ECAD, Inc.

Creating a script for running Automated Backups

2010-02-18T14:35:00.003-06:00

This is the script I use to create an automated back up for the vault. This will backup both the filestore and database to a single folder. This just needs needs to be edited to work with your Vault and the extension changed to .bat. Then copy the file to your server, where you can set up windows scheduler to run the bat file periodically.

C:\PROGRA~1\Autodesk\ADMS20~1\ADMSCO~1\Connectivity.ADMSConsole.exe -Obackup -Bc:\Vault_Backup -VUuser -VPpassword -Lc:\Vault_Backup\BackupLog.txt -VAL -S

Breakdown of the commands

C:\PROGRA~1\Autodesk\ADMS20~1\ADMSCO~1\Connectivity.ADMSConsole.exe this is the path to the executable that will be performing the backup. Short names were used in order to facilitate the running of the application in DOS mode.

-Obackup This is telling the executable to perform the backup.

-BC:\Vault_Backup This is the folder I used to store the backup in, you may want to use a different folder. I used an underscore to represent spaces because this is running using DOS and does not support spaces.

-VUuser This is an administrator account that will be used to run the backup. This either needs to use the existing Administrator account, or it will be an account that needs to be created. Substitute an account name instead of user.

-VPpassword The password for the administrator account performing the backup. If there is not a password then this would be blank. password is the password I used for the user account

-Lc:\Vault_Backup\BackupLog.txt the path for the log to be created during the backup process.

-VAL Validates the backup. This records and errors to the log file.

-S tells DOS to run this in silent mode without someone having to interact with the server.

Changing the Shaded_ display In Inventor using Regsitry

2009-02-23T16:21:00.003-06:00

Changing the Shaded
display In Inventor Using the Registry

In Inventor, the
shaded display can appear blurry. This is due to a setting Inside
Inventor controlling the display of shaded edges in drawing files.
This setting can be controlled by either the document settings, or by
editing a registry entry. In a previous blog entry I covered how to
modify the Inventor Drawing files document settings to control the
quality of shaded views.

When the shaded views
in Autodesk Inventor look fuzzy or blurry similar to the picture
below, this is due to Inventor using a bitmap for the display of the
view.

The other option is
to set the “use bitmap” to offline; this causes Inventor
to calculate the shaded view display, rather than using a bitmap to
display the view. The result is shown below.

Before I cover the
steps necessary to modify the settings, a warning. Modifying
the Windows Registry is at your own risk. Incorrectly modifying the
registry could make your system unusable. Do so after backing up the
registry, for more information regarding backing up the registry,
read Microsoft
article 322756 or Autodesk
article TS66513.

Windows XP: With
Inventor closed and not running, go to the windows start menu,
then select run, when the dialog box shows, type regedit

Windows Vista:
With Inventor closed and not running, go to the windows
start menu, and type regedit in the “start search “ box.

For either
operating system: In regedit using the folder on the left browse
to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Inventor\RegistryVersionXX.X\Applets\DrawingLayout\Preferences\DrawingFormat\
. For the Bolded XXX look for numbers corresponding to your
Inventor version, IE. 13.0 for Inventor 2009, 12.0 for 2008, 11.0 for
Inventor 11.

When you’ve
selected the “DrawingFormat” folder, on the left will be
a list of registry keys. Look for
UseBitmapForShadedViewOnlyWhenOffline, then right mouse button on the
key and select Modify. In the Dialog box, change the Value Data from
0 to 1, then select the ok button.

Now that you’ve
modified the registry key close the registry editor and restart
Inventor.

Changing the Shaded display In Inventor

2009-01-29T17:54:00.003-06:00

In Inventor, the
shaded display can appear blurry. This is due to a setting Inside Inventor controlling the display of shaded edges in Drawing files. This setting can be controlled by either the document settings, or by editing a registry entry. I'll cover how to change the settings in the document settings in this blog post, and the registry changes in the next post.

When the shaded views in Autodesk Inventor look fuzzy or blurry similar to the picture below, this is due to Inventor using a bitmap for the display of the view.

The other option is to set the “use bitmap” to offline; this causes Inventorto calculate the shaded view display, rather then using a bitmap to display the view. The result is shown below.

To change the settings for how the shaded views are displayed you can edit the document settings. The settings are accessed by going to the “Format” drop down menu, and then selecting “Active Drawing. This opens up the “Document and Settings” for the current file, now select the “Drawing” Tab. On the tab, select the drop down menu for “shaded Views”. Now the shaded views in the current drawing will display without any blurring.

To have these settings present in your templates and available for new drawings, open your template drawing and modify its document settings using the steps here, and then save the file.

Using Spot Elevation Labels

2008-09-19T10:18:00.015-05:00

The spot elevation routine in Civil 3D is a useful tool, especially if your design changes. It is located in the Surfaces menu. (Figure 1)

Figure 1

This routine allows you to set spot elevations based on the surface you are working with and if any changes are made to the surface elevations, the spot elevation labels automatically update. All you do is select the surface you are working on and pick the spots you want to label. (Figure 2)

Figure 2

The image (Figure 3) below shows the same location, but the surface has been raised using the Raise/Lower Surface. (Figure 4)

Figure 3

Figure 4

So remember, if your design is going to change, and it will, remember to use the Spot Elevations routine so your labels will automatically update.

2008-08-25T17:40:00.004-05:00

Free up memory by setting up the Autodesk Data Management Console to run on demand

Inventor and the Autodesk Data Management server can be configured so that the data management server is not running in the background when you are not using Inventor. This fee’s up system resources for other application.

First you will need to setup the services so that they do not automatically load, the services to be modified are “Autodesk EDM Server”, “SQL Server Browser” and “SQL Server (AUTODESKVAULT)”

To do this you will need to access the services, these can be found in the “control Panel” under the “administrative Tools”.

Launch Services, when the services console opens, I suggest switching to the standard layout; this makes it easier to find the services we’re looking for.

To switch to standard layout look to the bottom of the services console, and select the “Standard” tab.

Now we need to modify the services, find “Autodesk EDM Server” in the services console, and then select properties from the right mouse button menu.

From the Properties dialog box, change the startup type from Automatic, and change it to manual startup, also while in the dialog box, stop the service.

Now repeat these steps for “SQL Server Browser” and “SQL Server (AUTODESKVAULT)”

Once the services have been configured we need to create a batch file that will start the services upon our command. To do this we will create a text file that contains links to the applications we wish to start.

For Inventor 2008

For Inventor 2009

net start "SQLBrowser"

net start "Autodesk EDM Server"

net start MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT

"C:Program FilesAutodeskInventor 2008BinInventor.exe"

net stop MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT

net stop "Autodesk EDM Server"

net stop "SQLBrowser"

net start "SQLBrowser"

net start "Autodesk EDM Server"

net start MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT

"C:Program FilesAutodeskInventor 2009BinInventor.exe"

net stop MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT

net stop "Autodesk EDM Server"

net stop "SQLBrowser"

When you’ve created the text, save it with a .bat, this saves the text file as a batch file that can be executed. While you’re saving the file, save it to a location that you can find easily, and where the file won’t likely be deleted. You’ll also want to create a shortcut for your desktop to launch the batch file from. To do this you can, right mouse button over the batch files, and select Send to>Desktop (create Shortcut) this will create a desktop shortcut for the batch file.

The alternative is to edit the shortcut for Inventor to point to the batch file instead, you would do this by selecting the icon you wish to edit and then, using the right mouse button select properties.

In the properties dialog box, change the target to point to the batch file, be sure to include the quotes at the end and beginning of the target path. If the icon for the shortcut changes when you select apply, select change icon and browse to C:Program FilesAutodeskInventor 2009Bin and select app.ico

To use and work with what has been set up, launch Inventor using the icon, and a CMD prompt will start, loading the services, then Inventor will start

When you close Inventor, the same services that were started will be shut down in the CMD prompt, freeing up the available resources as the applications close.

The results of this are that the SQL services that run when your computer boots, do not start automatically, and instead only run when Inventor is launched. This frees up system resources for other applications that you may need to run. We did this by changing the startup properties of the SQL Browser service, Autodesk EDM server service, and Autodeskvault instance of MS SQL. Next we created a batch file that contained a script to start the services that ADMS uses, when Inventor starts. Next we edited or created shortcuts on the desktop to launch the script and run all of the applications and services.

Remember to start using the script for when you access the vault; otherwise you won’t be able to login

One other thing that can be done is to configure the batch file to run different applications. A batch file can be setup for launching the Vault, instead of Inventor; this is done by substituting "C:Program FilesAutodeskVault 2009ExplorerConnectivity.Vault.exe" for "C:Program FilesAutodeskInventor 2009BinInventor.exe"

‘FOR HE WAS A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW’

2008-08-07T15:38:00.005-05:00

He has been standing on the gallows for five years now waiting for the final edict to come and the trap door to spring open below his feet. The edict has been signed and passed down. The trap door will finally open sometime in the spring of 2009 and the trumpeter will play TAPS.

Autodesk finally announced in early July that Land Desktop 2009 will be the final release of this product.

I cannot say that I will miss it much. I was never a fan of that product. I know that some people think that it is great and others are like me. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

But do not worry all is not lost. Autodesk released a new civil engineering product back in 2003 called AutoCAD Civil 3D 2004. The idea behind it was to develop a software package that could do what Land Desktop does but better. Five years later they have a product that is amazing, in my opinion, and they are still adding things to it. Civil 3D helps cut down on mistakes and production time because it automatically updates the documentation as design changes are made. What more can you ask for?

This year Autodesk introduced a new product for civil engineering called AutoCAD Civil. As AutoCAD Civil 3D has continued to mature with analysis and simulation capabilities, the product has grown beyond the needs of the civil engineering technician, drafter, and surveyor. The introduction of AutoCAD Civil provides a solution that delivers a more appropriate level of value for the technician, drafter, and surveyor, at a lower price point.

What is the difference between AutoCAD Civil 2009 and AutoCAD Civil 3D
2009?

The functionality in AutoCAD Civil 2009 is a subset of that in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009.
AutoCAD Civil 3D includes incremental functionality to support analysis and simulation
more appropriate for civil engineers and designers. Both AutoCAD Civil and AutoCAD
Civil 3D are model-centric solutions and can be used together seamlessly within the same
organization. The following table provides a high level comparison of the two products.
More details on functionality for both products can be found at

www.autodesk.com/civil.

THE MIGHTY TIFF IMAGE BATTLE

2008-08-07T15:11:00.006-05:00

How many times have you tried inserting TIFF images of aerial photos and have gotten frustrated? I hear about it a lot. You insert an image into your drawing and everything seems to be going great. Then all of a sudden you insert another one and everything starts going down hill. One or more of the images becomes white in the drawing. (See Figure 1) Uh oh! What do you do? You install the Raster Design Object Enabler but that does not help? Even using Raster Design does not help.

Figure 1

Don’t panic! There is a solution. But I will get to that in a moment.

One thing you have to consider when working with TIFF images is that there are approximately 27,000 different types of TIFF images out there today. Autodesk cannot support all of them. What TIFF images do they support? I am not sure. I have asked Autodesk but they cannot tell me.

So how do you get your work done? If you cannot get anything other than TIFF images what are you supposed to do? Simple, follow the steps below.

The first thing that you want to do is purchase image viewer software. I recommend either Irfanview or Global Mapper. Irfanview is FREEWARE for home use only and the author asks that if you are going to use it for commercial use that you send him some money, $12 cash, and register the product. Global Mapper (GM) is the more expensive of the two for the full version, $299 for one license. Make sure that you download and install the plug-ins for Irfanview. To use all of the tools in GM, especially the conversion tools, you will need to purchase the full version. To read more about what these two providers have to offer just click the links above.

Once you have installed the image viewer you want to start converting your TIFF images into another image format. I used for Irfanview for this article.

1. Go to the ‘File’ pull down menu and select ‘Batch Conversion/Rename’ or hit the ‘B’ key.
2. In the upper right hand corner of the Batch Conversion dialog box, see figure 2, browse to the folder where your images are located and select the ones you want to convert and click ‘Add’.
3. In the upper left hand corner of the dialog box select ‘Batch Conversion’.
4. Select the ‘Output format’ that you want. In this case select the PNG, Portable Network Graphics, format. You can choose any format that you want.
5. Select where you want the files saved to.
6. After you have made all of your selections then click on ‘Start Batch’.

Figure 2

Depending on the size and complexity of your images it might take a while to complete the conversion. The 13 images that I used were all about 120MB in size. It took about 3 hours to complete the process.

What about the world files? Simply copy the existing TFW files to another location and change the file extension to PGW, i.e. Taft-NE.TFW will become Taft-NE.PGW. If you convert your images to any other format besides PNG please remember that the world file extensions will need to be changed to match that format. All you have to do is remove the middle letter/character and slide the last letter/character to the middle and add a ‘W’ at the end, i.e. for a JPG file the world file extension would be JGW.

Once you converted your images and changed the file extensions on the world file you can insert your images again. All of your images should come in correctly! See Figure 3.

Figure 3

How I start a vessel in COADE PV Elite

2008-07-14T12:10:00.002-05:00

Okay, so here's the deal. When I first got my copy of PV Elite from COADE, and started learning, I had designers disease. I wanted something ON SCREEN right away. Had to see what the picture looked like, with no regard to setting anything up. Well, that was fun, I had my picture, but then I had to set things up, a little after the fact…

So, I started to work on that, and came up with a few things that I do either before I start the design, or maybe a little ways into the design that help things out.

Pick your Code

Okay, so first off, before you get crazy clicking on components, make sure that you have the right code selected. This isn't a HUGE deal, but it's nice to start out using Div 2 if you are doing a Div 2 vessel.

Select your Units

This one get's me every time, and I don't know why. PV Elite has several pre-defined unit styles, USE THEM. I get people calling me that they can't calculate a 2" straight flange on a vessel because it's asking for length in feet, CHANGE YOUR UNITS! It's not tricky, but people still miss it.

Design Constraints

This is a tab at the bottom, and should be one of your FIRST stops if not your first. This is VITAL information that needs to be reviewed and setup. You can pre-select certain values, for instance the Pressures and Temp's right here, so that as you are putting the right info in, more on this in a minute. This is also where you are going to set your datum line, or in Kyle's vocab, the strike line. Vessels don't get built by measuring off the ground, quit designing them that way.

First Component

There is some debate, at least with one of my clients about this. I'm going to talk for just a second about this being a vertical vessel. Nothing fancy, just a straight up, 2 heads, a shell, and a skirt kind of vessel. He has always designed the vessel, then added the skirt, well, so be it. Your first component is whatever you want. PV Elite will let you insert components after the fact, really. It's called the insert button. Great name for it. Build your vessel, then come back, and insert in what you need.

Fill In Some Data

Once you've put your first component, take the time to fill out a few things. The first, and biggest being, THE NAME! Name your components, this isn't vital, but it sure makes life easier when you are reading over your reports. Next up, fill in the sizes and materials. PV Elite populates up. Meaning that the information you provide in the first setup, will be directly pushed to the next component you place. Taking a few seconds to set the information on the first component will save you lots of time when you start having to change them ALL! I tend to treat that first component like I was running CodeCalc. Take the time to set it up right, and you will save yourself a few minutes in the long run.

This is pretty much the start of my vessel, from here, it get's fun. You actually start BUILDING the thing.

Hope this gives you a little food for thought, and take a few extra minutes to explore the software, and find the ways for you to get faster and more efficient.

A word about your custom Tool Palettes

2008-06-27T10:20:00.027-05:00

As some of you have enjoyed the flexibility of custom tool palettes, you may be asking, “What is new for tool palettes in the 2009 release?” I think it’s something pretty useful that in the 2009 release we can now associate a Palette Group with a Ribbon Panel.

How this works is simple, when you right click on a Panel, the context menu shows you the options shown here.

What we are looking for is in that first/upper section of the context menu, the grayed out selection of “Show Related Tool Palette Group and the fly-out for Tool Palette Group. The fly-out just shows a list of the groups. Now I know what you’re thinking, he was talking about tool palettes and now he’s talking about palette groups? If you have not already created a palette group for your palettes, now would be the time. Even if it’s just a single palette in the group (and there are some already listed like Cameras, Generic Lights, Leaders, Tables & Visual Styles), it’s actually the group that associated and not the single palette.

That works out a little better, like in the “3D Modeling” workspace; the “3D Make” group is associated with the 3D Modeling panel on the Home tab. The “3D Make” palette group has the Modeling, Draw & Modify palettes, allowing for the use of the tools on those palettes as well as the tools available on the ribbon panels.

To associate a Palette Group with a Panel, you just right-click on the panel and select the desired group from the list of Tool Palette Groups. To turn the Palette Group associated with the panel on, or to make it visible, right-click on the panel and select “Show Related Palette Group”. By the first time you do this it will bring the palette group up docked on the right side of your program window, you know, like the old default location for the Dashboard.

If at any point in time you decide that you don’t need or want the palette group associated with that particular ribbon panel, just select the last choice from the list of palette groups. The “None” option releases any palette group associated with that particular ribbon panel.

But no matter what palette groups you associate, or change to “None”, don’t forget to save your workspace. I would hate to think of all the practice you’ll get doing it all again if you forget to save those changes in a workspace. It could be a new workspace (probably the best choice), or you could redefine an existing one.

Well, I hope that this little tip will help you to continue to utilize your tool palettes in conjunction with the new ribbon and panels.

Moving Land Desktop Point Data to Civil 3D

2008-06-23T11:29:00.011-05:00

Like Land Desktop, Civil 3D allows you to work with intelligent Point Objects that can carry multiple pieces of information in addition to their coordinates. Land Desktop stores these Point Objects in a Project database, allowing you to access these Points from multiple drawings in the Project.
Civil 3D stores Points, and all other intelligent objects, in drawings instead of in a Project database. For this reason, it is necessary to perform some amount of conversion of Land Desktop points to place them intelligently in a Civil 3D drawing

Step 1 - Open Import Points Dialog
Open the drawing you'd like to import the Points into. From the Points menu, choose "Create Points". The Create Points toolbar will appear. (Note: In Civil 3D 2008, you can also choose "Import/Export Points", then "Import Points" in the Points menu to skip the next step).

Step 2 - Select Options
In the Import Points dialog, choose "External Project Point Database" from the "Format" drop-down. If you'd like to add these Points to a Point Group, put a check in the "Add Points to Point Group" box and choose the appropriate Point Group from the drop-down. You can also use the button to create a new Point Group on-the-fly. Look over the advanced options at the bottom of the dialog and select any necessary options.

Step 3 - Choose LDT Database
Now that you have all the options chosen, you must choose the Point database to import. Choose the button to browse for the correct database. In the dialg that appears, navigate to the desired project, and then to the folder in the project that holds the Point Database (usually the "cogo" folder). From this folder, choose the database (usually called "Points.mdb") and hit "Open".

Back in the Import Points dialog, hit "OK" to import the Points into the drawing. The Points will be imported into the Civil 3D drawing as Civil 3D Points which will appear in the drawing window and under the drawing in the Prospector tab of the toolspace.

A different look at the model

2008-06-17T13:44:00.016-05:00

As you folks have figured out, CADWorx Plant and Plant Professional run a quit a few Autodesk platforms besides “Vanilla” AutoCAD. And for the most part that’s all we do is run CADWorx on the AutoCAD version of the vertical. But sometimes we can make use of the tools in the flavor of AutoCAD we are using. Or we can see about working with someone in a different discipline/department (preferably a Civil designer). As an example, with AutoCAD Map 3D there’s a little something you can do for your ‘Overall” or “Project” model that has everything referenced into it. I’ve done this on a few projects, and know some other folks that like it and use this as well. Long before we had annotation objects, Map 3D has “Visual Scale Thresholds” in the Display Manager.

What this tool allows us to do is set which layers are visible at certain viewing scales. Or in other words, you could start our zoomed to extents on the site model. At this point you could see the property boundary, maybe the main roads or streets. As you scroll your wheel to zoom in, at some point you would begin to see a little more detail. It starts to look more like an equipment arrangement drawing for the facility. As you continue to zoom into the model, more detail pops into the view such as the pipe racks and main structures. As you get closer, more and more detail is visible. At some point you will see all the piping and geometry in the model, but by then you are zoomed in enough to select lines easily.
Now keep in mind, this is really only for presentation and review. And is even easier to set up on a grass roots project too! But that’s a bit of work just so you can zoom in and out while you’re working on a single model.
Hey, working with the other departments/disciplines can come in handy. Besides, there are so many different design disciplines at engineering companies involved with any project, why not collaborate.

So anyways, what have some of you done with other Autodesk applications to help improve the presentation of your drawings? Aw come on, I know folks working with Civil 3D surfaces to make it look more realistic. So come on, tell me what you do.

Weld tracking on your ISOGEN Isometrics

2008-06-06T17:15:00.011-05:00

Sometimes when you work closely with the fabrication effort, you may need to track the welds on your isometrics. With ISOGEN we have switches that will allow you to track the welds per line or drawing, even distinguishing between them.
As you may have guessed, we need to go to our old friend the Options Switch Editor. Once there you need to adjust switches 53&54 “WELD PLOTTING/NUMBERING”.
If you use the Find Options Switch tool it will bring you to the first page of the Welding tab. Now since every fabricator wants the information in their format, we’ll just go over the basics to get you started. You will be able to smooth out the “rough edges” to get it just like what you want after we are done.
The first thing we need to change is the selection for “Welds to be numbered/Welds to be Plotted”. The default selection there is “None to be numbered” and “All to be plotted”, we need it to be 180° out from that, or in other words we need to select the option for “All welds to be numbered and plotted”.
Next is the section for Weld Numbering Sequences, that one is up to you and the project, but I selected to restart the numbering on Each Drawing. If you are using spool identifiers, you may also want to select the option to allow Spool Iso Weld Numbers to match Full Iso Weld Numbers.

The next section is for starting from “1” on each type of weld, that’s not a bad choice either.
Of course it’s up to you as to if you use numeric or alphabetic identifiers.
Now on page 2 of the Welding tab, you can adjust switch 75 “WELD NUMBER ENCLOSURES”. The main thing folks adjust here is the weld prefix added to the weld number. Another one is switch 77 “WELD NUMBERS at SO FLANGES and PADS”, which is defaulted to Two Weld Numbers at Slip-On Flanges. For those Victalic fitting users, you will notice the ability to track the Clamps as well.

Page 3 of the welding tab is switch 78 “SUPPORT WELD NUMBER ENCLOSURES", which with CADWorx is a mute switch.
So if you make the changes shown/outlined above, and generate an isometric, you will notice that the welds are numbered, and depending on your selection, the FFW is called out differently than the other shop welds (just like the one in the red circle below).

Now let take a look at that Weld list (that’s the option of switch 53/54 that is a dropdown below the Welds to Plot/Number Chart. The default is “No Weld/Operations Box”, your choices are “Plot Weld Summary Box” or “Plot Operations Summary Box”. What I chose was the Operations Summary Box just as an example.

Now the other thing that we need to address is the use of a Weld Definition File (*.WDF). Much like the 2 styles of Material Lists that everyone has become accustomed to, there are also 2 styles of Weld Lists as well. And just like the MDL, it is either column based (like a style 2 MDL) or positional based (like a style 3 MDL).

I created a positional based MDL which looks like this:

WELD-INFO-CONTROLS
CONTINUOUS-DOWN
START-POSITION 457 192
VERTICAL-SPACING 5
TEXT-HEIGHT 2.2
TEXT-THICKNESS 0
DRAWING-LAYER 13
MAXIMUM-ENTRIES 29

WELD-INFO-DATA-ITEMS
'WELD-NO' 457
'N.S.' 468
'WELD-TYPE' 483
'WELD-LOCATION' 498

And before you ask, the coordinates are in millimeters (mm’s), so you have a chance to use your units converter. Of course you may wish to locate your table elsewhere on your drawing.

Now before anyone “freaks out”, yes that is a dynamic block being used for the weld list. There are plenty of folks that also include a dynamic block for their B.O.M. as well so that they can get lines between each line item. If you do want to create and use a dynamic block in your ISOGEN template, simply create the dynamic block, and save the definition in your isometric style template drawing (also known as a drawing frame). Just like any other graphic changes you make to your isometric style template; you have to save the drawing in the AutoCAD 2000 format. But this way it will be there as soon as you open your ISOGEN isometric drawing.
To learn more about the different options available for weld tracking, you may want to review the Options (OPL) Editor Welding Help file. You can access that from your Start>Programs menu, under your CADWorx Plant – ISOGEN>Options (OPL) Editor programs.

[Ask your local ECAD office for more information about training opportunities on Dynamic Blocks as well as training for ISOGEN.]

Another word about ISOGEN dimensions

2008-06-04T16:52:00.025-05:00

Over the years folks have picked on poor little ISOGEN for dimensioning everything. It dimensions every fitting, especially small bore fittings. It shows the dimensions for small bore valves (end to end), every bit of fitting make-up (FMU). Makes for a lot of checker traps, and generally busies up a drawing like the one below.

Don’t you just love all those gaps around the valve and small bore fitting make-up!

Well, the bad news is that ISOGEN will always dimension the open leg of fittings. The good news is there are switch options that allow us to show a true overall for the run, include the gaskets in the valve dimension, dimension to the center of small bore valves, put the support dimensions with the rest of the dimensions and show the total FMU dimensions rather than the breakdown dimensions.

So here are the switches and positions that need to be adjusted to have ISOGEN produce drawings like the one below.

Notice the “normal” appearance of the small bore FMU on the branch. It also included the gaskets with the valve. This looks a lot cleaner.

So off to the Options File for the Isometric Style you want to change. The first switch to edit is 9 “Dimension Form”. If you use the Find Option Switch tool, it will bring you to the first page of the Dimensioning tab.
First you are going to choose the Composite, Support & Message Dimensions from the first dropdown list (the default is Basic String, Supports & Message Dimensions). Next select Gaskets Included In Composite Dimensions from the second dropdown list (the default is Basic Gaskets Not Included In Component Dimensions). The rest of the dropdown lists and selections are just fine in the default position.
The next switch is 40 “Pipe Supports”. Everything else is fine in the default position, except that we need to change is the Support Dimension position to be On the same side of the pipe as normal Dimensions.
Now its time to have the small bore valves dimension to the centers rather than showing us the body dimension. That’s switch 80 “DIMENSIONS – TO VALVE CENTERS” on the second page of the Dimensioning tab. I usually recommend that you select Butt Weld, Screwed, Socket Weld and Hygienic (as these are most commonly dimensioned to the center).
Last but not least, switch 118 “DIMENSIONS – OVERALL” on the third page of the Dimensioning tab. We just need to select Overall Dimensions – across Branches from the dropdown list (the default is No Overall Dimensions).

Hopefully with these setting you can now produce more cleaner and clearer isometrics, at least as far as the dimensioning is concerned.

As a tip, you may want to open the OptEd_Help.pdf file and turn to page 200 of 345 in your PDF reader (its marked as page 181). From there to page 338 of 345 (marked as page 319) are all the graphic switches. ALIAS included these for quick reference. As a good number of the changes that folks want to make to their isometrics is the appearance, some people will print these pages out for quick reference. The other area of concern is of course the appearance of the B.O.M., but that's all about the Materials List Definition file style that you are using.

Dynamic blocks in COADE CADWorx P&ID – Part 1 – Getting Set up

2008-06-04T16:44:00.015-05:00

Autodesk introduced a new tool in 2006 that few users seem to take advantage of. COADE was not one of them, but as a CADWorx user you need to know how to take advantage of these new features.
I will show you a few of the default blocks in CADWorx P&ID plus a couple I have added to make drawing P&IDs simpler and faster. That is after all what we are all after.
First thing we need to do is make use of all the new dynamic block COADE has put in the program.
You have probably noticed the addition of several DWG files in the COADE P&ID support directory that start with DYN_??. These are the dynamic blocks COADE provided just to give you a tasted of how these new blocks can work.

These blocks mostly cover the valves and
Instruments and allow you to change the location of an instrument, or the type of a valve and it’s condition, open or closed…without erasing and replacing.
To take advantage of these blocks you have to set the symbols file to point to them. Go to the setup DLG and the Edit config button, about ¾ of the way down you will see a path to the MENUSYBOLFILE that looks something like the following.

C:\CADWorx P&ID 2009\Support\Flow_alt.dat

You will need to use the Browse button to point to the following file;

C:\CADWorx P&ID 2009\Support\DYN_Flow_alt.dat

Or you could copy this one and rename it to your own, which is what I did.

C:\CADWorx P&ID 2009\ECAD Support\DYN_Flow_alt_ECAD.dat
This is just good practice that way if I modify anything it is not in the original file.

You can test this out by placing a valve then picking on it once. You will notice a small blue selection arrow that will allow you to select the type of valve and the existing condition. Notice the valve to the right is the non – dynamic and does not have a selection arrow.

Instruments will work the same, allowing you to change the location of each instrument.

These type of simple edits are perfect when you get into a job where thing change often.

Next time we will take a look at how we can use this type of feature on our own custom blocks.

Setting your part on your machine Correctly in Edgecam

2008-06-03T11:29:00.002-05:00

We get this question quite a bit, "If I have machine graphics in my Edgecam post processor, how can I position the part inside Edgecam where it would be on the actual machine."

It is a fairly straight forward process that is best demonstrated in a video.

Getting more from your solids

2008-06-02T16:13:00.030-05:00

It seems that everyone is using solids now, the only problem is when one solid object passes behind another, or more specifically for CADWorx Plant, how to show a line that passes under the platform/deck (or even equipment if you like). Hopefully everyone has discovered that if you try to make 3D deck grating it makes a really huge (file size) model. And that makes it hard to navigate around. So what can we use instead of 3D decking? By using modeling objects like Solids or Regions along with the Grate hatch pattern.
A lot of folks are using a solid box to represent the foundation (and other concrete objects). We can also create a solid based on the “open” bay of the structure.

Let’s set the scene, we have a steel frame drawing referenced into our piping model along with equipment. As we route the design we notice that a line passes below the decking in one bay. What we would like to see when we plot are hidden lines as it passes beneath the deck (without having to actually draw any additional geometry).

So here we are looking at both the SW Isometric and plan view. Our piping extends beyond the structure. So to make it appear that the piping that extends into the structure is “hidden”, the first thing we need is either an AutoCAD solid or a Region. In either case you will need to create a Boundary. You have 2 choices when creating a Boundary; to create a Polyline closed shape or a Region.

To create a solid as representing the deck, one quick method is to use the PRESSPULL command after creating a Polyline Boundary. So to start that procedure you would start the Boundary command, choosing the Polyline object type. Then select the “Pick Points” tool and select in the bay that you need. It’s a good idea to turn off your piping layers (including the CL layer) as the Island detection will find the centers and solid pipe as well. You will notice that even though you select in the open bay, your current AutoCAD elevation is still applicable (see the dotted outline at “0” EL.).

So at this point you have the option of either editing the boundary properties to adjust the elevation (say to 10’ or what ever the T.O.S. is), or set your current elevation before you start the command. I usually just edit the elevation, that way I can pick the bays in the plan and adjust as needed (including copying if necessary from one deck elevation to another. Once the boundary is at the correct elevation, to create a solid to represent the deck you can then use the PRESSPULL command and select in the boundary you just created, then pull vertically and enter the thickness of your decking (about ½” minimum).
Or to speed things along, you could forgo the entire Presspull command and when you create your Boundary, choose the Region option. Yes, you will still have to adjust for the elevation, but once your have the Region at the correct elevation, your set to go on to the system variables that will give you hidden lines when you print/plot.

So now that we’ve turned back on our piping layers, let’s take a minute to review some other settings.
Your viewport should be on a layer that does not plot (Viewl), along with your router line (I recommend putting the router on the system layer), the System (bolts and gaskets) and the Dim2 (View box) layers. Don’t turn these layers off or freeze them, it works better if we can see them, we just don’t need these layers to print/plot.
The next thing is to ensure that the viewport is set to “Hidden” under the Shade plot options, not “3D Hidden”, just plain “Hidden”.

If you do a Plot Preview at this point we can see that the solid object (yes Regions are considered solids, just really, really thin solids) is obscuring the piping that passes below it.

The first system variable that we will adjust is OBSCUREDLTYPE.
This specifies the linetype of obscured lines. Obscured linetypes are independent of zoom level, unlike regular linetypes. The linetype values are defined as:
0 - Off
1 - Solid
2 - Dashed
3 - Dotted
4 - Short Dash
5 - Medium Dash
6 - Long Dash
7 - Double Short Dash
8 - Double Medium Dash
9 - Double Long Dash
10 - Medium Long Dash
11 - Sparse Dot

So once we have set that to, say Dashed (2), the preview now looks like this:

Notice that the centerlines are being picked up in this as well, but as simple dashed lines not the center lines that we like (yup, 2D Rep is still the best way to go for center line representation in the plans/sections).

Just in case you were wondering, an obscured line is a hidden line made visible by changing its color and linetype. OBSCUREDLTYPE is available only in 2D views. In 3D views, the VSOBSCUREDLTYPE system variable is used. But since we are creating plans and sections, they are 2D.

HALOGAP is the next variable we will look at. This specifies a gap to be displayed where an object is hidden by another object. The value is specified as a percent of one unit and is independent of the zoom level.
So if we set it at a value of 5, then it produces a gap like we see here:

(I turned the Cl layer to be frozen in the current viewport to cut down on the confusion). Notice the difference between the setting of 0 on the left and 5 on the right. I usually recommend that you make a few adjustments so that it looks right.

Much like OBSCUREDLTYPE, HALOGAP is available only in 2D views. In 3D views, the VSHALOGAP system variable is used
The last variable is OBSCUREDCOLOR. For those of you able to print/plot in color, this specifies the color of obscured lines. Value 0 designates ByBlock, value 256 designates ByLayer, and value 257 designates ByEntity. Values 1-255 designate an AutoCAD Color Index (ACI).
So if I set the color to 3 (Green), the preview will look like this:

I know this looks wild, but keep in mind it is trying to do just what we told it, show all of the obscured lines as green and dashed. And since these are all 3D objects, the “underside” of every component is obscured. Don’t worry though, the solid lines will “hide” all of the redundant line work from your print/plot (it’s hard to see a dashed line where there is also a continuous line).
An obscured line is a hidden line made visible by changing its color and linetype. And just like the previous variables, OBSCUREDCOLOR is available only in 2D views. In 3D views, the VSOBSCUREDCOLOR system variable is used.
Just a reminder, the OBSCUREDCOLOR setting is visible only if the OBSCUREDLTYPE system variable is turned on by setting it to a value other than 0.

Now over the years some of you folks have discovered the SOLPROF command. However this has one major drawback, it creates 2D blocks and layers in your drawing. The same can be said of the SOLVIEW command as well. Although SOLVIEW is best used for aligned section and detail views in Vanilla AutoCAD, as it also creates named views. Personally I like using the View Box in CADWorx better, but in a pinch it works.

(Note: All images created using AutoCAD 2009)

A Little Addition for FFW’s in ISOGEN

2008-06-01T15:44:00.010-05:00

By now a lot of you folks have figured out the little trick of placing a modified weld gap so that will represent the field fit-up weld (FFW) on the face of your ISOGEN isometric. However some checkers bring up the point that the cut length is “wrong” since the call out is F.F.W. ± 6”. Well to make everyone happy, and so that the model will have the correct actual lengths of pipe and the isometric will have the plus or minus lengths of pipe, we need to go to the Option Switches for the Isometric style.
I know what you’re thinking, all those switches, which tab would we start on? Well so you don’t have to slog through them all, it is switch 22 “Cut Piece Add-on Allowances”. If you use the find switch tool it will bring you right to the second page of the Material List tab. At this point I would highly recommend that you have a unit converter handy, because yes, our British cousins that developed ISOGEN prefer the options to be in metric units. Now if you are just adding 6 inches at your FFW’s, then you can enter a value of 153 (mm) into the values for both “On” and “Off” Shore, FFW/Loose Flange (just incase) so you will get a result of an additional 6” on your total and individual cut lengths without having to modify the pipe in the model. And as an added twist, the overall dimension in the isometric will reflect the same as the model.
Below are some images, just because we're pipers and we like seeing pipe.

Here is a small model, notice the length of the pipe in the model (2’-0”).

But once we’ve made that change to O.S. 22, we can see that the dimension matches the model, but the 6” has been added to the cut and total lengths.

Turn Points On and Off with Ease in Civil 3D

2008-05-28T09:03:00.006-05:00

Talking to a number of "End Users" in the civil industry, I noticed that a lot of companies aren't using AutoCAD Civil 3D to it's full capabilities. One process in particular is turning points on and off, now of course there are several ways to do any one thing, but with this being said I thought I would show a easier and "correct" way do do this.

With Point Display you can change the display order of point groups to control how a point displays on screen. The lowest point group (bottom) draws first and the top draws last. If a point only belongs to one point group it displays those properties no matter what, but if a point is in two or more groups, it displays as a member of the last group that is at the highest position on the list.

1. Create New Point Group. Name this Group No Display. – Be Sure to Change the Properties to reflect as such.

2. Then right-click on Point Groups and select Properties.

3. Highlight No Display and move it accordingly as shown below.

Ghost Images of the OS!

2008-05-15T09:33:00.002-05:00

No I am not talking about Halloween here even though it will be here before we know it!

Ghost is a disk cloning program, originally produced by Binary Research, but purchased by Symantec on June 24, 1998. The Ghost program launched the market for disk-cloning software. The name Ghost originated as an acronym for "General Hardware-Oriented System Transfer". (Wikepedia)

Our friendly computer manufactures now use the ghosting technique for the Operating System (OS) when they build and ship out new computers. The idea behind this process is good but it does wreak havoc for those computer users that are running CAD software.

Here at ECAD we have run into several instances where either Autodesk products or COADE products are not running correctly because of this issue.

It is recommended that when you receive a new computer that you reformat the hard drive and re-install the OS before you load any of the CAD packages.

As always, please check the links below for hardware requirements before you buy a computer to make sure that you are getting what you need to run the CAD software effectively. Autodesk recommends a 128MB graphics card for running their software but what they do not tell you is that they recommend and support certain brands/types. To find out more about the system requirements and certified hardware please visit the links below.

Links to System Requirements:
AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD Land Desktop, AutoCAD Civil 3D, and AutoCAD Map 3D

Links to Graphics Hardware:
AutoCAD 2008 and 2009 and Inventor (Civil 3D and Map 3D)

Certified Hardware XML Database Update:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=7440746&linkID=9240698

CADWorx ISOGEN Drawings: Overall Dimensions

2008-05-08T16:46:00.038-05:00

Do you ever question if there is a way to generate a CADWorx ISOGEN drawing with just overall dimensions, which would work out better for your pipe fitters? If you need this, then you are surprised with how many dimensions show up on your first ISOGEN drawing.

There are several Option Switches in Project Manager that users have access to changing and configuring within ISOGEN. Outputting overall dimension is one of the few simple changes that can be set. To get the following result make the next few changes.

In the Project Manager go to the Drawing Control Tab and edit your Options File. Once the Options File Editor appears then you will need to go to the Dimensioning tab.

Next you will change option switch 9 to “No Dimensions (unless OS 118 is set for Overall). Click the arrow displayed in the Options File Editor to go forward a page and display more settings.

Go to Page 3 of 3 and change option switch 118. If set to “Overall Dims to Valve centers & across Branches” then only overall dimensions will show up.

To allow overall dimensioning across branches and to the center of valves you must first set the spindle direction on all valves. Go to your CADWorx model double click the valves and click on the ISOGEN button to preview the ISOGEN Data dialog box. Or on the command line type IEDIT and select valve. In the ISOGEN Data dialog go to section previewed “Spindle/Flat/Support Direction” and set the spindle direction before creating your ISOGEN drawing.

After the Spindle direction has been configured in the CADWorx model then ISOGEN will output overall dimensions and to center of valves.

EdgeCAM CAD Links

2008-04-08T16:58:00.008-05:00

There are a few clients who want to know how to bring data such as thread information from 3d CAD into EdgeCAM. Yes EdgeCAM does have the solution for that kind of task. For EdgeCAM to bring in these information, first we need to install EdgeCAM Cad Links found in the EdgeCAM installation CD. Once it is install there will be an Edgecam icon right inside your 3d CAD software.

Now here’s the interesting part. So let say you have a part with couple taped holes around the OD of the part with information such as in this picture. And when you finish go ahead and click on the EdgeCAM icon inside your CAD software, it’ll load up Edgecam automatically.

Once EdgeCAM is loaded you’ll have to do a “Feature Finder” command to find those taped holes. In this case the holes are radial so the option set like this.

When the Feature Finder is completed, you’ll find new properties which we calls feature. And if you do everything right then look at the “Properties Window” while highlight the new feature you should see all the tap thread information is correctly migrated from the CAD software.

Civil3D Tips-n-Tricks

2008-04-03T15:27:00.005-05:00

Alot of companys are asking about vault in Civil 3D, but don't want to go through the process of setting it up. But not to worry, because there is a way around it!

Data shortcuts are used to share AutoCAD Civil 3D objects outside of project management utilities (Vault). You are able to create a reference, export objects, and access them within a reference file. Data shortcuts are limited to surfaces, alignments, profiles, pipe networks, and view frame groups.

Below I have included a instructional video on Data Shortcuts.

BOM Weight

2008-03-05T12:36:00.002-06:00

This little change is a fun one. It's not exactly for the faint of heart I guess, but it's not THAT painful either. In CADWorx Plant, you can add weight to your BOM. The great thing about this is that you also get a TOTAL BOM Weight. The downside to this, and anyone who's put out a Weight on a BOM will understand this, the weight that is figured off of a drawing is WRONG. Nothing against the way we do weight, but there are a lot of variables that aren't taken into account, coating, weld (in some cases), shipping flanges, etc... It's a universal habit to take the weight we come up with and add 10%. In CADWorx Plant, although we can't do this, we can append what the BOM says to indicate that the end user should add 10%. Think of it as covering your tail. The steps are easy, but you have to modify a file that COADE prb doesn't want you too, but that's okay :)

In the support directory, under your instal of CADWorx Plant (or Plant Professional) You'll find a file called English.dic. Open this file up with Notepad and do a FIND on T0097 . This will take you to a line of text that looks like this:

T0097=TOTAL WEIGHT: %.2f

This is the line of text that get's appended to bottom of a BOM when you add weight as one of the columns. The %.2f tells the software to append the total weight, to 2 decimal places. Let's change that line to read:

T0097=TOTAL ESTIMATED WEIGHT +/- 10 PERCENT: %.2f

Now, save the file, restart CADWorx Plant and run a Bill of Materials with the weight column in there.

You'll notice that right there in the BOM is your text.

KP

New Sizes

2008-03-05T12:35:00.001-06:00

So, you have gotten into CADWorx Plant, or even CADWorx P&ID, everything is going great, until you get to a REALLY big OD of pipe. As a default, CADWorx has sizes from 1/8th of an inch, to 64" on the Imperial measurements. This SHOULD cover about everything, but as a good friend of mine in California pointed out today, sometimes that's just not enough. He had to do a 90" Elbow. Now, some of the really cool things that we did with the elbow, will be the subject for another day, but for today, let's talk about how we get 90" into our software.

There are 2 things that you need to do, the first, and easiest is really almost the most intimidating. Just like in the BOM change we did, we are going to have to "tweak" the software.

In the install directory of CADWorx Plant (or P&ID for that matter) is a folder called system. In there, we are going to open up the file called setsize.tbl . This file is where CADWorx pulls the size numbers for the size dialog box that we see in the software.

Let's break for a second, and really look this thing over. This is complete, I mean, complete on the size range. 1/8th inch to 64" inch is a pretty good spread, but when was the last time you used some of the sizes? Don't need them? No problem, delete them. Some companies may want to reduce the AVAILABLE size here, as well as limit through the spec.
Now, back to where we were, let's scroll to the bottom of the list and add in our 90" numbers. Yea, that's it. Save the file, and when you re-open CADWorx, those numbers that you added (or deleted) are there (or gone).

Once that's done, it's now just a matter of updating your data files to have the dimensional data needed to place a component to your new size.

There, that wasn't TOO painful was it?

There are 3 of these files, setsize.tbl for imperial, setsizeM.tbl for metric, and setsizeA.tbl for mixed metric.

Hope this helps, and if it sounds any at all confusing, please, let me know.

KP

Welcome

2008-03-04T20:58:00.001-06:00

Welcome to the new ECAD, Inc. blog. Here you will find valuable information regarding Autodesk, COADE, Edgecam, DezignWorks and other CAD/CAM related products, as well as tips and tricks to help you with your design and engineering needs.

We hope that you will enjoy reading and responding to these blogs as much as we enjoy posting them for you.