Project Explorer | Autodesk Civil 3D 2022

The following is a portion of an article written by our Consulting & Services Manager, Shawn Herring.


In the past few versions of Civil 3D, there haven’t really been any changes that I think could really change the game and give your productivity a big boost.  Yes, there were a lot of little things, and some nice additional tools, but nothing that made you go, "WOW!"  Until now, there are a couple things in the upcoming release of Civil 3D 2022 that I think could be real game changers and I’m happy to share them with you.  Anymore though, we can’t just look at what’s new in our hero product, but all other complimentary products as well, so I will briefly mention a few of those. 

Civil 3D - Project Explorer

This came out as an add-on for Civil 3D sometime last year in one of the products final updates.  It installs for Civil 3D 2020, 2021 and now 2022.  Once installed, it can be found on the Add-ins tab of the ribbon.

Project Explorer provides users with an easy-to-use Civil 3D design model review tool and user-configurable report generator. Civil 3D users now have a more efficient way to access, interact, and share the staggering array of design information that is in a Civil 3D model.

·         Simplifies project data navigation, review, and editing of your Civil 3D models.

·         Custom reporting and tables

·         Discover and evaluate design criteria to help meet design standards

Typically, to manage project and drawing objects, users would use the Toolspace Prospector tab in Civil 3D.

Now, you can view and edit Civil 3D designs in a tabbed series of object lists, profile and section views, parameter lists, and many other design review tools.

All information displayed in the Project Explorer window is live geometric project data from the Civil 3D model. Therefore, if something is modified or added to the Civil 3D model, the content in Project Explorer will update automatically.

If you use dual monitors, I’d consider keeping Project Explorer open on your second monitor while you work in Civil 3D.

Being able to see all alignments, profiles and sections in one area, and to be able to switch between features is key to streamlining workflows.  And being able to make edits, perform changes to geometry or styles without jumping all over the place in your model settings is extremely helpful.

The options within Project Explorer for pipe networks are never ending!  You can easily switch between pipe runs, edit multiple lines, SWAP MULTIPLE parts and make global changes that you’ve always wanted to make, but never had the option to.

And new in Civil 3D 2022 Project Explorer, you can now view and edit PRESSURE NETWORKS, where in past version you were only able to edit gravity networks. 


Want to learn more about what Civil 3D 2022 has to offer? Click here.

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