topic Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey) in Inventor Forum

Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

aprajapati3C — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 05:51:43 GMT

In our company we do piping model in inventor and until now we were doing the isometrics manualy in autocad. Now we are in process of implementing plant 3d to extract the isometrics. This is done through pcf / isogen files. So it is very important that the pcf files exported by inventor has very comprehensive information (which it doesn't). You can compare the PCF files generated by inventor and Plant 3D of same piping and see the difference. I am planning to post series of threads on this topic so that we can discuss each issues on separate posts.

In this post i want to talk about SKEYs (e.g. blind flanges). In Plant 3D we can type in (makeup) any SKEY we want. In Inventor we have very limited list of SKEY to select from. See below SKEY used in Plant 3D (FLBL). FL for flange and BL for blind.

Now see below options given in Inventor. There is nothing related to blind flange (or any kind of flange). Doesn't make any sense.

Considering that both the softwares are from autodesk we should expect some kind of symmetry between the two.

Selecting SKEYs from a drop-down list is a good idea. This helps us to decide which SKEY to use, specially for the users who are new to these softwares. But atleast we should have matching SKEYS in both softwares.

And if possible, Inventor should also have an additional option to just Type-in any SKEY we want.

Let me know if i am doing something wrong.

Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

gcoombridge — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 06:43:07 GMT

I work on piping projects using both Plant3D and Inventor (though I heavily favour the latter). I've only tried the isogen export once and wasn't impressed - I usually approach the issue by simply documenting stuff I do in Inventor and likewise in plant.

If you're into automation I'm sure you could generate your own more comprehensive PCFs... It doesn't seem like a complex format.

Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

gcoombridge — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 06:45:10 GMT

Totally agree with being able to add custom SKEYS. Seems like a very easy improvement

Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

aprajapati3C — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 07:44:58 GMT

@gcoombridge Thanks for agreeing with my approach and suggestion.

What i am trying to do here to create the inventor library (as close as possible) compatible with Plant 3D. So the PCF files does not require any editing after i generate it. I want my workflow to be like,

Step-1: Generate PCF files from inventor.

Step-2: Go to Plant 3D and use "PCF to Pipe" command to generate the model.

Step-3: Check and solve any leaks. Add field welds, supports, etc..

Step-4: Generate Isometric.

Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

A.Acheson — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 20:35:59 GMT

It seems when you place flange as custom the type and Skey are there. I am not sure how you are meant to get these values entered on a new part author.

Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

gcoombridge — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 22:58:23 GMT

If you open a PCF with notepad there's not that much to it... you could edit the fields or replace to give you the same SKEY's. Not a great solution but a VBA script in excel would do it...

Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

aprajapati3C — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 09:06:01 GMT

@A.Acheson i noticed that the required type and skey doesn't appear for ipart with single port.

so its there for non-ipart and

ipart with 2 or more ports.

i think this needs to be fixed.

@gcoombridge yes it can be done but good to have a permanent solution.

Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

CGBenner — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 10:52:28 GMT

@aprajapati3C

Hello!

Please continue these discussions, this is good stuff. But you may also want to (if you have not already) post your suggestions in the Inventor Ideas forum, to get them in front of the Inventor development team more quickly. You could then use these posts in this forum to ask people to go vote for your ideas.

Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

aprajapati3C — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 10:57:32 GMT

@CGBenner Already done that.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/tube-amp-pipe-upgrade-post-1-custom-skeys/idi-p/10410580

Please vote.

Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

CGBenner — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 11:00:26 GMT

@aprajapati3C

Awesome! Thanks for sharing the link!

I used Tube & Pipe for years, but never did anything with Isogen. I'll be watching these posts with interest!

Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

Yijiang.Cai — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 09:20:18 GMT

Tracked as [INVGEN-74929], which is being worked in progress, and will keep you updated. Thanks!

Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

aprajapati3C — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 04:55:34 GMT

Thanks @Yijiang.Cai

Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

Nathan.KnightJKC2P — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 08:24:52 GMT

Hi all,

Wondering if there was any progress on this and if there is now an easy way to convert Inventor PCF files into Plant 3D without modifying the PCF manually in between?

Cheers,

Nathan

Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

Yijiang.Cai — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:43:28 GMT

@Nathan.KnightJKC2P this has been implemented in Inventor 2026, and you could have a try. Thanks!

Re: Inventor to Plant 3D through PCF (isogen) files (Post#1 Skey)

johan_degreef1 — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 08:22:34 GMT

There is also a software from Smap3d, which has its own PID software, but uses it to generate inventor assemblies and ISOGEN isometrics in 1 go.

https://www.smap3d.com/en/

Does anybody have experience with it?