ABS: A New View on Editing

One of the more difficult challenges in the MEP disciplines can be resolving collisions between ducts, pipes, conduits, and the building structure itself. Autodesk Building systems assists in detecting these collisions, but correcting them can stretch the skills of the CAD operator. ABS 2006 helps this enormously. (Note to the electrical engineer: While I am using the electrical parts to display this, this is not meant to represent a real world example. Please pardon any code violations, poor design, etc.)

In the example at right, I can see that my conduit from the emergency generator is colliding with the joist system. I might want to lower it beneath the joist system, or display it within the system.



In either case, moving the conduit can be difficult. In this example, I could switch to an elevation to move it vertically, but that would not work in a more complicated routing, or if I wanted to move both the vertical and horizontal at the same time, such as when fitting within the joists.



Fortunately, ABS 2006 offers a tool to address this problem – Editing in Isolation. I return to plan view, right-click in the display, and select “Isolate Objects ->Edit In Section.”

The prompt will ask me to select the objects I want to include in the section. I will select everything in the equipment room including the walls, columns and joists.



I then select the section extents and direction to generate a west section of the entire equipment room:



At first glance, the section is not much different that an elevation, except I have eliminated everything to the East of the section line, and limited the scope of the view. (I also have access to the “Edit in View” button).



However, I am not limited to looking at the object in section view. I can change the point of view, orbit the view, change the display system from ABS electrical to any other display configuration (in this case the ADT Medium Detail view to see the joist
members) and the shading settings.



I can even isolate objects (for example eliminating columns that are in my way).

I am now ready to manipulate the conduit. It is important to remember that you must move conduit and connectors by using the grips, otherwise the connectivity will be broken.

In this case, I needed to use multiple rotations to make my elbow fit just right and even needed to break the vertical conduit, and let ABS add a connector. Again I can do all of this – moving conduit, isolating objects, changing display representations, even adding new conduit and fittings – all while in the “Isolate Objects: Edit in Section” view. When I am done, I simply click the “Edit In View” button to return to the main ABS plan.



ABS is smart enough to prevent you
from creating an undersized elbow which
would move the vertical conduit. Instead,
I added the connection below after positioning the conduit within the joist spacing.
Remember, this is not intended as a real-world example, but rather to demonstrate the flexibility allowed by editing in section isolation.









 

This page last edited on Tuesday, September 19, 2006