Duct Transition: not hiding duct under transitions

[ameador]

I have posted this with the subscription team at autodesk.
I am awaiting info from them.
In the mean time does anyone else have the same issue?
I am working in ABS2007 (sp1).

Issue:
I am working in ABS 2007 (sp1). I have tried this on both the ootb and our customized (sys def's and template) version of abs.

When ever a duct is running underneath a transition it may or may not create the haloed lines. Here's when I've found it will hide: round to rect transition, oval to rect trans, and oval to oval trans. When I have found it will NOT hide: rect to rect trans and round to round trans.

Interesting point: if you take everything and rotate it 90degrees, the ducts will then halo out underneath the transitions.

I do not think it is my system definitions (I have tried using different duct systems and that did not seem to affect it).

I have attached a drawing based off of my template that shows this issue.

We have several pretty far along drawings that have this occurring in them and we need to get this resolved ASAP.

Thank you to anyone with some input on this.

[ameador]

I just heard from Autodesk. This is a "known issue."

Here's what they said:
"The issue you are seeing with the lines beneath the transition fitting in Building Systems is a known issue that has been fixed in Autocad MEP 2008. Unfortunately, the only workaround for this issue is to explode the fitting and duct beneath the transition fitting and change the line work manually to display hidden lines. I am sorry for any inconvenience this issue may cause. This issue should only occur with duct segments and fittings below a transition fitting."

I really don't want my people to explode their stuff. If you explode it your duct is no longer connected and whenever you move stuff it won't move with it; whenever you try to change sizes it won't all change together.

I dropped a couple questions back to them concerning this. I'll see what the response is.

[stelthorst]

Hi ameador,


Thanks for updating us on this. I messed around with your file this past weekend and couldn't get it to view correctly. I'm glad to see Autodesk responded to your issue.

I agree with you about exploding the transitions. I think it is much better to have a fully functional transition fitting than to have the ability to show the ducts hidden under the transition.

[ameador]

Thank you stelthorst for investigating it!

Here's another option that doesn't involve breaking or exploding anything that I just found out this morning!

(I just posted this on my blog: http://abbie-abs.blogspot.com/)
I received another option from Autodesk concerning the duct under a transition not hiding. I liked this idea and thought you all should know about it as well.

Draw a duct (doesn't matter what system you choose) that is an inch or two wider than the duct that is running underneath your transition, the smallest height possible (I think that is 3"), and only as long as the transition. Now select that duct and change its layer to your -Nplt layer. In elevation: you need to place this duct just underneath the transition, but above the duct that you want to show as hidden. You may have to go into an elevation view to make sure you get everything aligned. Once you have the elevation aligned you need to align it to be directly over the duct run you want to show hidden. You must make sure that your -Nplt layer is truly a non-plotting layer (verify in the layer manager that the print symbol has a red slash through it for this layer). Now go into paperspace and do a print preview and verify that you have hidden what you needed to, and nothing more. I have tested this out and it seems to work.

Post-script here....in some cases we have very tight clearances and the 3" duct height won't work. You can use a 1/4" diameter pipe and it will force the duct to hide under that as well. You might have to do one pipe over each side of the duct. Just a thought.