Civil 3D release comparison 2018 to 2020

Any Survey database created with a version prior to Civil 3D 2020 will need to be converted in order to be used in Civil 3D 2020. The survey database format has been updated from Microsoft SQL Server Compact (SQL CE) format to SQLite. To use existing survey databases with Civil 3D 2020, they must be converted to SQLite.

Please consult with your Survey Data Coordinator prior to using any survey data for Civil 3D 2020 to ensure the data is useable and that no backward compatibility is required. The Survey Data Coordinator will be able to help you sort out compatibility issues.

Warning: Migrated databases are not compatible with earlier releases of Civil 3D. However, the SQL CE (.sdbx) databases are not overwritten or deleted during the migration process and can be used in earlier releases of Civil 3D. Contact your Survey Data Coordinator before migrating any survey databases.

Info: The AutoCAD DWG version format is unchanged from Civil 3D 2018 to Civil 3D 2020. Civil 3D 2018/2019/2020 use the same DWG version (AC1032 - DWG AutoCAD 2018/2019/2020). Even though these Civil 3D versions share the same DWG format that does not mean that drawings created in 2020 are entirely backward compatible with 2018 or 2019.

Backward compatibility between Civil 3D 2020 and prior versions of Civil 3D

Drawings saved in Civil 3D 2020 can be opened in Civil 3D 2019 and Civil 3D 2018. Although drawings can be opened, specific interoperability issues may arise between versions.

When opening a dwg created in Civil 3D 2020 in a previous version of Civil 3D, you may be prompted with a proxy graphics dialog like the one shown below. Once you make a selection of how you want the proxy graphics shown in the drawing then the dialog will no longer show up when opening the drawing. This dialog may even show if there are no Pressure Network objects, or if there are other object changes that are made in subsequent updates to Civil 3D 2020.

To open a Civil 3D 2020 drawing and view the Civil 3D objects in a version prior to Civil 3D 2018:

1. PROXYGRAPHICS 1 Enter in Civil 3D 2020. This will save the graphics with the drawing.
2. App menu > Save As > Drawing to save the drawing to a prior drawing file format.

When you open the drawing in a prior version of the software, the Civil 3D objects will be displayed as proxy graphics.

Civil 3D 2020 was the initial release of this version cycle. Civil 3D 2020.3 is the third update version to Civil 3D 2020. Autodesk issues updates with the product name in the format Civil 3D 2020.x. These updates should be treated as separate versions as interoperability between updates may be affected.

Warning: With the roll out of WisDOT Civil 3D 2020 all WisDOT computers will be working in the 2020.3 version of Civil 3D. However there may be some contractors who do not have the updates installed who may experience these issues. Best practices would be to install the latest updates.

This section describes interoperability between Civil 3D 2020.3, Civil 3D 2020, Civil 3D 2019, or Civil 3D 2018.

Object changes

There are no specific object changes introduced in Civil 3D 2020.3 that affect drawing interoperability with Civil 3D 2019 or Civil 3D 2018.

However, interoperability between versions may apply to your workflows. For example, if you create an object in Civil 3D 2020.3 and that object type was introduced in Civil 3D 2020, the object is displayed as a proxy object if you open the drawing in Civil 3D 2018.

Reference templates

A host drawing will reference all the components in a reference template by default if the host drawing is opened in a prior version of Civil 3D and the reference template path is found.

When the host drawing is reopened in Civil 3D 2020.3, the reference template defaults that were specified using the Set Reference Template Defaults command will be restored. The components that had been selected when using the Set Reference Template Defaults command in Civil 3D 2020.3 will be referenced into the host drawing, and other components that were not selected will be removed from the host drawing if they are not in use.

The reference template priority settings are preserved if a host drawing is opened in a prior version of Civil 3D. For example, if you specify that a style will be referenced from a lower priority template in Civil 3D 2020.3, that specification will be preserved if you open the host drawing in a prior version.

Subassemblies

Subassemblies updated or developed after Civil 3D 2020.3 is installed are not backward compatible with previous versions and may not perform at all. It is important that when using the WisDOT Civil 3D configuration that you have the 2020.3 or later version installed.

Add-ons and vehicle tracking

Vehicle tracking object and other add-ons may only be backward compatible as proxy graphics with no ability to edit the object and limited options to show and hide the objects.

User Interface (2020)

• The Dark color scheme and the application ribbon icons have been updated.
  • The Dark color scheme that controls the appearance of the application window, ribbon, and other user interface elements has been updated with new colors.
  • Ribbon icons for both the Light and Dark color schemes have been updated for style and clarity, optimized to work with the background colors, and updated to scale with high-resolution monitors.

Roadway Design Standards (2020.2)

• The following new design standards files based on the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) 2018 design standards are included in Autodesk Civil 3D 2020.2:

  C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\C3D 2020\enu\data\Corridor Design Standards\Imperial\_Autodesk Civil 3D Imperial (2018) Roadway Design Standards.xml

Alignment and profile enhancements (2019.1)

• Create a fixed circular or fixed parabolic vertical curve by specifying a high or a low point.
  • Note: These curves are not backward compatible with Civil 3D 2018. You can use the Convert Curves command to convert the fixed parabolic curves so they are compatible with Civil 3D 2018, but the fixed circular curves cannot be converted.
• Create and label best fit alignments and profiles using new options.

  • Specify the spiral type to create when creating a best fit alignment.

    

  • Create best fit profiles that are at or above the elevations of the selected input data. Use new options to control whether the resulting best fit profile elevations will be above the input data, or whether the elevations can be above and below the input data.

    

  • Add labels to best fit alignments and profiles. Options are now available when creating best fit alignments and profiles to insert labels in the drawing to show the offset between the source data and the resulting best fit alignment or profile.

  • Specify the maximum rate of change for superelevation cross slope for an alignment.

    

  • Create a floating vertical tangent in a profile by specifying a grade and a length. The specified grade is held if you grip edit the length of this type of tangent.

    

Pipe network enhancements (2019.1)

• Specify the type of connection points on structures to use when laying out pipe networks. When you lay out a pipe network, you can select which type of connection point to use: the structure insertion point, the default connection point (the first connection point that is defined for a structure), or the closest connection point to the cursor. You can also reset the connection points after laying out the pipe network.

  

Transparent commands updates (2019.2)

• Access transparent commands from the ribbon and context menu and use new and updated transparent commands.
  • Access transparent commands from the Transparent Commands ribbon tab and from the Transparent Commands context menu.
  • Use the new Profile Toolset transparent command to create profile geometry from known parameters. You can use the options to enter either a station and elevation, station and grade, elevation and grade, or length and grade.

  • Use the updated Station Offset transparent command to enter and lock station and offset values and to specify different alignments.

Analyze gravity network updates (2019.2 and 2019.3 and 2020)

• Assign properties to structures that can be used by the Analyze Gravity Network command for drainage analysis. On the Part Properties tab in the Structure Properties dialog box, you can change the Structure Type from <none> to a manhole, an outfall, or an inlet type.
• The Structure Type property also controls which other properties are displayed in the dialog box. For example, if you select any inlet type, the Gutter Details properties and inlet dimensions properties will become available.
• By assigning data to a structure using these properties, the pipe network structures have the data necessary for computing inlet performance calculations with the Analyze Gravity Network command.
• Use the updated Analyze Gravity Network command to analyze a pipe network and apply the results to the pipe network.

• The updated command uses a modeless dialog box so you can leave it open while you do other work. 

  

•  You can use this command to perform the following analysis types:
  • Resize Pipes and Reset Inverts: Analyzes the flow through the pipes, and then resizes the pipes and resets inverts to accommodate the flow.
  • Compute Energy and Hydraulic Grade Lines: Calculates the energy and hydraulic grade lines, and reports whether each line in the system is in a normal state, surcharged, or flooded. Note: Compute Energy and Hydraulic Grade Lines is the default analysis type.
  • Inlet Analysis: Analyzes the capacity of the inlets and reports the flow, depth, and spread at each inlet.
• Additional updates to the Analyze Gravity Network command include the following enhancements:
  • Storm drain data is now included in a report when Compute Energy and Hydraulic Grade Lines is selected as the analysis type.
  • The specified Tailwater Condition now remains selected when re-running the analysis on the same pipe network.

  • The pipes in the current parts list are now shown and can be selected manually on the Network Details page from a drop-down list.

    Info: When resizing a pipe network using the Resize Pipes and Reset Inverts analysis type, part sizes are added to the parts list from the catalog if required.

  

  • Multiple catchments per structure are now supported for gravity network analysis.

    • The Connections tab in the Structure Properties dialog box now has a Connected Catchments section that shows which catchments are connected to the structure.

      

    • In the Analyze Gravity Network dialog box, the combined area, longest time of concentration, and the weighted runoff coefficient are displayed for the catchments and these values are used in the analysis calculations.

      

  • Catchment information can now be defined directly in the Structure Properties dialog box and in the Analyze Gravity Network dialog box.
    • You can enter catchment information directly on the Connections tab in the Structure Properties dialog box by defining values in the Area, Time of Concentration, and Weighted Runoff Coefficient fields.
    • You can also enter catchment information directly on the Network Details page of the Analyze Gravity Network dialog box by entering 2D Area, Runoff Coefficient, and Time of Concentration values.

  • Use the new drainage structure parameter mapping feature to map the parameters of Part Builder parts to parameters that are required for the Analyze Gravity Network command. By setting up and applying the mapping for these parts, the parameter values will be available within the Analyze Gravity Network command by default.

    

  • Use new structure feature settings to specify default values that can be used by the Analyze Gravity Network command.

Autodesk Batch Save Utility (2019)

• Open and save multiple drawing and template files at once to a specified version of Civil 3D using the Autodesk Batch Save Utility. You can also run custom scripts as part of the batch operation.

Sample line group data references (2019.1)

• Reference sample line groups into drawings using data shortcuts.

  

• When you create a data shortcut for a sample line group, a data shortcut to the parent alignment is also created.
• When you create the data references, you can specify which sample lines in the sample line group to reference and which data sources to sample.
• Synchronization notifications are displayed for data references only if a data-referenced object is changed in the source drawing and the drawing is saved, and are not displayed if something unrelated to the object occurs in the drawing.

Profile view enhancements (2019.2)

• Add crossing objects to profile views to show where linear objects cross the profile relative to the parent alignment. You can show alignments, profiles, feature lines, survey figures, and 3D polylines as crossing objects in a profile view.

Data shortcut enhancements (2019.2 and 2019.3 and 2020)

• When creating a data shortcut reference to a sample line group, you can now automatically create references to the sampled sources if data shortcuts exist for those sources. When you select these data sources to sample and click OK, references to the sampled sources are created in the drawing if they do not already exist.
• Enter folder paths, including UNC paths, directly into the Folder field in dialog boxes that prompt for a folder location.
• The Manage Data Shortcuts command has been updated with the following features for specifying a different data shortcut project path when the current path is still valid:

  • If there is another valid path to a data shortcut project available, you can specify that path by browsing to the alternate data shortcut Source File or Path from the Data Shortcut Manager dialog box. After selecting the alternate Source File or Path, a dialog box is displayed which you can use to update the shortcuts. Drawing objects that reference the original path will be updated to reference the alternate path.

    

  • You can also specify an alternate valid path as the working folder, and then you can use the Link button in the Manage Data Shortcuts dialog box to change the links to the objects. Previously, if you attempted to use the Link button to change the link to a different valid path, the Event Viewer would display a message that the reference already existed.

• Use a new system variable named SyncDrefPsetToSource to control whether property sets are synchronized when you synchronize data shortcut references.

• Use a new system variable named PipeNetworkSyncMode to control the synchronization of data referenced pipe networks when you open a host drawing.

• Data shortcut synchronization related to superelevation has been enhanced. With this enhancement, changes to more types of superelevation parameters in a source alignment will prompt you to synchronize a data referenced alignment.

Autodesk Dynamo for Civil 3D (2020)

• Autodesk Dynamo for Civil 3D is a visual programming application. Use the Autodesk Dynamo for Civil 3D commands to develop and run scripts for automating tasks and workflows in Autodesk Civil 3D.

Reference templates (2019 and 2020)

• Use enhanced reference template features to manage styles and settings.
  • You can set up a reference template in advance to control which components in the template will be referenced into a host drawing. When you have a drawing DWT file open, the new Set Reference Template Defaults command is available on the Styles panel. Use this command to set up a reference template. Only the items that are selected when you set up the reference template will be referenced into the host drawings by default.
  • When you attach an additional reference template to a drawing, you are alerted to duplicates with warning symbols and tooltips. To change which component is used, you can change template priority, or you can clear the selection in the higher priority template so that the component in the lower priority template is used.

Infraworks component road to Civil 3D corridor (2019)

• Create an Civil 3D corridor from an InfraWorks component road. When you bring component roads into Civil 3D, assemblies are created using subassemblies in Civil 3D and corridors are created.

New Civil 3D export command (2019 and 2019.2 and 2020)

• Use a new export command (AeccExportCivilDrawing) in an object-enabled AutoCAD application to export an Civil 3D drawing and explode all of the Civil 3D objects.
• Specify whether the Export Civil 3D Drawing command converts feature lines, parcel segments, and survey figures to 2D or 3D polylines.
• Labels with background masks are no longer exported with bowtie-shaped hatches.
• Xrefs are exploded appropriately on export.
• Proxy state messages are no longer displayed on export.

Updated LandXML import and export features (2019.1 and 2019.2 and 2020.1)

• Import breaklines as either feature lines or as 3D polylines when importing surface data from LandXML files. Use a new property in the LandXML Settings to control which type of object to create. Importing surface breaklines as feature lines has been enhanced to preserve the dynamic nature of the breaklines. After a LandXML file is imported into a drawing, you can edit the feature lines that were created from the breakline data and the corresponding surface will update.
• Specify whether property set definitions are created and applied when surface data is imported from a LandXML file.
• You can now export feature lines to LandXML files, including feature lines that are created from alignments and corridors.

• Exported feature lines created from an alignment remain dynamic to the parent alignment when the alignment is exported and imported along with the feature lines.

  You can now import feature lines on the site specified in the LandXML source file by selecting an option in the LandXML Settings dialog box.

• Update existing object data in a drawing and create property set data when importing LandXML files.

  • Update existing objects in a drawing when importing a LandXML file. In the LandXML Settings dialog box, on the Import tab, under Conflict Resolution Settings, select the Update option.

    In prior releases, when using the Update option, existing objects in a drawing were deleted and redrawn when the LandXML file was imported. Now the Update option updates most object types without first deleting them. This preserves labels that have been added to the objects as well as dependent objects such as alignment offsets. Note: This behavior does not apply to parcels. Parcels are deleted and redrawn when using the Update option.

  • Specify whether property set definitions are created and applied when objects are imported from a LandXML file. You can view this property set data in the AutoCAD Properties Palette and in tooltips. Note: Previously, this property set data was created for surfaces only.