Civil 3D 2009 New Features

User Interface
Workspaces and menus Menu Browser Using the large icon in the upper left corner of your screen, you can access all menus and also search for any command, recent document, tooltips, etc. Tooltips- tooltips now display extended information when hovering over a command icon for a given length of time 3D Navigation- new AutoCAD 3D navigation tool the ViewCube allows you to navigate to various views from within the AutoCAD space. It also allows you to create and change coordinate systems. This only shows up while you are in a visual style other than 2D wireframe. There is also a SteeringWheel that allows the user a central interface for navigating. (zoom, pan, look, walk, rewind, center, up/down, orbit)

Creating, Drafting, and Editing

Surface Data Simplify surface command to remove extra points from a surface without sacrificing accuracy. Two simplification methods exist for this command, edge contraction (simplifies using triangle edges) or point removal (simplifies using surface points) Reorder Surface Operations you can now rearrange the order of surface operations. The operations in the list get used in order from top to bottom. Data clip Boundary When you add a boundary to a surface, there is now a new option to use data clip, which will just clip surface data within the boundary and not any surface edits. This feature could be useful for improving processing speed of large datasets. Breakline weeding Factors Allows you to weed out points when you add breakline data to a surface. Surface Volume Correction There are now options in the create volume based surface dialog box to apply cut and fill factors to the surface. Survey Data Tolerance Errors Now you can locate observation tolerance errors for angles, distances, elevations, and coordinates. The errors represent redundant observations that exceed values specified in the Survey Database Settings. You can use the panorama window to browse the drawing for errors and even display them differently with styles.

Imperial to Metric In the drawing settings you have the option of now specifying international foot or US survey foot. Translate Survey Database allows you to move all the information from an assumed location to a known location Edit Feature Line Commands In the survey menu there is now commands for editing feature line elevations and geometry Mapcheck Using Labels Allows you to perform mapchecks by selecting a line or curve that is part of a closed traverse. Alignments and Profiles Criteria-Based Design There is now an extra feature added on to the alignment and profile creation dialog to use design criteria. It basically looks to an external file and gives you minimum values for curve radius, superelevation data, K values for V.C.s based on design speed. Design Checks You can create you own design criteria for alignment and profiles that basically check some property using a formula that you create. Best Fit Entities can use the alignment and profile layout toolbar to draw line and curve segments that best fit points, existing entities, or locations in the drawing. New spiral commands You can create: Free Compound Spiral-Curve-Spiral-Curve-Spiral Free reverse Spiral-Curve-Spiral-Curve-Spiral Free Compound Spiral-Spiral Circular Curve by Length you can now create vertical circular curves by length. Spiral Through a Point can now create fixed spirals with pass through point, by specifying an end point, an alignment for BP and direction, and finally a pass through point. Corridor Modeling Target Mapping Enhancements can stretch subassemblies horizontally with feature lines, survey figures, or polylines. You can also vertically stretch sub assemblies to profiles, feature lines and 3D polylines. Station Tracker It highlights stations that you are looking at from the view/edit sections command in plan and profile views.

View/Edit Corridor Enhancements There are now 3 different zoom modes to use when looking at corridor sections: zoom extents, zoom to an offset and elevation, and zoom to subassembly. The grid now fills the screen no matter which view you are in. Grid labels remain visible on all sides at any zoom level. Can assign labels to subassemblies in the view edit corridor tools view. Copy/Move/Mirror Subassemblies - You can use the AutoCAD move, copy, mirror commands to create assemblies. These commands are built into the right click menu. Share Assemblies Can drag an assembly to a tool palette or content browser catalog. Can also share assemblies by dragging a drawing into another drawing provided that all the source drawing has in it is assemblies. Import Subassemblies under the corridor-utilities section there is now a command to import aubassemblies. This allows you to import subassemblies that live in a specialized .pkt file. New Subassemblies DaylightBasin2 DaylightMultipleSurface DaylightInsideROW Ditch LaneInsideSuperMultiLayer LaneOutsideSuperMultiLayer LaneInsideSuperLayerVaryingWidth LaneOutsideSuperLayerVaryingWidth ShoulderMultiLayer ShoulderMultiSurface Modified Subassemblies Five of the link subassemblies now have the ability to use superelevation slopes instead of a finite value. Feature Lines Prospector You can now access feature line commands in prospector tab with a right click menu. When selecting a F.L. from the prospector tab a detailed list of data shows in a D.B. view in the bottom of toolspace. Names when creating feature lines you have the option of naming them. yOU can also assign a new name after the feature line has been created through the prospector tab. Feature Line Properties There are 2 tabs of data now in the properties of a feature line. The information tab allows you to change the style, name, or dynamic link association. The statistics tab gives some general statistics about the feature lines geometry. Elevation Editor Enhancements There are 2 new buttons for the elevation editor:

Elevations from surface Reverse the direction Also grade breaks only check box changed to a button. When selecting non-editable feature lines you can still see the data in the elevation editor, but it will be read only. Quick Elevation Edit can walk down a feature line or parcel line and see tooltip information like elevation or slope and then click to edit the value. Link to Corridor or Alignment There is a toggle when creating a feature line from an alignment or corridor and the feature line updates automatically when the corridor or the alignment changes. Parcels Parcel Editing Commands can now be accessed from the parcels menu that allow you to edit parcel segment elevations and plan view geometry. Pipe Networks Rename Pipes and Structures Pipes-Utilities-Rename pipes allows you to rename existing pipe network parts. Hydraflow The 2009 install of Civil 3D comes with: Hydraflow Storm Sewer Extension Hydraulic and hydrologic analysis Hydraflow Hydragraphs watershed and detention pond anaylsis Hydraflow Express Extension calculators for culverts,channels,wiets,etc.

Displaying and Visualizing

Labeling and Annotating Xref labels you can add labels to Civil 3D objects that are externally referenced. The labels from the externally referenced drawing show up but you cannot edit them. Labels placed in the current drawing can be editing directly. Label Styles You can select a style or edit/create styles from the AutoCAD property window. Label Anchors New anchoring options (ends and mid of lines and curves, intersection, center points) are available for: Line and Curve labels Alignment line and curve labels Parcel line and curve labels Edit Point Marker Rotation you can now rotate points with a grip.

Add a Surface Catchment Area you can automatically define a catchment area based on a specified location. Click a point and the software will automatically draw a polyline that encompasses the area that adds to the watershed. Parcel Label Enhancements Area, line, and curve labels are separated from the parcel objects, so you can label in an externally referenced drawing. Pipe Spanning Labels there is a new label that displays the span of multiple pipes to profile views. Styles Object Styles the 2D,3D view direction has changed to plan, model, and section. Alignments, survey figures, and feature lines show up in view/edit corridor sections as the style section view dictates. Feature Line Styles you can use the prospector tab of toolspace to apply feature line styles. Profile Views Profile View Options when creating the profile views, you have a check box that allows you to stack the related profiles automatically. Profile high and low points are now accessible in banding data. Vertical Scale The vertical scale option has now been added along side the exaggeration in the profile view style. Same for sections. Data Bands the distance between stations can now be shown through a profile or section band style. Sections Section View Groups you can no longer expand the sample line group in prospector. It now reads with a black dot and you can view the information below in a DB view when it is selected. You can expand sections under that sample line group to expose the sampled data information. There is now a sections view group option in prospector that allows you to modify the properties of the group of views. Section View Wizard There is a wizard that walks you through the process of creating section views (much like profile wizard). Mass Haul Diagram You can create mass haul diagrams based on volumes thast can show cut/fill volume balance, free haul, overhaul, volumes offset by borrow pits and dump sites.

Managing Data
Project Management Data Shortcuts in Prospector Data shortcuts now show up in the master view portion of the prospector tab of toolspace. You can now create data shortcuts by selecting them from a dialog that shows the objects from the current drawing. Data shortcuts are stored in the working folder. Edit Data Shortcuts There is an external manager for data shortcuts that is similar to the reference manager. Get to it through Start program files Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Data Shortcuts Editor. Exporting Projects to Zip Archive can export project files by right clicking and selecting export to ZIP file.

Sharing and Presenting

Speed-Based Design Reports new reports for alignments and profiles that document the design criteria specified in the alignment and profile. eTransmit Data References eTransmit now gathers up data shortcuts, vault data, xrefs, and any other dependency. Google Earth there have been some interoperability changes between Civil 3D and Google Earth. Look in the help file for more info.