Roller Coaster Design

[skmcneill]

I teach Architectural & Engineering Design in high school and have a student that loves roller coaster.  He is trying to model/design one using Civil 3D.  First, is this the right product to use?

I hoped that Civil 3D would allow superelevation on the alignment so that the track could be modeled.  My student got a really long way considering that he, nor I, knew anything about Civil 3D when he started.  A problem arose when he created the corridor and the assembly sections modeled vertically, instead of perpendicularly, regardless of the slope of the profile.

It seems so close yet so far away for this student model a simple roller coaster.

So maybe Civil 3D is not the best option for roller coaster design.  What is?

[gherrmanRQ549]

Try reposting in the Forums board instead of the Ideas board. One limitation of Civil 3D is that you can't model things as truly vertical, only approximately vertical (e.g. 1:9,999). If this is a deal-breaker, then there are other products available that people can recommend and discuss more in depth on the Forum.

[TimYarris]

Hi @skmcneill . Civil 3D isn't quite the right product for roller coaster design. I think using some of the rail tools (using cant on the track alignment vs. using superelevation) may have helped a bit, but Civil 3D is missing some tools that would probably be necessary for a roller coaster.

I'd actually be really interested in seeing the student's design, if you'd be willing to share!