This is an overall request for InfraWorks, which I feel is a significant problem: Performance. What I mean by performance is several things.
First, InfraWorks is very slow at some very simple tasks. One is the procedure of changing the material attribute of an element such as a road component or a coverage area. If you have a large and complex model, a simple change of the material assigned to a road component from the default paver texture to a concrete texture requires the refresh of a significant section of the terrain surrounding the roadway, resulting in 10 seconds to 3 minutes of regeneration time. This is very inefficient for a function which should only take a second at most.
Another significant issue is the process of regeneration following a simple model change to a component road. While the regeneration is expected, this can often take an inordinate amount of time, especially if you have a lot of component roads. Your model area does not need to even be all that large, but the number of component roads will bring InfraWorks regeneration to a near standstill.
I think the delayed refresh for component roads was a good step in the right direction, but there needs to be much more. I am finding it more and more difficult to present a "live" model to clients in a planning session or a session with my project team without spending a significant amount of time waiting for regenerations.
