Civil 3D Reviews & Insights

Score9.5 out of 10

34 Reviews and Ratings

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for Autodesk Civil 3D are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Recommendations

Users of Civil 3D frequently recommend the following:

Attend training and stay updated with tutorials: Many users advise attending training to better utilize Civil 3D for 3D modeling. They recommend staying updated with tutorials on new features to make the most out of the software.
Utilize online resources and forums for learning and troubleshooting: Users suggest utilizing online resources, forums, and training to learn and troubleshoot with Civil 3D. They recommend learning different commands and tips from others to fully utilize the software.
Expect a learning curve for beginners: Several users mention that there is a learning curve when starting with Civil 3D. They advise newcomers to watch online videos and participate in forums to seek help and overcome challenges during the initial stages of using the software.

Civil 3D Reviews

8 Reviews

Autodesk Civil 3D All-in-one

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

May 20, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Autodesk Civil 3D is used for the design of roads and civil services, i.e., stormwater, sewer & water reticulation. It is also used to complete earthworks designs. We use it to design new infrastructure or determine the most appropriate and feasible upgrade solutions to existing services. Drawings are completed on Autodesk Civil 3D for the various stages of each project. This includes Preliminary Design, Detail Design, Tender drawings, construction drawings, and ad-built drawings.

Pros

Ease of functionality
Templates make design and drawings easier to complete
The ability to design and setup drawings simultaneously, where the drawings will be updated as the design is updated should there be changes

Cons

I think I need more experience in using Autodesk Civil 3D as it is a huge jump from the previous software that I had been using
Some functions could take less steps to complete

Likelihood to Recommend

I only have good reviews for Autodesk Civil 3D currently. It is very useful for completing designs, in my case, mostly the design of civil services such as stormwater, sewer, and water. Creating long sections and analyzing the long sections while analyzing the plan at the same time is a huge help. Updating the plan updates the long sections rather than having to recreate long sections etc. Updating input data automatically updates the long section results as well. Drawings are easy to create. Creating templates for different design scenarios is extremely helpful, especially when working on multiple projects of the same nature.

Verified User

Engineer in Engineering (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

Interactive design program

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

October 26, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Autodesk® Civil 3D® software is a civil engineering design and documentation solution that supports Building Information Modeling (BIM) workflows on civil infrastructure projects, including roads and highways, rail, site development, airports, and water. Civil 3D helps civil infrastructure professionals improve project delivery, reduce risk, errors, and omissions, and respond faster to project changes. Additionally, users can streamline time-consuming tasks such as corridor design, (road and rail), intersection design, parcel layout, site grading, and piping design with specific tools and customizable design standards.

Pros

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

Cons

The processing of huge sized files in such in big projects, the delay of opening a sheet in Civil3D would burn time
Sometimes, it crashes while opening or processing
The vast number of tools and functions which make it difficult to use at times hence decent amount of training may be required

Likelihood to Recommend

It is well suited when you are planning to create profiles, this is very helpful in such by generating these profiles, it becomes greatly interactive without wasting time in addition to the visualization tools that make understanding the project easier. It would be less appropriate if you are using it for a big-sized project since it may crash or take time to open but still it is somehow reliable. Also, it would be difficult to learn quickly since it requires proper training thus a company must have a fair amount of experts before starting any project based on Civil3D

Mahmoud obaid

Graduate Mechanical Engineer in Engineering at AECOM (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

View profile

Autodesk Civil3d Review

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

October 26, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

AutoCAD Civil 3D is used by the drafting and design department to create design drawings, design models and maps. The models produced with the program are used for communicating ideas to key stakeholders, as well as using approved models in the field to build earthen structures. In addition, construction survey data is imported for design checks and quality assurance.

Pros

Mapping
Design shell models
Topographic modeling

Cons

Has removed the function to import point clouds
Performance slows when handling large amounts of topographic data

Likelihood to Recommend

Autodesk Civil 3D is well suited for: Site grading exercises that are limited to specific bounded areasSurvey checksShell models for existing, proposed and as-constructed civil structures (i.e. Basic roads, Dams, ditches)Creating site mapsAutodesk Civil 3D is less appropriate for: Large scale grading exercises management of large topographic data setsAnything that is not civil infrastructure related

Verified User

Professional in Engineering (501-1000 employees)

Vetted Review

10 years of experience

A great product for modeling utilities or site development!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

October 25, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Most of the entry and mid-level engineers in my group use this program to create plan sets, model pipe networks and produce exhibits. I think this is the most widely-used and widely-known software for land development projects. It is very intuitive and easy to pick up. It is mostly command-focused, so if you want to draw a line, type "line". If you want to measure something, type "measure".

Pros

pipe networks
site plans
topography

Cons

integrating GIS information from streamstats and the like
GUI-button and menu use
heavy roadway modeling

Likelihood to Recommend

Autodesk Civil 3D is well suited to site development, modeling pipe networks, and topography. It is also great for converting surfaces over into other formats. I find that it is mostly used on the land development and aviation side. It is less useful if you are doing heavy roadway or highway modeling. Most DOTs require different software for transportation models.

Verified User

Engineer in Engineering (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

7 years of experience

Urban underground design

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

October 25, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Land surveying is being carried out using RTK GPS so surface points could be collected. After that, these points are imported to Civil 3D and Digital Terrain Models can be built through TIN surfaces. Once Digital Terrain Models are finished, engineers start to analyze water discharge points from flow paths created from water drops. With these discharge points, they can create each catchment from the surface, and, consequently, obtain surface hydraulic length, slope, and area and water flow rates. The next step was to create stormwater pipes and structures according to the discharge points and check their dimensions. When stormwater project is ready, the same process is taken with wastewater, but catchments are no longer necessary. In the end, interferences are verified with an interference check tool, so systems won't touch each other and lower excavation volume is needed. The land survey Team and Urban Infrastructure Design Team are responsible for these tasks.

Pros

Digital Terrain Modeling
Catchment and water discharge points' identification
Urban Drainage Systems design and excavations' volumes

Cons

Specific tools for sewers design
Possibility for the users to choose other rainfall data and parameters
Possibility to create vertical pipes in gravity networks

Likelihood to Recommend

Civil 3D is the ideal software for infrastructure design, like earthworks, roads, excavation, drainage and sewers systems. However, it would be an even better product if it was possible for the users to create pipe networks parts in an easier way. It is extremely difficult to create pipe diameters or structures' dimensions when you need to design underground systems.

Halan Bastos Oliveira

Urban Infrastructure Engineer - BIM Manager in Engineering at Brazilian Army (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

View profile

Powerful tool that I would recommend personally

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

March 2, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Facilitates site grading and utility design, dynamic, so many tools available to the user, still discovering new ways to use it to make my work easier. Generates excellent work product. Facilitates detail orientation. The aesthetics of the program layout are also a bonus. The ability to use the program for various utilities applications is also beneficial as is its integration with other programs like StormCAD. This is a great tool for anyone looking to get into Surveying/Engineering or further their design skills and shorten the design time with association of AutoCAD Civil 3D software tools. Revisions are made quick, easy and efficiently. Creating a surface is made with less that a few click of the mouse from the toolspace, which contains all the necessary tools and command settings. Once your surface is made, now you can open up to new designs. Examples like changing an alignment of a road, storm structure or any other alignment allows the profile to change along with the modifications made. If you have structures, corridors and labels associated they too will be adjusted as well. If you are looking for a great efficient, effective and essential software for surveying and/or engineering, this is the one for you.

Pros

We use this software for the optimal and advanced design of pipelines and complex structuring, or it can also be said that we use it mainly for a geotechnical model, due to its high definition of the large proportion of the works that are carried out through of this application, since the tasks that are used with Civil 3D require extreme patience, precision and a lot of time to develop a model in its entirety, but we managed to acquire all the necessary and strategic points, to establish and start the production of a prototype digitized in particular.
Easy to export to normal AutoCAD or collaborate with most Autodesk products.
Vehicle Turning Simulation and Stormwater analysis is great addition to the package. Ability to use the all familiar AutoCAD tools, as well as LISP and SCR to automate some processes is one of the greatest advantages of the software.

Cons

There is nothing to improve in Civil 3D, I personally use Autodesk products like Maya, max and other including Civil 3D and Autodesk has a separate R&D team for tools development which they do their jobs perfectly.

Likelihood to Recommend

Well suited:

Simple and self-explanatory user interface.
Inter usability between other software such as MicroDrainage and Bentley CivilStorm.
Autodesk customer service.
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.

vijay kumar

Sr Lighting Artist in Research & Development at Labyrinth cinematic sollutions pvr.ltd (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

View profile

style governs more than just the appearance of the finished drawings

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

January 22, 2020

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our organization use three main software of Autodesk, which are Autocad for product design and plan payout (if we need). Architecture mainly for plan design and Autodesk Civil 3D for pipe and structure design, or you can say we use it for geotechnical modeling mostly, Because of its accuracy in complicated Autodesk Civil 3D designs. We all know that the design of intersections, roundabout, corridor, pipeline, etc. are very time-consuming tasks. They have very little parts that cannot be done on Autocad. So, I can say that we use it to test the accuracy of our project in design for transportation, land development, and geospatial analysis.

Pros

The best part of using Autodesk software is that all of its software is connected, which helps us to switch according to our project use.
Pipe Network Part Replacement is very easy. It analyze the gravity flow and recommends the size accordingly. It also helps to understand the pressure parts.

Cons

When you are using Autodesk Civil 3D with Navisworks, things get a little complicated, and Autodesk Civil 3D has no tutorials for that, and I think they need to address those little bugs.
There is no automatic file saving feature in it, so after making every tiny change, we have to save that manually, which is so annoying for me.

Likelihood to Recommend

Most land design related software mimicked the paper-based 2D workflow, which has some error and is not very useful in reading. Autodesk Civil 3D shows a very effective 3D base plan design.
For example- For street and road design, Autodesk Civil 3D uses assemblies to generate cross-sections, with multiple cross-sections strung together along an alignment and profile to form a corridor. Because all Autodesk Civil 3D objects are parametric, their parameters can be edited to associate with different alignments. The style-based design and documentation automation and change-management features of Autodesk Civil 3D make the process transition worthwhile for any member of the land-design team. In my consulting work with design firms, I see that the more of these disciplines a firm combines under one professional service umbrella, the greater the practice benefit of Autodesk Civil 3D's integrated, dynamic-modeling approach.

Shanti Sharma

Engineering Executive in Engineering at Watashi infrastructure(formally know as witcom industry's) (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

Civil 3D a Leading Drafting designing software for Infra Projects.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

September 7, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

This is an integral part of designing and maintaining consistency across different infrastructure projects, such as bridges, dams, and buildings. It helps in importing survey data, such as CSV files, and GPS data corresponding to the infrastructure. It also helps in planning Pipeline networks along with 3D views with pressure point representations. Its output can also be used in various Autodesk applications to provide a comprehensive ecosystem support.

Pros

Standard tool for Civil Infrastructure Planning.
Integrated and Dynamic model updating on the go.
Strong connection with GIS and BIM tools.

Cons

Some Hydraulic tools are limited.
Learning curve is steep.
Data connections with other Autodesk products can be improved.

Likelihood to Recommend

Civil 3D is best suited for medium to large-scale projects, as it may be overkill for small projects. It is very efficient in design and drafting work, as well as creating reports. It also helps in creating surfaces using external data and building assemblies, as well as providing drainage for infrastructure projects. It can also provide outputs as DWG files to be directly used in the AutoCAD application.

Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

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Powerful tool that I would recommend personally

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

March 2, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros

We use this software for the optimal and advanced design of pipelines and complex structuring, or it can also be said that we use it mainly for a geotechnical model, due to its high definition of the large proportion of the works that are carried out through of this application, since the tasks that are used with Civil 3D require extreme patience, precision and a lot of time to develop a model in its entirety, but we managed to acquire all the necessary and strategic points, to establish and start the production of a prototype digitized in particular.
Easy to export to normal AutoCAD or collaborate with most Autodesk products.
Vehicle Turning Simulation and Stormwater analysis is great addition to the package. Ability to use the all familiar AutoCAD tools, as well as LISP and SCR to automate some processes is one of the greatest advantages of the software.

Cons

There is nothing to improve in Civil 3D, I personally use Autodesk products like Maya, max and other including Civil 3D and Autodesk has a separate R&D team for tools development which they do their jobs perfectly.

Likelihood to Recommend

Well suited:

Simple and self-explanatory user interface.
Inter usability between other software such as MicroDrainage and Bentley CivilStorm.
Autodesk customer service.
Easily customizable.

vijay kumar

Sr Lighting Artist in Research & Development at Labyrinth cinematic sollutions pvr.ltd (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

View profile