project creation and management.

Leseprobe

Autodesk Civil 3D 2025 Unleashed

Elevate your civil engineering designs and advance your career with Autodesk Civil 3D

Stephen Walz

Tony Sabat

Autodesk Civil 3D 2025 Unleashed

Copyright © 2024 Packt Publishing

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To my colleagues, mentors, friends, family, and the readers of my previous book, your unwavering support and invaluable feedback have been instrumental in shaping this follow-up endeavor, aimed at propelling our careers to new heights. A heartfelt thank you to my wife, Danna, and daughters, Alexis and Addison, for their boundless love and unwavering support throughout my career, and during the development of this new book.

– Stephen Walz

Thank you to my wife, who has supported me throughout this book’s development as well as throughout my career.

– Tony Sabat

Contributors

About the authors

Stephen Walz has been working with a multitude of design, collaboration, and visualization products and platforms in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry since early 2003. His primary focus is on civil/environmental engineering fields in which he has held varying levels of design support and CAD/BIM/CIM management roles. Currently, he is HDR’s Corporate Digital Design Lead. He works with their business group and technology leadership, vendors, and Information Technology Group to evaluate and implement new technology solutions and strategies that support digital design and delivery services, build awareness and drive consistency with how digital design and delivery tools and platforms are being utilized, and build skillsets through mentorship, guidance, and training of our technologists.

Tony Sabat is a consultant, adviser, and writer focusing on improving the built environment. He primarily consults with teams to develop innovative and disruptive technologies and processes that vary from early-stage start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Together, they develop digital twin strategies and implement emerging technologies such as reality data modeling, virtual construction, and even distributed ledger technology.

He began his career with the early iterations of building information modeling working on integrating such concepts and technologies into the civil infrastructure space. Today, Tony focuses on partnering with companies looking to adopt and optimize emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, reality technologies, building information modeling, digital twin strategies, as well as virtual design and construction.

About the reviewers

Justin Brooks, PE, PMP, has been an avid user of Civil3D and other Autodesk products over his 20-plus-year career in civil engineering. He holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees in civil engineering and an associate degree in computer-aided design. He has held multiple roles within the civil engineering industry, from designer to project engineer and project manager, with his current role being Design Technology Manager with Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc. Along with his time in industry, he has also spent a portion of his career in post-secondary education as a professor and curriculum developer in construction management and technology programs.

Ian Chapman has been a passionate user of Civil 3D for many years and has utilized all aspects of the software across several civil engineering sectors within building services and transportation.

His experience of delivering digital content for projects spans 18 years at design consultants across London and the South East of England, where Ian studied civil engineering. He has dedicated himself to AEC industry software as an Autodesk Certified Professional in Civil 3D and AutoCAD.

As Principal Digital Designer for JBA Consulting, Ian provides a leadership role for BIM and digital delivery across the group’s UK southern region, championing the development and implementation of new design tools as part of the company’s future digital strategy.

Table of Contents

Preface

Part 1: Next-Level Civil 3D Capabilities

1

Taking Civil 3D to the Next Level

Technical requirements

Next-level capabilities within Civil 3D

Civil Information Modeling

CIM journey

CIM uses

Customization of Grading Designs

Customization of Utility Designs

Information Management and Automation

Extending Infrastructure Projects beyond Civil 3D

Summary

2

Building Blocks for Civil 3D Designs

Technical requirements

User interface

Sharing Civil 3D data

Organizing surface models

Managing subfolders

Managing Civil 3D files

Design toolbelts for everyday use

Types of toolbelts

Examples using the three toolbelts

Summary

3

Advanced Design and Analysis Capabilities within Civil 3D 2025

Technical requirements

Advanced corridor modeling techniques and workflows

Adding a lane

Adding a transition

Advanced utility analysis techniques and workflows for gravity networks

Advanced utility analysis techniques and workflows for pressure networks

Performing a design check

Performing a depth check

Summary

4

Rail Design Capabilities within Autodesk Civil 3D 2025

Technical requirements

Setting up our rail alignments, assemblies, and corridor models

Alignment creation tools

Cant design and analysis tools

Profile creation tools

Auxiliary track design workflows

Offset alignments

Crossover alignments

Viewing and editing rail models

Summary

Part 2: Improving Our Civil BIM Designs with Civil 3D Extensions and Customized Design Workflows

5

Harnessing Reality Capture to Enhance Civil Projects within Autodesk Civil 3D 2025

Technical requirements

Understanding reality capture and its function within civil projects

Understanding LiDAR

Understanding flown LiDAR

Navigating the accuracy, cost, and speed triangle

Streamlining workflows

Delving into reality capture workflows

Utilizing incredible accuracy for civil design projects

Summary

6

Streamlining Design with Grading Optimization

Technical requirements

Getting started with Grading Optimization

Defining grading criteria

Optimizing our grading models

Summary

7

Exploring Content Catalog Editor

Technical requirements

Creating custom pressure parts in Civil 3D

Creating the 2D base components

Creating the 3D model

Defining and publishing parts

Defining parts in Content Catalog Editor

Integrating custom parts into our BIM designs

Summary

8

Empowering Utility Modeling with Infrastructure Parts Editor

Technical requirements

Familiarizing ourselves with Infrastructure Parts Editor

Creating new parts in Infrastructure Parts Editor

Understanding components and tabs in a catalog

Exploring the Part Family Properties tab

Integrating custom parts into our BIM Designs

Summary

9

Custom Roadway Design with Subassembly Composer

Technical requirements

Familiarizing ourselves with Subassembly Composer

Defining our custom subassembly

Saving our custom subassembly

Creating new parts in the Infrastructure Parts Editor

Adding point P1

Adding point P3

Adding point P2

Adding link L1

Adding link L2

Previewing our sketch

Integrating custom parts into our BIM designs

Summary

Part 3: Managing Information Models and Automating Workflows

10

Information Modeling with Property Sets

Technical requirements

Introduction to property sets and Style Manager

Creating property sets with an array of property definitions

Learning more about property set definitions

Applying property sets to label our modeled objects

Labeling our modeled objects

Using lists to apply property sets to labels

Summary

11

Introduction to Project Explorer

Technical requirements

An introduction to Project Explorer and its user interface

Reviewing and editing Civil 3D objects inside Project Explorer

Generating reports and tables of Civil 3D object data

Summary

12

Automating Routine Workflows with Dynamo and Scripting

Technical requirements

Introduction to Dynamo and its user interface

Accessing Dynamo’s interface

Creating a new script in Dynamo

Understanding nodes, concepts, and packages

Exploring the Library section

Exploring the Add-ons section

Building our first Dynamo for Civil 3D 2025 script

Understanding the parts and areas of a node

Connecting nodes together

Identifying Surfaces in Dynamo

Dealing with Styles in Dynamo

Accessing Dynamo script

Summary

Part 4: Extending Infrastructure Projects beyond Civil 3D

13

Preparing and Extending the Purpose of Our BIM Designs for Collaboration and Visualization

Technical requirements

Establishing shared coordinates in our design models

Creating a shared coordinate file from Autodesk Civil 3D

Understanding the workflow required on the Autodesk Revit side

Preparing and exporting Civil 3D BIM designs to Navisworks

Creating a Navisworks export

Understanding the workflow required on the Autodesk Navisworks side

Preparing and exporting Civil 3D BIM designs to InfraWorks

Exploring bidirectionality between Civil 3D and Autodesk InfraWorks

Connecting Civil 3D and Autodesk InfraWorks

Summary

Index

Other Books You May Enjoy

Preface

Autodesk Civil 3D 2025 Unleashed is a comprehensive guide that equips civil engineers and designers with advanced skills to unlock new levels of efficiency in their projects and careers. Divided into four parts, this book addresses different aspects of Civil 3D capabilities and extensions. Starting with elevating Civil 3D designs using building information modeling (BIM) principles, you’ll build a strong foundation in BIM and its integration into civil engineering projects.

By focusing on design customization with Civil 3D extensions, this book will empower you to harness reality capture technologies, optimize grading designs, and explore content catalog customization. You’ll delve into information management with Civil 3D, covering property sets, Project Explorer, and workflow automation using tools such as Dynamo for Civil 3D (D4C3D) and scripting. You’ll also get the direction to prepare BIM designs within Civil 3D for a multitude of downstream uses. Finally, the book will teach you how to extend infrastructure projects beyond Civil 3D and prepare BIM designs for integration into collaborative and visualization products such as Revit, Navisworks and InfraWorks.

By the end, you’ll be able to prepare and utilize BIM designs within Civil 3D and several other products for easier project creation and management.

Who this book is for

This book is for civil engineers, designers, BIM managers, modelers, and technicians seeking to advance their designs using Civil 3D’s complex workflows and tools. Those interested in integrating workflows with other major design and collaboration tools to enhance overall project coordination and collaboration will also benefit from this book’s approach and insights, which will equip you with the skills needed to prepare BIM designs for a multitude of downstream uses that contractors, clients, owners, and operators can utilize in a seamless and iterative manner.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Taking Civil 3D to the Next Level, explores what it means to actually take our Civil 3D BIM designs to the next level. We’ll explore strategies that will set our design teams up for successful design and collaboration and put in our homework to understand full design requirements before a project even starts.

Chapter 2, Building Blocks for Civil 3D Designs, will recap several objectives and learning paths discussed in our previous book, Autodesk Civil 3D 2024 From Start to Finish. We will summarize a lot here, but just focus on setting the stage for our next leg up.

Chapter 3, Advanced Design and Analysis Capabilities within Civil 3D 2025, begins to expand on our design capabilities and explores more recently added tools and functionality Autodesk has made available in Civil 3D 2025.

Chapter 4, Rail Design Capabilities within Autodesk Civil 3D 2025, explores how we’ll continue building onto our Roadway Modeling Toolbelt and how we can apply similar workflows to design railroads/railways within Civil 3D 2025.

Chapter 5, Harnessing Reality Capture to Enhance Civil Projects within Autodesk Civil 3D 2025, looks at the capture methods that can enhance our civil projects. As an industry, civil engineering is based upon the capture of existing conditions data. This was typically done with traditional methods of capturing points of interest on the project site, whether curb and gutter or the center locations of manholes for utility capture, and so on. The industry primarily responsible for this capture is surveying and it has dramatically expanded and changed over the past few years with new technologies for a more expansive capture of reality. Now, the surveying industry can be compiled into the broader category referred to as reality capture, which has primarily been taken over by techniques such as terrestrial laser scanners or aerial Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), and even photogrammetry techniques. This chapter will dive briefly into the capture methods beyond typical point capture in surveying and into how to handle such immense amounts of data and make them manageable for our design purposes.

Chapter 6, Streamlining Design with Grading Optimization, jumps into the world of advanced cloud-computing grading tools that, when used properly, can increase design efficiencies and save teams’ valuable time earlier on in the project as alternative designs are being considered.

Chapter 7, Exploring Content Catalog Editor, explores the Content Catalog Editor. Content Catalog Editor allows design teams to develop custom solutions where out-of-the-box Civil 3D utility parts can be limiting for design teams.

Chapter 8, Empowering Utility Modeling with Infrastructure Parts Editor, explores the Infrastructure Parts Editor. Infrastructure Parts Editor allows design teams to develop custom solutions where out-of-the-box Civil 3D utility parts can be limiting to design teams.

Chapter 9, Custom Roadway Design with Subassembly Composer, looks at the world of customized roadway design. Subassembly Composer allows design teams to develop custom solutions where out-of-the-box Civil 3D subassemblies can be limiting for design teams.

Chapter 10, Information Modeling with Property Sets, explores the ways we can bolster our models and objects to inform project stakeholders of pertinent information related to our civil BIM designs. Information related to our models and objects can greatly improve collaboration, construction processes, and asset management and maintenance after design is complete.

Chapter 11, Introduction to Project Explorer, dives into the world of Project Explorer. Project Explorer has many benefits that can improve and speed up model adjustments, design changes, design reviews, and reporting capabilities.

Chapter 12, Automating Routine Workflows with Dynamo and Scripting, dives into the world of Dynamo for Civil 3D. Utilizing Dynamo for Civil 3D has many benefits for design teams, from streamlining design workflows to drive consistency in how we develop consistent designs, to improving collaboration across all project stakeholders, to simply spending less time on routine and mundane tasks.

Chapter 13, Preparing and Extending the Purpose of our BIM Designs for Collaboration and Visualization, explores how we can integrate BIM designs in a multi-disciplined environment. We’ll also learn how we can extend our civil BIM designs and integrate directly into collaboration and visualization tools. By doing this, we’ll find new ways to work more efficiently and become even better civil BIM model managers.

To get the most out of this book

You will need to have a basic understanding of civil engineering and surveying workflows, as well as a foundational understanding of Autodesk’s Civil 3D and AutoCAD products, to make the most of this book.

Software/hardware covered in the book

Operating system requirements

Autodesk Civil 3D 2025

Windows, macOS, or Linux

Dynamo for Civil 3D

Windows, macOS, or Linux

Content Catalog Editor 2025

Windows, macOS, or Linux

Infrastructure Parts Editor 2025

Windows, macOS, or Linux

Subassembly Composer 2025

Windows, macOS, or Linux

Autodesk ReCap 2025

Windows, macOS, or Linux

Autodesk Revit 2025

Windows, macOS, or Linux

Autodesk Navisworks 2025

Windows, macOS, or Linux

Autodesk InfraWorks 2025

Windows, macOS, or Linux

Note: All the examples in this book are compatible with Autodesk Civil 3D 2024.

Download the exercise files

You can download the example code files for this book at https://packt.link/gbz/9781835467749. If there’s an update to the exercise files, it will be updated to this link.

Conventions used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

Code in text: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: “With our Utility Model Start.dwg file open and view set up, let’s put on our model manager hat for a bit and run through some various design analysis tools we have available to us within Autodesk Civil 3D.”

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For instance, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in bold. Here is an example: “Just as we did when we ran the design check earlier, if you hover your cursor over each of the warning symbols, you’ll get some additional details that indicate the location and current actual coverage of your pressure pipe, along with the value that we defined as the minimum and/or maximum depth of cover in the Run Depth Checkdialog box.”

Tips or important notes

Appear like this.

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Part 1: Next-Level Civil 3D Capabilities

In this part of the book, we’ll advance our Civil 3D design, modeling, coordination, and management skills based on the foundational knowledge we already have (or acquired from our previous book, Autodesk Civil 3D from Start to Finish) by tapping into many of the enhanced solutions and integrations we have available to us. Everything covered herein will step up our BIM game in the Civil 3D world and put us on a path to becoming an expert model manager and leading design teams, as well as becoming as efficient and productive as possible.

This part contains the following chapters:

Chapter 1, Taking Civil 3D to the Next LevelChapter 2, Building Blocks for Civil 3D DesignsChapter 3, Advanced Design and Analysis Capabilities within Civil 3D 2025Chapter 4, Rail Design Capabilities within Autodesk Civil 3D 2025

1

Taking Civil 3D to the Next Level

For professionals in the civil engineering world, Autodesk Civil 3D has become the industry standard for designing, collaborating, and delivering civil infrastructure projects efficiently. Civil 3D is a powerhouse program for all of a civil engineer’s needs, whether on an individual basis or at a team level. Civil 3D encompasses all aspects of a design project from manipulating and importing existing conditions from various formats, through utility and grading design, and all the way to the finish when it comes to plan production. But while Civil 3D can handle all these evolving aspects of a project, there is much more that Civil 3D can enable beyond itself for civil design projects that require more collaboration, customization, or even communication beyond typical plan production. This book will take you and your skills with Civil 3D and other platforms, such as Infraworks, Navisworks, and more, to the next level and truly bring your civil designs to the forefront of the industry.

In this book, we will not only look at Civil 3D and its advanced capabilities as it relates to utilizing existing conditions, grading, utility design, and others, but will also examine how this software can be integrated into the portfolio of tools that would be utilized by a BIM model manager Now as a refresher, BIM is short for Building Information Modeling, and the role of BIM model manager has recently grown in popularity as software and technology have become so prominent in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry these days. A BIM model manager's role begins with a foundational understanding of specific software they are to utilize and can blend into the management of that software as it applies to templates and standards amongst a group. Also, a BIM model manager can be a specialist in industry-specific software, such as Civil 3D and others, which we will cover later in this book. This book is designed to leverage a civil BIM model manager's understanding and educate on the numerous other tools that can take the solid foundation of Civil 3D and expound upon it for further project collaboration amongst other project disciplines, visualizations for winning more project work from clients, and automating project information for a stronger overall working environment as a company.

Within this chapter, we will be focusing on the overall enhanced functionality that is possible within Civil 3D, then emphasize where and why we can take our civil design projects to the next level for maximal value creation amongst our teams and stakeholders. Many books about Civil 3D do a great job enabling a deep understanding of the program itself, whereas this book is meant to build upon a preexisting Civil 3D understanding and unleash the details of all of its components. This book is guaranteed to amplify you and your team’s practices with more agile workflows for custom part modeling and more intelligent corridor modeling, to leveraging your civil information into databases and visual presentations.

The following are the topics we will dive into, and further on in the chapter we will learn the importance of each element:

Next-level Civil 3D capabilitiesCivil information modelingCustomization of grading designsCustomization of utility designsInformation management and automationExtending infrastructure projects beyond Civil 3D

Technical requirements

As we know, the programs we use in the industry are incredibly powerful and as such require significant hardware and knowledge to leverage fully. Autodesk Civil 3D requires professional-grade computing horsepower, but this book will dive into other programs beyond Civil 3D that will prefer even more horsepower.

Though we have listed the minimum required hardware for this book, we have also indicated preferred guidelines on hardware to bear in mind as you look to incorporate these tools into your existing career. The minimum recommended hardware will give you a place to start and handle these tools, but we would push you to incorporate higher-capacity hardware when available to ensure fast working operations and to avoid any potential data or progress loss. Here, we’ll review the minimum requirements that Autodesk recommends, with a few of our suggestions added to increase efficiency and speed throughout the BIM design process:

Operating system – 64-bit Microsoft Windows 10Processor – 4+ GHzMemory – 16 GB RAM+ (32 GB or 64 GB preferred)Graphics card – 4+ GBDisplay resolution – 1980 x 1080 with True ColorDisk space – 20 GBPointing device – Microsoft compliant mouse

Next-level capabilities within Civil 3D

Our first book, Autodesk Civil 3D 2024 from Start to Finish, acted as a foundational piece in the civil engineer’s technology journey. Civil engineers are entrenched in the design aspect of a project as well as many other nuances that come along with design, but one facet of design is quickly evolving and becoming a new standard for efficient, collaborative projects: Civil 3D and many more civil engineering technologies. In this book, we dive deeper into the concepts detailed in our previous book. We branch out from Civil 3D and look into other tools for taking these civil designs and making them more collaborative with other disciplines, along with leveraging them into stakeholder meetings for better project understanding or visualization to win more work. We also look into taking the information portion of BIM to the next level with better utilization and project awareness in the other phases of a project besides design.

We will kick off with a recap of the basics of Civil 3D and refamiliarize ourselves with the overall processes within the platform. We will not dive back into all of the details, but it will serve as a refresher for those looking to take their existing Civil 3D knowledge to the next level. After we recap, we will dive deeper into the advanced design and analysis capabilities of Civil 3D 2025 that will serve as a comprehensive guide to taking our Civil 3D game up another level.

We’ll begin with a residential subdivision design by applying advanced roadway and utility design and analysis workflows to improve our design and collaboration. We’ll also introduce a new dataset to get a basic understanding of how Civil 3D 2025 can be utilized in rail design as well.

Next, we’ll dive in the world of cloud computational design, along with drone and laser scanning integration to supplement our existing conditions model and develop skills that will allow us to customize our utility network designs through manual 3D-part modeling and parametric-part content integration.

From there, we’ll dive into the world of the information modeling, automation, and CIM management tools available in Civil 3D 2025. We’ll learn how we can prepare our models for future technology solution integrations advantageous to construction, asset management, and owner/operator purposes. We’ll get a better understanding of how we can streamline information tagging within our models to fit the requirements of project stakeholder purposes.

We’ll then complete our BIM model manager learning path with an overview of how we can integrate designs from major design authoring tools to improve our design collaboration. With our coordinated design established, we can then take our comprehensive Civil 3D design to a whole other level by reviewing workflows used to integrate into collaboration and design review tools and learn how we can extract the information from our models and further utilize them for design collaboration, quantifications, and even cost estimation purposes. Finally, we’ll close out with a review of how we can leverage visualization tools to better convey our design intent to all project stakeholders. All of these capabilities are essential facets of civil information modeling, the idea of leveraging the data created in dynamic civil engineering projects for further downstream purposes and more effective projects.

Civil Information Modeling

In this section, we’ll embark on a journey into the realm of Civil Information Modeling (CIM), a transformative approach that has reshaped how we design and execute civil engineering projects. We’ll share experiences, explore processes, and navigate the successes and challenges encountered while implementing full CIM designs. Our focus extends beyond individual projects to the ambitious goal of fully integrating CIM across entire organizations.

But before we delve into the intricacies of CIM implementation, let’s take a moment to demystify some common acronyms that have become synonymous with the AEC industry. You’re likely familiar with BIM, a term that has long been associated with intelligently designing buildings and structures. However, on the civil engineering front, we’ve been crafting and modeling everything outside of buildings in a 3D environment for as long as, if not longer than, BIM has been in circulation.

Throughout this journey, we’ve mastered the art of building surfaces, creating corridor models, designing pipe networks, generating dynamic profiles and cross sections, performing clash detections, calculating earthwork quantities, and producing cost estimate reports. However, despite our advancements, our final designs often comprise a blend of 2D and 3D elements, which has led to a divergence in the perception of our work as true BIM among the majority.

To address this divergence and clarify the role of civil engineering in this evolving landscape, the industry has embraced the acronym CIM. While CIM shares processes with BIM, its scope extends beyond the creation of a 3D model. It involves harnessing additional dimensions that enable us to extract and analyze the intelligent components embedded in our designs.

As clients and owners increasingly recognize the value of CIM, it’s becoming commonplace for them to mandate the inclusion of 3D models alongside traditional plan sets in design deliverables. Some are even making the leap to going fully digital, considering the Model as the Legal Document (MALD) approach. Furthermore, we’re witnessing a growing trend of contractors engaging and collaborating in the early stages of project design, leveraging design models for construction intelligence updates. This practice, known as Virtual Design and Construction (VDC), fosters seamless collaboration, leads to improved as-built outcomes, and results in substantial cost savings on the back end.

Now, as we delve into the world of CIM, we’ll shift our focus to understanding some of the complexities involved when beginning your CIM journey or even deploying CIM on your 100th project.

CIM journey

Creating a genuine CIM design is a transformative journey. It’s important to anticipate challenges along the way. Initial frustrations may arise, leading some to revert to old 2D habits. However, embracing the model’s details is crucial, especially if your company intends to deliver electronic models or as-built models in the future. The devil truly lies in the BIM and CIM details.

Costs and efforts in a fully implemented CIM design are front-loaded, with a tapering effect as design development progresses. Clients and companies must grasp this shift in resource allocation. A 3D model environment encourages thoughtful design, resulting in quicker adjustments during later phases. The benefits of generating a BIM or CIM design become evident at this stage.

During project initiation, defining the final product’s representation and planning the path to achieve it is vital. 3D models offer extensive information but can expose potential errors and omissions. BIM model managers and project managers must collaborate to manage these risks. BIM and CIM execution plans, which outline workflows and uses, are increasingly common and require comprehensive training for the entire project team.

Now, let’s explore the critical aspect of CIM execution plans, also known as Digital Deliverable Plans (DDP). These plans provide a structured framework to guide CIM implementation effectively. They define workflows, uses, and processes that are instrumental in achieving the desired final product. Proper training and understanding are essential for the entire project team to navigate the complexities of BIM and CIM design successfully.

CIM uses

Let’s delve into the realm of CIM uses. A multitude of distinct CIM uses can be brought to bear on a project, each possessing its unique purpose and utility, suitable for deployment across singular or multiple phases. Traditionally, any given project traverses four key phases: the planning phase, design phase, construction phase, and operations phase.

The array of potential CIM uses that can be employed within each of these phases is expansive, with some even exhibiting crossover into subsequent project phases. Drawing from our experience, the strategic approach involves adhering to CIM uses essential for realizing the project’s envisioned final outcome.

To illustrate this, consider the scenario of designing a roadway for a client. Typically, the expected final product encompasses delivering a hardcopy plan set alongside a 3D model of the design. In light of this, the use of CIM is indispensable for achieving this objective, encompassing design authoring (responsible for 3D design model generation), drawing generation (including production), 3D coordination (commonly known as clash detection), and design reviews, itself encompassing quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC). While other tasks such as modeling existing conditions, automation, and traffic analysis may be considered, their inclusion should align with the specific project requirements.

In essence, plugging the use of CIM into your execution plan essentially commits you to fulfilling all the associated requirements of that particular use of CIM. However, if comprehensive analysis is deemed necessary or aligns with your company’s standards, there is merit in the incorporation, as they can significantly enhance the thoroughness of the design.

Ultimately, there are four core CIM uses that merit universal application across projects, regardless of their market segment. These foundational CIM uses encompass design authoring, drawing generation, 3D coordination, and design reviews.

Design authoring

Design authoring involves using software to create a 3D model based on the information necessary for an accurate representation of the design. One important aspect to consider in this CIM use is that quality control is a critical component in every design phase and every CIM use. Quality control in the context of design authoring typically concentrates on the precision and completeness of CIM elements at a detailed level during interdisciplinary design. While 3D coordination and design review offer a broader perspective on interdisciplinary design, they specifically focus on identifying errors and ensuring completeness. In practice, these aspects are interconnected, and quality assurance is an integral part of CIM, as it is in all phases of the project lifecycle.

When it comes to modeling existing conditions, one of the most crucial considerations is determining the level of development (LOD), sometimes referred to level of detail, required in the model. This aspect is typically addressed during scope and fee development and should involve discussions between the project manager and a lead modeler or BIM model manager. It’s also essential to note that designing based on an imprecise existing model can lead to constructability issues and pose risks to your company. On the contrary, excessive detail can drive up survey costs and prolong processing times.

To mitigate these challenges, it’s important to identify the appropriate level of detail and set boundaries to prevent overwork. Determining the level of detail depends on the project type and client requirements, which can naturally vary significantly from one project to another. Let us discuss a few examples of factors to consider when deciding the level of detail to incorporate into your existing models.

For instance, if you’re working on a linear roadway design, you should assess whether there will be new pavement connecting to existing pavement. This evaluation may entail a review of the contract terms, client specifications, and design guidelines to establish accuracy requirements. It’s crucial to recognize that the design’s precision or accuracy cannot surpass that of the underlying survey data.

Alternatively, in a project involving site civil grading, different areas of the project site may necessitate varying levels of accuracy. Landscaping, for example, typically doesn’t demand the same level of precision and detail as pavement design. Additionally, considerations related to drainage and surface elevation points should be factored in.

Likewise, for a utility relocation project, a thorough assessment of the number and types of utilities within the project area is essential. If there are high-risk utilities near proposed structures, using borings as a data source might be more appropriate than ground-penetrating radar. Furthermore, if a clash detection analysis is part of the design process, it’s imperative that all utility information covers the area designated for clash detection.

Drawing generation

Next up is drawing generation, which essentially entails the process of taking our CIM components and producing drawings and comprehensive drawing sets, encompassing schematic design, development, and construction documents. The overarching objective here is to establish model elements once and utilize that information without compromising accuracy or integrity in the generation of drawings. This approach enhances the overall quality of the drawings and concurrently minimizes the effort invested while reducing errors in the design process.

In most projects, the primary deliverables typically revolve around plans, making drawing generation a well-established concept. However, the transformation brought about by CIM implementation lies in the ability of designers to swiftly present information in a 2D plan view with minimal to no loss in precision or accuracy. This means that plans, profile sections, and detailed sheets can all be efficiently generated from your model.

3D coordination

Moving on to 3D coordination, commonly referred to as clash detection, it entails the utilization of 3D design software to pinpoint spatial interferences among objects such as utilities, drainage pipes, pilings, and more, within one or multiple 3D models. The primary objective of clash detection is to preemptively eliminate major system conflicts before the commencement of construction. This process is an ongoing cycle throughout the design phase and is ideally initiated before reaching the initial project milestone, in accordance with the guidelines outlined in our BIM or CIM execution plan.

However, it’s worth noting that the timing of commencing 3D coordination and its frequency carry budgetary implications. Initiating 3D coordination during the conceptual drawing phase may yield false positives due to the approximate dimensions of elements and a lack of thorough investigation into design challenges in constrained areas. Additionally, excessive clash detections can lead to unnecessary consumption of time and project resources.

A crucial point to emphasize here is that solely relying on 3D coordination software to confirm the absence of conflicts within your project is not advisable. While clash detection tools are valuable for identifying physical conflicts, they are not a foolproof basis for verifying your design. The ultimate responsibility for conflict avoidance rests with the design team, and a conflict-free report generated by a program should not be the sole defense against design issues.