Dynamic Manhole Design in Civil 3D – Collars & Rectangular Pipe Alignment

Civil 3D
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1

Hello everyone,

I’m working on a custom manhole structure in Autodesk Civil 3D and need guidance on a few advanced behaviors:

1. Dynamic Surrounding Box / Collar

I’ve created an outer concrete collar around a manhole and want to make it dynamic so that I can control:

  • 1 side only

  • 2 sides

  • 3 sides

  • or all 4 sides

Question:
Is there a way to handle this in Part Builder using visibility parameters or Boolean toggles?
If yes, what’s the recommended workflow?

2. Rectangular Pipe → Angle & Alignment

When the manhole connects to rectangular pipes, I want the pipe to:

  • Follow the same rotation angle as the structure

  • Adjust orientation when the structure moves/rotates

  • Maintain correct alignment with the insertion point

Question:
Can this be handled using Pipe/Structure Rules, or does it require a Dynamo script?

3. Parametric Approach

Has anyone developed a parametric manhole with:

  • Side-selectable collars

  • Dynamic pipe alignment?

Any examples, screenshots, steps, or best-practice workflows would be very helpful.

System:
Civil 3D (latest version)
Working with both circular & rectangular pipe networks.

Attachments:
Images, Video & Civil 3D file for reference & Below link posted on Civil 3D Forum

How to Create Dynamic Surrounding Box/Collar for Manhole in Part Builder + Rectangular Pipe Alignmen… - Autodesk Community

Thank you in advance for your support!

Screenshot 2025-11-12 154226
Screenshot 2025-11-12 1542261525×764 102 KB

manhole creation dwg.dwg (3.9 MB)

2

I would suggest you check on the civil 3d autodesk forum in the first instance because they will probably understand Part builder more than this forum. Though you should be able to set a Part List up onto the style from how ever you set up the part builder.

Then once got a good base set you could use Dynamo/Civil 3d APi’s to automate the selection of what you want, though i would suggest you get the part builder side sorted before you venture down Dynamo to eliminate abortive work. EG Do not automate the changing of dimensions when you could have this as a selection within the part builder/part list.

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