Using Civil 3D Alignments Tools in Navisworks

Roads created in Autodesk Civil 3D are known as corridors. Civil 3D corridors can also represent other features such as pathways, retention walls, breakwaters, berms, etc. The horizontal control lines of such corridors are known as alignments. In many cases they represent the centerline of the road, but may also be medians, curblines, etc. depending on the design.  

Civil Alignments are part of Civil 3D drawings. When opening or appending a Civil 3D drawing (which contains corridors built with alignments) in Navisworks (2024 and up), the Civil Alignments tools allow you to drive along a corridor from a driver’s point of view. There are a variety of controls you can set to meet viewing requirements you may have. 

Note: To access these Civil Alignments in Navisworks, you need to have either Civil 3D, or the Civil 3D enabler installed. 

The Civil Alignments window 

In Navisworks, the Civil Alignments window allows you to "drive" along an alignment simply by pressing the Play / Pause button. It also contains many options and settings to control the camera position and navigation through the scene relative to the civil alignment. 

All eligible alignments are listed in a drop-down menu. You can select which of the Civil Alignments to make current for the drive. Then you can select which station you want to make current by typing in a value. This will be the starting point for the “drive”. Then you can navigate along the alignment backwards and forwards, jumping either to major stations or stepping between the stations at a given Step you can select. You can also go to the beginning or the end of the alignment. 

A Section Plane check box enables the section plane. When enabled, the roadway is cut as you drive along it, however this is only noticeable when the Eye or Target controls are adjusted beyond the default settings. 

The Eye and Target controls respectively can be adjusted to fine-tune the position of the camera (eye) and where the camera is focusing (target). You can slide the slider button back and forth, use the up and down arrows, or type in values. The scene adjusts interactively as the values change. When the Free option is set for the target, you can focus on a particular area as you drive along, rather than looking straight ahead. 

Conclusion 

Roads created in Civil 3D can be appended into Navisworks files. With the Civil Alignments tools, you can now (since the 2024 release) drive along the road or navigate interactively.