by Geoff Woodhead
Hands up if you’re lucky enough to have Autodesk 3ds Max Design installed on your computer *starts flailing arm*. I’ve had access to 3ds Max for about 3 years now. Anyone that has had chance to use it I’m sure will agree that it is the most fun and addictive part of any design workflow.
For those that haven’t had the chance to use it or have never been blessed with any knowledge of it, 3ds Max Design is a comprehensive 3D Design, Modelling, Animation and Rendering solution for Architects, Designers, Civil Engineers and Visualisation Specialists. It allows you to evaluate and sell designs before they are built, with rapid iterations, accurate daylight analysis and high-impact visuals and animations.
This post is focused on Civil Engineers use of 3ds Max Design and the workflow facilitated by the Civil View product enhancement for Civil 3D.
The Civil View product enhancement comes in two “flavours”, Out of the Box and Subscription. When using Civil View straight from your fresh installation you will have the Out of the Box flavour, this version allows you to export Corridors and Surfaces from Civil 3D (see fig. 1 below). If however, you have an active subscription for Civil 3D or an Infrastructure Design Suite you will have access to an additional enhancement from the subscription centre. This enhancement will activate the Subscription flavour and in addition to being able to export Surfaces and Corridors you will also be able to export Alignments, Profile data and Pipe Networks (see fig. 2 below).
Fig. 1 – Out of the Box export options
Fig. 2 – Subscription export options
Stay tuned for future blogs where I’ll be further exploring what Civil View is and just how powerful a tool it can be when used correctly in our workflows.