Practical Application of InfraWorks for Bridge Modelling and Design

VACLAV HIRSCH: Hello, everyone, and welcome to this Autodesk 2023 class that focuses on the practical application of InfraWorks for bridge design and modeling. Over the last two years, I was quite fortunate to be on a replacement of almost 40 bridges where we used Autodesk InfraWorks together with related Autodesk packages. That includes Civil 3D, Inventor, and Revit for documentation of the bridge models, so my session will focus on that experience.

It is not meant to be a comprehensive guide on how to use InfraWorks for bridge modeling. That would not be possible to be covered in one short session, but it rather focuses on specific aspects of the bridge design workflow using Autodesk products, where I've seen that people struggle or found something difficult. And also, I will cover items that can be actually discussed and presented in a one-hour presentation.

So InfraWorks and bridges-- InfraWorks are mostly put forward as a conceptual design tool for roads and bridges. But often then comes the question, what do we do with all the models and effort going past the concept design, perhaps into the detailed design? In the bridges that I was doing, we used InfraWorks past the concept design and into detail design to-- for construction documentation.

So InfraWorks can be used to pass the concept design as well, specifically for relatively simple bridges as I have here on screen. Beam and deck bridges, straight or large radius horizontal and vertical curve that's most suitable for that workflow, while someone could say that's a significant limitation.

It may be, but those type of bridges that you see on screen are the most common bridge types and well over 95% of bridges is this type of bridge, beam and deck bridge, so it's actually applicable to a very broad range and many, many bridges. So the content of my presentation, before I go into details, first, we will have a look on overview of bridge modeling of in InfraWorks, mostly focusing on how it's approached at the concept stage and then into the detail design stage and what the differences are.

I will have a look after that on the setup of InfraWorks the virtual environment for the modeling of the roads and bridges in that environment. Following that will be a segment on the exchange of data between InfraWorks and Civil 3D. I will give a demonstration on modeling of grading around the bridge abutments.

We will then move on to Inventor parts. Again, I will give a demonstration on how a bridge deck could be modified for having footpaths and barrier. And finally, we will close this discussion around Revit setup and related visual coding automation that can greatly assist the final process.

A little bit about me before we go into the details of the presentation. So I'm a bridge engineer with 20 years of experience in several countries, Ireland, New Zealand, Fiji most recently, and now in Australia, and I mostly design bridges and marine structures. At University days, around the year 2000 I started my professional career as an AutoCAD 14 draftsman, and I stayed with AutoCAD products since then and geometry and drafting was always part of my working life and passion as well.

I have family, three children, wife, and dog, and they live in Melbourne, Australia. And finally, I have a lot of hobbies, kitesurfing, basketball, chess and so on. But mostly these days, instead of doing hobbies myself, I support the next generation, and I'm a volunteer basketball coach at a local basketball team.

All right, so let's start with some of the specifics of the bridge modeling in InfraWorks, and this session will be mostly introduction looking on the workflow details to start the session. So this slide shows the key Autodesk packages that I used in the workflow.

So central to that is Autodesk InfraWorks, where the bridge is assembled from individual parts. That's abutments, piers, beams, and so on. The individual bridge parts the parametric models are set up in Autodesk Inventor. That's just slightly behind the Central Square of InfraWorks, so that's where we set up the individual bridge parts.

Then we have another package, Civil 3D. That's mostly for roading, so the road geometry can be either set up in InfraWorks or for more detail into the preliminary detail design stages of project. It's typically done in Civil 3D, and then the Civil 3D corridor is imported into InfraWorks.

And finally, we have Revit. That receives the InfraWorks bridge model and that's where we annotate the model with dimensions and description and produce then drawings in a little bit shaded color. We also have Autodesk structural bridge design, but that can be used for modeling of the bridges-- for the structural modeling of bridges, but that will not be covered by this session. That would be beyond what can be achieved in one hour.

So now, looking on the concept stage bridge design workflow, that's quite straightforward. We have here three softwares, Inventor on the top, then the middle row is InfraWorks, and on the bottom is Civil 3D. And effectively everything can be done in InfraWorks at that stage.

So we set up the site from individual components, such as point cloud, an aerial image, or topographic surveys. And then, in that environment, we model roads as well as bridges and InfraWorks is typically the authoring tool as well. That then has the combined model.

In some cases, we may set up custom bridge elements in Inventor where necessary, but typically, the Autodesk libraries of bridge parts are adequate enough in the concept stage, and then, finally, Civil 3D is used to produce the documentation from the InfraWorks model.

So this slide just shows the InfraWorks model on the left-hand side, and then the final deliverable-- that it's a traditional drawing deliverable on the right-hand side produced via Civil 3D. Now, what we found that in the concept stage that model the InfraWorks model is actually heavily used during meetings and client presentations, typically even over the drawings. So everyone looks on the 3D model via screen, and then provides input into that and the drawings are really becoming just a formality as a final deliverable then of that stage.

So that's a concept stage, and I will now move on to detail design stage, where things get a bit more advanced because more packages are actively involved. So starting from the top, we have AI Pro for Inventor, where we set up custom bridge elements. So typically, the detailed design stage some bridge elements needs to be set up that are custom to that project, perhaps abutment or pier with a project specific geometry, so that's done in Inventor.

Then, InfraWorks receives you can show it here with a pointer. So InfraWorks here has the combined-- the bridge model combined from individual bridge parts and receives the road corridor model, And the bridges model on that road corridor and then when the bridge is model it goes back into Civil 3D.

So the Civil 3D has also the latest or the most recent bridge model in it. Civil 3D typically receives the road corridor from InfraWorks. The initial road corridor model in InfraWorks, and then all the detailed modeling of the road corridor is happening in Civil 3D, and Civil 3D is also used to produce the related Civil 3D or Civil drawings.

Now, while the bridge is modeled in InfraWorks in InfraWorks we can produce documentation. So that's where it comes handy the bridge model is sent into Revit here and we produce bridge-specific drawings through Revit now the InfraWorks model typically doesn't have all the details perhaps like bearings expansion joints and reinforcing details are typically not there. So with that, we also have a standard details for these elements, which then inform the bridge specific drawings, and from that we have a set of the bridge drawings.

So on the next slide, I will-- this is a set of example deliverables from-- for the detailed design stage. These drawings come directly from Revit, which receives the bridge model from InfraWorks, and we typically have a bridge plan then bridge elevation filing and related set out. So even the set out comes directly through the InfraWorks model that is exported into Revit. And then, often, we have also ground improvement for stabilization of the abutments.

And then, these drawings Refer to standard details for perhaps bridge beams that are very often standardized and are rarely project specific or items such as detailing of barriers or expansion joints. Again, these items are often standardized and do not need to be part of the detailed bridge model.

So that's the overview of the approach in concept and detail design stage for modeling in InfraWorks.

I will now move on to next segment of this presentation, and that's related to the setup of a virtual environment. That is a really key starting point of the modeling in InfraWorks, and it either supports in the modeling if the terrain point cloud are well set up, or it can actually hinder it.

So I will give you recommendations related to that. So as you see on the right-hand side on the SNP, there's a lot of inputs possible to create the data set, to create a virtual environment, and many approaches are possible. Now, we found that best experience is with XML-type terrain, the terrain can be also like a TIFF image and other files. But really, our experience was best with XML. Then, we have JPEG or PNG aerial images as overview over the terrain, typically from a drone survey, and finally point clouds.

Now, a lot of discussions now are these days about point clouds and how to use them. My recommendation would be to decimate the point cloud and also reduce coverage area to-- that is relevant, and that comes with many benefits like reduced file size, so faster transfer onto a cloud server.

Typically, it's more user friendly for the device. Not all designers on the project have a very powerful computer that can handle large data files, and most, likely it's good enough, and final recommendation, if you're getting drawn surveyor to get a point cloud get them to do oblique images, that's to take shots from an angle, so you can see faces of the building or better see under trees.

Now, on this slide, I have two images. One is a full point cloud the raw point cloud. And the second one is a decimated point cloud with reduced coverage so I'll put it to the audience to decide which one is the raw point cloud-- full-size point cloud and which one is reduced.

Well, you probably find it very hard to tell because the difference is very small. So I display here a description. So the one on left-hand side is undecimated. That's the full resolution point cloud, 1.8 GB, and the one on the right-hand side is decimated point spacing at 75 millimeters and reduced coverage and the file size is 0.2 GB.

So a significant difference, but the quality is almost same for when viewed on the screen in this scale. So I just-- I would suggest that it's OK to decimate point clouds, and it's good enough for purposes of often seeing the site from bird view like we have here on screen, and it's much more friendly for usability of the model.

Now, this is just an example site of the same site as we had on the previous slide, and that shows the reduced coverage of the point cloud. So while the drone survey covered large areas, often the drone surveyors just because they can fly it, and it doesn't take them much time to cover a large area. They do it, but then the point cloud becomes very large, and it's hard to use. So it's best to reduce the coverage and-- coverage as the site of the interest.

Now, I will move on to the next item related to site setup. Very often it's useful to bring some line work as overlaid into the InfraWorks site model, for example, cadastral boundaries or other lines like maybe survey of bridge or some assets, so we understand their position correctly.

But it's often not clear how to achieve that, but there is a simple process using SDF files, that's Autodesk format, and then importing it as a coverage area, which then enables us to under Source Item, setup buffers. That's the line thickness for the lines that represent that object or boundaries perhaps.

So next slide, I will demonstrate how this could be achieved, how the boundaries could be added into model. So here, I'm in Civil 3D that has the DWG file with the linework, in my case, cadastral boundaries. And before I start, I just check that the coordinate system is the same coordinate system as in InfraWorks.

So for me, it's a Fiji coordinate system, and there is a simple command to convert DWG files to that SDF file. So that's Map, DWG to SDF, and I just save this file as 0.1 file on my device. And that window will pop up, and typically, under options, it's preferred to take three closed polylines as polygons. So I do that, and the file gets exported.

So I will now jump into InfraWorks, and we'll import that SDF file that just was exported from Civil 3D as data source. So I select that file and import it here. Now, I need to configure that, so I'll do that. As I said, under Type, I need to select the coverage areas.

And here, Style, I'll just select some lines, so perhaps the red lines here, and on the table I go to Buffer Item. That's the thickness of the lines that will appear on the ground, so perhaps select 0.4m here, and I press Close and Refresh.

So easy process to add the lines into InfraWorks model, and having those lines, we now can start perhaps the modeling of roads and other features, understanding better the side content, and some critical items like cadastral boundaries, where we want to know the impacts or better stay within the boundaries typically on the projects.

So that's about site setup commentary, and I will now move on to the next segment, and that's exchange of data between InfraWorks and Civil 3D, specifically talking about the grading and bridge abutments or giving demonstration around that.

So as many of you perhaps know grading, and bridge abutments in InfraWorks can be controlled very well. Typically, there are distortions that may be questioned by people and say what's going on, especially for skewed bridges. So what can be done is the whole road corridor and the bridge can be imported can be exported to Civil 3D, and then in Civil 3D, we can set up a road corridor around the abutment to represent the grading.

The process I will recommend is one of possible approaches. There are also other approaches, but I will not cover these. The process I'll show is relatively simple and straightforward, and we found that it works well for us. So just to summarize the process before I go into the demonstration, first of all, I export the InfraWorks model for import into Civil 3D.

Once it ends in Civil 3D, I will set up a road corridor wrapping around an abutment that there will be a part of that model there, the road corridor. For those who are not very familiar with-- in Civil 3D, it comprises alignment that's the horizontal alignment. It comprises profile and assembly, so that's the arrangement of the road corridor and in this case, it just will be shoulder and grading as you will see in the demonstration.

All right, so and then once the Civil 3D modeling is done and the road corridor around the abutment is setup, I import the road model back into InfraWorks and finally, I add bridge on the Civil 3D roadmap. OK, so let me give you a demonstration how the grading could be modeled elegantly around abutments.

So first of all, I'm in InfraWorks we're looking on the grading that has some distortions there. So let's do a few things to correct that. First of all, I export that model. Let's export the entire road and bridge model as an IMX file. And as that's being exported, I hop into Civil 3D, and we'll import that InfraWorks model.

So that's the file that was just exported. That asks me to set up a coordinate system, so I just use the same coordinate system as in InfraWorks and open the model. So the model has been opened. As you can see here the road has effectively five segments, one before the bridge, one zoned through the wing wall at the abutment, then the bridge zone, and again, two zones on the other side.

So first of all, I will turn off the grading at the wing walls because that will be replaced. So on the parameters here, I just set the targets to None, and press OK and OK again and rebuild the corridor. So the grading that disappeared, then I can now model the custom grading.

So first of all, I will draw a line around the abutment as a guideline from which then alignment will be created. So that's a polyline wrapping around the abutment, around its corners and wing walls. So the line was created, and guess I can now use that line to create alignment using that object.

So Create Alignment from Objects, I select the line, and press Enter. I give it some name, "AbutSpill." And Under at Curves Between Tangents, I put a very small value. That's for the radius between the curves. So that will be radius around the corner of the abutment.

So having that created, I will just add the-- propose an existing ground onto it, and I now can do Profile View along that alignment. And I will drop it somewhere into empty space, so now we have a nicely created alignment along that line wrapping around the abutment.

Now, I will project the bridge onto that alignment view. I simply select any part of the bridge and press Enter, and under Abutment, before I OK this here, I will do a quick adjustment and create a new style there with red lines, so it's easy to identify that specific abutment one on the profile view.

So the bridge was added on the Profile View. The abutment that we we're working with, it's in red lines, so that's easy to see and I will add one more polyline here along the bottom of the abutment. Then, subsequently, I will leave that line, so that will be representing the flat portion of the grading in front of the abutment. So I can target that line, and give it some color, green maybe, so it's easy to see.

Now, having done that, I can create a profile here. That's the vertical profile along that line. And again, I give it some name here, so "AbutSpill". Spill again, and press OK. That will bring up Profile Tools, and I simply draw lines wrapping, again, around the abutment. So from wing wall to edge of the abutment, middle point to have the sloping feature, and then back into the wing wall on the other side.

All right, so that's done. Last thing now, I need to create the assembly. So again, I give it some name, "AbutSpill," and I press OK and drop it somewhere into the space. Now, that has been created. I need to put some objects into that, so I use the shoulder and the grading.

I'll select here, press Copy, and I touch on the red square there, and that will paste it there nicely. So that has been done. I have created the alignment, I have created profile, and I have created the assembly, so I'm ready to set up the road corridor now around the abutment. So I press here out corridor I give it some name "AButspill."

Now, here, I select the alignment that was created. So AbutSpil the profile, we already have it selected. AbutSpil profile, and Assembly, the AbutSpil assembly, and Target Surface, existing ground, and I press OK here and Rebuild the Corridor. And let's have a look at the abutment.

So that corridor with its grading was nicely created around the abutment, and I simply press Save here and hop into InfraWorks. I go into Civil 3D road proposal that I have prepared here, and I'm ready to import the DWG file.

So Autodesk Civil 3D DWG, I import that road corridor file with the grading around the abutment I don't need the Proposed_Ground or COVERAGES, so I untick that configure, and this is all done so it just needs to be pressed close and Refresh. And we have corridor with grading around the abutment, and the last thing here is to add a bridge.

So I'll just do it quickly, and I change the bridge assembly to the same type as we had in the other proposal and we changed to nice representative grading around the bridge abutment. That now represents what may be actually constructed around the abutment, and it looks much neater than where we started with the default InfraWorks model.

So in a few steps and probably under 10 minutes for those who understand the workflow, we can go from distortions to a very tidy wraparound around the abutments, so hopefully, some people will find this workflow useful for their work.

All right, next segment, I will focus on-- I'll talk a little bit about Inventor that we use to set up parametric bridge parts such as abutment Piers beams or bridge deck, and then those are assembled together on the road corridor to form a bridge.

So just a few recommendations around parametric modeling. A lot of time can be spent in developing the parametric models. A lot of flexibility can be built. You can have one row of piles or two row of piles, or the wing walls can have end trims. They could be on a back wall of a abutment, perhaps footpaths or no footpaths options, so really like an almost unlimited number of combinations.

But for practical purposes for practicing engineers, that needs to be managed because time is limited and things need to be done. So I would recommend to keep effort to develop a part proportional to effort that it can save over time.

In that, I mean that not all the flexibility need to be built into the parametric parts. I would just keep it project specific, and if some additional requirement may be comes later on, such that the abutment may be skewed on some other bridge or project, then that flexibility perhaps can be added. But doing all the flexibility upfront can consume a lot of time.

Now, with respect to modeling in Inventor, again, I would keep detailing relevant to project stage. For example, if someone is in early concept stages, the parametric part doesn't need to have all the details and perhaps even flexibility like if you're looking on bridge from a 100-meter bird view. Whether that is fall on abutment or pier shelf, no one will really notice that, so that flexibility doesn't need to be there at that early stages of projects.

And final recommendation is to use the Autodesk InfraWorks library parts as a starting point starting point for modeling over using over starting from completely scratch or at least I would recommend to refer to the Autodesk library parts for information how the part could be set up as that often can save time.

So one of the parts that are in the Autodesk InfraWorks package is a bridge deck, and while the bridge decks have quite a lot of parametric flexibility around the beams and haunches, at the top it's just flat and follows the road profile.

There's no footpaths as part of the bridge deck or concrete barrier, but these parts are often integral parts of bridge deck. We put a expansion joint at regular places at the footpath or intervals, it's really part of the bridge deck because it's integrally connected through reinforcement. So as bridge engineers, we often prefer to have the footpaths as well as barrier part of the bridge deck model.

So in the next demonstration, I will demonstrate how the default Autodesk bridge deck part could be modified for it to have a footpath and the barrier. All right so let's do that demonstration.

So I have here InfraWorks model that has the default Autodesk deck part that has no footpaths or barrier and it's just flat from the top. So let's do a few things to modify it. So I go into Parametric Model/Bridge, the Decks, and then the Bridge Deck part, and I will open that part. Then, I press here View in Explorer. That's to see where the part is saved, and I double-click on that to open the bridge part in Inventor.

Now, I save it so I create my own custom part. I just save it here the 01 model, and as that is saved, I now can customize it and later on bring it back into InfraWorks.

So the dark part is simple extrusion of a 2D section. So I just go into that sketch of the 2D section, and I will edit it by adding linework representing footpaths and the barrier. So first, I will draw here footpaths on the edge of the deck using simple lines.

And now, I will add a barrier. I'll just keep the shape very simple, but really any shape could be set up and then dimension made parametric. Before I dimension, it I set up related parameters.

So CH for curb height, I'll make it 150, curb height back CHB. That's on the back of the footpath, so maybe 250. This is all parametric, so it can be changed. Footpath width, FW 1,500, and BH for barrier height 900, and BW for barrier width at 400 millimeters.

Now, before I close it that on the key, I will tick those items, so they come as a parametric items into InfraWorks, and that's done. So now having the parameters, I can dimension this sketch here.

So I select curb height, here curb height back, CHB, footpath width, so FW parameter, yes, and two more dimensions here, so that's the barrier width, and finally, barrier height so BH for barrier height.

So that's done the sketch is modified, or the footpaths and barrier are added, and now I can use that sketch to extrude those elements. So I select the Profiles here. I select the Sketch Plane from which I want to start, and I give it distance. I know that it's 10 inches on the deck, so I will use the same and I create a new part.

So the footpaths and barrier has been added. I save the model. And I go back into InfraWorks and will import that custom part, so I'll add the new style here. I find the custom part that was just created and I open it, and I press OK here.

So that part has been added, and having that part, I can simply replace the deck type element for the custom one, and now we have bridge that includes barrier. I will turn off the routing so it doesn't obstruct the view, and we have a bridge deck with footpaths and barrier and as a parametric part, so the details can be adjusted.

I, for example, change here the footpath width, so it matches the width of the footpaths on the abutment back wall, so 2.5m. And now because we use the Autodesk part that has several things like that the beams have haunches or not or whether there are haunches at the BIM so I can turn it off, and I can also change the thickness here.

So there we go, the standard bridge deck element was modified for footpaths and barrier, and it's now more representative of the actual real-life construction, where the barrier and footpaths are part of the bridge deck.

So now, moving on to the final part of this presentation, just the final step really of the workflow is to set up the bridge documentation as drawings through Revit. So I will provide related commentary on a few things that I think are important for the setup, and then we'll give a quick demonstration related to that.

So the first item here is related to a coordinate system that often causes a lot of confusion because in Civil 3D and InfraWorks, we use a specific coordinate system, for example, Australian geodetic system or Fiji cadastral system, and so on. It goes, and we specifically select it and then it has a single origin 0, 0, 0 northing, easting, and height.

Well, in Revit, there is no coordinate system to be selected as such, and there are three origins. We see two of them. That's the survey point and project basepoint, so now you know how that relates to the coordinate system in Civil 3D or InfraWorks. Plus the elevation, that's the height, can be measured against either survey point or project base point, so that can, again, create confusion or possibly lead to errors. So a related setting in Revit.

So the Revit origins, there's the survey and project basepoint. So before the import of the bridge model from InfraWorks, they are typically at the same location on most templates on Revit templates I've seen, but after the bridge model import, they will separate. The project basepoint will be at the start of the bridge, and the survey point will remain at 0, 0, matching 0, 0 of the cadastral system that is in InfraWorks. So I think it's good to understand that.

And elevation as a default setting in the Revit template is related to project basepoint. But it needs to be changed for survey point because again the heights in Civil 3D and InfraWorks are related to this specific coordinate system, therefore, to survey point.

Just to know that-- maybe it's not quite clear, but the project basepoint elevation during the import of the InfraWorks model is set to the lowest ground point along the road corridor, so just to know that. So the base point elevation after the import of model is set to lowest ground point along the road corridor. Why is it like that? I don't know, but it's simply the way the software operates.

Now, the last thing to mention is we often want to rotate the bridge because when it's imported, it may be on some angle, but on drawings, we typically want to have it nicely horizontal. So there are different approaches, and we found that the Scope Box works best because it can be simply rotate the isolated view. I've seen other approaches, such as Rotate Project North, but it doesn't work well, specifically with when we need to link some DWG or topographic survey files into the Revit model.

Now, before I go into demonstration, I would also suggest that it's very useful to set up some automation using either Dynamo scripting, or in my case, I use Grasshopper. That works very well with Revit, and I will showcase how gridlines could be added at the bridge support, so that's the abutments and piers.

Using about 20 commands or just over 20 simple commands, the gridlines can be automatically added and very precisely at these positions and then driven by the code. So if there are any changes, they also reposition so that may be very useful to eliminate errors.

So now I will go into a demonstration related to the Revit setup just to demonstrate what I was talking about, and let's start with that. So here I'm in InfraWorks. I export the bridge model for import to InfraWorks, so I just create a file here, 02, to and press Save and create the model-- or sorry, export the InfraWorks model for import to Revit.

Now, I hop into Revit. Before I import the model, just to display what's happening with the origins, so here, this one, that's the project base point. That's the circle. The project basepoint is located at the same location as the little triangle. That's the survey point.

Now, when I go and import the model, as I discussed, they will separate. And we need to target the survey point for set out so it matches then the Civil 3D and InfraWorks. So as that's being imported.

We can have a look what happened with the origin. So the first-- the project basepoint is at the start of the bridge. That's at the bridge-- start of the bridge deck. And if I double-click, we display everything in the model, and we see the survey point is far away and has zero coordinates on it.

So now, just to point out something related to elevations, I cut here a section along the road's center line. So I just draw the section and align it with the roads center line and jump into the section, and I give here a spot coordinate at some easy-to-pick-up point such as the start of the bridge deck.

So we have 5.9 meters and let's have a look into InfraWorks at how that matches that model. So at the bottom left-hand bottom, that's where the height values are. Hopefully, you can see it, maybe not. So there is 4.8 meters. That is 4.8 meters at the bottom corner. So that 4.8 meters, well, that doesn't very well match the 5.9 meters in Revit. So what's going on?

Well, the spot elevation, as I was saying, is either to project base point or survey points. So that needs to be changed to survey points so it matches revit InfraWorks nicely, so 4.8 meters now. And again, the Z is at the bottom left hand corner and 4.8 meters in InfraWorks when I hover over, so that's now matching nicely,

And next thing I would recommend to set up one of these. Grid lines as datum, so it has the 0 value on it, and we can measure against that if the height if that's somehow useful.

So the datum was created. That relates to the datum in the survey system, and we can check by measuring against that point that has the spot height on it. So we have 4.837, and that matches the spot height as well, so that's nicely set up.

Now, I move onto next step. That's the automation. And I will use this script. For me it's Rhino Script, but maybe Dynamo could be used as well. And I will draw grids at the bridge supports and will demonstrate how they dynamically respond to changes in the InfraWorks model.

So I opened a file that contains that script, and that will straight away add the grid lines at the supports. So I just find the file. That's the file that contains the script. And as that script opens immediately, the lines were added pretty quickly, so that's great automation.

And just to a little bit-- briefly describe scrib, not going into details, it turns out that the imports come as a category, so we can identify piers and abutments. Having done that, we can read coordinates of these elements and then draw lines at these elements going north/south.

Now, because the bridge is rotated, we need to figure out the rotation of these lines. So they can get rotated as perpendicular to the orientation of the bridge and also knowing how many supports are there we can generate grid names, and then the final step is then rotate the lines and then turn them into grids with names so simple script about 20 commands can be very useful to automate the process and mostly help to eliminate errors.

So we now have dimensions on the grids, and let's see how this responds when something changes in InfraWorks So let's say we modify the position of support. I will do some dramatic change here, so it's easy to see how the things change. So the support position was changed and republish the bridge model for import into Revit.

So as that was exported, the Pending Update window pop up. And I implement the update and let's see how the grid responds to the change in the structure geometry so as you see immediately the grid moved using the script and the dimensions were updated. So I would suggest very useful. When there is some dramatic change like this, it's easy to see. But if something's changed by a couple of millimeters, for a draftsman or modeler, it may not be easy to notice, so it's useful to have automation to avoid errors.

Now, just to show you the rotation using the Scope Box just as simple as drawing a square for the Scope Box and then rotating it so it's aligned with the orientation of the bridge, perhaps center line in my case. So the Scope Box was rotated, and now I can simply, on the properties, apply that Scope Box.

So I just find the items, Scope Box here, and I apply the Scope Box. So the view was rotated and now what's the advantage of doing the Scope Box is then other CAD data could be linked very easily, and they will get rotated as the same as the view is rotating, so that's a very simple.

Now, under positioning, I need to use By Shared Coordinates so that's using the 0, 0 coordinate in both models, and you see that now the existing bridge line work was added into the model. So it's nicely next to the existing bridge next to the proposed bridge same as in this model.

Now, I can simply turn off the Scope Box, and it returns back into the native view, or I can reapply the Scope Box and an entire window rotates and then simply can be dropped onto project sheets.

So that's a couple just set up comments on-- related to the Revit and how the process could be automated. And well, have not covered any drafting-related items in Revit. I believe that's sort of really routine work.

So just a couple closing comments from me. Really, the workflow is like a cocktail of softwares that somehow all work together. There is not many happy hours other than coming to Autodesk University conference. And on the way, there is a lot of headaches, but if someone masters how to prepare it, then it can produce quite good results and save a lot of time.

So InfraWorks for bridge modeling over the last about year. The customer support was greatly improved the InfraWorks help contains a much, much better description for the parametric modeling of the bridge parts and how they relate to the road corridor and the parameters there. Also, there is now training specific to bridges on customer success hub, so that's a useful resource.

I know from talking to Autodesk that Autodesk is considering to update some geometry logic, specifically related to bridge decks and related elements, so some current distortions are avoided. So that will be a great update.

But despite that, for certain bridge types, typically, relatively simple bridges but very, very common bridges. Even nowadays, InfraWorks can be adopted for more than concept design into the detailed design stages and preparation of detailed bridge documentation, specifically for beam and deck bridges. That's the most common bridge type.

So hopefully, you found this presentation informing on couple selected aspects, and I'll be happy to respond to any comments or questions that people using the InfraWorks bridge workflow or are interested in that may have. So thank you for your attention.