JB Autodesk MEP

Been a while since last post

2008-08-18T10:17:00.004-04:00

Well, its been sometime since my last post. It has been quite busy here at work trying to finish our cad standards. We are making the move to the National Cad Standard (NCS). As of this past week, we are officially using it on new projects from here on out. The reactions are slightly mixed on its reception. Some like the change and some don't.

Haven't been doing to much work with MEP lately due to low work. Which is nice since I was able to catch up on other things. Still cleaning the desk thought. Some work is coming so as I work through new projects, I will be posting more tips and thoughts.

Eccentric Duct Work Transitions

2008-06-11T16:23:00.014-04:00

I thought I would post this from the AUGI forum. It was a question that was posted in relationship to creating a transition that is flat on top or bottom.

I did a quick search and people seem to be having problems with the ductwork transitions in general. So I feel a bit better about this whole thing.

I can't seem to find a flat on bottom (or top) concentric on the side rectangular transition. So to take a page from buzz's book. I want

__
\_/

I'm getting

__
|_/

But the concentric one above is not flat on the top or the bottom.

I'm trying to do a fairly large BIM model where space is tight and AMEP doesn't seem to let me create flat on top or bottom pieces without having one of the other sides flat as well. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

I have found that by default, the settings make one side flat like you are getting. In order to get flat on top or bottom, you have to use an eccentric transition and then you have to modify the "Eccentricity" for the fitting after inserting. I have attached a drawing showing the different settings needed to accomplish what you are looking for.

Expanded Image File List

2008-05-20T16:44:00.007-04:00

The other day, I found a blog speaking about adding more image file types to Autocad's list. AutoCADder found this as a solution to inserting jpeg2000 images. It also adds the ability to attach MrSid images, which came in handy the very next day as I use aerial surveys for a lot of drawings. As of yet, I haven't tested all the formats but do look forward to using many of them in the near future. Below is a breakdown of what is added.

By adding the raster design object enabler you will go from only 13 formats to 24.

Standard Formats (before)

Autodesk Animator (.fli, .flc)
CALS Type (.cal, .mil, .rst, .cg4, .gp4, .cals)
GIS-GeoSPOT (.bil)
Graphics Interchange Format (.gif)
Image Syustems CCITT Group 4 (.ig4)
JPEG File Interchange Format (.jpg, .jpeg)
Macintosh PICT (.pct, .pict)
Portable Network Graphics File (.png)
RLC (.rlc)
Tagged Image File Format (.tif, .tiff)
Truevision Targa (.tga)
Windows Bitmap (.bmp, .dib, .rle)
ZSoft PC Paintbrush (.pcx)

New Formats added

Arc/Info ASCII Grid Format (.asc, .txt)
Arc/Info Binary Grid Format (.adf)
Digital Terrain Elevatin Data (.dt0, .dt1, .dt2)
ECW Compressed Image Format (.ecw)
FAST-L7A (.fst)
JPEG2000 (.jp2, .j2k)
MrSid (.sid)
Native Format DOQ (.doq, .nws, .nes, .ses)
NITF (.nft)
USGS Digital elevation Model (.dem)
QuickBird Tagged Image File Format (.tif, .tiff)

civil 3d object enabler

2008-04-14T10:53:00.002-04:00

The growing pains have started with running MEP 2008.

When updating a drawing from 2007, the draw pipe & duct tools wouldn't allow you to continue on to add more after the first segment. I found a previous post about this at Scott Brisk's blog. He mentioned that the object enabler was causing the problem. I thought this would be my issue also. but wasn't able to find the enabler on my system.

Got to the point that I thought that I would just install it and see what happens. Still didn't work after that. But now I was able to uninstall it. This has seemed to fix it minus the proxy box I get now when I open the drawing. Certainly something I can live with to have my tools working.

3d models

2008-02-19T10:10:00.002-05:00

Their is always a need to create new MV parts. It can be time consuming to do so. In searching for cad files to use for some pumps, I find a site that provides 3d models of manufactures equipment. I came across is while getting blocks for a bell & gusset pump. It was nice to find the 3d models as I was just going to make a part using flat 2d blocks.

In doing a brief look around, looks to be a nice selection of companies available.

First Post

2008-02-07T15:17:00.000-05:00

I have started to this blog to relate my experiences with primarily Autocad MEP. I also work with Autocad Architecture and soon will be learning Civil 3D. As my company makes the jump to MEP, I will be trying to record the successes and also the problems that I have had to face (hopefully with the solution included).
As this is my first blog, be patient with me as I learn this facet of the internet.