Hi, my company is after a way of taking a model & wanting to produce detailed spool drawings of pipe by the click of a button. At the moment we use the CADMEP spooling process to get our flange to flange spools onto their own tab. We then have to put dimensions in paperspace & any other notes manually. All of our pipe is drawn in CADMEP or Revit.
I would like to know if Autodesk (or if there is any other product) can create a drawing like the one attached by a simple click of a button. We will also be wanting to do a similar process in Revit. We will have thousands of spools to do next year & don't want to be spending too much time on the spooloing process of pipework.
Hopefully there is an answer. Thanks.
For any type of Process Piping or Plumbing there are far better packages out there! Its a push of a button and drop all the Iso's you want! Automatically dimensioned, I am using MEP Fabrication now what a joke after using Cadworx with Isogen Or Autoplant and even Plant3D. Having to hand dimension in autocad in 2016 my goodness. I was dropping Isos back in 1996 with Isogen hundreds at a time. And have it customized to produce almost 95% no touch.
Fabrication is a very slow slow process for ISOS!
Cadworx with Isogen
Autoplant with Isogen
Plant3D
I've been a Fabrication user for quite some time now, and with the correct tools, the Fabrication iso process is not that challenging or time consuming. I also think that, when done correctly, the isos produced by Fabrication are certainly more aesthetically pleasing than anything I've ever seen produced by Isogen or Plant3D.
That being said, Autodesk has been working towards Isogen/Plant 3D support from Fabrication for some time now. The 2017 release of Fabrication drastically increased PCF Skey options on CID patterns. Also, the 2016 release of Revit added support for using Fabrication ITM files to create Revit Families, meaning that you should be able to maintain a single database of parts for both platforms.
I am currently producing single line isos out of Plant3D with all model content being generated in Fabrication, and although it has been a bit of a challenge, there is definitely opportunity out there. I am currently working on documenting that process and will be posting more information on it as I have time. *Enter shameless plug* Feel free to check out the blog over at www.houseofbim.com/blog where I will be providing a fairly comprehensive write-up on the topic.
can you post a iso done by someone who knows what they're doing?
Id like to know where I've been going wrong with my fabrication spools all these years.
thanks
I would also like to see some examples of perfect PCF's. I know we have had to fight Plant 3D tooth & nail on various things. We are currently in an ISOgen conversion that I hope will prove much better suited for our industry; which is biopharmaceutical.
Although, if you take a look at these (redacted) attached 3D spool examples, then I am sure you can understand just how much we are asking out of 2D isometric generation.
I am starting to wonder if Sail854 is the Autodesk version of Liz.
Anyway, we have developed enough automation tools over the years that it really doesn't take a lot of effort to make one of those spools. I think we have every piece of individual annotation down to just 2 or 3 clicks. The length of time varies widely based on congestion, but a typical spool (start to plotted) is 10 minutes or less for someone intimately familiar with our tools. Still not on par with a generator, but comparable and personally I think they convey what is going on much better than a 2D ISO ever could. Not the point and we are definitively switching everything to 2D, but based on what I've experienced I am fairly certain Plant3D is not currently capable of consistently spitting out no-touch ISO's in our line of work.
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