Problem In Structure Labels, the Connected Pipe Direction component displays hard-coded cardinal direction abbreviations (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW). These values are automatically localized based on the language of the Civil 3D installation, but they cannot be customized or accessed through Expressions. This creates several limitations: Companies working in multilingual environments cannot use a single Civil 3D installation while complying with local drafting standards. Users cannot adapt the abbreviations to company or agency standards. Expressions cannot be used to translate or replace the returned values. For example, French drafting standards use O, NO, and SO instead of W, NW, and SW. These abbreviations are only available when using the French version of Civil 3D, making it impossible for users of the English version to produce compliant labels. Proposed Solution Instead of returning hard-coded text, expose the connected pipe direction as a configurable value. Any of the following solutions would address the issue: Allow users to customize the text displayed for each direction (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW). Expose the direction as an enum or numeric value that can be used in Expressions. Provide a mapping table within the label style or drawing settings. Benefits Better localization without requiring a language-specific installation. Support for company, agency, and regional drafting standards. Greater flexibility for label customization. Consistent with other areas of Civil 3D where abbreviations and displayed text can already be customized. This would be a relatively small enhancement with significant benefits for international users and organizations maintaining standardized drafting practices. Show More

A valuable enhancement to Civil 3D's QTO workflow would be the ability to assign pay items directly to drawing layers, similar to how pay items can currently be associated with network parts through the Parts List.   With this capability, any object drawn on a layer could automatically be recognized by the QTO Manager and included in quantity calculations in real time.   Key benefits: Automated quantity take-offs with less manual mapping and configuration. Real-time quantity updates as design elements are created or modified. Improved estimating accuracy and consistency across projects. Reduced risk of human error from manual pay item assignment. Greater value and adoption of existing QTO functionality. For organizations that use standardized drafting practices and advanced estimating workflows, linking layers directly to pay items would streamline the design-to-estimate process and allow quantities to be generated automatically as designs evolve. This builds on an existing Civil 3D concept and could provide significant productivity gains with what appears to be a relatively straightforward implementation. Show More

In Civil 3D if you open Options, go to the User Preferences tab and select Default Scale List. You only get a choice of Matric or Imperial. The Imperial choice only contains Architectural scales. So it's impossible to set Engineering Scales as the default. There are ways around that. But I think you should ask the AutoCAD Team to add Engineering as a choice. So you could choose Metric, Architectural or Engineeing scales as the default list.   Show More

Dear sir and madam,   I'm a Civil Engineer in Germany. I have designed several industrial area in Germany. The products from manufacture REHAU are frequently used in German projects, and their manholes (AWASCHACHT PP) are already existing in DACH pipe catalog.   It would be great, if their pipes could be also implemented in Civil 3D by Autodesk in the future.   I got the pipe catalog from them yesterday. You can contact their BIM Specialist Sefanja Verkaik ([email protected]).   Thanks a lot!   Best, Siyuan Liu Show More

When it comes to sheet production, the tools in c3d are great. If. You are locked into an area before cutting the sheets. As with anything in C3D, change is inevitable. So we need a way to link the produced sheet views to reflect any revisions to the position and/or rotation of the view frames, whether this all happens in the same or separate files. Show More

Autodesk Civil 3D already provides the ability to define section styles and apply different hatch patterns based on cut and fill materials. However, when generating construction documents, the current workflow requires users to manually create and manage legends in the sheet layout to explain the materials represented in the section views. I would like to suggest an improvement for future versions, such as Civil 3D 2028: the ability to automatically generate a dynamic material legend linked to the section views. The proposed functionality could: Read the materials and hatch patterns already defined in the section styles; Automatically create a legend in the layout showing the corresponding materials and hatch representations; Keep the legend synchronized when section styles, materials, or design information are updated; Allow users to select which materials should be included in the legend. Currently, even though Civil 3D can display different hatch patterns for excavation and fill materials within the sections, the documentation process still requires manual legend creation. For large projects with many section views, this becomes repetitive and increases the possibility of inconsistencies between the drawings and the design data. Adding a dynamic material legend connected to section views would improve productivity, maintain BIM data consistency, and make Civil 3D documentation workflows more efficient for civil engineering projects. Thank you for considering this enhancement for future releases. Show More

Hi everyone,   There doesn't appear to be a section for Content Catalog, so I'm posting it here. Current issues with Content Catalog (CC) for AutoCAD / Civil 3D There is a lack of graphical interface within AutoCAD / Civil 3D – nothing exists on the ribbon, even after installing the Content Catalog Extension. This is acknowledged via a knowledge-base article, but no indication as to if or when a CAD-based interface will be available The only way to access it within CAD is via the command CONTENTCATALOG (although this appears to not have anything to do with it). The graphical interface looks like something out of the 80s When trying to tie-in with live website databases, it’ll add it and show it as a "content catalog" like the above image shows, but won’t actually work. When trying to access a website-added content catalog, you end up with an endless loading window that doesn’t do anything It would appear to be extremely slow, to the point where it doesn’t work. A variety of different live URL links have been tested, none of which work. Further development needs to be done to ensure this is tied-in with Live Databases instead of links to different files on a computer system (such as an .html file). I'm now convinced that the application appears to almost work completely separately to the website-version of CC and has nothing associated with it. When accessing via the website, there is no method by which you can change the layout / arrangement of the files within collections, you have to manually navigate the massive icons There needs to be a better way of managing the display of items as well as the organization of them. Bonus points if there is a way to tie-in with an API for direct access / connection to Company-based CAD customizations and/or to build a CAD-side interface. And of course, being an AutoCAD / Civil 3D user we are still waiting for thumbnail previews to work without the need to manually upload images! Problem Statement We have a problem where we need to have a centralized database that contains all of our data (such as Blocks) that we need to access across multiple countries. Example problem: CAD Drafter in Australia needs to access our New Zealand Blocks, but they’re located on our NZ Server, something that they do not have access to. Therefore a solution is required for them to be able to seamlessly access this data. Rinse and repeat this scenario for ~hundreds of users. Potential Solution(s) Create a singular cloud-based database that all users can access. This, for example could be in the form of: A properly working Content Catalog for ACAD / C3D users (such as what Revit users have experienced and loved over the years from Unifi). Personally, I recommend that your Civil 3D / AutoCAD developers directly interface with your Revit developers to see how well the Content Catalog integrates for them and how it is used. An ACC (Forma) hosted project, specifically for the storage of items such as Blocks, for all users to access. Another solution? What alternatives are out there? Has anyone come up with a clever solution to this classic problem? In either case, there would also need to be an intelligent / mostly automated feature by which Users would be automatically added to these platform(s), so there is no manual arduous interventions required in order to provide basic access for employees – which would number in the hundreds, potentially thousands in some very rare cases.   This is an open discussion and while I hope for some serious Content Catalog development specifically aimed at AutoCAD / Civil 3D users, I look forward to some debate! Thank you. Show More

Dear Civilists, currently there is only one standard method available, Banker's rounding. Noticed during labelling COGO-Points. This means: “Banker’s rounding is a midpoint rounding scheme (round-to-even).  When a value is exactly between two candidates, it is rounded to the one with an even least-significant digit. Example: 73.5 → 74, 74.5 → 74, 75.5 → 76"   This method is completely different to what is taught in engineering schools. Therefore this standard rounding isn't suitable to engineering tasks, for what Civil 3D is made for, I guess.   It is urgently needed to add a "engineering rounding" or "commercial rounding" or "rounding to the nearest". Means if the last deleted digit is 5 or more, than the last remaining digit will be rounded up. If the last deleted one is 4 or less, than the last remaining digit will stay as it is. Example: 73.5 -> 74, 74.5 -> 75, 75.5 -> 76, 73.4 -> 73 Please support this idea, so that it will come true.   All the best. Show More

Hello, sometimes my codes for links and points are quite long and overlap. It would be great if I could just see point codes and hide shape and link codes, see link codes and hide shape and point codes. Show More

Hello, sometimes I need to select multiple geometry elements in a flowchart. Now I use Ctrl to select multiple elements, but it would be great if I could select them using window boxes or freehand lassoing  - like the selection is done in Civil 3D Show More

In Civil 3D, almost all dialog boxes are resizable. Only a few apparently aren't.   Why shouldn't I be able to do that everywhere in this day and age? It makes no sense. Please implement the feature that allows all dialog boxes to be resized so that more information can be seen. I noticed this with the profile style style and the link styles for code style sets.   Thank you for considering and implementing this.   Regards, Philipp Show More

Could Autodesk please come to this Ideas forum and pick the top 15-20 ideas based on votes and incorporate those changes only.  Most of us do not need or want brand new features that then require an update 4 months later in order to work properly. Show More

Hello everyone, When creating a corridor surface, the 'Corridor Extents as Outer Boundary' option does not reliably prevent TIN triangles from crossing the corridor centerline on horizontal curves. On curves, Civil 3D connects feature line points from the left slope to the right slope across the corridor, creating invalid diagonal triangles that corrupt the surface. This is a long-standing issue affecting corridor surfaces with: - Horizontal curves of any radius - Multiple corridor regions - Variable width assemblies The current workaround requires manually extracting corridor feature lines, joining them into a closed polyline, and adding it as a manual boundary — a time-consuming process that must be repeated every time the corridor is rebuilt. **Expected behavior:** 'Corridor Extents as Outer Boundary' and 'From Corridor Feature Lines' boundary options should reliably generate a valid closed boundary that prevents TIN triangulation from crossing the corridor on curves, without requiring manual intervention after every rebuild. This issue has been reported by users since at least Civil 3D 2018 and remains unresolved. Thank you. Show More

Still need the simple function, that when you select multiple lines that in the Properties window would show the total or cumulative length. Really helpful for takeoffs, because honestly the takeoff function in AutoCAD is very complicated and waste of time to put together unless it’s a massive project. So for 90% of projects, building the CAD file for takeoffs using AutoCAD’s automatic takeoff is a shear waste of time and resources. Show More

Based on users’ comments, kindly requesting Autodesk to consider a future enhancement in Civil 3D that enables reliable and fully supported use of centralized catalogs (e.g., parts catalogs, subassemblies, pressure networks, etc.) hosted in Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) or on shared servers. Civil 3D currently cannot reliably use catalogs stored in Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) or on shared servers, forcing users in multi-user projects to manually maintain local copies on their machines, which creates a high risk of data inconsistencies, model errors, lost information, and rework when catalogs are missing, outdated, or incorrectly copied—an issue that significantly impacts collaboration and contrasts with other Autodesk tools like Revit that support centralized libraries effectively. Show More

It would be beneficial for the RSA pressure pipe catalog to be included in the Civil 3D Country Kit. Show More

Background On April 28, 2026, Anthropic launched Claude for Creative Work with an Autodesk Fusion connector built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Autodesk framed it as 'an early step in a broader shift toward a more open ecosystem where Autodesk software connects into the tools our customers already use.'   The brief below identifies twelve workflow gaps in AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Subassembly Composer, Pipe Networks, and Inventor where the same MCP architecture would deliver immediate value. Each item is one sentence. A full report with documented pain points, sources, and feasibility analysis is available on request.   Conclusions and Recommendations XEC requests consideration for any Anthropic Claude pilot programs Autodesk runs for DWG access, MCP connectors, or Civil 3D AI integration. XEC uses Claude in production today for catalog authoring (gravity XML, pressure SQLite, Inventor IPT scaffolding), Civil 3D template and style work, agency report formatting, and DWG analysis from extracted spreadsheets — and has reached the limits of what spreadsheet extraction or step by step workflow instructions can do.   Section 1 — Tech Support and Drawing Health How many tech-support tickets does Autodesk field every day for basic DWG problems — files that won't open, crash on save, print wrong, or run slow? No tool today simply reads a DWG and reports its overall health; workarounds (spreadsheet exports, App Store utilities) are bounded by what AutoCAD's export and API surfaces expose. Direct DWG access through Open Design Alliance libraries — already available for out-of-process reading — changes that.   DWG health analysis and cleanup — scan thousands of drawings for proxy entities, regapp residue, dictionary corruption, and other below-surface failure modes that don't appear in any spreadsheet, then dispatch Batch Save cleanup in parallel.   External references (xrefs) — map every reference (attached, overlay, nested, image, PDF, data shortcut), explain in plain language what each does, flag broken or risky ones, and batch-repath including the types Reference Manager skips (PMP, OLE, hyperlinks, URL). Section 2 — Civil 3D Core: Templates, Data, and QA-QC Civil 3D's biggest pain points aren't in the design tools — they're in the infrastructure that holds projects together: templates that won't propagate, data shortcuts that break on a folder move, plan and profile sheets that drift out of sync, reports that never match the agency's format. Autodesk has shipped capable tools for each, but they require fluency across multiple subsystems and they don't talk to each other.   Templates, styles, and label maintenance — diff project styles against a master DWT, identify drift, and import corrections under review; firm-wide style updates that take 1–2 weeks per upgrade cycle drop to hours. Or tell Claude a label you need and have it build it!   Data shortcuts and DREF repair — use the Civil 3D 2020.6 RepairBrokenDRef API (largely unknown to CAD managers) to scan all consumer drawings and repair broken DREFs in batch, including profile DREFs that the native 'Repair Broken References' command doesn't handle. (Add Claude to the stand alone Data Shortcut Editor, and expand it’s capabilities)   Plan and profile QA-QC cross-referencing — iterate every structure in plan, retrieve its station and rim/invert from the Civil 3D data model, locate the corresponding profile-view label, and flag discrepancies; no native, third-party, or App Store tool does this today.   Agency report formatting and stormwater software output — generate agency-specific XSL templates from a sample PDF and cross-translate inputs between SWMM, HEC-RAS, and StormCAD. (Get the new Infor Drainage guys in on Claude)   Batch Save Utility automation — wrap the existing headless LISP and .NET backend so every other workflow in this brief runs across thousands of drawings instead of one at a time.   Grading Optimization — ingest agency drainage and slope specs (state, county, city, water district) and translate natural-language site descriptions into Grading Optimization criteria, turning an unused AEC Collection feature into a first-pass design tool.   Assembly Section Automation — Be able to input a agency street or highway design details and have the ai create an assembly with all the subassemblies. Section 3 — Subassembly Composer Subassembly Composer is the gating artifact for creating special agency typical sections on any roadway project, and mastering it is a multi-month investment. PKT files are XML — open, parseable, and exactly the kind of structured format an LLM handles well.   PKT authoring from agency typical sections — emit new PKTs from typical-section drawings or natural-language descriptions, enforce a firm-wide code namespace, and migrate older PKTs forward across versions; per-agency catalogs drop from multi-month senior-tech projects to days.   Section 4 — Pipe Networks, Pressure Networks, and Inventor Civil 3D's Pipe and Pressure Network catalogs are arguably the platform's biggest unforced error — most firms avoid them because authoring a custom catalog is buried in three tools, two file formats, and a thirteen-year-old IdeaStation request that's still open. The April 2026 Fusion-Claude connector demonstrates LLM-driven parametric modeling, but Fusion-to-Inventor IPT export drops parametric history. An Inventor connector fixes that (I WANT THIS NOW, so I can create parts and not have to manually create them!!!) — and agency-specific catalogs are the gating artifact for DOT migrations off MicroStation. (One of the items I had Claude help me with is I put in a City manhole standard plan, and asked it to walk me through the steps of modeling it in Inventor)     Gravity Pipe Network catalog authoring — author catalog XML and DWG part files directly from agency standard plate PDFs, resolving the 2013 IdeaStation request for IPT-to-Part-Builder import; custom municipal catalogs drop from weeks to days.   Pressure Network catalog authoring — author SQLite catalogs from AWWA, ASTM, or manufacturer specification charts directly, eliminating the multi-thousand-dollar third-party catalog cost per material.   Inventor parametric structure authoring — an Inventor connector analogous to the Fusion connector retains full parametric feature history and makes custom Civil 3D structures (manholes, inlets, vaults) accessible to engineers who design with them, not just specialists who model them.   Section 5 — Strategic Context Two pieces of context make the case: the state DOT competitive landscape, and the MCP architecture Autodesk has already published. The first explains why this is urgent now. The second explains why it's low-risk.   State DOT competitive landscape — roughly 47 of 50 U.S. state DOTs use Bentley OpenRoads or MicroStation; Bentley currently offers no Claude or MCP integration, so a Civil 3D connector that compresses agency catalog and subassembly authoring from months to days is a differentiator Bentley can't match in the short term.   Existing MCP architecture — Autodesk Assistant is already in Fusion, Inventor, Moldflow, Vault, and Civil 3D 2027 (Tech Preview); reference MCP servers are public on Autodesk's own GitHub (aps-mcp-server-nodejs, aps-aecdm-mcp-dotnet, aps-sample-revit-mcp-tools-bundle), so this pitch is asking Autodesk to extend infrastructure that already ships, not build new.   Show More

It would be incredibly helpful to have the option to change the default values set by pipe networks rather than utilizing project explorer/the panorama to make mass edits after creation. For example, the 'Pipe Flow Direction Method' defaults to "Start to End", a system toggle under the Edit Feature Settings to set this to the "By Slope" option feels pretty intuitive Show More

Please, please please update Part Builder for pipe networks. There are so many structures that need to be created for many offices and Part Builder is just not up to the task or takes a significant amount of time to accomplish.   This has been needed since Part Builder was realeased.   PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Show More