Altair Inspire vs. Autodesk Civil 3D

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Altair Inspire
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Altair Inspire, developed by SolidThinking which was acquired by Altair, is software for Generative Design/Topology Optimization, and rapid simulation solution for design engineers. It is designed to enhance the concept development process by enabling simulation-driven design to increase a product’s efficiency, strength and manufacturability. This can lead to reduced costs, development time, material consumption, and product weight.N/A
Civil 3D
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
Autodesk's Civil 3D is a computer aided design (CAD) application designed to support a variety of civil infrastructure projects including rail, roads and highways, land development, airports, drainage, storm and sanitary, and civil structures.N/A
Pricing
Altair InspireAutodesk Civil 3D
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Altair InspireCivil 3D
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsCan be licensed monthly ($305), Annually ($2,430), or every 3 years ($6,560).Available free for one year on a student license.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Altair InspireAutodesk Civil 3D
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Altair InspireAutodesk Civil 3D
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All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Altair InspireAutodesk Civil 3D
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.7
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Altair InspireAutodesk Civil 3D
Likelihood to Recommend
This software is incredibly intuitive and really does provide a great finished product. The software runs relatively quickly and will usually throw an error right away, which is a nice feature. I didn't use the geometry editing parts of the software, but it looks promising to be able to edit files directly in the program.
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Well suited:
  1. Simple and self-explanatory user interface.
  2. Inter usability between other software such as MicroDrainage and Bentley CivilStorm.
  3. Autodesk customer service.
  4. Easily customizable.
Not suitable: The software is still very resource intensive on the machines and often crashes when too much data is being shown. Though significant improvements have been made in other Autodesk software like Revit, older applications like AutoCAD and C3D seem to be stuck on old, inefficient source codes.
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Pros
  • Defining the actuators, pin joints, sliding joints is very easy.
  • Defining a motion sequence is straightforward.
  • The UI tends to make you follow a sequence of steps to be successful in doing a motion simulation and finite element analysis study on a design.
  • The motion simulation results are automatically transferred to the FEA solver.
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  • Very useful for projects that contain rail alignment in such showing profiles along with the utilities that the rail is crossing it
  • Manage GIS data along connecting the design to documentation in order to support the productivity
  • Provide team coordination along using visualizing, simulation, and analysis that integrates with the design process to improve the delivery
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Cons
  • I think the tools to create CAD are a bit difficult to use. Consequently, it is now easier to develop the part in other software, which is bad since we need to use more than one tool at a time.
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  • Specific tools for sewers design
  • Possibility for the users to choose other rainfall data and parameters
  • Possibility to create vertical pipes in gravity networks
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Usability
No answers on this topic
It is one of the most standard Designing and drafting tools for infrastructure projects and is the go-to for including it with the Autodesk ecosystem. Its strong collaboration with GIS and Other tools helps us to create a software workflow as a digital twin platform as well. The Drawings and plans generated can be easily imported into other applications, allowing for full control over the workflow.
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Support Rating
When I needed clarification on how do use a feature or best way to define the constraints for a design problem, the response was quick and solved my needs.
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They have a vast open community, which has helped us understand Autodesk Civil 3D from the beginning. They have provided many templates and tutorials videos to our team due to that we can learn every new feature from them. Autodesk Civil 3D has also helped us to interconnect all its software in an internal bridge, which helps us switch between software as we need.
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Alternatives Considered
Working Model, MathCad, Dynamic Designer, Algor, and Mathlab had poor UI's and poor ways to define actuator and motor motion profiles. The force results and vectors were not easy to input into the FEA software. SOLIDWORKS Motion does not have an excellent way to define a linear actuator or its motion profile. Altair provides a UI that guides you through defining your linear actuator or motor's motion profile quickly.
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Autodesk Civil 3D provides more all-round support in comparison to this software and using a bit of coding and creating connectors, we can easily provide all supports of different software to it. The Development ease for creating plugins for Civil 3D also gives an edge over other software. Other software are also old and a bit outdated in comparison.
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Return on Investment
  • In my personal opinion, we think that this product does not have any negative aspect that makes us feel very uncomfortable.
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  • It has made design much easier and simplified
  • Drawings are easier to complete
  • Time taken to complete designs and drawings have reduced drastically
  • Multiple people can work on one project at the same time without affecting the entire design/drawing
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ScreenShots

Civil 3D Screenshots

Screenshot of Civil 3D - Infrastructure Software from AutodeskScreenshot of Civil 3D - Rail Alignments