Sometimes users want to rename the catalog they created, after having created specs. While this can be tedious, it is still possible.

Each spec consists of two related files, the pspc, and the pspx.  This article will demonstrate part of the relationship between catalogs and specs.

1.  The first step is to rename/move the original catalogs. This will make sure that you get warned if parts are not found.

The pspx is a zip file which may contain a catalog reference. In the simplest case, you can just change the path without changing the name used for the catalog. The screenshots below show the pspx file opened in 7-zip.

If all the parts are found after changing the catalog reference, you don’t need to modify anything else.

2. To fully change the name of the referenced catalog in the spec, you need to use a SQLite database editor. The preferred free version is from SQLiteExpert.

Opening the spec shows us a tree of the tables at the left. Select Engineering Items, and locate the CatalogId. This is the other place that references the catalog name. You can change the name of the catalog here. If you purchase the Expert version, you can export and import to Excel, where you could do a Find/Replace. http://www.sqliteexpert.com/features.html

If you want to miter handrails,  you will first need to explode the rails since all of the structural members are grouped and cannot be mitered.

Instead of using the regular AutoCAD EXPLODE command, use the Structure Explode button on the Structure Ribbon.

This will make sure that each structural member is free of the railing group.

Next step is to use the Miter Cut Member command to miter each of the pieces of the railing.

Sometimes we need to re-align an angled section of our Plant 3D model when creating an Ortho view. ECAD Inc.’s Fast Track plug-in for AutoCAD Plant 3D has a tool that does this for you. Re-alignment is accomplished through the use of the “Align View Cube” tool found on the 2D Fast Track tab of the Plant 3D ribbon.

The first step in the process is to open your model and select the Create Ortho View tool on the Home tab of the Plant 3D ribbon.
When the Select Orthographic Drawing dialog box is displayed, either create a new Ortho drawing or reuse an old one as you normally would.

In the next screen, be sure you are in the 2D Wireframe visual style and then select the view angle that is needed.

Choose the 2D Fast Track tab and select the Align View Cube tool.

After selecting the tool, your cursor will change to a pick box. Follow the command line and select a part you want to show in a horizontal plane.

After the pick, you will then see the Ortho Cube align to the angle of that part.

Next, select the Ortho Editor tab and pick the green check mark by “OK”. Note: If too many tabs are being displayed on the ribbon, the Ortho Editor tab might not be visible. If so, then select the double black arrows to the far right of the tabs. The Ortho Editor tab will then be displayed.

Lastly, position the viewport on the paper space area and left click. You should see the components that were modeled at an angle now represented in an Orthographic alignment.

Because most of the new features for AutoCAD Plant 3D 2016 were released as Extension 1 for 2015, the platform build (2016 proper) had a strong emphasis on updates existing features and fixes.  To that end, we have gone through the product and picked some of our favorites.

1. Tolerance – In 2016, the program recognizes offset tolerances. So, no longer to connections have to be made to the nth degree, but we can specify a 1/32″ tolerance (or whatever precision you choose).  We did find out that you don’t want to make the tolerance too large (20″ is bad) or the isos will break.  http://www.pdoteam.com/2015/04/using-tolerances-in-plant-3d-2016/

2. Spec Administration – A personal favorite of mine is that you can now edit specs while they are being used in a project. In 2016, only the spec editor program opens the specs for read/write. This means that you no longer have to work on the specs in one location and then copy them to another! Yay!

3. Iso Start Points – Even though it’s a new feature, I have to mention it.  With the iso start point, 2016 completes the features necessary for iso repeatability. Not only can you assign a start point from the beginning, but after creating an iso, you can bring the start and break points back into your model based on the style used.

4. 3D Line Groups in the Data Manager – In previous versions you couldn’t create custom views for line groups in the data manager, they wouldn’t display information. While you could use the area view, the line groups were still split by area which made it difficult to identify them.  In 2016, custom views with line groups are fully functional.

5.  Changes made to the Line Summary report are saved. This is one that affects less people, but is still a welcome fix.  In previous versions there wasn’t a way to customize the line summary list. In 2016, you can save changes made to the report.

Last of all, are a bunch of little fixes that really help the user experience like olets behaving better for moving or copying, refreshing data for new acquisition properties, fusion weld display on isometrics, MV Blocks appearance on orthos, the ability to remove default iso styles, and better performance for the Dynamic Pipe Spec palettes.

Make sure to check out the help file for a list of the other new features, like Vault updates. http://help.autodesk.com/view/PLNT3D/2016/ENU/?guid=GUID-04019227-5319-4484-BD20-8614A778CAA8 If you were using Vault, you will see a ton of improvements on that end.

All in all, I’m excited to see the updates for 2016, as it looks like they have addressed a lot of user issues that have been brought over the last couple releases.  From my experience, I’ve heard AutoCAD users in general say, “Why can’t they just fix the problems” and it looks to me like the Plant team made that a big priority.  I’m sure we’ll run across other fixes and if we think they’ll affect a lot of people, we’ll definitely post an article about it.

If they follow the recent development cycles, the Plant team is preparing an extension or two for 2016 as well, so it should be exciting to see what’s in store for that. In 2014, we got orthographic BOM’s, COG reports, and weights. In 2015 we got a bunch of iso UI enhancements, so stay to for the latest when/if the extension drops for 2016.

We ran across an issue where annotations and the properties palette sometimes have the pipe size display in inches.  After testing, we have isolated the circumstances, but not the root cause.  The issue may occur when a user goes into project setup and clicks Apply or OK (regardless of whether changes have been made or not).

If the issue does occur, the user will notice the pipe or fittings selected in the 3d model show their size in inches.

Once this issue occurs, annotations placed after this point will also have the size in inches.

Workaround Fix

The way to fix the issue is to close the project and re-open it. Rather than shutting down plant completely, you can right-click on the project name, close it, and then use the dropdown to re-open the project.

Once the project is open, the easiest way to fix annotations is by using the project manager. Right-click on the drawing in the orthos tab and choose update annotations. Again this only seems to occur when a user has been in project setup, so I suspect that it is not seen frequently.

Robert just became a close relative.

Due to constraints on our time, we do not always have our plugins available in the store immediately (much to our chagrin). However, because we use .Net to develop our plugins, in general you can modify the xml to have them load in the latest version (ie 2016).  This article will show you how to make those changes.

First of all, there are 3 locations where plugins may be stored. These have changed as Autodesk has changed their policies, so you may have to check each of these locations for the plugin.

• C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins
• C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins
• C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins

The current installation directory for App Store plugins is: C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins

Locate the plugin you wish to modify. In this case, we’ll look at the Selection list plugin.

Inside the plugin folder is a file called PackageContents.xml. This file lets Autodesk products know how to load the plugin.

You can open this in an xml or text editor and do a search for SeriesMax. Modifying the SeriesMax, or SeriesMin value will change the version the plugin loads into.

Here are some notes on the xml format:

http://help.autodesk.com/view/ACD/2016/ENU/?guid=GUID-1591CA01-EF87-48CD-952B-772FE26037F1

Here is a table for the last few versions. We’ll try to keep this updated.

If you are new to the Autodesk world, or haven’t seen the changes to subscription center, you will need to know how to locate extensions, service packs, and hot fixes.  In all honesty, within the last year Autodesk has spent a lot of resource updating how these items are distributed, so this is a good post for general knowledge any ways.

Extensions

For Plant, the extensions include relevant bug fixes so as long as you are on subscription, you should look for these first. To do so, log into your Autodesk account and go here:

https://manage.autodesk.com/cep/#products-services/all

A link to product enhancements is available. Again, these are only available to customers current on subscription, which is the reason for the login.

I use the search function (Ctrl+F) in Chrome to locate the product and version I’m looking for:

Service Packs and Hot Fixes

Service packs and hot fixes are available to any user with the product, so these are listed publicly. Recently, Autodesk has improved locating downloads for your product.

Go to: http://knowledge.autodesk.com/

Click Download finder:

Choose Service Packs and Fixes

Pick your product and version

View the list of Downloads

Remember to read the readme files associated with each download as they will indicate the order of installation and installation steps. These notes are CRITICAL!

The navisworks navigator plugin available in Plant 3D is a fantastic tool for visualizing your model inside of Navisworks.  However, by default the window doesn’t load inside of Advanced Steel or other AutoCAD products.

To help with the button issue, you’ll need a partial cuix to load (below).

Once you have that, you’ll need to make sure the Navisworks tools are loaded in your current session of AutoCAD (or an AutoCAD-base vertical like Advanced Steel).  Here are a couple things to check:

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/navisworks-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/NavisWorks-Navigator-plug-in-for-AutoCAD-does-not-start.html

http://www.autodesk.com/products/navisworks/autodesk-navisworks-nwc-export-utility

To load the ribbon button, extract the zip to this location: C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins

Once at that location, AutoCAD will load the ribbon when it starts up. To force it to load immediately, enter APPAUTOLOADER at the command line and use the Refresh option.

On the home and home 3d tabs you should see this button now.

If the Navisworks tools are loaded, you can click the button and see this window:

Every now and then we get asked how to add sizes to the custom parts palette.  While I’ve said no, I always try to dig a little more to find out where those sizes get pulled from. This morning, I found it!

Adding a Size to permanent (CustomParts) Items

The critical piece is to understand where the sizes load from. You would think that it would read from the Custom Parts spec for the current project.

However, it turns out there is a different location that it reads from. <Shared Content Folder>\CPak Common\CustomPartsSpecs\, or on a system with the default installation directory, C:\AutoCAD Plant 3D 2016 Content\CPak Common\CustomPartsSpecs.

Because we can open the CustomParts spec in the spec editor, adding a new size is as simple as

• Opening the spec

• Finding the catalog item

• And adding a new size to the catalog and spec

Adding a size to PlaceHolder Parts

This step is a little trickier because the spec editor doesn’t allow opening the placeholder spec, and we don’t have a Place Holder catalog.

The placeholder spec used to load sizes is located here in the project spec sheets folder.

“P:\2016 Demo\Spec Sheets\PlaceHolder Imperial.pspc”

To open it in the spec editor we need to use a SQLite database utility. My personal favorite is: http://sqliteexpert.com/download.html

Open the pspc file in SQLite expert and locate the RepositoryDescriptor table. Set the name to CustomHolder Imperial, then scroll to the right and set the ContentType  from Placeholder to Customholder (just a different value). Make sure to click the post edit check mark in the row above to save the changes to the database. Close SQLite.

Open the PlaceHolder Imperial.pspx in the spec editor.

The other part of the problem is that a Placeholder catalog is not distributed with the product (they probably thought we wouldn’t figure it out…hehehe).  However, I used the Catalog builder to recreate a catalog based on the Placeholder Imperial spec. You may download it here:

While we have a catalog, because we don’t have the original, we can’t edit the existing part. So to fix the size, remove the PH Imperial Valve from the spec. Add your required sizes into your catalog and spec.

After your spec is updated, open the pspc in SQLite and then set the RepositoryDescriptor Name and Content type back to Placeholder instead of Customholder.

In order to take advantage of using tolerances in AutoCAD Plant 3D 2016, you’ll need to modify your joint connections.  The joint xml is located in the project folder and is called DefaultConnectorsConfig.xml.

My personal favorite xml editor is Foxe, and here is a link showing how to use it: http://www.pdoteam.com/2012/08/editing-xml-files/

You will want to set the OffsetTolerance value for each of your joints.  The typical rule of thumb is that you design to one degree of precision larger than you will show dimensions for. So if you dimension to the 16th, you will want tolerances set to the 32nd. This helps avoid rounding issues since everything will be accurate to the 32nd.

Setting the offset tolerance for a buttweld joint would look like this:

Here is a link to download a connectors config with all of the default joints set to 1/32″ offset tolerance.

Setting the offset tolerance will allow ports to connect that are equal to or less than the tolerance apart.

In this example, I set my tolerance to 5 to show the exaggerated difference.

I’ve said it couldn’t be done. But in another episode of kicking myself, I was reminded by ADM, and John Bennett, about the rollover tool tip customization in the CUI. So, steps to show tool tips are as follows:

1. Start the CUI command

2. Locate the rollover tooltips section on the left under main cui.

3. Navigate to each class and check the properties that you want to have appearing in your tool tips, and click OK.

4. Hover over objects to your hearts content.

Administration

For those who care, you may reference rollover tool tips in multiple cui files. However, if two cuis use the same class, the cui loaded last will take priority. For example, if you have an enterprise cui, you could not add rollover tooltips b/c the main cui would always take precedence. However, if you loaded a plugin cui into the main cui, the plugin cui would take precedence as the main is loaded first.

If you transition to using Vault, you will need to create your project template inside of Vault. Once done, and if you have 2015 Ext 1 or higher installed, you can create new projects using the Vault template.  This post will look at creating a Vault project based on an existing project template on a network.

• Start the new project wizard:

• In the project wizard, enter the name of the project, (1), check create project in Vault and choose the Vault folder location (2), and lastly, Check Copy settings from existing project and choose the project template located on your network (3).
• Follow the wizard through the rest of the settings. Note that ALL folders (ie specs) must be relative to the Vault project folder we are creating.

Once completed, you have a project that is configured to use Vault.  The next procedure is to configure your permissions that you want on your project folders for access.

To change folder properties, right-click on the folder in Vault, choose Details and configure the Groups and users that should have access to the folder.

Alter the permissions for any folders necessary.

After that point, you can create new projects using the template with permissions in the new project wizard.

Dragging up a post from way back: http://www.pdoteam.com/2012/07/adding-external-drawings-to-autocad-plant-3d/

There are 3 types of drawings that will be included when generating orthographic drawings:

1. Any dwg created through the project manager within the project folder structure (most frequent).
2. Any xref that is referenced as an attachment
3. A drawing that is in a project folder that saves drawings outside of the project folder structure.

When using Vault there will be times when you want to use a drawing in orthos that resides outside of your project.  However, currently with Vault and Plant 3d 2016, we cannot create folders that point to locations outside of our project. So we have to use a combination of #1 and #2, instead of option #3.

Create a blank drawing to hold your reference

In this situation, I’m referencing an existing structural model that represents a building already in place.  In this scenario, I won’t edit this particular structure, but I do need it available to show in other piping models, and my orthographics.

Attach the drawing from Vault

In order to pull the drawing in from Vault correctly we need to use a special feature of the xref palette. However, our method of accessing the feature will vary between 2015 and 2016.

In 2015

You have the attach from Vault option.

Note, that if you have not logged into the Vault on your xref palette, you will get this error.

Once you have logged in, use the Attach from Vault option.

In 2016

We don’t have the Vault option on the xref manager. Instead we have to pull in the reference from the Vault ribbon.

Reference the desired drawing as an Attachment

After you start the command, you will pick your drawing.

After picking the model, the xref options dialog will show. Now here is the key step. Make sure the reference type is set to Attachment.

Now you can save the drawing, and check it in.

Using the reference

You can use the same method of attaching from Vault to reference the coordination model (Existing Structure) into a project 3d model. However, in this case you would reference the file as an overlay.

Now when creating orthographics, though, we have a model we can select for inclusion.

And it will show up in our ortho.

With a new extension out for 2016 we’ll have to make a few changes to our old projects. Changes have been made to the IsoSkeyAcadBlockMap.xml, IsoSymbolStyles.dwg, and IsoConfig.xml files, so we’ll have to generate a fresh project after installing the extension.

The IsoSkeyAcadBlockMap.xml will need the following lines added:
<SkeyMap SKEY = “BLD” AcadBlock =”RefDimPhantom”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “BLD1” AcadBlock =”RefDimShortCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “BLD2” AcadBlock =”RefDimPhantom”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “BLD3” AcadBlock =”RefDimDottedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “BLD4” AcadBlock =”RefDimCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “BLD5” AcadBlock =”RefDimDashedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “EQU” AcadBlock =”RefDimPhantom”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “EQU1” AcadBlock =”RefDimShortCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “EQU2” AcadBlock =”RefDimPhantom”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “EQU3” AcadBlock =”RefDimDottedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “EQU4” AcadBlock =”RefDimCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “EQU5” AcadBlock =”RefDimDashedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “FLR” AcadBlock =”RefDimDottedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “FLR1” AcadBlock =”RefDimShortCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “FLR2” AcadBlock =”RefDimPhantom”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “FLR3” AcadBlock =”RefDimDottedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “FLR4” AcadBlock =”RefDimCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “FLR5” AcadBlock =”RefDimDashedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “GRD” AcadBlock =”RefDimDottedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “GRD1” AcadBlock =”RefDimShortCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “GRD2” AcadBlock =”RefDimPhantom”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “GRD3” AcadBlock =”RefDimDottedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “GRD4” AcadBlock =”RefDimCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “GRD5” AcadBlock =”RefDimDashedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “HST” AcadBlock =”RefDimShortCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “HST1” AcadBlock =”RefDimShortCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “HST2” AcadBlock =”RefDimPhantom”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “HST3” AcadBlock =”RefDimDottedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “HST4” AcadBlock =”RefDimCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “HST5” AcadBlock =”RefDimDashedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “PIP” AcadBlock =”RefDimCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “PIP1” AcadBlock =”RefDimShortCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “PIP2” AcadBlock =”RefDimPhantom”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “PIP3” AcadBlock =”RefDimDottedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “PIP4” AcadBlock =”RefDimCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “PIP5” AcadBlock =”RefDimDashedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “VST” AcadBlock =”RefDimShortCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “VST1” AcadBlock =”RefDimShortCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “VST2” AcadBlock =”RefDimPhantom”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “VST3” AcadBlock =”RefDimDottedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “VST4” AcadBlock =”RefDimCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “VST5” AcadBlock =”RefDimDashedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “WAL” AcadBlock =”RefDimDottedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “WAL1” AcadBlock =”RefDimShortCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “WAL2” AcadBlock =”RefDimPhantom”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “WAL3” AcadBlock =”RefDimDottedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “WAL4” AcadBlock =”RefDimCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “WAL5” AcadBlock =”RefDimDashedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “XXX” AcadBlock =”RefDimDashedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “XXX1” AcadBlock =”RefDimShortCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “XXX2” AcadBlock =”RefDimPhantom”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “XXX3” AcadBlock =”RefDimDottedLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “XXX4” AcadBlock =”RefDimCenterLine”/>
<SkeyMap SKEY = “XXX5” AcadBlock =”RefDimDashedLine”/>
<SkeyCLTextMap SKEY = “BLD*” CLTEXT =”BUILDING”/>
<SkeyCLTextMap SKEY = “EQU*” CLTEXT =”CL EQUIPMENT”/>
<SkeyCLTextMap SKEY = “FLR*” CLTEXT =”FLOOR”/>
<SkeyCLTextMap SKEY = “GRD*” CLTEXT =”CL GRID”/>
<SkeyCLTextMap SKEY = “HST*” CLTEXT =”CL BEAM”/>
<SkeyCLTextMap SKEY = “PIP*” CLTEXT =”CL PIPE”/>
<SkeyCLTextMap SKEY = “VST*” CLTEXT =”CL COLUMN”/>
<SkeyCLTextMap SKEY = “WAL*” CLTEXT =”WALL”/>

Make sure you add them above the list end.

Next we need to add several lines to the soConfig.xml used for each isometric style:
Search for the line containing Style Name=”MetricPipeLengthAlt” and add the following lines below that line:
<Style Name=”RefDimExtLineImperial” UnitFormat=”Architectural” Precision=”Precision5″ Prefix=”” Suffix=”” Scale=”0.2″ Decimal=”.” />
<Style Name=”RefDimExtLineMetric” UnitFormat=”Decimal” Precision=”Precision1″ Prefix=”” Suffix=”” Scale=”10″ Decimal=”.” />

Search for the line containing WeightUnits Imperial=”lb” and the following line below that line:
<RefDimExtensionStyle Imperial=”RefDimExtLineImperial” Metric=”RefDimExtLineMetric” />

Search down for the first line containing Dimensions Enabled=”true” and add two attributes:
RefDimExo=”0.03″ RefDimExe=”0.05″
Make sure the attributes are add before the closing bracket.

Search for the line containing LayerScheme Name=”Pipe Supports” and add the following layer scheme below that line:
<LayerScheme Name=”ReferenceDimensions” Enabled=”true” Filter=”ReferenceDimension” LayerName=”ReferenceDimension” />

Scroll all the way to the bottom and we just need to add the following filter:
<Filter Name=”ReferenceDimension” Value=”Type = ‘Reference-Dimension'” />

Finally we need to insert the following blocks into theIsoSymbolStyles.dwg:
RefDimAnnoCircle
RefDimAnnoDiamond
RefDimAnnoDiamondEnd
RefDimAnnoDiamondExtra
RefDimAnnoDoubleCircle
RefDimAnnoDummy
RefDimAnnoEllipse
RefDimAnnoRectangle
RefDimAnnoRoundEnd
RefDimAnnoTriangle
RefDimAnnoTriangleExtra
RefDimAnnoTriangleForDown
RefDimCenterLine
RefDimDashedLine
RefDimDottedLine
RefDimPhantom
RefDimShortCenterLine
This can be done using design center or by inserting a copy of the IsoSymbolStyles.dwg directly into your old one.
After taking the above steps you should be able to take advantage of these new features and have them show up in our isometric drawings properly .

We have had a request to create a report that shows the total number of bolts instead of the number of bolt sets. Since the number of bolts is stored in the catalog, we can include it in our report.

To do so, you’ll have to modify the Quantity expression in your report template. Right-click and choose Edit Expression.

You’ll set the expression to this:

Iif(IsNullOrEmpty([Pipe_CutLength]), Iif(!IsNullOrEmpty([BoltSet_NumberInSet]),ToDouble([BoltSet_NumberInSet]) ,1 ) , Round([Pipe_CutLength]))

The statement says, if the Number In Set property is not blank (only applies to bolts), then use the number there.  We have to include the ToDouble() function to clean up the formatting some.

Once that change is made your bolt totals which may have looked like this:

Will look like this:

I was asked a couple days what someone should read to get up to speed with some of the more advanced topics for configuring Plant 3D.

Resources

Watch the Getting Started videos here:

http://docs.autodesk.com/PLNT3D/2015/ENU/plant/pip//ap3d_movielist.htm

Read through the workflows here:

http://help.autodesk.com/view/PLNT3D/2016/ENU/?guid=GUID-DF3EDA04-9C16-4FE9-8346-75C5311A7D22

The most comprehensive reference manuals are here:

http://docs.autodesk.com/PLNT3D/2015/ENU/pdf/Tailoring_AutoCAD_PnID_and_Plant_3D.pdf

http://docs.autodesk.com/PLNT3D/2014/ENU/De-mystifying%20AutoCAD%20Plant%203D%20Isometrics.pdf

A key for getting your line numbers out correctly on isometrics. Note that it shows how to get it annotated along side the pipe, and into the title block (2 different steps).

http://www.pdoteam.com/2013/07/complex-line-numbers-in-isometrics/

Tips

And here’s our top tips for getting started (in no particular order).

1. Make sure you understand tagging.  This is probably the #1 thing we see wrong.  Read through the resource materials, and make sure that your tag works as expected all the way from P&IDs to isometrics.  Getting this wrong can mean double-data entry on your entire project.
2. Use out of the box classes for P&ID as much as possible. Creating new classes means you have to map the class properties on the 3d side as well, which adds another level of complication.
3. Don’t modify the stock catalogs. Copy one (like the ASME Valves) and then delete all the items. Copy components that you have to modify to the blank catalog and use that as a company catalog.
4. Fill out line group properties in the data manager for P&IDs and the 3d model.  Designer needs to adjust their workflows to doing this.
5. As much as possible, if you are going to make a new catalog part (3d), find the closest thing in the existing catalog and either copy that, or fill out your new part with similar property values.
6. Add tolerance to your connection configuration: http://www.pdoteam.com/2015/04/using-tolerances-in-plant-3d-2016/
7. Turn off PLANTDYNAMICTOOLPALETTE.  Train users to insert items from the spec viewer; they can pick the item with the reduction size that they want. The dynamic palette also generates a lot of resource files every time the spec changes or a project is opened.

Every now and then, you discover something that would have been handy to know years ago.

In Plant 3D 2016 extension, configuration options were added to the connection settings so that you can control requirements on fasteners. So now, for bolts, we can remove the facing property since that really shouldn’t affect them.

That lets us define bolt sets in our spec that work for RF and FF flanges!

After setting that up, I decided to see if I could modify the xml for 2015 (and earlier) to see if it could work in previous version. Turns out, it can.

The default 2015 DefaultConnectorsConfig.xml looks like this for the flanged joint.

If you erase the AND Facing=E1.Facing, for the bolt set, you can accomplish the same thing.

Remember though, that we wouldn’t want to do the same thing for pressure class b/c the number of bolts in our bolt set will change between pressure classes.  Also, while tempting to remove the facing for gaskets, a lot of times you will see a full-face gasket requirement for flat face flanges (I always end up saying flat flace flanges).

One of the organization hurdles that can be overcome by utilizing Vault is deploying custom catalog content.  While putting content on the network is a valid option, deploying it through Vault is actually a better scenario as you get better control and certain aspects perform better.

This article will cover the following steps:

• How to modify the shared content folder
• What the shared content folder is
• Creating the shared content folder in vault
• Modifying Catalogs
• Updating Users Workstations

How to Modify the Shared Content folder

The key location for managing content is call the shared content folder. You can change where the shared content folder setting loads from by running the Spec Editor as an Administrator (right-click Run As Administrator) and then going to Tools > Modify Shared Content folder in the spec editor.

If you are an admin type and need to specify the setting via a registry edit, you should modify the default value for this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R20.0\ACAD-E017\Variables\PLANTCONTENTFOLDER

What is the Shared Content Folder?

In addition to be a place to store content packs that provide catalogs for Plant 3d, the shared content folder also tells the program how to draw any 3d object that it uses. Because it holds the core functionality, you will have to customize content in this folder to share changes with users. In general the program must see the follow files/folders in order to function (ContentConfig.xml, CPak Common, Schema).

Taking a closer look at the CPak Common folder, note that the follow files can be customized:

• Actuator Catalog.acat (requires migration)
• CustomParts catalogs
• Nozzle Catalog
• Pipe Supports Spec
• Placeholder Catalog
• Supports Catalog

The files that get loaded to draw shapes are the metadata.zip, scriptgroup.xml, variants.zip, and variants.map. Note that some of these files are large, so network storage in some cases may hinder performance as multiple users may be trying to access the same large files.

Create the Shared Content folder in Vault

To begin the process of using catalogs from Vault, you first need to create a folder in Vault to hold the catalogs. Because there is a type available (Library) you should use that.

On my server, I called it Plant 3D Content. Before proceeding, you should assign permissions/roles for your vault users based on who you want to have read/write access to the plant content folder. Every other user should have read-only access.

Next, you need to upload the files/folders into Vault. The best way is to use plain AutoCAD to log into Vault and check in the entire content folder.

Start AutoCAD and open a blank drawing. Then go to the Application menu > Vault Server > Log In.

Then go to Vault Server > Check In folder.

In some cases, using the plant content folder itself will cause all the files to be put at the root of the library folder. At the time of writing, I wasn’t able to isolate the cause.  You may have to do specific folders at a time.

The minimum folders you should include are CPak Common,  Schema, CatalogSupportFolders (if present), and CPak ASME.

Once you hit ok, the files will get pushed up to Vault.

You will get prompted to verify check in options:

AutoCAD will proceed to check in the files:

After you check the folders in, make sure to check in the contentconfig.xml through the Vault Client.

Once the folders have uploaded, you will see it in the Vault client. At the end of checking in folders/files, you should see something like this:

Modifying Catalogs

Since the catalogs are now stored in Vault, you have to check them out/in in order to make changes.  The checkin/out process will be done through the Vault client.

Then open the catalog in the spec editor and make your changes. When done, check the catalog back in from the client.

Updating User Workstations

In order to use the custom content, each user needs to have it on his machine. To get the content, use the Vault client.  You only need to have users do this when catalogs from the CPak Common folder are changed, or you add custom block-based parts to a spec/catalog. After getting the content the first time, use the steps from above (Modify Shared Content folder) to point the user to the new catalog location in the Vault working folder.

Posting this for the record. One of the first steps in fixing errors is to clear the data cache.  Because Plant 3d can be run on a network, it uses a data cache to store a read-only of a copy of the data so that viewing information can happen more quickly.  To clear the cache, run the exe stored here:

“C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2016\PLNT3D\PnPLocalDataCachePurger.exe”

You will have to close AutoCAD, and you should close the spec editor, or report creator if they are open as well.

You can right-click and send a shortcut to the desktop to make it easier to run in the future.

In some situations, users may run into issues when the coordinates for their facility are too far from the origin for AutoCAD to correctly process the model.

Background Information

Please see these articles for more details about the types of issues that may arise:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad-plant-3d/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Using-AutoCAD-Plant-3D-in-a-state-plane-coordinate-project-environment.html

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad-plant-3d/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Different-issues-with-high-coordinates-in-AutoCAD-Plant-3D.html

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad-plant-3d/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Checklist-of-tips-on-orthographics-in-AutoCAD-Plant-3D.html

Here are some links showing how Microstation handles the issue:

http://communities.bentley.com/products/microstation/f/19565/t/82744

http://communities.bentley.com/products/microstation/f/273/t/88978

There are four scenarios used with Plant 3D. The scenario not often covered is how to use a named ucs.

Listing Real-World Coords

Typically we have some sort of background referenced in our piping model. In this workflow, a user in the fields needs some quick information about the coordinates for a piece of equipment. We need to set up our models so that we can provide the coordinates as needed in the future.

The drawing below shows a site layout with our coordinates called out.

First we move our benchmark to the origin.

Then you can trace lines along the outside of the building to align our axis, change the x-axis of the ucs by dragging along the lines we just drew.

Type in UCS at the command line, and then you can enter #-3309′,-5604′ (moving the ucs in the negative direction so that our coordinates are positive). Hit enter again to accept the default x-axis.

To save our UCS, enter UCS again, and then (NA for named), S for Save, and enter a ucs name (like Plant UCS).

On the modeling tab, you can see the current/available ucs.

They are also available in the Navigation Cube.

At any point now, you can use the ID command to identify plant coordinates in your model.

Displaying Coordinates on Plans and Sections

The final piece of the puzzle is showing the coordinates on plans and sections. To do this, you first have to setup your ucs in your ortho template. Then you can use ordinate dimensions to callout locations as needed.

Here are two ordinate dimensions to the tank center using the model coordinates

Set the Plant UCS in the viewport, and then get the plant coordinates.