4 replies to this topic

[David Zawadzki]

I was watching the softlist video on doing weep tile calculations and made me wonder if we couldn't use that feature for laying out duct work and plumbing diagrams???

 

Has anyone tried this yet?

[Todd Williard]

Can you explain further on this?

[Matthew Dunson]

What I hope SoftPlan eventually incorporates is a fully featured MEP modeler (similarly to ArchiCad or Revit) but with their own take. With the powerful 2D and 3D tools SoftPlan has to offer, it would only make sense for SoftPlan to expand primarily on their mechanical and plumbing solutions for users. What would be useful is to be able to model 3D mechanical systems showing the ductwork with assigned nodes in 3D space that can be moved and adjusted to meet the model needs. Similarly with plumbing, a user can add, modify and adjust nodes that reflect 3D elements such as plumbing fittings, drops, etc. with all of them able to be modified. Each node would essentially be an item in 3D space, reflected on 2D in 2 new drawing modes (Plumbing & Mechanical) that can individually be added into SoftList for material takeoffs. Space planning is crucial for mechanical, plumbing, and electrical so an integrated 2D & 3D modeler would be helpful to at least give a reference for trades and space planning. Furthermore, SoftPlan can add these elements to their 3D framing or create a new preset mode such as MEP that shows the whole model with these types of services.

[Mark Petri]

Not ideal, but for now I've found when I need to show something that is exposed that a railing with the profile of choice and layout of corners, etc. as needed.

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[Matthew Dunson]

That is actually a smart and useful method as a solution to show any exposed HVAC. Similarly on a different thread, I was needing to represent shade sails in 3D and someone told me to just use an unused site polygon and offset the corners to get them to show in 3D. Since I have been using SoftPlan for a while now, it's cool to see how other users are using the tools we currently have for a solution that may not be a standalone feature in SoftPlan. Something like that I would probably have tried finding models in the Sketchup Warehouse but the railing method gives greater flexibility and it's as simple as applying the metal texture to mimic ductwork. Thank you Mark for the idea, I could definitely use that technique in a needed application