Civil Model Review
The All-New 3D Model Viewer
To make viewing Civil 3D models easier, Autodesk has introduced the civil Model Viewer. This tool can be used to visualize complex 3-dimensional objects including corridors, surfaces and networks. As a 'modeless' tool it does not interfere with the Civil 3D program window or workflows and provides a high-performance viewer used alongside the design and analysis environment.
The Model Viewer contains an Objects Panel which provides a tree view of model elements and provides control for object visibility within the viewer. The main portion of the window of the Model Viewer is controlled by the display Settings where the user can specify visual display styles and settings for their preferred visualization display. As a modeless viewer the Model Viewer can remain open throughout the Civil 3D editing session as a model review assistant.
Project Explorer
An exciting new workflow option has been added to Project Explorer by allowing users to run Object Sets Actions from the Civil 3D command line. This allows for new automations and reporting right from the Civil 3D model window.
Additional functionality and support have been added to Project Explorer including support for railway projects. Users can now leverage Rail CANT information within the Project Explorer tool.
Dynamo Enhancements
Over the past few Civil 3D yearly releases, Dynamo has quietly received a ton of improvements and functionality that make it even more powerful, faster, and easier to use. Try out Dynamo in Civil 3D 2026 to try out the enhanced nodes and features, and check out the new additions:
- Create Feature Lines from Dynamo
- All new Catchment Nodes
- New functionality to query any Civil 3D Label
- All new Section View Labels Nodes
- New tutorial files to demonstrate Civil 3D labeling & Dynamo
- Mesh object support
New Civil 3D Features
Surfaces
To help reduce the size of terrain model objects (and to increase the speed of project drawings) it is now possible to create a Reference Surface to define a portion of the project site to reference surface data into. This workflow works great with Data Shortcuts and allows the user to reference only a portion of the overall surface—saving time. A smaller, new surface can be referenced into design drawings reducing overall overhead.
In addition to the new Reference Surface workflow there have been additional terrain improvements:
- Corridor Target Enhancements - added efficiently when corridor regions seek surface targets
- Analysis Performance - increased speed when performing surface analysis
- Contour Display Improvement - increased performance for contour lines with many vertices
Coordinate Systems
The Coordinate System Transformation tool has been improved as well as support for new coordinate systems. This release includes new UK Rail and highway coordinate systems. And additional country support: Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Switzerland.
My Insights
Those AutoCAD users out there may be familiar with the My Insights feature that has been include in the product for almost five years. My Insights is an advisory tool that reviews the individual user's product usage and provides personalized suggestions to help that user become more efficient in AutoCAD. This feature has been brought to Civil 3D 2026 and will show informational content that is applicable to the way that user uses Civil 3D. This can include suggestions for trying a new feature, an overlooked command, or additional productivity information.
Drainage Analysis Tech Preview
The Drainage Analysis extension for Civil 3D allows engineers and designers users to take their drainage design from Civil 3D and analyze the model in the cloud leveraging Autodesk InfoDrainage. This means that users do not need to install the separate InfoDrainage software and can continue to work natively in Civil 3D. New Civil 3D features and workflows have been added to the Civil 3D environment to support drainage design including ponds, storage devices, open channels and hydrological analysis workflows.
To try these tools out... join the Drainage Analysis Beta project here!!