Running Dynamo graphs in Autocad (without Civil3D)

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Hi all,

I have a question regarding the possibility of running Dynamo graphs in Autocad (not in Civil3D), since some of our partners/subcontractors sometimes only have/use Autocad, and not Civil3D.
I vaguely remember that I used .scr-files containing commands like:

  • AECCRUNDYNAMOSCRIPT
  • AECCLAUNCHDYNAMO
  • AECCLAUNCHDYNAMOPLAYER

I thought I had used these in the past in Autocad, but it seems that for the 2023 releases, these commands are only available in Civil3D.

Of course this raises a second question. Are we too preoccupied on whether we could (run Dynamo graphs in autocad), that we stopped thinking about whether we should (run Dynamo graphs in autocad)?

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Never been an option. However WAY back when the first iterations of Design Script were AutoCAD tools. No Dynamo UI, you were just typing things directly to generate shapes. More here: https://www.keanw.com/2012/10/designscript-now-available-for-download-from-autodesk-labs.html

There is also Dynamo for Advanced Steel which predates Dynamo for Civil by awhile.

Yes, we SHOULD be able to do this, in fact I would argue it is more natural to have Dynamo in a modeling environment than a BIM one (for precedent we can see Rhino + Grasshopper; Dynamo for Alias; Dynamo for FormIt; etc.), as the geometry kernels is more closely related.

You can look into using the COM api for interactions as well. LinkDWG packages did this well.

There is also the ability to use Revit and the ATF nodes for DWG in and out (perhaps not all the edits you want though).

2 Likes
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Thanks @jacob.small !

I’ll forward that we simply need to use Civil3D if also want Dynamo capabilities for .DWGs

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I would encourage you to illustrate the need and desire by submitting an idea to the AutoCAD roadmap, and requesting it on social media and the like.