AutoCAD solid's Mass Elements, Refsurfs and the like... what's best practic

[mdhutchinson]

I just got done creating a set of mvparts in MEP... the dwg files with all of them inserted is over a meg in size... seems a bit big.
sorry, I know this is the Architecture forum but thought I'd get a quicker reponse...

Any ideas what are the best practice and most efficient type of solids for mvblocks and mvparts both block based and parametric?
How about the method of creating them... extrude, revolve, etc.

[Hugh_Compton]

It goes without saying that best practice is down to what your are actually modelling but here are some of the things that I do in my workflow:

- I use Mass Elements for steel sheets (better than solids because their dimensions can be extracted)
- I have structural members for pipes - when I create 2D elevations from these I have elevation styles for 1) no ctr lines 2) with ctr lines 3) as single lines with their pipe sizes as text - useful for schematics) 4) With hidden detail

I am trying to move away from ACA to be completely reliant on AutoCAD. This means I have X-Data attached to my solids (my fittings are solids). This X-Data contains the fitting's size. To change to a different size I have a program that will delete the solid and replace with a new size. This is similar to multi view block's functionality but much lighter in terms of memory.

Since the current release of AutoCAD can't extract the physical properties of 3D Solids (without using BREP in .net) I am stuck with ACA. One day I will be free to use the much lighter and thus quicker and simpler AutoCAD 🙂

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3D AutoCAD Pipework – http://www.HerculeDesign.com

Edited by: Hugh_Compton on Nov 19, 2009 4:58 PM