Dear Sirs,
[Autodesk], Peter Terwilliger says... "Yes - plumbing does have a 3D option."
This is disingenuous, to say the least. The fact is, there is no 3D option for plumbing services in ABS, and this includes the latest version, 2006, which we have. Well, no system that can actually produce anything that can either assist in the design of plumbing, or assist in the creation of drafting contract documents (which is the thing we're paid for)
For example... Let's say I wanted to add a valve into any pipe. The schematic representation of the valve would be a different symbol, and more importantly, a different size, than the actual 3D representation of the same part. The equivalent 'Device' in the electrical section will have a 2D diagramatic representation of a light (which could be scaled accordingly) where the 3D remains the actual size of the object. Attached entities (like wires) would then be clipped around the diagramatic symbol when and if it was re-scaled in a different viewport. So this is something you can actually use.
So Peter talks about a '3D plumbing' in ABS as if it can actually do something. Where in reality the 3D plumbing features that now exist in ABS work so long as you don't actually need to attach the plumbing to anything.
Which isn't really of much use at all.
So you are still required to produce a schematic plumbing representation over a design, and then create pluming content in the piping catalogs (including duplicated parts/devices), making sure that any connected equipment is duplicated in both the schematic and 3D representations of the same systems.
Sincerely,
Anthony
![Autodesk Design & Make Report](https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/1350519iCB55845EBFC43016/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999" "Autodesk Design & Make Report")
