Making Ductwork visible on a ceiling plan??

[brendan.upton]

Is there a way to make ductwork show on a Reflected Ceiling Plan view??
I have played around with the view range options with no luck.

Obviously it is logical that the ductwork is above the ceiling so it is hidden or behind the ceiling when looking at a reflected ceiling plan view. However i would like to be able to see the ductwork on the ceiling plan, so i'm just wondering if there is an option that allows it?


Any help at all on this topic would be great!!!

Cheers,
Bren

[jason.martin]

Setting the view discipline to mechanical should make it possible for the ductwork to draw "through" the ceiling (i.e. not have the ceiling hide the ductwork that is above it).

jason

[brendan.upton]

Thanks Jason.
That did work however you then lose the ceiling grid after you set the dicipline to mechanical. I wonder if there is a way to show both elements.

I only ask because generally on our mechanical services drawings we show the ductwork and air diffusers aswell as the ceiling grid all the one plan. Is that something that you would also do?

Maybe it's a case of not being able to have the best of both at the moment and if so, perhaps i should mention this in the wish list area.

Cheers,
Bren.

[kyle.bernhardt]

Bren,
You can have the "best of both" at this point, you just need to know a handy way to get it done.

1. Go to Properties for the View.
2. There is an Underlay setting for the view, most likely it is set to "None". Temporarily set the Underlay to another level, any level.
3. You will now see that the "Underlay Orientation" setting is no longer grayed out. Set this to "Reflected Ceiling Plan".
4. Go back to the Underlay setting and change it back to "None".
5. Hit OK to exit out of the Properties dialog.

You'll then see your ceiling grid and your ductwork.

There is obviously room for improvement here, but it is a result of the way that we handle Hidden Lines in an MEP Discipline. Changing the behavior will require a pretty big change with how we handle graphics. Undoubtedly this will be something we tackle in time, but it is not a trivial project. My first impression was that this should be an easy change, but like many things with complex design software, the devil in in the details. Sometimes I wish I could go back to being oblivious of those details, it sure was nice to be able to just point out what needs to be changed without understanding the "how". That's what you guys are here for, you don't need to care about the "how", just what impacts your ability to use the program to do your job.

Cheers,
Kyle B

[brendan.upton]

Many thanks again Kyle, I appreciate the detailed response!!!

It worked perfectly, excactly how i wanted it to look!

P.s. Big thumbs up to what your doing with this forum, it's great to get replies so quickly to our questions!!

Thanks
Bren

[ekuszewski430764]

I was unable to get this to work. Which plan are we talking about doing this to? The mech plan where i have drawn in ductwork? A ceiling plan where I have changed the discipline to Mech and then drawn ductwork?

which?

also, will the same work (if i get it to work) for electrical lighting plans?

[brendan.upton]

It's a mechanical ceiling plan i.e. the ceilnig plan view is set to mechanical discipline.
As far as i can see, it should work the same for an electrical ceiling plan.

Cheers,
Bren

[rstiles]

this worked for showing the ducts in the ceiling plan but it shows the lower elevation ducts as if they are on top of the higher elevation ducts.

[mhartmann]

yup, you'll have to use a "floorplan" for mechanical, looking down if you are using hidden line view, otherwise the ducts will hide backwards (ceiling plan looking up)

[neightyeight]

It may not be what you're looking for, but we came to the conclusion that the output looks best if we just layer views on a sheet. So we have a RCP view that only shows the ceiling grid (no walls, doors, etc.). That gets put on the sheet first. Then we use a regular floor plan (where the MEP content appears correctly, including hidden lines) and put that view on top of the RCP view on the sheet. It looks great and only marginally increases the printing time to PDF. And if the issue is actually working in the view that appears the way you described, you can just click on the floor plan view on the sheet and choose the "Activate View" option on the ribbon. You won't be able to snap to the ceiling grid but you will see it layered beneath your work anyways. Hope it helps!

[daniel.morrison]

It may not be what you're looking for, but we came to the conclusion that the output looks best if we just layer views on a sheet. So we have a RCP view that only shows the ceiling grid (no walls, doors, etc.). That gets put on the sheet first. Then we use a regular floor plan (where the MEP content appears correctly, including hidden lines) and put that view on top of the RCP view on the sheet. It looks great and only marginally increases the printing time to PDF. And if the issue is actually working in the view that appears the way you described, you can just click on the floor plan view on the sheet and choose the "Activate View" option on the ribbon. You won't be able to snap to the ceiling grid but you will see it layered beneath your work anyways. Hope it helps!

This is our workflow as well, although we do have working views as RCPs just to coordinate purely the ceiling layout (allowing you to snap to the grid), for these though we don't need to worry about the ductwork etc.