Pipeworks

[caddjockey2000]

It would be a great improvement if pipeworks were able to give you the direction of the structure inverts such a N, S. W, E, NW, NE, SW and SE. Every place I have ever worked requires that the inverts be identified by direction and not a pipe label. I would not necessarily want to see the pipe labels go away as an option since I'm sure some people use it but this would be a nice additional option. If you could see these inverts under corresponding columns for the invert directions in the pipes run editor, it would be beneficial as well. I would also like to see pipeworks be more dynamic meaning when I change something in the pipes run editor, I would like to see my plan and profile be automatically updated versus having to re-import the pipe run.

[mjfarrell]

Tod,

Part of what you desire is possible with Pipes,
only the cardinal direction would need be supplied
by the user by editing some Node label element
such as Inv In, or Out.
I think that you might even get closer to this with
sheet manager frames.

Some of the dynamic editing functionality is
becoming available in Civil3D so there is hope
on the horizon. (although there are application
speed issues at this point) so this functionality
my come at a price that makes the Pipes Two-step
more cost efficient at this time.

[Aquaserpent]

Mike:

Some clarification is needed here, I was at a Civil 3-D demonstration last month and noticed that the Grading, Pipeworks, and Hydrology modules were not part of the software package. When I asked about this a rep. said that these modules should be a part of the Civil3-D Professional edition that is scheduled for release in the spring of 05'. As far as using pipeworks with Civil 3-D at present it was suggested to export the profile (in Civil 3-D) out for importation into Land Development Desktop. You are to developer your pipe run in Land Development Desktop and than import back into Civil 3-D.

A final additional note, my vendor told me that once you export/import your profile out/in to Civil 3-D, it loses it's dynamics. So his advice was to wait until Civil 3-D Professional came out and see if it actually had a functional pipeworks, and other modules.