Inventor vs. Plant 3D

[trishb]

Our company has two copies of AutoCAD Inventor which I have not used. We will be modeling a 55MW power plant with Turbine building, Boiler island, all related piping and equipment. In the past we used 3D AutoCAD out of the box creating the iso's from flatshots. This cost us hundreds of manhours as well as BOM mistakes.

Yesterday some ACAD sales rep's took us out to lunch and were doing the hard sell on Inventor. They claimed this would be a better application since Plant 3D is so new. One of my co-workers claimed that Inventor can get bogged down on larger models.

My question- has anyone else used Inventor for plant modeling? Can Inventor produce spec driven Iso's? What is the opinion so far on Plant 3D?

Thanks!

[dgorsman]

My answer would be "none of the above". Inventor can do *limited* process piping (the program even says it is not intended for this purpose), but isn't that great at it. The smaller the project, the better Inventor is - such as small mechanically complex skids full of rotating equipment where parametric modelling and the other Inventor assets will help rather than hinder. Plant 3D IMO is too new to consider on a production project. I'll be keeping an eye on future releases as it shows some promise.

For now if you need to do process piping design, look at a established package such as Smart Plant or CADWorx (or even 2D Designer from ProCAD...). That way you won't have to fight the software just to get it to do the basics.

[gulnacm]

Hi Trish,
You can use both products. If your looking for more heigh end detailed equipment, Inventor is a great fit. Plant 3D can pull and convert Invetor models through Inventors AEC exchange (adsk file) that includes piping connection points and its a light weight version (not a heavy SAT file). This is something our competitors cannot do.

Your piping can then be completed in Plant 3D where you can leverage spec driven piping, easy modification of line (size, spec, routing, and spec updates), add supports to piping from our library or add your supports and convert to Plant 3D supports, also take advantage of ISOGEN automation creating all your piping isometrics.

[AndyDavisCadline]

Hi Trish,

I would suggest that Inventor is not the way to go. It is intended for very fine detail mechanical design. Although it will do some pipework, it is not spec driven and was not intended for large scale piping projects. The piping is included to enable it to be used to design large machinery and packaged systems.

Plant 3D has been designed from the ground up specifically for process plant design. In addition to spec driven piping, with auto-routing and a configurable branch table, you get Iso's for free out of the box - you can even use existing iso configuration files, if you have them. As well as the piping, you get user-defined pipe supports, basic structural steel, although it doesn't do detailed joint design and the ability to easily create your own equipment items from imported 3D blocks or imported inventor (adsk) models. BOM's and other reports are available out of the box. You also get AutoCAD P&ID thrown in for free. A single seat of Plant 3D gives you a full seat of AutoCAD, AutoCAD P&ID, 3D piping and ISOGEN in the same box.

If you haven't already done so, I would download the evaluation version and try it out.

Regards,
Andy

[djohnson1976]

We have done 6 process plants in Autodesk Inventor, but have only done two with all of the piping. We have found the tube & pipe functionality to be not very useable, but rather we use the regular assembly approach for piping. We make use of the "Level of Detail" functionality and have a couple very powerful computers with striped static-state hard drives. (We also use Vault Workgroup so that multiple users can work on the project.)

I saw a demo of Plant 3D at Autodesk University last year and it looked easy to use (as most demos seem to go). However, adopting a new piece of software has its own risks and frustration.

[PHammink8001]

We are using Inventor Routed systems at the moment, but I think its not suitable to do large piping plants. Its good for skids. Also the Isogen module is not working.

[jbland2014]

I am having trouble with the color of the Inventor Equipment models I import into Plant 3D. I cannot change the color of the Equipment, which

is very important in our models because we color code our Equipment to distinguish between temporary and Final Equipment. I have even tried exploding them , which is bad because we have nozzle information on them and even that would not allow me to change the color.

Any ideas?

[dave.wolfe]

Please create a new post. This has nothing to do with the op question.

[Arun_Kumar_K]

Hey, I am using Plant 3d for EPC jobs in power plant. It is always good to use Autocad platform for 3d for the nature of job in power plants. We chose Autocad Plant 3d for our piping detailing in view of long term use, as the engine is also Autocad. We are comfortable using this software and completed more than 5 projects. Yesterday one project was commissioned also. I have been using this software for around 2 years, and saved approx 10 million rupees by done all the detailing in house. Now I am not depending on any senior designers, I am extracting work from fresh diploma engineers who have little basic Autocad knowledge. Even my site engineers are operating Navisworks now.

[JLBLAND2014]

I do a lot of equipment design in Inventor to be placed into our plant 3D model to run piping. I have ran into a problem with the color of the equipment, it will not take on the color of the layer it is placed on. The equipment model,  when selected will only show the edges colored to the right layer color. you also cannot even manually change the color in  the properties menu. This is a real problem because we use a lot of color coding for different stages of equipment completion and in progress.  Does anyone have any ideas?  I thinnk its someting to do with materials converting from inventor to plant 3D but have not found a solution.

[JLBLAND2014]

I use Inventor for creating my equipment with piping connectioins and place them into plant 3d where we run our piping. I have ran into a real problem though. When i import my equipment i cannot get it to take on the color of the layer it is placed on. it remains gray . the only way to get it to change color is to turn off materials in the visual styles manager  or explod the equipment which loses its piping connections . is there any way around this?  jbland2013@live.com

[vakhtang]

i used inventor on plant modelling before we bought plant 3D. It is WAY better than plain autocad, but plant 3D is WAY better than inventor for plant modelling. While inventor creates solids like no big deal - it totally sucks in big assemblies. the trouble with inventor - you cannot move parts and subassemblies! well, you can, but not directly, like in autocad. instead of moving you have to use  a thing called "constrains" - which is a total pain in the rear when it comes to big assemblies.

and while it is way easier to create equipment in inventor than in plain autocad - it is even easier in plant for most of the time. Yes, plant has it's weak points - and lots of them - but it economizes you lots of time.

i still use inventor when I need to create a custom equipment - the one that cannot be done with pure plant means,then i expost in into Plant 3D. 

as for piping - i have inventor routing systems, and for general purposes it's ok. But it is not as precise as plant 3D and libraries for valves and stuff are SO better in plant.

also plant creates 2d ( othros) way faster than inventor, and way easier.

[patpat79]

Hi, have been using plant 3d for almost 3 years now, I'm a piping admin and a designer, have done almost 20 project s mostly mining and Oil and gas plants. 75% of our projects are large sized projects. As of the moment, we aren't had used inventor in mechanical modelling, instead we used pro steel for structural and equipment model. We have done projects from p&id to piping design and construction. Plant 3d is really user friendly, hence you must have a good piping admin To maximize the software and user experience.

[Macumazahn]

I am having this exact same problem: I cannot change the color of equipment I have imported.  Did you happen to ever get a response?

[LuckyMB]

As far as I'm aware you cannot change colour of imported equipment. It needs to be brought with correct colour into P3D.

[vakhtang]

that is really weird, because equipment imported from Invetor usually have  color of the layer. i can change color easily by changing the layer or changing the color in properties. chake again if you can change color from properties.

[Macumazahn]

Yes, I've tried changing the layer color and the object's color. The color
does change in most visual styles - like Hidden and Conceptual, but not my
preferred style: Realistic.

I've since learned to live with it as it's a minor inconvenience in a
software that is proving fairly versatile and very user-friendly.

BTW, i'm using 2015, but I think this issue may be resolved in 2016.

Thanks,
Macumazahn, or He who watches in the dark, or Watcher by Night.