Computer-aided design (CAD) software revolutionized how civil engineers create designs and building information modeling (BIM) took it one step further.
Sometimes, though, even revolutionary tools have room for improvement. That’s where secondary developers come in: they provide add-ons and plug-ins to increase ease of use for BIM software. This can be handy whether you’re familiar with the software or learning it for the first time.
One example, CGS Civil 3D Tools 2016, hopes to help make AutoCAD Civil 3D a little more user-friendly.
Civil 3D Tools 2016 Enhancements
CGS Civil 3D Tools 2016 is a collection of additional tools for AutoCAD Civil 3D. It’s already received its first update for the current version.
Although some previously introduced features like the pipe system design and grading tools haven’t been touched, the new version has a few new tweaks.
What can users expect to see?
Edit COGO Points: This is an existing feature in Civil 3D, but Tools claims to offer a less clumsy way of editing point properties like description, elevation, coordinates and style.
Section Elevations Report: This tool lets the user select sample lines and then uses those lines to record distances and elevations for existing ground and surface elevations. Reports can be generated in TXT, XLS and HTML.
Here’s a look at how it works:
Point Inverse Tool: This tool calculates the inverse direction and horizontal distance between a base point and a group of target points. These selections can be changed at any time using the dialog; calculations automatically update to reflect those changes.
Here’s a look at how it works:
The software is designed to work with AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012-16. Pricing ranges from $195 USD for a standalone version to $2,395 USD for an enterprise version with 250 seats. It’s also available as a free trial here.
For more information, check out the CGS website.