Autodesk Infraworks vision
Illustrations of how Infraworks software could be used to directly manipulate objects in a 3D model, distinct from other civil engineering applications that rely on keyboard commands.
Moving to Direct manipulation...
Autodesk Infraworks broke new ground when it decided to depart from the 2D drawing world and immerse users in a 3D environment. In this series of illustrations, we began to imagine how users might interact with elements in their model in a natural and intuitive way.
Tasks such as determining the placement of drains for a roadway design or visualizing the floodplain for a terrain could happen with the help of snapping, overlaid text, and other visual cues to help the user feel reassurance that they were positioning element correctly.
Drag and drop the edge of a road to widen it or adjust the cross slope.
The user drags a storm inlet along the edge of a street curb. The model can identify low points and automatically suggest positioning.
Terrain models are large and full of data. In this concept, the user selects a small area and sees data automatically filtered and visualized for their selection.
Visualize how a road would flood during a storm event. Use a slider to adjust the magnitude of the storm at a glance.
Use the mobile app 123D Catch to capture a point cloud of a drainage culvert in the field.
Drainage designers would have access to a catalog of configurable culverts to drag and drop into their model. No need to model from scratch.
Using elevation data, a designed road could calculate the size and position of drains automatically.
In this model, the user sees their roadway draped over a terrain. A storm event is simulated and flooding appears in areas where rainfall would collect.
Using a slider, the user can visualize and compare the impact of two flood events side by side.