Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
orientation and position. But by doing that, you would also produce a Copy/
Monitor alert. So, the bottom line is that if the orientation and insertion
point don't match, it is easier to place the families manually, and if you like
the benefits of Copy/Monitor alerting you when the architect moves those
elements, you can still monitor your manually placed fixtures against the
architectural fixtures. We'll talk more about this later in the chapter.
Instead of duplicating the fixtures in the architectural and plumbing files,
another scenario you could consider is to have the engineering company
take them over and let the architect display the plumbing fixtures from the
plumbing model. This will certainly eliminate inconsistency between the
two models, but it could be hard to achieve for some companies based on
their culture and workflows.
With either of the options, you can use plumbing fixture families that
represent only the piping portion of each fixture. These custom pipe
assemblies are fittings preassembled or modeled to line up in the locations
of the linked architectural plumbing fixtures. These are created as plumbing
fixture families.
Creating Custom Pipe Assemblies
Many piping conditions are not worth modeling piece by piece, such as
piping beneath counters for p-traps and supply lines or complicated pipe
and valve assemblies. If a plumber can preassemble these off site or perhaps
prefabricate them as an assembly on site and then just move them into
place; it may be logical to emulate this by building custom families that
representacompleteassemblyinsteadofusingindividualfamiliesthatmust
be connected to one another repeatedly in the model.
Custompipeassemblies canberepresented inoneoftwowaysintheFamily
Editor. First, you can use sweeps to represent the p-trap, wye, and
associated piping, as shown in
Figure 15.12
.
This method creates a smaller
file size and reduces the size of the overall plumbing model. Assemblies
representing fittings with sweeps and extrusions would not allow you to
schedule the fittings directly. However, if quantity takeoffs are important
to you, they can be achieved by creating shared parameters that store the
number and type of fittings that are used in the assembly.
