oCAD Plant 3D

Auto
How
w to Manag
M
e Largge Pro
ojects
Large projjects are not handled by a single design
ner and so coorrespondingly, a large pro
oject should n
not
reside in a single DWG. Sounds logical, but how do you divid e up a large p
project so thaat many desiggners
can work together as a team. Split it up into lotss of DWGs! SSounds easy, but how?
This paper will give you
u some ideas as to how to
o organize youur Plant 3D prroject so thatt the project
remains as
a a single pro
oject for reporting and yet has many drrawing / modeel files, so thaat designers o
of
different disciplines
d
can work togetther and yet work
w
with maanageable datta sets so that modeling
response remains good
d. The way we
w will do thiss is through e xtensive use of XREFs.
And just as
a no two pro
ojects are the same, there are many diffferent ways tto organize a project. Well
suggest one way, but you
y can modify these sugggestions in ordder to suit yo
our project beetter.

Contents
Getting Started.............................................................................................................................................. 3
Setting Up Your Project ................................................................................................................................. 3
Controlling Rights Between Disciplines .................................................................................................... 4
Working With Xrefs. ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Simplifying Working With Xrefs ............................................................................................................... 5
Modeling Using Xrefs ............................................................................................................................... 6
Managing Drawing Sizes With Xrefs ........................................................................................................ 7
Data Management ........................................................................................................................................ 8
Working In a Distributed Environment ..................................................................................................... 8
Managing Deliverables.................................................................................................................................. 9
Piping Isometrics ....................................................................................................................................... 9
Orthographic Drawings ........................................................................................................................... 11
Working with a Master Model .................................................................................................................... 13
Working with Navisworks ....................................................................................................................... 14
SQL Server ............................................................................................................................................... 17
Vault ........................................................................................................................................................ 18
Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................. 18
Appendix 1 Managing Drawing Rights Access ......................................................................................... 19
Windows Folder Structure ...................................................................................................................... 19
Plant 3D Project Folder Structure ........................................................................................................... 21

AutoCAD Plant 3D Managing Large Projects

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Getting Startted
Before yo
ou start to cre
eate the proje
ect in Plant 3D
D, take a big sstep backwarrds and look aat the project as a
whole. Th
hink about ho
ow to logicallyy split it up.

If it is a big site
e, mostly all on
o one level, like
l a refineryy, then look aat a site plan aand divide it u
up
nto areas. Eacch area may be
b a process unit, or it ma y be a logicall sub-division of a process unit,
in
but consider itt as an AREA.
In
n the case of a multi-story plant, you may want to tr eat each floo
or as an area aand then
su
ubdivide into physical areaas.

In this exaample we will be working on

o a refinery--like project. We have a site plan that we have brokken
into 14 arreas:

In the mid
ddle is a pipe rack which jo
oins up the se
eparate areass (Area 2). Thiis is considereed a separatee area
since we want
w
a design
ner to be resp
ponsible for considering
c
thhe layout of o
only the pipess in the rack. Area
13 is a serrvicing area and contains no
n plant item
ms (i.e. the m
models in this area are AEC models, not Plant
3D models) and so there are no P&IDs and no Plant models inn this area.
Within eaach area we have to consid
der Equipmen
nt, Structures and Piping. And if we havve different
designers focusing on each
e
disciplin
ne, we probab
bly want to diivide up our aareas into thee disciplines.

Settin
ng Up Your
Y
Pro
oject
Using the example abo
ove we have decided
d
that we
w will have 14 areas. Eacch area can m
managed by a lead
prising equipm
ment layout d
designers, Structural layout
designer, but each area has a design team comp
d
designers, and piping designers.
w have split the
t project up
p into three pprocess areass plus one utillities area wh
hich
In the case of P&IDs we
will span severral of the Pipiing
will contain all the Utility P&IDs (orr ULDs). The fact that thee P&ID area w
areas is no
ot important as Plant 3D will
w track and manage all t he lines and eequipment in
n the project.
AutoCAD Plant 3D Managging Large Projeccts

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So the pro
oject will lookk like this in Plant
P
3D Proje
ect Manager:

Note we have 4 P&ID Areas and 13 Piping Areaas. We have aalso

allocated
d folders in R
Related Files. Here we will store or
reference
e the site pla n drawings in
n the Civil fo
older. Since A
Area
13 does not
n contain a ny Plant 3D m
models (it is A
AEC) we have
placed Area 13 in the Related Filess section of th
he project. W
We
works folder so
o that we can
n store the
also created a Navisw
ed .nwf files w
which will allo
ow us to assiggn materials tto the
associate
model files in order too create realisstic renderinggs of the mod
del
e are designin g. We can also place the .nwd files herre for
while we
project re
eview sessionns. This allow
ws project revviews to take place
while dessign work prooceeds, witho
out interrupting design wo
ork.
Now lookking at Area 6 as an examp
ple:

We have created
c
a Stru
uctural file in the Structure
es folder, an Equipment M
Modeling file iin the Equipm
ment
folder, and 2 Piping file
es in the Pipin
ng folder.
This structure keeps th
he file content small and manageable
m
a nd yet allowss maximum flexibility in
working in
n the project.. By using Xre
efs, the desiggner can focuus on the partt of the modeel he is particu
ularly
interested
d in at any mo
oment by unloading the Xrefs he does nt need. Theen when he n
needs more
informatio
on, simply reload the Xrefs for full mod
del realizationn.

Contro
olling Righ
hts Between Disciiplines
In some organizations,
o
, CAD Manage
ers feel more
e comfortablee controlling w
who has writee-access to
drawings based on the
e discipline. (So Structural designers ca nt change piiping configurrations and viceM
CAD Managers (or Pro
oject Adminisstrators) do t his by settingg access rightss at the foldeer
versa.) Many
level. In the
t above exaample, the hie
erarchy is are
ea-based and disciplines arre sub-folders of the area.. In
this case, the administrator will nee
ed to set rightts for every d iscipline in evvery area. No
ote that this w
would
a the project setup and th
he rights would only need tto be changeed when projeect personnell
be done at
change.

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An alternaative approacch could be to

o create a fold
der structuree with the discciplines at thee top and areeas as
sub-folders for each discipline. In this approach the rights neeed only be seet at the disciipline folder level.
Plant 3D folders
f
do not need to exaactly match th
he Windows ffolder structu
ure, so it is po
ossible to set up
the projecct folder to be
e hierarchical based on are
eas (as shownn above) but have the Win
ndows folder
structure be set up bassed on discipllines. See Ap
ppendix 1 for more informaation on how
w to set this up.

Workking Witth Xrefs.

Plant 3D is designed to
o work intellig
gently with Xrefs. Pipes aand Piping Co
omponents will connect to
pipes and piping comp
ponents, and even
e
equipment nozzles, iin Xref modells. For examp
ple, when using
the Route
e Pipe commaand, by clickin
ng on the equ
uipment nozzlle in the Xref,, the connecttion will be m
made
and the co
orrect compo
onents will be
e placed as sh
hown here:

No
ote that the ppump is in thee equipment Xref and thatt
sin
nce we were routing an 8 line and con
nnecting to a 10
no
ozzle, a 10 m
mating flange with a 10x8 rreducer was
plaaced in the p iping model. Also note the connection
n was
alsso placed which will give u
us the correctt bolts and gaasket.

Simpliffying Wo
orking Witth Xrefs
One usefu
ul way of man
naging the Area Xrefs is to
o have a mastter area draw
wing. This is eessentially an
empty mo
odel file with all the area models
m
loaded as Xrefs. I n this example, Area 6 in tthe master arrea
drawing iss Area6.dwg:
Itt is importantt that these X refs be loadeed as Attachm
ments. We
re
ecommend th
hat you use a relative path
h as shown beelow. (As thee files
are part of a project,
p
relatiive path will m
make movingg a project easier):

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The Area Master file iss maintained by

b a project lead who ensuures that all tthe model filees in that areaa are
ence type, ratther than the usual overlayy, is that we w
will
attached. The reason we use attachment refere
be using these
t
Area Master files as Xrefs in the Master Modeel (see later) aand we want the nested X
Xrefs
to displayy.
By creatin
ng these Area Master mod
dels, we make
e managing m
model files in tthe area simp
pler. Now anyy
designer working
w
in that area simply attaches this one file as an Xref, but iin this case in
n Overlay mo
ode,
and he wiill be sure thaat all the mod
dels in that area are attachhed. (A warniing message d
detecting circcular
reference
es may be disp
played; simply click Contin
nue.) If workiing across areeas, for example connectin
ng
pipes to a pipe rack thaat may be in a separate arrea (for exam ple attachingg to pipes in P
Pipe Racks), th
hen
attach thaat Area Maste
er drawing an
nd then detacch (or unload)) when no lon
nger needed.
Word of warning
w
re Circular Refere
ences: If you follow the guuidelines abovve, then circu
ular referencees
(file referring back to ittself as a lower nested Xre
ef file) will be taken care o
of by AutoCAD
D. The dangeer
arises when you need to Xref a file in another arrea. In this caase if you attaach the external area file tto
your mod
del file as an attachment,
a
you
y will create circular refeerences in the Master Model file (see
below) orr in the Orthographic Draw
wing master model
m
files. TTo avoid this p
problem, bestt practice is to
o use
the overla
ay reference type for these external file
es.
Designerss can turn on or off any layyers in the refference files oor unload thee whole refereence file as
needed.

Modeling Usingg Xrefs

Xrefs make it very eassy to work in large modelss. Here the piiping designeer is concentrating on pipin
ng
around a pump:

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By unload
ding the structure and turn
ning off some
e of the pipingg layers, a bettter view is obtained makiing
piping eassier:

Managging Draw
wing Sizess With Xrrefs
The optim
mum size for a model file iss 5-10MB. De
epending on tthe hardwaree you are usin
ng and the typ
pe of
plant mod
del, it may be
e better to kee
ep the modell size smaller.. This can be especially tru
ue if you havee
objects th
hat are not Plaant 3D objectts (e.g importted from Inveentor or Revitt). This will reesult in more dwg
files, but good
g
model management
m
will maintain
n good perforrmance. It do
oesnt matterr how many fiiles
you have in the projectt, AutoCAD Plant 3D proje
ect manager ccan manage laarge numberss of drawingss.
With expe
erience, youlll be able to guesstimate
g
how
h many linees or how maany equipmen
nt items will b
be in
each mod
del file in orde
er to keep the
e sizes down, but there is nno problem aadding more m
model files ass the
project de
evelops. Thiss is especially true for pipin
ng files.
Some use
ers like to put all equipmen
nt in an area into
i
one dwg . Others like to split them
m up into sub--areas
where oth
hers may splitt the equipment up by levels on a struccture.
In the case of structure
es, many userrs will place a single struccture into a single model ffile. This is so
o the
structure can be exporrted for analyysis and then replaced withh a detailed sstructural model after the
detailed engineering
e
has been done
e. In some caases, the struccture may acttually extend across an areea
boundaryy. This is not a problem, sim
mply place th
he structural m
model in onee area and theen have the
master arrea model of the
t other are
ea(s) xref this structural moodel.
Pipe Rackks are typicallyy handled sep
parately too. This is to alloow the pipingg designer to optimize the
space avaailable on the rack and thiss is its own layyout problem
m. Thus the Pipe Rack areaa may also contain
AutoCAD Plant 3D Managging Large Projeccts

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sub-racks which will encroach into process areas. The best practices approach discussed so far handles
this approach easily.
Managing piping models can be done in many different ways. Since Plant3D allows intelligent
connections across Xrefs. Thus piping models can be divided into sub-areas or by line numbers, with
each designer allocated a certain number of lines. There are no constraints on how to divide up the
area.

Data Management
AutoCAD Plant 3D uses an SQL database to manage non-graphic data. The default SQL database engine
delivered with Plant 3D is SQLite (www.sqlite.org) Everything you need to manage the data within a
Plant3D project is delivered with Plant 3D and you do not need to be a database expert nor do you need
to understand SQL databases in order to use SQLite. SQLite is a simple and effective solution for
managing data in smaller projects where integration with enterprise databases is neither necessary nor
desirable. Thus small companies can use SQLite for their projects and Plant 3D Data Manager will be an
effective interface to the project and drawing data. For more information on SQLite visit
http://www.sqlite.org/about.html
For larger organizations who have large amounts of data stored within Enterprise Databases, Plant 3D
will support SQL Server. The inclusion of SQL Express in the Plant 3D allows you to select whether to use
SQLite or connect to your corporate database.
When should I stick with SQLite and when should I use SQL Server? This is a difficult question to answer
and it depends more on how you use the data than on how many users need to access the project
database. If you are already using corporate databases and want to share the Plant 3D data with other
database applications, then SQL Server is definitively the correct answer. If your project users are
distributed geographically, then SQL Server may be the best solution as the database server will manage
the distribution of the database, or manage the centralization of the data.
Regardless of whether you use SQLite or SQL Server, the Data Manager allows you to extract data to
Excel spreadsheets for non-CAD users to manipulate the data.

Working In a Distributed Environment

Buzzsaw (www.buzzsaw.com) offers a very useful way of placing files in a central server to allow
distributed users to access these files if you do not have a central server and WAN for project
collaboration, or if you have external people/companies working on a project and you do not want to
grant them access to your local network.
Autodesk Buzzsaw software as a service (SaaS) delivers document, data, and design management
solutions to architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms and owner-operators. Autodesk
Buzzsaw helps organizations centralize and more securely exchange project information inside and
outside their organization. And with proven SaaS technology, your company can focus more on project
delivery and less on managing costly IT infrastructure.
AutoCAD Plant 3D Managing Large Projects

Page 8

Buzzsaw comes
c
with a Buzzsaw Syn
nc utility which allows you to sync local folders with those on Buzzzsaw.
Although Buzzsaw Sync allows you to
t have continual syncing,, you may find
d it more manageable to o
only
perform syncing
s
at cerrtain times of the day. (This avoids con tinual messagges to reload Xrefs.)

Manaaging Deliverab
bles
The most common deliverables that are generatted are Pipingg Isometrics aand Piping Orthographic
e generated per
p line numbber and orthoographics (orthos) are
drawings.. Generally, issometrics are
generated
d per area, with additionall drawings be
eing generated for sectionss and elevatio
ons. They aree
managed differently.

Piping Isometrics
AutoCAD Plant 3D Projject Managerr manages all the isometricc drawings fo
or you. It has separate fold
ders
e iso styles you need to cre
eate, and settting up the styyles and the llocations for tthese drawin
ngs is
for all the
managed through Project Manager > Properties:

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Isometricss are created by line numb

ber and are so
orted by Iso sstyle in the Prroject Managger:

Isometricss can be created just from

m a drawing, in
n which case only those piiping compon
nents in that
drawing will
w be extractted to the iso
o, or for the whole
w
project.. In this case the whole lin
ne (across sevveral
model file
es perhaps) will
w be extracted into the single isometr ic. Note thatt an isometricc drawing mayy be
split into several
s
sheetts. Each sheet will be a sep
parate dwg.
Because the
t isometricc is extracted from the 3D model, mostt CAD Managgers do not alllow isometriics to
be edited
d in any way. This preventts inconsisten
ncies betweenn the model aand the isomeetric.

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Orthoggraphic Drawings
D
Orthograp
phic drawingss are created from a selecttion of files thhat are availaable in the Plaant 3D Drawin
ngs
under Sou
urce Files. The
e files are selected in the ortho
o
creatio n process, an
nd may be selected to creaate
Area plans, or master plans.
p
Sections and details include few
wer files since they are showing smaller
oject.
areas of the overall pro

f the generaated view is controlled

c
by Ortho DWG SSettings.
Layering for

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Layers can
n be used from the 3D mo
odels, or objeccts can be plaaced accordin
ng to specified
d layer settings.

To update
e the orthographic drawings, the mode
el must be chaanged first. Th
hen the user can open thee
ortho, select a viewport and use the
e Update View
w command.

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The above
e process may look like we
e will have maany files to m
manage, and tthis may be trrue. But by
managingg them in this way, drawinggs can be created at any tiime, even wh
hile modeling is going on aand
then draw
wings can be updated
u
conssistently.

Workking witth a Master Mo

odel
Project Managers
M
often want to che
eck on progre
ess. By mainttaining a Project Master M
Model (similarr to
the Area Master
M
mode
el) this processs can be simp
ple and will bbecome the baasis for project reviews. TThe
Master Model
M
is create
ed by creatingg a model file
e that Xrefs A
ALL the Area M
Master modeel files. By
following the rules statted earlier as to when to attach
a
Xrefs aand when to overlay Xrefs, circular
es can be avoiided. Here is an example:
reference

By simply reloading the

e Xrefs at certain times in
n the project, you will havee a project Reeview model w
which
epending on the size of a pproject, masteer files may b
become too laarge
can be exported to Navvisworks. De
CAD to open. In these cases, a master nw
wf (.nwf) shoould be createed that mergees all of the area
for AutoC
models to
ogether.

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Workin
ng with Naviswor
N
ks
Dependin
ng on whether you want to
o work at a prroject level orr at an area leevel, the proccess is the sam
me.
Simply staart with the Master
M
Modell or the Area Model.
The first time
t
you set up
u for a Navissworks review
w, open the M
Master Modell DWG file. N
Now after
performin
ng any operattions you wan
nt to do, save
e the model a s a NWF. In ffuture review
ws, open the N
NWF
file and co
omments, maaterials are re
etained even after the DW
WG files which are referencced have been
n
updated.
Sometime
es you want to
t do reviews at a particulaar milestone and want to ssave the project for furtheer
reviews even though the project de
esign is contin
nuing. In thesse cases, open the Masterr Model or Area
Master DW
WG in Navisw
works, and then save as NW
WD. All the m
model entities are now savved in a singlee
source mo
odel which caan be viewed using Navisw
works.
For betterr performancce, make sure the nwc or nwd
n files get cclosed after tthey are read.

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You also should

s
enable
e occlusion cu
ulling, and togggle the Harddware Accelerration, and W
WPF Hardwaree
Acceleration if you havve having performance issues.

As a rule, only 3d model objects sho

ould be show
wn under rendder style. Enable other object types only if
ese enhances walking perfformance.
necessaryy. Limiting the

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You may prevent

p
Navissworks from even
e
loading these objectss at all underr the followingg options.

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SQL Server
The decision to use SQL Server is driven by the number of users modifying project data at one time. The
default database type, SQLite is valid for up to 2 TB per file, so the project file size is not the issue.
Because the SQLite database is a single file, successful read/writes depend on fast access. When more
users access the database at one time, they have a higher chance of hitting the database at the same
time (or close enough).
Due to network configurations, server performance, computer performance, network loads, and a host
of other factors, a precise number of users cannot be given. However, through experience with various
clients, most people start to see performance degradation with between 6 - 10 users.
If you know you will have more than 10 active users, you should implement SQL Server Express or SQL
Server.
You must also use SQL Server if you plan to use Plant 3D with Vault.
Database Types
SQL Server An enterprise-level product offering from Microsoft that includes a database server with
administration tools for replicating databases between sites, and other advanced features
SQL Server Express A free product offering from Microsoft that includes a database server without
advanced administration tools. You can still configure backups.
SQLite An open source file-based database used by developers world-wide. The database engine is fast
with good performance.
Versions
AutoCAD Plant 3D has been run with SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, and SQL Server 2012.
Articles on setting up SQL Server Express and creating backups are available here:
http://www.pdoteam.com/series/plant3d-on-sql-express/

AutoCAD Plant 3D Managing Large Projects

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Vault
Autodesk Vault (http://www.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-vault-family/features ) is document
management software that integrates with many products in the Autodesk portfolio. In 2014, Vault
became integrated into the Plant Project Manager.
Vault should be used in the following conditions:

You have multiple sites that need to share data

Your Plant project structure contains all external references.
You can use SQL Server or SQL Server Express.

Vault allows you to store the drawing data in a central location, and have satellite offices check in/out
drawings on an as-needed basis. Currently, all xrefs must reside within the project structure, as Plant
uses its own working directory for Vaulted projects.

Conclusions
This document is a guide to help you set up and manage a large project. It is a guide, not a bible, so feel
free to adjust the recommendations to suit the way you work. And remember, designers need to have
exclusive access to a model file while they work. So you need to have at least as many model files as
you have designers!

AutoCAD Plant 3D Managing Large Projects

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Appe
endix 1 Manaaging Drrawing Rights Access
In this app
pendix we will give an example to show
w how you ca n manage a large project w
where differeent
disciplines will have read-only accesss to other discipline draw
wings. In ordeer to manage this the Wind
dows
folder stru
ucture is diffe
erent to the Plant
P
3D Proje
ect folder struucture.

Windo
ows Folde
er Structu
ure
Since we want
w
to give Structural De
esigners Write
e Access to thheir designs aand read-onlyy access to thee
Piping and
d Equipment Layout designs, then it maakes sense too create a fold
der for the Structures and a
different folder
f
for Pip
ping Designerss. If we also want
w
to manaage files at an
n area level, tthen we will ccreate
area folde
ers as well:

The folder organization

n could be exxtended to incclude area su b-folders within the discip
pline folders.
However, a naming forrmat which in
ncludes the area could be used so draw
wing files can be 3easily
associated
d with the are
ea.

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Use the sttandard Wind

dows Folder security
s
featu
ures to assign rights to the folders:

In the abo
ove example we
w have assu
umed the user is a structurral designer s o we are den
nying him writteaccess to the Equipment and Pipingg Folder. Whe
en this user oopens a Pipingg or Equipmeent drawing, tthe
following message willl appear:

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Plant 3D
3 Projecct Folder Structure
e
In the pro
oject we wantt to create a structure
s
by area
a
and thenn by disciplinee as follows:

However, we want to ensure

e
that the equipmen
nt and Piping ddrawings are stored in thee project
Equipmen
nt and Piping folder and th
hat all the stru
uctural drawi ngs are held in the structu
ures folder (as we
created in
n the previouss section)
We do thiis by creatingg a new folderr for the area and then linkking this foldeer to the disccipline folder w
we
created previously:

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Now when we create a new piping drawing in an

n area (in thiss case Area 2)) the Project M
Manager will
o the disciplin
ne folder in th
hat area but tthe actual draawing file is h
held in the
show it ass a member of
discipline folder and asssumes the rights access of
o the folder:

Although this seems a complex process, it only has

h to be don e at project ssetup time. O
Once the project is
fully set up
u in Project Manager,
M
the drawings willl automatica lly be created
d in the correect folder.

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