As many of you probably know, Autodesk made Online Help available in AutoCAD 2011. However, you may not have known that online help has been available for CADWorx for quite some time. Here are the relevant pages:
While online help is not integrated into CADWorx as it is in AutoCAD 2011, I find sharing a link is easier than saying “Lookup the User Shape help file.”
Over last few months, everyone has been wondering (myself included)—how is Intergraph purchasing CADWorx going to affect us? On the forums, we have heard views from “It’s the end of the world!” to “the greatest thing since sliced bread.” But alas, we can’t know the future until we get there (unless you’re from the future of course).
Part of my duties here at ECAD include testing the developing product so that you (the users) don’t have to lose design time. I do my best to take the input I receive and present to the developers as topics come up. Since I have been involved in beta testing for the last few years, I have gotten to know the developers and the process. Over the last month, we have been testing on the new products coming in September (approximately). Intergraph buying CADWorx has enabled the development to communicate more with the users.
By users in this case, I’m referring to testers. Intergraph has a programming process (AGILE)they use, along with programs that have kinds of bells and whistles for writing code. Since CADWorx began using AGILE, development has gotten broken up into month-long chunks (called a sprint). During a sprint, the developers take a list of features and write them so that at the end of the month, we can review the feature and give input on how it works. This process will repeat cyclically until the new release is ready.
Why should this matter to you? We recently finished up 2 sprint cycles, one for the CADWorx team, and one for the NG team. Word of warning, what you read next may seem like hyperbole, but the statements are the truth. On the NG side, we have seen awesome improvements in routing pipe, placing valves with the flanges coming in automatically, placing valves on the fly by dimensions off of other components, changing size/spec by selection, moving components down a line by grips, and more.
This last month the CADWorx team is working on some big new features too! Remember all that time spent tracking down breaks, overlaps, and duplicates for ISOGEN? No more! A ContinuityView palette is headed our way and looks incredible.
Rumor has it that the ribbons are now moving into the product, and HVAC gets data files.
So in my mind, CADWorx 2011 is shaping up to be the best release ever!
*No statement concerning the release date or features to be included is a guarantee, or should be taken as such. It’s all still up in the air.
To answer your first question, here is what the spreadsheet can do for you.
Automate the process of formatting your spreadsheet.
Import a query from a database to the pre-formatted spreadsheet.
Compare two published spreadsheets and list the differences.
By the way, you may be interested to find out that this is ALL in Excel 2007. No new program to learn, but you can still tweak the settings you need!
At ECAD we decided to go with a blended approach to allow access to database information. Since every company wants their reports, their way, we can customize your project database to include those. Then, by listing the query (report) that you want, you can bring the information directly into a spreadsheet that you have already formatted.
While custom queries sound expensive, we have had a customer spend only ~$1200 for the queries + the spreadsheet. That’s for the entire company to be able to use the spreadsheet!
Take a look at the store, go through the readme, and check out the video. We’d love to help you get the BOM Gather spreadsheet worked into your design process.
Within the next couple weeks, we will be releasing a new product that could save you a lot of time (time = money!). I wanted to post a bit about the product, and some other things we are thinking about as well.
As part of our services here at ECAD, we provide services to customers who need customization done. Often times, we find that people don’t have the time to learn the nuts and bolts of non-design software. So, to help you have more time designing we provide installation services, training, and customization on our products.
During a visit to GWD Design, my role was to migrate them from an old database format to the newer ICES database. After a sitting down and getting a list of questions they had about CADWorx (I can’t resist knowing what people are doing with CADWorx), a question was posed. Is there a way to publish a Bill of Materials in a consistent Excel format using CADWorx? Short answer…there wasn’t.
Thanks to the proposition from GWD, we created the BOM Gather spreadsheet. Priced at $300 (per company) the spreadsheet will eliminate a lot of manual effort in Excel and streamline your BOM production. Since this is a sneak preview…I’ll post one sentence . The BOM Gather spreadsheet will virtually eliminate BOM formatting time by importing BOM items (minus the mark column) from spreadsheets (or Access queries!) into an Excel workbook, and allowing dated export to a new file.
Moving on…another feature on our agenda is consolidating some of our tools. We’re planning to package the CADWorx Properties palette with the ribbon, to add access to the palette via ribbon. One topic I’m reflecting on is whether to combine the P&ID Ribbons and the Plant ribbons, obviously it’d be much easier to release/handout one all inclusive package than several smaller packages. In addition, I’d like to add commands to display the ribbons and/or add them to a workspace.
Let me know if you guys have any thoughts on these topics!
Looking through our records, I’ve been trying to tally up how many copies of the CADWorx Properties Palette by ECAD we’ve given out. Since we haven’t been using the Store the whole time, the numbers are hit and miss, but I think we have roughly 40 people who have downloaded the palette.
The video has been viewed on YouTube 200 times, and downloaded 23 times.
Knock on wood, we’ve received 0 bug reports. While I hope the code works flawlessly, we all know that’s a small chance. So, as weird as it sounds, we’d like to hear about any problems that you’ve run into. In the meantime, thanks for the positive verbal feedback about the palette. Here are some of the ideas people want to see added:
Allowing selecting an object first and displaying the results.
Include a quick select method, so multiple objects can be selected easier.
Make the properties editable from the Palette.
Do you have other ideas? We’d love to hear from you!
I wanted to take a minute to show how to make sure you are up to date on the latest CADWorx software.
Enter CADWORXABOUT at the command line, and you will get this dialog. Then click the Check for Updates button.
Update: Per the comments, at times you may not be able to get the latest build by clicking the update button. Here’s a link to send an email requesting the latest build for CADWorx. Email CADWorx for latest update
We’ll do our best to keep you informed of the changes that we know about.
“Basically, any setup in which a viewport is looking “down the barrel” of the eccentric reducer when placed in another viewport will cause the missing integer error. Start a drawing, and set a split viewport in model space with one in top view, and the other set to right or left view. Place a eccentric reducer into the top view. Save the drawing, and re-open the drawing. The missing integer error will occur, and the drawing appears corrupted. The ucs does not have to be set to the same view as right or left. Placement in the right or left viewport will not generate the error. The above scenario can be changed; Again copying the reducer into a drawing that “looks down the barrel” of the eccentric reducer does not produce an error. This error only occurs when running CADWorx 2010 (Sept. release) on AutoCAD 2010. I installed CADWorx 2010 (July release) on AutoCAD 2010, and the error did not occur. Interestingly enough, the error did not occur when installing CADWorx 2010 (Sept. release) on AutoCAD 2009. If the eccentric reducer is copied into the drawing in any viewport there is no corruption.”
It turns out, that AutoCAD generates the error, but the CADWorx guys were able to come up with a workaround in their development.
4. P&ID project creation crash for Windows 7, 64-bit. This particular issue came up with a client.
5. Steel generic attached double-click broken. Though working in the 3-3 release, the 3-25 release had a bug which is now fixed in the 3-30 release. Stellar help by CADWorx as I notified them of this problem on 3-30 and the fix was posted the same day!
6. COADE logo changed to Intergraph.
Again, we will try to stay on top of the fixes and post about the updates here! If you’d like to contribute, Contact Us to tell us what bug COADE fixed for you that was included in the release.
Here are a few situations where using snap tracking or point filters are invaluable:
1. Use the router to line up pipe along the top of steel or beside another pipe.
2. Placing objects a distance from a fitting (like a weld-o-let 3” from an elbow or tee).
3. Locating equipment.
Let’s walkthrough an example of the first scenario in these steps-run a new line 6” away from an existing line, run the new line 6” past the turn, and then change the elevation so the new pipe BOP matches TOS.
Here are the steps for starting a new line 6” off of the second.
1. Set Size = 2”, and spec = 150.
2. Turn polar tracking on (F10).
3. Make sure Snap Tracking is on.
4. Start the ROUTER command (RT).
5. Hover over the existing pipe centerline until a “+” plus appears. This is a temporary tracking point.
6. Type 6 and hit enter to start the router line 6” to the right of the existing pipe.
The next section is probably the most technically challenging. When we used the snap tracking, we were able to give the prompt 2 coordinates (the X and the Z, and then with tracking pick the third (Y). However, on the turn we don’t have any objects that can give us 2 coordinates (we need the Y and Z now). We will have to use a feature called the “FROM” command modifier in combination with point filters or coordinate filters. We will start out by isolating our yz coordinates by using the .YZ point filter.
1. Enter .YZ at the command line (you should still be in the router prompt).
2. Drag in the + or – x direction and pick. This steps freezes our Y,Z coordinates to the direction we want.
3. Now we can use the FROM modifier to select our X coordinate. Enter FROM at the command line (it’s also on the Shift+Right-click shortcut menu).
4. For the base point prompt, we are going to pick the center line of the existing pipe that is vertical, turning up in the rack. Now, our selection is even with the pipe turning up in the rack, but 6” south of the existing pipe.
5. For the offset, we are going to input a relative value, so enter @6,0,0. The “@” symbol indicates a relative point input. Now our segment is drawn 6” past the existing pipe turn.
The final step is to line up the bottom of pipe (BOP) with the top of steel (TOS). To do this we will change the router to the BOP position, and then set the elevation we need.
1. Still in the router command, hit “P” for position.
2. At the option prompt, enter BOP for bottom of pipe.
3. Hit enter again to accept the default size (we set it at the beginning).
4. Hit “E” for the Elevation option.
5. In the elevation change prompt, hit “P” to pick an elevation from the model and pick a point on the top of steel.
Finish the router off by dragging down the pipe rack and selecting an end point and hit enter. Run the ROUTETHRD command to draw the pipe along the router line we drew.
I’ve posted a video showing the steps in real-time so you can follow a long. Happy routing!
Special thanks to Denis Richard for his musical contribution.
We have exciting news for everyone. Today we are releasing the CADWorx Properties palette by ECAD! Here’s is the other half of the good news…it’s FREE! Once again, to download all you have to do is register with our site and then access the downloads page.
We have a video that walks through installation and usage, and the installer includes a readme with details about the product.
We developed this tool to give access to CADWorx information to people without CADWorx, as we know that a lot of design is interfaced with other AutoCAD products, like AutoCAD MEP or Civil 3D.
Obviously, we are not going to make any guarantees with this code. But since it’s free, you’re welcome to give feedback and we will post fixes ASAP. Contact us using the Contact Us page. Enjoy!
Okay, so by now a lot of people have seen these. The Process and Power team at ECAD has put together a standard set of ribbons for CADWorx Plant and P&ID 2010 on AutoCAD 2010. All you got to do is shoot me an email (check out the store), and I’ll send them right over to you! We’re going to continue to work on more, so stay tuned!
A small trick, that some might not know about getting Nozzle information into ISOGEN.Sometimes, we run into those pieces of equipment that just don’t fit the mold for what our Equipment module can do for us, or we get packaged equipment from a vendor with a good enough model to use in ours.That happens.This doesn’t mean however that we can’t get the equipment and nozzle info into ISOGEN.
If you have to use something other than CADWorx Equipment to make your equipment, make sure to use Long Weldneck (LWN) flanges for the nozzles.Once you’ve inserted the LWN in, do a component edit, and go to the TAG field.Type in your equipment name and nozzle number there.Isogen will then recognize what you are trying to do and make it into a nozzle for you on your ISO’s.
. The BOM Gather spreadsheet will virtually eliminate BOM formatting time by importing BOM items (minus the mark column) from spreadsheets (or Access queries!) into an Excel workbook, and allowing dated export to a new file.
