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1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................9
1.1 Aim ..................................................................................................................................................... 9
1.2 Objectives.......................................................................................................................................... 9
1.3 Prerequisites ..................................................................................................................................... 9
1.4 Course Structure............................................................................................................................... 9
1.5 Using this guide .............................................................................................................................. 10
2 Getting Started .....................................................................................................................11
2.1 Enter/Login to AVEVA E3D ............................................................................................................ 11
2.1.1 Entering AVEVA E3D – A Worked Example ............................................................................. 11
2.2 The Model Environment ................................................................................................................. 15
2.3 AVEVA E3D Disciplines ................................................................................................................. 17
2.3.1 Selecting a Modelling Discipline – A Worked Example ............................................................. 17
2.4 AVEVA E3D Forms.......................................................................................................................... 18
2.4.1 Docking the Forms..................................................................................................................... 18
2.4.2 Hiding the Forms ....................................................................................................................... 18
2.4.3 Docking and Hiding Forms – A Worked Example ..................................................................... 19
2.4.4 Splitting the Sliding Forms Set .................................................................................................. 20
2.4.5 Arranging Forms in Sliding Forms Sets..................................................................................... 20
2.4.6 Using Sliding Form Sets – A Worked Example ......................................................................... 20
2.4.7 Undocking the Sliding Forms Sets ............................................................................................ 21
2.5 PowerWheel™ overview ................................................................................................................ 21
2.6 PowerCompass™ Overview .......................................................................................................... 22
2.7 In 3D view Commands Overview................................................................................................... 23
2.8 Contextual Editor Overview ........................................................................................................... 23
2.9 Accessing Help Pages.................................................................................................................... 24
2.10 Closing AVEVA E3D.................................................................................................................... 25
2.11 Set up the Training Course ........................................................................................................ 25
Exercise 1 Using Sliding Forms ........................................................................................................ 26
3 Exploring the Database .......................................................................................................27
3.1 The Model Explorer......................................................................................................................... 27
3.2 The Current Element....................................................................................................................... 28
3.3 Element identification..................................................................................................................... 28
3.3.1 Element Types........................................................................................................................... 28
3.3.2 Element Names ......................................................................................................................... 28
3.4 Design Common elements............................................................................................................. 29
3.5 Using the Model Explorer – A Worked Example.......................................................................... 29
Exercise 2 Navigating the Hierarchy ................................................................................................. 30
4 Viewing the 3D Model ..........................................................................................................31
4.1 Selecting the elements to display in the 3D View ....................................................................... 31
4.1.1 Adding Elements to the 3D View – A Worked Example ............................................................ 31
4.1.2 Adding other elements to the 3D View – A Worked Example ................................................... 32
4.1.3 The Drawlist Form ..................................................................................................................... 33
4.1.4 Colours of the Model Elements ................................................................................................. 33
4.1.5 Removing Elements from the 3D View – A Worked Example................................................... 34
Exercise 3 Displaying Model Elements............................................................................................. 35
4.2 Controlling the 3D View.................................................................................................................. 36
4.2.1 View Limits – A Worked Example.............................................................................................. 36
4.2.2 Zooming..................................................................................................................................... 36
4.2.3 Rotating the 3D View – A Worked Example.............................................................................. 37
4.2.4 View Direction – A Worked Example......................................................................................... 37
4.2.5 Panning...................................................................................................................................... 39
4.2.6 Centre View ............................................................................................................................... 39
4.2.7 Stepping back to previous views ............................................................................................... 39
Exercise 4 Controlling the 3D View ................................................................................................... 40
4.3 Clipping the View ............................................................................................................................ 41
AVEVA Everything3D™, enables the user to design a 3D computer model of a project. AVEVA E3D™ allows
the user to see a full colour-shaded representation of the model as the design progresses, adding an extremely
impressive level of realism to traditional drawing office techniques.
In the model the user can store huge amounts of data referring to position, size, part numbers and geometric
relationships for the various parts of the project. The model becomes a single source of engineering data for
all of the sections and disciplines involved in a design project.
All this information is stored in databases. There are many different output channels from the databases
through which information can be passed on. These range from reports on data stored in the databases, fully
annotated and dimensioned engineering drawings, to full colour-shaded 3D walk-through capabilities which
allow the user to visualise the complete design model.
1.1 Aim
The aim of this training module is to provide the basic knowledge of the common features that provide the
‘foundations’ for the AVEVA Everything3D Model module.
1.2 Objectives
1.3 Prerequisites
Training will consist of oral and visual presentations, demonstrations and set exercises. Each workstation will
have a training project, populated with model objects. This will be used by the trainees to practice their
methods, and complete the set exercises.
Certain text styles are used to indicate special situations throughout this document, here is a summary;
Menu pull downs and button press actions are indicated by bold dark turquoise text.
Where additional information is presented, or reference is made to other documentation the following
annotation will be used:
Additional information
System prompts will be bold, italicised, and presented in inverted commas i.e. 'Choose function'.
This chapter will show how to enter an AVEVA E3D session and run through some of the user interface basics
to familiarise the user with the Model environment.
AVEVA E3D may be started by using the Start menu icon or the Desktop icon, providing both options were
selected when the product was installed.
Selecting Start > All Programs > AVEVA from the task bar displays
three further options: Design, Engineer and Manage
Double click the AVEVA Everything3D 2.1 shortcut on the desktop to start an
AVEVA E3D session
When initialisation is complete, the AVEVA E3D Login form will be displayed:
AVEVA Everything 3D is divided into modules to perform the various functions to produce a 3D Plant design
model. The modules and their functions are:-
The Project Information Tile will be displayed next to the selected Project tile, and the Project search tile will
be replaced by the Project Credentials tile:
To navigate back to the project selection tiles, click on the “>” button located at the right hand side of the
Project Information Tile.
Three mandatory pieces of information must be supplied before starting the project with a module: The user
name, the user password, and an MDB. Optionally, it is possible to open the project as it was at a certain date
by selecting a “Stamp”.
Click the down arrow button on the right side of the MDB
textbox displays an options list of MDBs for the project.
MDB stands for Multiple Databases and defines a group of databases to be loaded for the selected Module.
An Everything3D project contains several databases of different types to store the data. In Model, the design
data is generally split into different databases of type “DESI”, to separate the different disciplines, or different
areas in the project. This allows more granularity in the project organisation, and the control of user rights.
The MDBs are created by the administrator with a selection of databases that are required for different tasks
and scope of work.
For example, in the Training project, selecting the MDB “A-EQUIPMENT” will load a selection of all the design
and catalogue databases required for designing the equipment in the project.
The access rights will be applied on the databases loaded by the MDB depending on the User selected in the
Project Credentials tile.
Each database of the project is owned by a “Team” defined by the administrator. The selected user will have
the right to create / modify / delete elements in a loaded database only if they are a member of the Team
owning the database. Otherwise, the database will be opened in “Read Only” mode.
For example, in the Training project, the administrator has assigned the user “A.EQUIPMAN” to the team
“EQUIP” and therefore the user “A.EQUIPMAN” will have the right to create / modify / delete elements in all
the databases owned by the Team “EQUIP”.
Click the Model tile to enter the AVEVA E3D Model session
for the specified project.
The AVEVA E3D initialization animated image will be displayed for a few seconds while the module is loaded
along with the databases from the selected MDB.
The main Application interface will then be displayed. Note that the project data will not be visible until invoked
by the user as described in the chapters that follow.
The AVEVA E3D user interface is based on the Microsoft® Office Fluent™ user interface. Starting Model
for the first time will use the default screen layout as shown below:
Prompt Area
Sliding Forms
3D view
PowerWheel™
PowerCompass™
™
Status Bar
Notification Area
Message Area
View Tab Group
This default layout may be modified to suit individual preferences, e.g. additional forms may displayed in the
layout, forms may be moved and ‘docked’ and pinned/unpinned as required. Some of these features are
described later in this chapter.
After exiting AVEVA E3D or changing to a different module, a subsequent return to the Model module will
restore the screen layout as it was left in the previous session.
Groups: each tab is divided into Groups to organise the buttons by task.
Sliding forms Sets or Panels: forms are docked and tabbed on both sides
of the 3D View and can be temporarily hidden to clear the 3D view.
View Tab Group: provides access to the different opened 3D Views from
multiple tabs.
Depending on the discipline, new Tabs will be displayed in the Fluent UI to provide the tools specific to that
discipline. For example, selecting the EQUIPMENT discipline will display the EQUIPMENT tab:
Note that the EQUIPMENT tab will be displayed for most of the modelling disciplines.
The organization of the discipline tabs offers user friendly access by presenting the same groups in the same
order for common tasks like Create, Modify and Delete:
This training guide covers some general basic functionality, however, the majority of functionality is
described in the relevant discipline training guide.
Much of the AVEVA E3D user interface is driven by forms which are invoked from the buttons on the discipline
interface or from other forms. Forms are used to display information or to enter or modify data.
Forms come in a variety of sizes and contain different input and modification devices, e.g. textboxes,
checkboxes, options lists, buttons, link labels, etc, which are commonly referred to as gadgets.
The forms are translucent by default, allowing the model elements on the background to be seen. When a
form is clicked and being used, it becomes opaque. The translucency of the forms can be configured in the
project options which is covered in a later chapter.
Most of the AVEVA E3D Forms are dockable, i.e. can be arranged in a fixed position, in two areas located on
the left and the right hand side of the 3D view. These two areas, allow the creation of Sliding Forms Sets,
which offer different functionality to display and arrange the opened forms.
The Left and Right Panels can contain one or several forms which will appear as different tabs. Generally,
when dockable Forms are initially displayed they will dock at their default position in one of the Panels, on
either side of the 3D view.
If not contained in a Panel, a Form is said to be “Floating”, and may be reattached by dragging the Title bar of
the form inside the Panel. Or, it can be detached from the Panel by dragging the tab to any location in the 3D
view.
To enlarge the working space, the forms may be hidden in different ways:-
Collapsing one Panel on one side of the 3D view by clicking on the active tab.
Hiding all the forms on the 3D view by clicking the Clear 3D view button located at the top right hand
corner of the application window.
Hold the left mouse button on the Title bar of the Messages
form, and drag the form inside the Left Panel.
When a form is docked in the Panel amongst others, a new tab will be added in the tab bar of the Sliding Form
Set. The forms may then be made visible by clicking on the relevant tab which will be highlighted in blue to
indicate the user that it is active.
The Panels consists of two areas, the top and the bottom segment, to allow the visibility of two forms
simultaneously.
The size of the bottom segment, which is collapsed by default, may be adjusted by dragging the splitting bar
upward or downward.
When a Panel is split, the two segments can be populated with multiple forms. The two segments will then
contain their own group of tabs, and two forms can now be visible, one in each segment.
With multiple forms opened and docked, it is possible to change the order of the forms in one segment, or to
move a form from one segment to another, or to move a form from one Panel to another.
In the same manner, the tab may be dragged to the other side of the 3D view and dropped in the top or bottom
segment of the right Panel.
Hold the left mouse button down, move the mouse forward
to increase the size of the bottom segment.
Release the mouse when the sliding bar is near the middle.
The bottom segment is now ready to be populated with
forms.
Click on the arrow at the middle of the splitting bar. This will
collapse the bottom segment.
In the left Panel, hold the left mouse button down on the
Messages tab.
Drag the Messages tab towards the upper part of the Model
Explorer tab. Note the red arrows indicating the new
position while dragging the tab.
Release the button when the red arrows are on the top of
the Model Explorer tab. The Messages tab is now reordered
before the Model Explorer tab
In the left Panel, hold the left mouse button down on the
Messages tab.
The two Panels are by default docked on the left and right hand side of the 3D view. It is however possible to
undock them in order to position them freely on the main screen, or a secondary screen.
To undock a Panel, right click on one of its tabs and select the Float option.
The Sliding Form set can then be moved like any other form by holding the left button on the title bar.
To dock the Panel back to its original position, right click on one of its tab and uncheck the Float option.
A number of Model operations may be initiated and controlled through the use of the PowerWheel™; invoked
by right-clicking within the 3D View.
Tile
A function is selected from the PowerWheel by a left-click on the required tile – this may prompt a secondary
PowerWheel for refined selection. For instance selecting the View Direction tile from the primary Power Wheel
prompts a secondary PowerWheel to specify the direction of the 3D View.
Alternatively, by clicking and holding the right mouse button, the required tile can be indicated by moving the
cursor in the appropriate direction and selection confirmed on release of the mouse button. The direction of
selection is aided by an indicating line. On selection of the required option in the primary Power Wheel, the
action may be repeated for selection in the secondary Power Wheel. This operation will be referred as a
“Gesture” in the next Chapters and in other Training Guides.
The PowerWheel functions will be described in more detail in specific training courses.
The PowerCompass is an intuitive tool allowing the user to control the view direction and to select different
coordinate systems.
The view direction features of the PowerCompass will be described section 4.2.
It is possible to move the position of the PowerCompass by dragging the blue grip located below the compass.
Additionally to forms and buttons for user input, it is possible to invoke specific commands by entering them
directly in the 3D View. These commands as referred to as “In 3D view Commands”.
Many commands in AVEVA Everything3D will require user input and most of the time it may be done by
entering value or selecting options directly in the 3D view.
For example, when the MOVE command is used, the user is required to specify positions, and a prompt called
the “Contextual Editor” will be displayed beside the cursor in the 3D View:
When the command is invoked, the default option for this command will be the current option. But the user
may select alternative options by pressing the <down-arrow> key, then clicking on the appropriate tile or
pressing the corresponding key indicated on the tile.
Navigation between text boxes may be achieved by pressing the <tab> key.
When coordinates are to be entered, it may be possible to switch the Absolute mode to Relative mode by
pressing the <Shift> and <@> keys. Also, it is possible to switch between Cartesian, cylindrical or polar
coordinates by pressing the apostrophe <`> key.
The AVEVA Everything3D Help Viewer can be accessed in three different ways:
By pressing the <F1> key .This will open the Help Viewer
with the page opened for the form being currently used.
The Help Viewer enables the user to explore the AVEVA E3D documentation either via the logically grouped
items in the Contents tab, from an alphabetical index via the Index tab or search for key words via the Search
tab.
The page of the displayed User Documentation in the Help Viewer may be printed by clicking the Print button
in the top right hand corner of the Help Viewer window.
Everything3D may be closed by clicking the standard “cross” button at the top right hand corner of the
application window, or, from the PROJECT tab by selecting the Exit button, or, selecting the close button from
the AVEVA E3D icon at the top left hand corner of the application window.
When closing AVEVA E3D, if changes have been made but not saved, a dialog box will prompt the user to
save the changes or cancel:
Refer to section 5.7 for more information about saving the changes in the database.
1. Expand the bottom segment of the right Panel. Drag the splitting bar to the middle of the Panel.
2. In the TOOLS tab, group Display, click the Commands button to open the Commands Window.
3. Dock the Commands Window in the bottom segment of the right Panel.
4. Drag the Messages form to the bottom segment of the right Panel.
This chapter will describe how the Model data can be browsed and how the different elements can be
identified.
The Model Explorer is a form containing a representation of the content of the loaded design databases, in
the form of an explorer tree with expandable branches called “nodes”. In the default Model environment, the
Model Explorer is docked in the Panel at the left hand side of the 3D view.
If the Model Explorer is closed, it can be opened from the TOOLS tab, group Explorers:
The AVEVA Everything3D database, called Dabacon, is a hierarchical database where elements contain
other elements.
To view or hide the content of one element, expand or collapse the node by clicking on the arrow next to the
element.
When an element contains other elements, it is referred as the “Owner” of the contained elements, and the
contained elements are referred to as its “Members”. The topmost element which contains all the other
elements is called the “World”.
For more options about the Model Explorer, refer to section 9.1
A fundamental concept of the Dabacon database is that any action of creation, deletion or modification of an
element in the database is performed on one element which has been previously selected by the user. This
selected element is referred as to the “Current Element” or “CE”. The action of selecting the Current Element
is called “Navigating to”.
Note that element names in E3D are case sensitive and this applies while searching for elements in the
Navigation List.
In the Model Explorer, the elements are identified by an icon, an element type, and its name as follows:
Element Name
Element Type
Icon representing the Type
Each element in the database is assigned an element Type which defines its characteristics and behaviour.
In the Model Explorer, the type of element is indicated by the first four letters next to the element’s icon.
Depending on its Type, an element may only exist in a valid position in the hierarchy. For example, an element
of type “SITE” can only be owned by an element of type “WORL”, an element of type “ZONE” can only be
owned by an element of type “SITE” etc...
Next to the element Type is the Name of the element. The name of the element is optional and can be specified
by the user when the element is created, or can be changed afterwards.
The element names must comply with a set of rules that will be described in the “Creating Elements”
chapter.
When an element is not named, it will appear in the hierarchy with a number next to its type. This number
indicates the order of the element in the hierarchy, from top to bottom, for a given element type.
For example, the first element of type CYLI in TANK1 is not named and therefore
will be identified by “CYLI 1” in the hierarchy.
In the forms, unnamed element will be referenced by a “system name” containing the Type, the order in the
hierarchy, and the name of the owner. For example, the second PYRA in TANK1 will have a constructed
name “PYRAMID 2 OF EQUIPMENT /TANK1”
Note that the actual name of an element in the database is always prefixed with a forward slash. Most of
the forms will automatically add it if omitted.
Internally AVEVA E3D does not use names to identify elements, but a unique database reference number so
that an element may be re-named at any time.
These reference numbers are never re-used if an element is deleted and therefore, remain unique throughout
the life of the project. On some forms the reference number is used in place of the system name and will look
like =23584/2152.
In the Design database, most of the design elements will be stored in a common tree structure composed of
SITE elements and ZONE elements. These two element types are common to all discipline and often referred
as to “administrative” elements as their main purpose is to organize the project.
A typical organization of a project is reproduced in the Training and Sample project, where the purpose of
SITE elements is to group the data by Area and Discipline. The ZONE elements can be used as “Sub-groups”
inside a SITE. All the other element types stored below a ZONE are discipline dependent. For example the
type “EQUI” will be used for the Equipment discipline, the type “PIPE” for the Piping discipline etc.
Enter TA. Note that while typing, a list will appear showing
all the element names starting with the current entry:
1. In the Model Explorer, collapse the node for the Model WORL * element.
3. Expand the TRA.SITE element to display the ZONE elements owned by the SITE.
4. Expand the different element types in the ZONE and note what type of elements they own.
5. In the textbox at the top of Model Explorer, enter p and note that only element names with a lower case
“p” are displayed.
6. Select one of the names and note that model explorer navigates to one of the elements in the PIPE ZONE
of the TRA.SITE element.
After starting AVEVA Everything3D, all the loaded database elements will be visible in the Model Explorer and
will be accessible by expanding the nodes of the hierarchy, as described in the previous chapter.
The 3D View allows the user to manipulate the geometric database elements graphically, or in other terms, to
create and visualise in 3D the model elements.
By default, the 3D View is empty when starting AVEVA E3D. The user will have the possibility to decide which
element, or group of elements are to be displayed in a 3D View to suit the scope of his work.
This chapter describes how to select the model elements to be displayed; and how to use the basic controls
to manipulate the 3D View.
To display a Model element, it must be selected from the Model Explorer and then added to the 3D View. The
content of the 3D View is a collection of database elements called a Drawlist.
When adding an element to a 3D View, all its members will also be added. For example if a SITE is added, all
the other elements contained in this SITE, like ZONE, EQUI or PIPE, are also added to the 3D View. The
Drawlist associated with the 3D View will be automatically populated, however, only the “significant” elements,
i.e. element containing geometric definitions, will populate the Drawlist.
Elements may be added or removed from the 3D View at any time during a Model session.
When an element is made the CE, it may be added to the 3D View by either:-
Dragging and dropping the element from the Model Explorer into the 3D View.
Right clicking the element in the Model Explorer and selecting 3D View > Add.
Clicking the Add CE button from the VIEW tab, group Content
Add Connected – this option adds the CE and any elements connected to it to the Drawlist and 3D
View.
Add Within Volume – this option adds the CE and any elements that are partially or wholly within a
‘volume box’ whose size is derived from the extremities of the CE to the Drawlist and 3D View.
Note that the view is zoomed to fit the whole element in the display.
If the CE is a component or primitive, e.g. a valve or a cylinder, the owning element, with all its members are
also added to the 3D View. However, if the <Ctrl> key is pressed during the drag and drop operation, only the
component or primitive will be added to the 3D View.
Holding the <Shift> key while dragging an element to the 3D View will remove all the elements from the
Drawlist except the CE.
If the added elements are the first elements to be added to an empty Drawlist, the limits of the view will be
automatically adjusted around these elements. Subsequent additions to the Drawlist will not affect the limits
of the view, i.e. larger elements added later will be clipped in the 3D View. The View limits will then have to be
redefined, as explained in a later chapter.
In the VIEW tab, located in the Content group, click the Add CE button. This adds
the CE to the Drawlist.
Additional options are available from the Popup menu when right clicking on the CE in the Model Explorer to
add to the 3D View elements that are close or related to the CE.
This will add the suction and discharge pipes that are connected
to the Pump
How elements are connected varies depending on the discipline and is outside the scope of this
training guide. Refer to specific discipline training guides for element connectivity.
Right click on the element and select 3D View > Add Within
Volume
This will add all the elements partially or wholly within the
volume englobing the element TANK2.
The Drawlist Form allows the visualization of the list of elements contained in the 3D View. From this form, all
the Add and Remove options seen previously are available, along with additional options to modify the
appearance of the model elements in the 3D View, like colours and translucency.
For more options and settings using the Drawlist form, refer to section 9.3
Although it is possible to modify the colours of elements from the Drawlist form, this is temporary, affecting
only the display of the current user, and will be reset when the element is removed from the Drawlist.
Unless customized, standard Model elements do not have a colour information stored in the database. The
standard colours as they appear in the 3D View are defined by Rules, e.g. all elements of type EQUI are in
colour gold with 0% translucency. The Colour Rules may be customized by the Administrator, and are
enabled/disabled by using the Auto-Colour toggle in the VIEW tab, group Settings.
There are 3 methods that can be used to remove elements the 3D View. These are stated in the sub sections
below.
This option will remove all the elements included in the current
graphical selection, i.e. elements that are outlined in green in the
3D View. Graphical selections will be described in a later chapter.
To remove only the CE without its owner in the case of a component or primitive, select the Remove Only
option.
Click the Remove options button, located on the VIEW tab and select Remove CE,
this will remove TANK1 from the 3D View.
Click again the Remove options button then select Remove All. This will remove
all the elements in the 3D View and empty the Drawlist.
The Remove Selection option will have the same effect as the equivalent
PowerWheel option.
In the VIEW tab, group Content, click the Drawlist button to display the Drawlist form. Dock the form in the
bottom segment of the left Panel.
In Model Explorer expand the TRA.SITE element to show the ZONE elements and expand the EQUIP.ZONE
element. Navigate to the element TANK1 and drag and drop it into the 3D View.
Navigate to the element PUMP1 and click the Add CE button from the VIEW tab, group Content.
Right click the EQUIP.ZONE element in Model Explorer to display the pop-up menu and select 3D View >
Add to add the ZONE to the Drawlist. Note that only the equipment element TANK2 has been added to the
Drawlist. As the other equipment items owned by the EQUI.ZONE were already in the Drawlist only the
remaining equipment item has been added.
TANK2 cannot be seen in the 3D View as the display limits were set around TANK1. Right click in the 3D
View and gesture to the Extents tile of the PowerWheel. The limits are now set to display all of the equipment
elements in the 3D View.
Right click on TANK1 in Model Explorer and select 3D View > Add Connected from the pop-up menu. This
will add pipe1-b1 to the 3D View as the pipe is connected to the equipment.
Right click on TANK2 in Model Explorer and select 3D View > Add Within Volume from the pop-up menu.
This adds pipe2-b1 and some of the section (SCTN) elements that make up the TANK2 supports to the 3D
View as they are within the volume of the equipment item.
Navigate to PIPE.ZONE and click the Add CE to Drawlist button on the Drawlist form to add the remainder
of the pipe branches to the 3D View.
Most of the controls to manipulate the views will be accessed directly from mouse buttons and the
PowerWheel, with their equivalent in the VIEW tab.
Model elements may be present in the Drawlist but not visible in the 3D View. The 3D View has invisible limits
which will clip and hide all elements outside these limits. By default, the view limits are automatically adjusted
to englobe the first elements added to the 3D View as seen in the previous chapter.
To view the elements that are outside the View Limits either:-
These options will calculate the dimension of a virtual box that englobes all the elements in the Drawlist, then
scale this box in order to make all the elements visible in the 3D view.
Now add the element TRA.SITE to the 3D View, the View will remain focused
on PUMP1.
Right click in the 3D View to invoke the PowerWheel, then gesture to the
Extents option. The view limits will now be extended to include the entire
Drawlist.
4.2.2 Zooming
Rolling the wheel forward will zoom in and scrolling the wheel backwards zooms out. The Zoom is centered
at the location of the cursor.
Additional Zoom options can be found in the VIEW tab, group Control :
Zoom Center: specify the center and the ratio of the zoom
The Rotation of the model is achieved by holding the middle mouse button down and moving the mouse in
any direction. By default, the rotation mode is set about the Model, i.e. the observer will rotate in any direction
around a fixed position.
The center of rotation is determined when the button is pressed. Its position is set where the crosshair touches
an element on the 3D View. The center of rotation will be indicated by a pink pin while rotating.
Explore the Model by rotating and zooming using the different methods
described previously.
The direction of the view is set “Freely” when rotating the model as seen previously.
It is also possible to set the view direction by using a preset, like an isometric direction, an orthogonal direction,
or a plan direction.
This may be done either by using Look button in the VIEW tab, by invoking the PowerWheel, or by using the
PowerCompass.
Click on the blue ball between the N and E cardinal points. This will set the View direction to a NE
Isometric.
4.2.5 Panning
Panning enables the contents of the 3D View to be moved across the view in any direction.
In the 3D View, holding the <Ctrl> key down and holding the middle mouse button whist moving the cursor
will pan the view.
The 3D View may also be panned by ‘setting the centre of interest’. Positioning the cursor anywhere in the 3D
View and clicking the middle mouse button will move the selected point to the centre of the view. Therefore,
the view may be panned in any direction by selectively picking a point in the view and clicking the middle
mouse button.
The view will pan by the distance between the picked point and the centre of the 3D View. Keeping the cursor
in the same location and repeatedly clicking the middle mouse button will keep panning the view.
AVEVA E3D keeps a record of all the successive view directions and positions used during the current session.
At any time, the user may step back to a previous view state, or step forward to a later view state.
Add the element TRA.SITE to the Drawlist and use the Extents tile of the PowerWheel to view the entire
Drawlist contents.
Use the <Ctrl> key and the middle button to pan the View.
Use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out freely. Repeat with different cursor positions.
Click on the middle button to centre the view at the cursor’s position.
On the PowerCompass, click the blue ball between the N and the E labels. Limit the View to the Extents.
Using the PowerWheel, gesture to the View Direction tile and select one the isometric direction. Observe the
changes with different View Direction tiles.
Clipping allows the user to isolate a region of the model by hiding all parts of the model falling outside a user
defined clipping box.
The tools and options for clipping are located in the VIEW tab, group Clip:
Add Within – populates the 3D View with elements that are wholly or
partially within the clipping box.
Cap – toggle to enable or disable the capping, i.e. closing the sides of
the elements that are cut by the clipping box.
When using Laser Models, clipping does not apply on laser data.
A Clipping Box can be created around an Element or Skid to isolate it from the rest of the Model. This is done
by using the Create options button, located in the Clip group of the VIEW tab.
In the VIEW tab, group Clip, click the Create options button and
select the Current Element option.
This will create a clipping box around the pump and hide all other
Drawlist elements from the 3D View.
Note that the Clip toggle and the Modify toggle will be automatically
enabled.
Once the clipping box has been created, its position and
dimensions can be adjusted by double clicking on the box and
pulling the grips.
In the Clip group of the VIEW tab, ensure the Modify toggle is
enabled so that the clipping box is visible.
Click the Clip toggle to disable the clipping and view the rest of
the model.
Click the arrow grip at the top of the clipping box. The dimension
can then be extended freely, or by snapping to an object, or by
entering a value in the 3D view.
Click the arrow grip on the south side of the clipping box.
When the model is clipped, only the parts of the model inside the clipping box are displayed. Where items are
intersected by the clip box, a coloured cap can be added to show that the items extend beyond the displayed
region.
In the VIEW tab, located in the Clip section, click the Cap toggle to activate the capping.
The capping colour may be changed from the View Settings form. See Chapter 10.2.
Use the Create button in the VIEW tab to create a clipping box around the Current Element.
Double click on the clipping box and pull the grip for the bottom face of the box to include the slab in the
clipping.
Elements in the 3D View may be hidden temporarily without being removed from the Drawlist.
The hiding options are located within the Hide options button from the Content section of the VIEW tab:
Show Last Hidden – restores the elements that have been last hidden.
Show All Hidden – restores all the elements that have been hidden.
If a primitive or a component is included in the graphical selection, the Hide Selected option will hide the
owner of the primitive or component, e.g. the whole EQUI or the whole BRAN.
Click PUMP1 in the 3D View. The pump will be highlighted with a green
outline.
In the VIEW tab, group Content, click the Hide options button and select
Hide Selected.
Click the Hide options again and select the Show Last Hidden option to
restore the pump.
The tooltips provides the user a quick access to essential information by displaying a table containing the data
related to an element in the 3D View or the Model Explorer.
Proceed the same way to display the Tooltips from the Model
Explorer.
The Tooltips are configurable and the content varies depending on the element type.
4.6 Settings
For more options about the display of the current view, like background colour and lighting, refer to section
9.2
For more options about the representation of elements in the 3D View like colours and level of detail, refer to
section 9.4
For more options about the view controls configuration, refer to section 0.
Before starting to work with the 3D Model, it is important to understand how the data is managed in the
background. In this chapter, the basic database concepts will be covered through further operations in the
Model Explorer like creating, modifying or deleting elements.
After starting an AVEVA E3D session, the user should be aware of their access rights in the different
databases. There are two different types of access: Read Only and Read/Write. By default, all the database
loaded via the selected MDB are Read Only, i.e. the user can read and use the information contained in the
database, but cannot create, modify or delete elements. To be able to read and write in a database, the user
needs to be a member of the group of users owning the database, called a Team.
In the GENERAL tab, loacted in the Create group, click the Zone button to create a
ZONE element in the CE.
An error message will appear to notify that the element cannot be created because
the database is Read Only:
When the user attempts to create, modify or delete an element which is in a Read Only database an error
message will be displayed.
Also, when multiple users are working on the same project at the same time, some elements might be locked
by some users to prevent any modifications or deletion from other users. This mechanism is called the “Claim”
and will be described in a later chapter.
An additional layer of access rights based on rules called DACs, configured by the administrator, can
also prevent the user from performing some actions depending on the context.
Depending on the discipline and the form used, the database elements can be created in different ways. When
they are not created automatically by the application, the user needs to know some basic rules before creating
new elements manually.
In most discipline tabs, like GENERAL, PIPING or EQUIPMENT, elements can be created by using the
buttons located in the Create group.
Before creating an element the user needs to decide where to store the new element in the hierarchy, or in
other words, which existing element will own the new one. This must be a valid owner. All element types in
AVEVA E3D have a list of possible owners, if the selected element is not in the list, it will not be possible to
create the new element and an error message will be displayed.
In the GENERAL tab, located in the Create group, click the Zone button.
An error message will appear as a WORL element is not a valid owners for
a ZONE element.
Navigate to the valid owner directly then click the creation button: this will create the new element as
the first member of the CE.
Or, navigate to one member of the valid owner then click the creation button: this will create the new
element below the selected member.
The valid owners will be specified when creating elements in discipline related training guides.
Any element in an AVEVA E3D database may be given an explicit name. Names enable the user to identify
elements and to produce meaningful reports from the database. Which elements are named is a matter of
choice, however, in general ‘significant elements’, e.g. SITE, ZONE, EQUI, SUBE, PIPE, BRAN, STRU,
FRMW, SBFR, etc. would be named. It is not usual for primitives to be named. The WORLD is named “*” and
cannot be renamed.
Element names in AVEVA E3D must comply with the following rules:
Element names begin with a forward slash, e.g. /MY_MODEL. Generally, most design elements give the
user the opportunity to name them from the element creation form. The user does not have to enter the
forward slash on such forms as it is added automatically when the Return (Enter) key is pressed.
Element names are case sensitive, e.g. /P1001A, /P1001a, /p1001A and /p1001a are all valid, different
names.
Element names must not contain spaces. Any character such as forward slash (/), Underscore (_),
hyphen (-), asterisk (*), etc. may be used as separators.
Alternatively, an element may be renamed directly from the Model Explorer. This method offers additional
options, in particular for renaming the element’s members.
Right clicking on the element name will invoke a contextual menu and the rename option can be selected to
change the name of the selected element.
Right click on the element CYLI 1 and select the Rename option.
Note that a list of options is available below the Name Text box. By default, the option is set to “Only” which
means that only the Current Element will be renamed.
Often, the name of the members of an element contains the name of their owner to avoid duplicate names.
For examples, the nozzles of an equipment named TANK2 can be named “TANK2/N1”, “TANK2/N2” etc….
When renaming an element, it is also possible to rename all its members accordingly at the same time.
Right click on the element TANK2 and select the Rename option.
Note that the name appearing in the text box will be the text that will be searched and replaced in the members
names.
Enter VESS1 in the text box then click the Apply button
Change the name of VESS1 back to TANK2 using the Re-name all option.
The Model Explorer offers the possibility to create new elements by copying existing ones. This can be done
by right clicking on the element to copy to invoke the contextual menu and selecting the copy, then the paste
options.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, a valid owner must be chosen before creating an element, i.e. when
the paste option is selected in this case. The paste option will not be available if a valid owner is not selected.
Right click on D1201 and select Copy from the popup menu.
The new created element and its members will be named like the original element, with the prefix “Copy-of-“.
In this case, it is good practice to rename the element using the Re-name all option as described in the
previous section.
It is also important to note that the position and orientation of the model elements are always expressed with
respect to their owner’s local coordinate system. If the element is copied below the same owner as the original,
it will have the same position and orientation. If the element is copied to a different owner, having a different
local coordinate system, the position or orientation of the copy will be different than the original.
The delete options are located in the HOME tab and most of the Discipline tabs, in the Delete group:
It is important to note that deleting a database element will also delete all of the elements in the hierarchy
owned by the element.
For example, if a SITE is deleted, all of the ZONEs owned by it will be deleted and any elements, such as
EQUI, STRU, PIPE, etc. owned by the ZONE will also be deleted.
Current Element – Clicking this button will delete the CE from the
database. Or, alternatively, right click on the element in the Model
Explorer then select Delete.
As seen previously, the position of an element in the hierarchy is defined during its creation. In some discipline,
the order of the elements is fundamental. For example, in the Piping discipline the elements are arranged in
order from top to bottom to respect the “flow” order of the physical pipe.
If some elements are incorrectly positioned in the hierarchy, it is possible to change their order, or even change
their owner at any time.
In the MANAGE tab, group Modify, three tools allow to modify the hierarchy:
Reverse : Reverse the order of all the members of the Current Element
In this example, the element D1201 will be moved from the ZONE ZONE-EQUIPMENT-AREA01 to the ZONE
EQUIP.ZONE.
Before proceeding with the change of owner, three important conditions are to be considered:
The destination owner must be a valid owner for the elements to move.
The original owner and the destination owner must be in the same database.
As the element positions are defined relatively to their owner, if the original owner and the destination
owner have different positions, the absolute position of the element will change accordingly.
In this example, the ZONE ZONE-EQUIPMENT-AREA01 and the ZONE EQUIP.ZONE are in the same
database and have the same position.
Click the Include button from the Modify section of the MANAGE tab to open
the Include form.
Ensure the name of the destination owner appears at the top of the form.
Select TANK2 in the Include Members list on the left of the Include form.
Then select “After Item” in the list at the bottom of the form.
This will position the included element, D1201, after the element
TANK2.
Note that other options are available from the Include dropdown list:
The Reorder button in the Modify group of the MANAGE tab allows to change the sequence of the elements
that are under the same owner in the hierarchy.
In this example, the element D1201 that have been previously included after the element TANK2 will be
reordered before the element PUMP1 in the hierarchy.
The form contains two grids with the members of the Current
Element.
The top grid is used to select the element to reorder. Click the
element /D1201 in the top grid.
The bottom grid is used to select the destination where the element
will be reordered to. Click the element /PUMP1 in the bottom grid.
In between the two grids, two options are available to reorder the
element before or after the selected element in the bottom grid.
Select the Reorder Before option.
When changes are made to the design model during an AVEVA E3D session, the effects of the changes are
applied only to a copy of the design data until the databases are updated. There is no auto-save in AVEVA
E3D and, therefore, the databases must be updated explicitly by the user. It is advisable to save work regularly
to ensure that other users can access the most recent model changes in a multi-user environment.
Updating the databases to incorporate the current design changes may be achieved by either:
Model changes made by the current user are immediately visible in the working copies of the databases.
However, the changes made by other users during your current AVEVA E3D session will not be shown in
your working copies unless they are updated explicitly.
Updating the working copies of the databases, in order to view the changes made by other users, may be
achieved by either:
Note that a Get Work is automatically performed when doing a Save Work.
5.9 Undo/Redo
Undo and Redo buttons are available from the Quick Access
Toolbar.
It is important to understand that these buttons will only undo or redo database changes i.e. if a position or
orientation of an element is modified or an element is added or deleted, these are database changes, whereas,
changing the display colour of an element is not a database change.
There is no limit to the undo or redo within a Model session, however, any Save Work or Get Work commands
will clear the undo and redo history, i.e. it will not be possible to undo beyond the last Save Work.
Most of the databases in Everything3D are “Multiwrite” databases, which means that in a multi user
environment, one database can be read and modified by several users at the same time. To avoid conflicting
data when a user creates or modify an element, it will be temporarily locked in Read Only access for the other
users. The locked element is said to be “Claimed” by the user who is currently working on it. The elements
that are claimed by the current user will be notified in the Model Explorer by a name in bold characters:
If the current user attempts to delete or modify an element claimed by another user, an error or warning
message with detailed information will be displayed:
The elements are generally automatically claimed by the first user who creates or modify them. However, at
any time, a user may claim an element to prevent other users to modify it, provided it is not already claimed
by another user. In the other way, the user may “unclaim” an element he had claimed previously to make it
available to other users for modification.
The elements claimed by a user are automatically unclaimed when he exits the application.
Each claimed element is included in a list called the “Claimlist”. It is possible to view the Claimlist of the
current user, and the Claimlist of other users, in the Multiwrite Claim Lists form.
On the MANAGE tab, group Access, clicking the Claimlists button displays the Multiwrite Claim Lists
form.
Multiwrite databases have a claim mode that is set when the database is created:
If the claim mode is Explicit the element must be claimed before it can be worked on.
If the claim mode is Implicit when a user starts to modify an element it is automatically claimed. In
this mode an element may also be claimed explicitly.
Current Element - claims the CE and all the elements below it.
After performing a Save Work, elements can also be unclaimed using the Unclaim menu option:
The Unclaim menu has the same options as the Claim menu except that
the options unclaim instead of claim. The menu also has the following
additional options:
The Unclaim menu is only active when there are members in the Active
Claimlist.
This exercise will create a new SITE containing Equipment elements from TRA.SITE using the functionality
described in the previous chapter.
Unclaim All.
Save Work.
Every AVEVA E3D database element has a fixed set of properties, depending on its type, known as its
“Attributes”. Some attributes are common throughout the large range of elements, some are applicable to
many elements and some are unique to one type of element. Also, it is possible for administrators to create
customized attributes known as User Defined Attributes (UDAs).
When the user has a write access on an element, he may modify its attributes in several ways. This chapter
will describe how to modify the elements attributes by using the Properties form, the Attributes form, or by
manipulating the model elements in the 3D View.
First of all, before modifying them, the user needs to select elements. This can be done by navigating to one
element in the Model Explorer as seen previously, or, by making a graphical selection in the 3D View.
Visible items in a 3D View may be grouped together to form a Graphical Selection which are used in a variety
of ways in AVEVA E3D.
Elements included in a Graphical Selection are highlighted with a solid green line around the extremities of
the constituent parts of the item(s).
The graphical selection will consists of “Significant” elements, i.e. elements that contains a geometric
definition. For example, elements of type EQUIPMENT, VALVE, or FLANGE, may be part of a graphical
selection but administrative elements like SITE or ZONE will not be included in a selection.
Clicking on an element in the 3D View makes it the CE and creates a new graphical selection containing that
one item.
Holding down the <Shift> or <Ctrl> key and clicking on an unselected element will add it to the graphical
selection.
Holding down the <Shift> or <Ctrl> key and clicking on a selected element will remove it from the graphical
selection.
The <Shift> and <Ctrl> keys will not have any effect if the multiple selection mode is enabled, see 6.2.2
Navigating to an element in the Model Explorer will cancel the current selection. The CE will be highlighted in
blue in the 3D View but will not be part of a selection.
It is possible to make a graphical selection from the Model Explorer by right click on an element and choose
3D View > Select. All the element’s members will be included in the selection if they are significant. This will
also add them to the 3D View if they are not already displayed.
Holding down the <Shift> key, click the TANK1, TANK2 and
PUMP1 in the 3D View to add them to the current graphical
selection.
A graphical selection may be created using a fence selection by holding the left mouse button down in the 3D
View. Pressing the button will define the first corner of the fence, releasing the button will define the opposite
corner of the fence.
To select all the elements that are wholly within, i.e. entirely contained inside the rectangular boundary
of the fence, drag the mouse from left to right. The fence will be coloured in blue.
To select elements that are both entirely contained inside the rectangular boundary of the fence, and
items that cross the boundary, drag the mouse from right to left. The fence will then be coloured in
Green.
Using the fence while holding the <Ctrl> key will add or remove elements to the current graphical selection
For some element attributes, like the Name or the Position, appropriate values are set by the creation or
modification of the element when modelling, whilst others may be set or entered by the user via the User
Interface, via the Attribute form or the Properties form.
In the Model Explorer, right click on the element TANK1 and select Attributes.
The Attributes form will be displayed and showing the attributes of the
Current Element.
The values of the attributes may be modified if the associated cell in the
Value column is white. Grey cells in the Value column indicates that the
attribute is Read Only. This is generally the case for attributes set by
the system, or for elements in a Read Only database.
Notice the attribute value has been highlighted for modification. This is the case for any modifiable attribute.
Enter the text Storage Tank T1001. Notice the value cell has been highlighted in cyan, this is to show the
modification was successful.
For more options and settings about the Attributes form, refer to
section 9.4.2
Where the Attributes form allows the modification of attributes for the Current Element only, the Properties
form operates on the graphical selection, allowing the modification of the attributes of multiple elements in
bulk.
By default, the Properties form is docked in the right Panel. If not opened, it can be displayed by clicking the
Properties toggle located in the Display group of the HOME tab.
Clicking one element in the 3D View will add it as the first element in the current graphical selection, and
display its properties in the Properties form.
Selection List
Object Selection Mode
Category
Property Name
Value Cell
Property information
Like for the Attributes form, the property values may be modified by clicking on a value cell and entering data.
The Read Only values will appeared greyed.
It is also possible to control the graphical selection mode from the Properties forms with two options:
If the Multiple selection mode is enabled, the <Shift> and <Ctrl> keys will have no effect in during the
selection process
After selecting a type in the list, the display will be updated with all the properties for the selected type. It
will be then possible to modify the value of a property to update all the elements of the selected type at
once.
This will update the Function attribute with the new value
for all the elements of type EQUI in the current graphical
selection.
In the TOOLS tab, Group Training, click the Training Setup button to display the Training Setup form.
Select the Foundations tab, then click the Delete TRA.SITE and add MESS Site checkbox.
The SITE TRA.SITE has been deleted and the SITE TRA.SITE.MESS added to the databases and displayed
in the 3D View. The SITE has been modified to introduce some design errors which may be grouped into three
categories:
Size errors - some primitives have one of their size attributes incorrectly set. The task is to identify which
attribute is wrong and correct its value.
Positional errors - equipment items are incorrectly positioned or primitives are incorrectly positioned
within the equipment. The task is to correctly position the equipment and the primitives.
Orientation errors - equipment items or primitives within an equipment are incorrectly orientated. The
task is to correctly orientate equipment and primitives. Note: All equipment and primitives should be
orientated on an orthogonal axis.
In the Model Explorer, expand the element TANK1 and navigate to BOX 1
In the Properties from, expand the Geometry category, and set the property Top diameter to 1500mm
The preferred way to modify the position of elements is to move them in the 3D View by either:
Using the Editor mode to quickly reposition elements from their origin
Both these methods will require the user to specify positions. It can be just one position for an absolute
displacement, two positions or a vector for a relative displacement. In all cases, the user will have the
possibility to specify the positions by either:
First of all, it is important to understand how the coordinates are expressed in the 3D View and how the user
can control the coordinate system to suit his needs for positioning and rotating elements.
By default, the coordinates are expressed relatively to the World, i.e. the origin is set on (0, 0, 0), and the axis
are set to East/West (E/W), North/South (N/S) and Up/Down (U/D).
Note that the World axes may be changed to XYZ axes in the Project Options
AVEVA Everything3D includes a set of tools to modify the coordinate system in which the positions are
expressed in the 3D View. This is done my manipulating the Local Coordinate System or LCS.
The LCS is defined by an origin and 3 axis, U, V and W. The LCS plane defined by the U and V axes is called
the Working Plane and will be used to project the cursor’s position in 2D to facilitate the positioning and the
creation of primitives.
The status of the LCS is visible on the PowerCompass, and other visual indication on the 3D view helps the
user while modelling:
Grid
Ruler
Crosshair
Axes
PowerCompass
World / Local coordinates
switch
Selected Working Plane
PowerCompass: shows the orientation of the LCS axes and the selected Working Plane. Three orthogonal
planes are identified by three discs of different colour: blue for the EN or UV plane, green for the NU or UW
plane, and red for the EU or VW plane.
Grid: displays grid lines on the Working Plane. It may be activated with the button in the status bar, or
by pressing the <F7> key. It can be configured from the Object Snapping Settings form, tab Grid Settings.
Ruler: offers a visual indication of the Grid spacing and the position of the Crosshair projected on the Grid
Crosshair: is the appearance of the cursor when in the 3D View, showing a representation of the 3 axes
direction. It can be configured in the Project Options.
Axes: The LCS axes are represented in the 3D View by 3 coloured lines passing through the origin of the
LCS. The red line is the U axis, the Green line is the V axis and the blue line is the W axis.
The tools to modify the LCS are available from the VIEW tab, group Local Coordinate System:
Also, some of these options are available directly in the 3D View from the PowerCompass:
World: sets the LCS to World mode with its position at 0, 0, 0, and an orientation
set to the East, North and Up axes.
Current Element: set the LCS to a Local mode with its position and orientation
set to those of the Current Element. The axes name on the PowerCompass will
be set to U,V and W.
Object: set the LCS to a Local mode with its origin and orientation set to those
of an object that the user is prompted to select
Move: prompts the user to specify a position where the LCS origin will be moved
to. Other LCS modification options will be available from the Contextual Editor.
3 Points: prompts the user to specify 3 positions to set the position, the U axis
and the V axis of the LCS.
Clicking this button will switch to World mode, setting the LCS origin
and orientation according to the World and changing the axis labels
to E/W, N/S and U/D.
Clicking this button will switch to Local mode, setting the LCS origin
and orientation according to an object that the user will be prompted
to select, and changing the axis labels to U/-U, V/-V and W/-W
Clicking on one of the three discs representing the three orthogonal planes will redefine the orientation of the
Working plane:
In World mode, clicking on the discs will set the working plane to either the EN, NU or EU plane
In Local mode, each disc is divided into four quarters, clicking on one quarter will set the positive U
and V axes along the sides of the selected quarter:
The Grid will follow the new orientation of the working plane
Using the <F7> key or the toggle in the status bar, enable the
display of the Grid
Click the quarter between the -V and W axis. Note the change in
the PowerCompass, the Grid and the Axes
Reset the Coordinate System to the World using the button on the
PowerCompass
Before moving elements, this section will introduce three different methods to specify a position in the 3D
View:
For some commands, a specific method called “Positioning Control” may be required to specify positions.
This will be described in section Exercise 9
The object snapping filters man be configured using the Object Snapping Settings form:
Each snapping filter is associated with a specific snap icon as represented on the
Object Snapping Settings form. When the system prompts the user to specify a
point, hovering the mouse close to an item included in the selected snap filters
will display the associated snap icon on the item.
Left clicking when the icon is displayed will validate the position at the exact
location of the Snapping item.
Open the Object Snapping Settings form and activate the snap
filter for Endpoint in the Graphics tab.
Also, it is possible to invoke one specific snap filter temporarily at any time when a specified position is
required, even when the Object Snapping is disabled. This is done by right clicking in the 3D View while
holding the <Shift> key:
The first PowerWheel will present the main Element filters like Item or P-
Point.
The second PowerWheel will present the main Graphics filters like
Endpoint or Midpoint.
The selected filter will be activated exclusively until the end of the current command.
Maintain the <Shift> key down and right click in the 3D View.
Observe the snapping while hovering the mouse over the Model.
Change the East value to 7000mm. The new pump position is previewed as a red box outline.
When a position needs to be specified, the displacement induced by the mouse will be constrained on
the current Working Plane, i.e. the W coordinate in Local mode, or the U coordinate in World mode will
remain nil.
Depending on the command, the coordinates may be expressed in Relative or Absolute mode. In Relative
mode, the coordinates will be expressed with respect to the previous specified position. In Absolute mode, the
coordinates will be expressed with respect to the current LCS.
When permitted, it is possible to switch between Relative and Absolute mode by pressing the <Shift> and
<@> keys.
Previous position
(Equipment Origin)
LCS Origin
To validate an entry and move to the next text box, press the <tab> key.
Any validated entry will lock the correspondent textbox with the entered value. The new position will be then
constrained along a plane, or, along a single axis if two text boxes are locked. Snapping to a graphical item
will not modify the value in a locked text box.
Even if the displacement induced by the mouse is constrained on the Working Plane, the snapping may
affect the value of the W coordinate (or U in World mode) if not locked.
For example:
At any time, the value in a text box can be locked or unlocked by pressing the <Space> key while it is
highlighted.
By default, the coordinates in the Contextual Editor are Cartesian coordinates. But it is also possible to switch
to Cylindrical or Spherical coordinates by pressing the <`> (acute) key.
The Editor mode allows different kind of modification on model elements like moving, rotating or modifying
dimensions. This section will describe how to activate the Editor mode, and how to use it in order to modify
the position of an element.
Click the Editor button from the HOME tab, group Modify
While the Editor mode is active, the Editor button will remain
highlighted in the HOME tab.
Selecting Routed Items like Piping or HVAC elements, while the Editor mode is active, will display the
Router. The Editor or the Router will not be displayed if a selection includes both Routed and Non-
Routed items.
To deactivate the Editor, press the <Esc> key or click the Editor button in the HOME tab.
The new position may be using the object snapping, the Contextual Editor or a combination of both as seen
in section 6.3.2. Note that, by default, the coordinates in the Context Editor are expressed relatively to the
selected grip. Also, the snapping discards the Working Plane constraint.
To finish and apply the displacement press the <Enter> key or left click.
In the 3D View, double click the :SLAB BASE. This will activate
the Editor on this element.
Holding the <Ctrl> key allows to select the grips for the
elements to move. They will become red.
This will activate the Editor at “root” level, i.e. the Equipment.
This will navigate to one level below the equipment and the rest
of the model will become translucent.
The Editor can then be used to edit any element in the same
selection level, i.e. Sub-Equipment or primitives, to reposition
them individually.
To exit the Editor and navigate to the upper levels, press the <Esc> key in the following sequence:
Pressing <Esc> a second time will cancel the current graphical selection
The navigation between selection levels may also be achieved using the PowerWheel by right clicking on a
selected element, and selecting the Navigation tile. A gallery will appear in the PowerWheel to select the
navigation level
The move command allows to modify the position of the elements included in the current Graphical Selection
by specifying a displacement vector. By default, the displacement is defined by a base point and a
destination point but other options will be available from the Contextual Editor.
Right clicking in the 3D View and gesture to the Context tile of the PowerWheel
The Contextual Editor will appear, prompting the user to specify a base point.
This is the first step of the default method consisting in the selection of two points to derive the displacement
vector from.
Alternatively, pressing the <Down arrow> key will offer two options: to enter a displacement vector
relatively to the current LCS origin, or to create a Copy.
Specify a point by snapping an item and/or entering values in the Contextual Editor as described in section
6.3.2.
Once the base point specified, the next step will prompt the user to specify a second point.
When the second point will be specified, the selected elements will be moved by the vector between the base
point and the second point.
Alternatively, pressing the <Down arrow> key will offer two options: to use the base point as the
displacement vector relatively to the current LCS origin, to create a Copy from the moved element, or to
go back to the first step.
Other drawing tools available from the status bar toggles, or pressing the <F#> keys, will help the user to
position elements.
Or <F9> - Activates the Snapping to the Grid (even if the Grid is not displayed)
Or <F10> - Displays a polar coordinate feedback and snap the displacement to radials
Projects the snaps onto the working plane by locking the W displacement to 0
Double click on the Cylinder to make it the CE and activate the Selection level on primitives.
Ensure the object snapping filter is active for P-Point. Enable the object snapping.
Specify the base point of the displacement when the snap is on P2 of CYLINDER 1 of EQUIPMENT /TANK1
Navigate the Selection level to the Equipment by using the PowerWheel’s Navigation tile, or by entering
<OUT>
Select the element PUMP1 in the 3D View and activate the Editor if not already enabled.
Navigate the Selection level to the Equipment by using the PowerWheel’s Navigation tile, or by entering OUT
Select the element TANK2 in the 3D View and activate the Editor if not already enabled.
Double click on the Cylinder, select the square grip, then lock the U coordinate to 0.
Double click on PYRA1 to navigate the the primitive level below the Sub-Equipment SUPPORTS/TANK2
Snap the base point to any point on the lower surface of the pyramid
Lock the E and N coordinates to 0 then snap any item on the top of the steel.
Copyright © 2013. 82 www.aveva.com
AVEVA Solutions Limited and its subsidiaries.
All rights reserved.
AVEVA Everything3D™ (2.1)
Foundations TM-1801
Many AVEVA E3D elements have an Orientation attribute, e.g. SITE, ZONE, EQUI, SUBE, STRU, PANE,
Primitives, etc.
Orientation in AVEVA E3D is expressed in terms of axes direction, e.g. Y is N and Z is U, meaning that the
element’s Y axis is pointing North and the elements Z axis is pointing Up. Only two axes need to be stated as
the third axis direction is known because it conforms to the right hand rule, i.e. in this case X is E.
Like any other attribute, the orientation may be modified using the Attributes form or the Properties form. But
the preferred way to modify the orientation of elements is to rotate them in the 3D View by either:
Using the Editor mode to quickly rotate elements around their origin.
Unlike the positioning, rotating using the Editor can only be applied on a single element selection.
Selecting and activating the Editor on one Non-Routed element will display rotation grips on the three axes of
the element:
Activating the Editor on Routed elements like HVAC or Piping components will display the Router, which
functionalities are described in the Training Manual of the relevant discipline.
Rotating using this method is restricted to the three axis of the element’s LCS
The Rotate command allows the rotation of all the elements in a graphical selection, in any direction and from
any rotation origin.
First, the elements to be rotated have to be selected. It may be any significant element displayed in the 3D
View, or, it may be several Sub-Elements or primitive below a significant element. Refer to section 6.3.3.3 for
the selection of Sub-Elements.
Then, as the rotation will be applied around the W axis, the LCS needs to be set accordingly using the tools
described in section 6.3.1
Right clicking in the 3D View and gesture to the Context tile of the PowerWheel
The Contextual Editor will appear, prompting the user to specify a base point.
Using the Contextual Editor’s text boxes or the Object Snapping, specify the position of the rotation base point.
Pressing the <Down arrow> key will offer an option to create a copy from the rotated element
Once the base point specified, the Contextual Editor will prompt to specify an angle
Entering a value in the text box or snapping an item will rotate the selected element(s) by the specified angle
around the W axis.
Activate the LCS mode using the Object button or the PowerCompass.
Use the Rotate command, select the base point on the origin of the equipment, then enter 45 in the angle
text box.
Use the Editor to rotate the cylinder and align it with the Pump axis, by snapping a point
Double click on the equipment TANK2 then on the Nozzle TANK2-n2 to activate the Editor.
Use the rotation grip to align the nozzle with the center of the equipment
Some commands will require a different method to specify positions called the Positioning Control, also
referred as to Event Driven Graphics (EDG).
In this case it will not be possible to use the Object Snapping or Contextual Editor. The
PowerCompass will be disabled (greyed) and the Positioning Control form will be
displayed.
The PowerWheel is disabled while using the Positioning control, right clicking in
the 3D View will display a contextual menu.
Hold the left button on the element containing the item to Pick
When the left button will be pressed and maintained on an element, the selection of the item to be picked will
be locked on this element. The Prompt Area will then indicate the type of relevant snap item while the mouse
hovers the element. Note that releasing the mouse while the Prompt indicates a snap item will confirm the
snapped position.
If the button is pressed on the wrong element, move the mouse away from this element before releasing the
button to cancel the picking.
Some commands require two or three positions. If the first snap is wrong, the command will need to be
aborted and recalled to start a new picking operation.
The Pick Type acts like a snapping filter and its options are:
Element - picking is restricted to elements origin.
Graphics – enables edge, surface and corner picks on any graphical element.
Screen – enables a pick anywhere in the 3D View which identifies two co-ordinates, the third co-
ordinate being taken from the current Working Plane or normal to the view direction if there is no
active Working Plane.
Mid-Point - derives the mid-point between two snap points along a linear item.
Intersect – derives the intersection of two picked lines from any directional elements. The elements
do not have to be co-planar.
Cursor - places the derived point exactly where the cursor picks on the element.
Distance - applies the offset value entered in the textbox. For example a +ve value of 500
derives a point 500 mm from the nearest snap point, measured towards the cursor
position, whereas, a –ve value of 500 derives a point 500 mm from the nearest snap point,
measured away from the cursor position.
The two additional buttons on the Positioning Control form are:
Working Plane – this button activates the working Plane if one has been derived.
Explicit Position – this button displays the Explicit Position form allowing explicit co-ordinates to
be entered.
In the Measure section of the HOME tab, click the Measure button. The
Measure Distance form will be displayed along the Positioning Control
form.
Set the Pick Type to Graphics and the Pick Method to Midpoint
In the 3D View, hold the left button down on SLAB. Hover the mouse over
one edge of the slab.
Release the button when the prompt indicates Snap: EDGE of /Concrete
AVEVA E3D provides the ability to view the model, or parts of the model, in multiple 3D Views. In practice;
however, the number of useable views will probably be limited by the size of the monitor(s) in use.
AVEVA E3D has one, default 3D View, named 3D View(1) – Drawlist(1), which cannot be deleted or renamed.
New 3D Views with the same or different Drawlists can be created and displayed simultaneously. The content
of the 3D Views can be linked or separate, depending on the associated Drawlist and each view can be
manipulated separately.
The tools to create new views are located in the Views section of the VIEW tab:
In the VIEW tab, group Views, clicking the New button creates a new 3D View with an empty Drawlist, and
displays the View Settings form where the new 3D View may be configured.
The new 3D View is named, by default, 3D View(x) – Drawlist(y) where x is the sequential number of the 3D
View and y is the sequential number of the Drawlist associated with the 3D View. It will be docked in the same
tab group as the current View.
Only one 3D View can be current at any one time and is identified by its correspondent tab being highlighted
in blue. All non-current 3D Views have a light grey tab. A 3D View is made current by left clicking its
correspondent tab, or anywhere in the 3D View if multiple Views are visible.
In the VIEW tab, group Views, three copy options are available from the Copy button
To a Separate View – this option creates a copy of the current 3D View and
creates a new Drawlist populated with the same contents as the copied 3D
View’s Drawlist. For example, copying 3D View(1) - Drawlist(1) to a separate
view may create a 3D View named 3D View(2) – Drawlist(2).
To a Cloned View – this option creates a copy of the current 3D View and is
associated with the Drawlist of the copied 3D View. For example, copying 3D
View(3) - Drawlist(3) to a cloned view may create a 3D View named 3D View(4)
– Drawlist(3).
To a Local View – this option creates a copy of the graphical selection in the
current view and a new Drawlist which is populated with the elements in the
graphical selection. For example, copying 3D View(3) - Drawlist(3) with a
graphical selection to a local view may create a 3D View named 3D View(4) –
Drawlist(4) and the 3D View contents would be the graphical selection.
When working with Reference Grids, it is possible to create a new view based on a selected Grid Plane.
Selecting a Grid Plane element and clicking the Grid Plane button in the
VIEW tab, group Views, will create a new view. The new view will be
orientated parallel to the Grid plane. The clipping will be activated with an
offset from the two sides of the plane. The new view will be named after the
Grid Plane ID, e.g. “B Grid View”.
Refer to TM-1802 AVEVA Everything3D™ Model Utilities for the creation of Reference Grids
Only one View can be visible in one Tab Group but it is possible to create multiple Tab Groups to visualize
multiple Views simultaneously.
When several Views are opened in the same Tab Group, right clicking on one tab will offer three options to
detach the view from the Tab Group:
New Horizontal Tab Group : Move the selected View to a new Horizontal tab
New Vertical Tab Group : Move the selected View to a new Vertical tab
Float : detach the selected View completely to form an independent window that
can be moved anywhere outside the main application window.
Once one Vertical or Horizontal Tab Group has been created, the subsequent options will only allow the
creation of the same kind of Tab Group, i.e. horizontal or vertical.
When multiple Tab Groups are opened, it is possible to drag and drop one tab from one Group to another.
Multiple views are not retained from session to session, only 3D View(1) is persistent.
In the Views section of the VIEW tab, click the arrow next to the
Copy button and select the To a Separate View option. This will
create a new View Tab 3D View(2) – Drawlist(2) and make it the
current View.
Remove TANK1 from the current View and note that, because it has
a separate Drawlist, it will remain in the other view.
Clear the Drawlist and add the TRA.SITE.MESS element to the 3D View and set the view direction to NE.
Add the PIPE.ZONE element to 3D View (2) – Drawlist(2) and set the view direction to North.
Make 3D View (2) – Drawlist(2) the current view. Change the viewing direction and remove element pipe1.
Note that this has not affected the viewing direction or view contents of 3D View (3).
Move the view 3D View (1) – Drawlist(1) to a new vertical Tab Group.
Click on TANK2 in 3D View (1) – Drawlist(1) to make it the CE and the graphical selection. Copy the view a
local view.
Close all the view tabs. Note that 3D View (1) – Drawlist(1) cannot be closed as it is the main 3D View.
The Search utility enables the databases to be searched for specific items. The scope of the search may be
defined and the items may be identified by different criteria including name, type, attributes or any combination
of these.
The items to be searched for may be specified by names that contain a specific string, one or more element
types or a combination of both.
A string may be entered in the Name Contains textbox. The string may be of any length and contain any
permissible name character. The names are case sensitive.
An element type must be entered in the Element Types textbox. By default [ALL] is displayed which will find
all element types for the search.
One or more item types may be entered in the Element Types textbox. If more than one item type is entered
they must be separated by a space, comma or semi-colon, e.g. EQUI PIPE, NOZZ; TEE. The entries may be
any valid element type and are not case sensitive.
The Scope options list sets the ’ceiling’ for the search, i.e. an element or collection which
will be searched for the specified elements.
Selecting Current Element will display the CE in the adjacent textbox and updates automatically if a new CE
is selected.
The Element option enables an element name, with the leading forward slash, to be entered into the textbox.
The entry does not change if a new CE is selected.
The Current Collection option searches the current collection for the specified elements.
This form allows many operations like saving and sharing the
results of the search, modifying, grouping and sorting the
grid’s columns. These functionalities will be described in the
sections 8.3 and 8.3.
Opening the options list in the Attribute cell displays an all standard attributes and UDAs.
If more than one element type is being searched for the options list contains a union of all
standard attributes and UDAs.
Opening the options list in the Operator cell displays the filter options that may be used.
After selecting a filter the filter value may be entered in the Value cell.
Filters may be deleted by selecting them in the left hand column and clicking the Delete
Filter link label.
PML expressions such as HBOR EQ 50mm, PSPEC NE /A3B or DRNS NE U OR DRNS NE D may be used.
The filter may be removed by deleting the expression from the text box.
Refer to the Database Management Reference Manual for more information about PML expressions
Enter BRAN in the Element Type textbox. Select the Element option for the scope and enter /SITE-PIPING-
AREA01 in the scope textbox.
On the Search form select the More Search Tools link label and expand the Attribute Filters fold-up panel,
click the Add Filter link label to create a new filter. Enter HBOR in the Attribute column, select Greater than
from the Operator column and enter 50mm in the Value column.
Click the Search button to replace the existing Search Results collection.
Minimise the Search Scope fold-up panel and expand the Manage Searches fold-up panel. Click the Create
“Saved Search” Based on Current Search Criteria link label to display the Create Saved Search form.
Enter BRAN with Hbor gt 50mm in the Name textbox and click the OK button. Note that the named is
displayed in the options list for future re-use.
8.3 Collections
Collections are lists of database elements that are selected and filtered using a set of criteria. A collection can
be used to perform an action on all of the elements in the list, either from the Collections form or from other
forms, e.g. Position By and Rotate.
Collections also enable the user to view data in a grid format which can have additional columns displayed
and may be filtered, sorted, grouped, printed or exported to Excel.
Collections are persistent between sessions and disciplines and some collections are persistent between
modules, allowing, for instance, to use in Draw a collection created in Model. Shared collections may be
accessed by all project users.
The Collections form is displayed by clicking the Collections button in the Common group or on the HOME
tab in the Search group. It may be docked in a Panel on either side of the 3D view.
For more information about the Grids in AVEVA E3D, refer to section 8.3
Shared Collections are stored in Group Set (GPSET) elements owned by Group World (GPWL) elements
and are persistent across modules.
Clicking the Rename option enables the category name to be edited to a more descriptive name.
8.3.3 My Collections
Create a new Collection in the My Collections sections and rename it Branches Greater than 50mm
Use the saved searched created previously to populate the Search Results collection.
Copy the Search Results collection to the Branches Greater than 50mm collection.
Create a new Category in the Shared Collections section and rename it Area01 Equipment. Create a new
collection in this category and rename it Electrical Equipment.
In Model Explorer, navigate to ZONE-ELECTRICAL-AREA01. In the Collections form, right click on Electrical
Equipment and select Add CE Members to Collection.
In the Shared Collections, create a new category and name it Area01 Structural.
Create a new shared collection named All Sections. Right click on the collection and select Edit Scope
Selection. In the PML Expression textbox, enter ALL GENSEC WITH ZONE EQ /ZONE-STRUCTURAL-
AREA01.
SaveWork.
In AVEVA E3D, like in the Collections form, many tools will use a Grid to display a list of elements. Depending
on the tool, the Grids may have one or several of the functions described below.
Most of the functionality may be accessed from a contextual menu by right clicking on the Columns’ headers
bar.
If the access rights allows it, attributes may be modified directly in a Grid by double clicking on a cell and
entering values. Read Only cells will be indicated with a grey background. Values from pseudo-attributes and
from PML expressions are always Read Only.
It is also possible to modify multiple rows at once in a Grid. This may be achieved by:
Selecting multiple cells, the top one having the value to copy.
Right clicking and selecting the Fill Down option. This will
propagate the value of the top cell of the selection.
Note that in the same way, the Fill Up option will propagate the
value of the bottom cell of the selection.
When the Attribute associated to a column is a reference to another element, e.g. a specification or a property,
a “…” button will appear in the cell.
The user may enter an element’s name manually but it must exist in the database. Or, clicking the “…”
button will open a browser to search for a valid element.
Clicking on the header of a column will sort the column in alphabetical order,
alternatively ascending or descending.
Multiple columns may be sorted by holding the <Shift> key down while clicking on a
column header. The sorting precedence order will be then indicated by a number on
the column.
When a grid contains a lot of columns it may be practical to freeze one column in
order to have it always displayed when scrolling across the other columns.
Clicking on the pin icon on a heading will duplicate the column and keep it in a fixed
position at the left of the grid.
The first row below the column headers is reserved for filtering the correspondent
column. By default the filter is set on “Contains”, so entering any text in the cell
below the column header will filter all the values containing the text entered for
the correspondent column.
Clicking the in the filter cell will cancel the filter for the corresponding column.
Clicking the at the left hand side of the filtering row will cancel all the filters.
Other filtering options are available from the button on the right of the filtering cell.
Clicking the Add Column link label will add a new row in
the table to define a new column.
If values are not set or not valid for some columns, the cell will show a red indicator that may be hover by the
mouse to display the reason of the error.
Press and hold the left mouse button on a column header to re-
arrange.
When columns contain numerical values with a physical dimension, e.g. length, weight, it is possible to choose
the displayed unit.
In the Collections Grid, a ruler icon will be displayed for the columns having
numerical values with a dimension, and the selected unit will be displayed
beside the name of column.
Clicking on the ruler icon will offer options to change the displayed unit.
8.4.8 Grouping
In the collections grid, right clicking on the heading bar will show
the Grouping toggle in the contextual menu.
When columns contain numeric values, like for example Lengths or Weights, it is possible to display
summaries for each group. Summary functions allows to calculate:
Averages
Counts
Maximum / Minimum
Sum
This will display a Sum symbol in the header of the columns containing
numerical values.
One or several function may be selected. The results will be then displayed
in the Grid for each group:
It may be possible to create a report with the columns and values contained in the Grid.
In the Collections Grid, right clicking in the columns’ headers bar will display the
contextual menu from which the Quick Report option may be selected.
The Quick Report form will be displayed. A template may be selected from the Layout
Template tab.
Selecting a template and clicking the Open button will display a confirmation message.
After clicking the yes button, the report will be generated and opened in the Quick Report Designer
The report layout may be modified and printed in the Report Designer. Note that the report will only consider
the columns and values in the grid, not the sorting, grouping and summaries.
As for the quick reporting, the contextual menu invoked from a right click in the headers
bar of the Collections grid offers an option to export the grid to Excel.
A file browser will be displayed and the file may be saved in xls or xlsx format.
Open the Collections form and select the Collection All Sections created previously.
Create a new column with MATREF in the Expression cell and Material in the Heading cell.
Create a new column with CUTL in the Expression column and Cut Length in the Heading column.
Create one more column using NWEI and Nett Weight in the Expression and Heading columns respectively.
Click OK.
Sort the Name column so that the element named C3 is at the top of the grid.
Group the rows by Material. Expand the group for Material : GR355I.
Double click in the Material cell for the first element at the top of the group to enable editing. Enter GR275 in
the cell and click out of the cell.
Multi select the Material cells for the elements C3 to K7. Copy the first value to the other cells using the Fill
Down option.
Click the Units button in the Cut Length column header and select different units from the pop-up menu.
The measuring tools allows to evaluate distances and angles. These tools are using the Positioning control
described previously.
Clicking the Measure Distance button in the Common group of the Home
tab displays the Measure Distance form and activates the Positioning
Control form.
The Units frame enables the user to specify the units the measured
distance will be displayed in. The Unit Type options list has three entries,
Default, Metric and Imperial.
Selecting Default displays the distance values in the current session units
whilst selecting Metric or Imperial activates the Display Units options list.
If Imperial is selected the user can choose from Inches, Feet & Inches
and Feet (decimal feet) for the display units.
The prompt will change depending on the pick method setting on the
Positioning Control form, e.g. ‘Measure distance start (Mid-Point) Snap:’
Picking the first measure point displays an aid text Measure distance
start at the selected point and the prompt changes to ‘Measure distance
end (Snap) Snap:’
The direction and offsets are expressed, by default, with respect to the World co-ordinate system. They may
be expressed in terms of another frame of reference by entering a named element, CE, Owner or db reference
no. in the wrt textbox on the Measure Distance form.
Once a measure distance task is performed, the form will remain active, enabling other distances to be
measured, until the form is closed.
Clicking and holding the left mouse button over an element in the 3D view highlights the edges of the element
and displays a graphics cursor. Moving the cursor over the element(s) changes the cursor shape depending
on what is ‘below’ the cursor at the time, for example a surface, a corner or an edge.
Selecting the Angle entry from the Measure Distance button options list
displays the Measure Angle form and activates the Positioning Control
form.
Picking the root of angle point displays an aid text Measure angle root
of angle at the selected point and the prompt changes to ‘Measure angle
first point (Snap) Snap:’
Picking the first measure point displays an aid text Measure angle first
point at the selected point and the prompt changes to ‘Measure angle
second point (Snap) Snap:’
Additionally to the classic View Controls, the Walk and Fly Modes allows the user to visualize the 3D Model in
a “realistic” review mode, from a moving observer point of view and in perspective mode.
To activate or deactivate the Walk mode or Fly Mode, click the Walk Mode or the Fly Mode toggles in the
VIEW tab, group Control.
When Laser Models are displayed, enabling the Walk or Fly Modes will activate the HyperBubble™ mode
for a photorealistic rendering of Laser data.
For more information about displaying Laser Data, refer to TM-1821 AVEVA Everything3D™ 2.1 - Using
Laser Models
In Walk Mode, the displacement may be achieved along a fixed horizontal plane with a variable speed.
The Walking Mode navigation controls are operated using the 3 mouse buttons:
Pressing the left mouse button down will initiate the walking motion by constraining the displacement on the
current horizontal plane, and freeze the location of the black crosshair on the screen.
While holding the left button down, the cursor will be representing a walking man, and a dashed line will run
between the cursor and the black crosshair. Moving the cursor away from the black crosshair will set the
direction and speed of the displacement.
Holding the <Shift> key down will increase the walking speed, holding the <Ctrl> key down will decrease the
walking speed
When the cursor is above the crosshair, the observer will move forward,
below the crosshair he will move backwards.
When the cursor is on the right of the crosshair the observer will rotate to
the right, and when the cursor is on the left of the crosshair the observer will
rotate to the left.
The distance between the cursor and the crosshair will determine the speed
of the walk. The further the cursor is from the crosshair, the faster the walk
will be.
Pressing and holding the middle mouse button will allow the rotation in every direction from a fixed position.
Moving the mouse will pan the view angle following the mouse position.
Pressing and holding the right mouse button will allow the displacement in a vertical motion. The displacement
will go upward when the cursor is above the crosshair. The displacement will go downward when the cursor
is below the crosshair. The speed of the displacement will be controlled by the distance between the cursor
and the crosshair.
Pressing the <Esc> key or clicking the Walk Mode button will exit the Walk Mode and restore the view as
it was before the Walk Mode was enabled.
In Fly mode the displacement may be achieved in every direction at a constant speed.
The Walking Mode navigation controls are operated using 2 mouse buttons.
Pressing and holding the left mouse button will activate the flying motion.
When the cursor is above the crosshair, the observer will rotate upward, and
when the cursor is below the crosshair the observer will rotate downward.
When the cursor is on the right of the crosshair the observer will turn right,
and when the cursor is on the left of the crosshair the observer will turn left.
The distance between the cursor and the crosshair will determine the speed
of the rotation. The further the cursor is from the crosshair, the faster the
rotation will be.
Holding the <Shift> key down will increase the walking speed, holding the <Ctrl> key down will decrease the
walking speed
Pressing and holding the middle mouse button will allow the rotation in every direction from a fixed position.
The direction of the rotation is determined by the position of the cursor relatively to the black crosshair. The
speed of the rotation will be controlled by the distance between the cursor and the crosshair.
Exercise 14
Empty the Drawlist then Add the shared collection Area01 to the 3D View from the category Areas.
Activate the Fly Mode and fly around the model using the commands described previously. Fly to the center
of the model then exit the Fly Mode.
Activate the Walk Mode and walk around the model using the commands described previously.
Views may be saved and restored by clicking the Save & Restore button in VIEW tab, group Control. This
will display the Save & Restore View form.
Restoring saved views may be achieved in three ways using the buttons on the Save & Restore View form.
Restore View – if there are existing elements in the current 3D view, the Drawlist is emptied and the
Drawlist contents and view settings from the selected saved view are restored.
Add to Drawlist - The Drawlist content of the selected saved view is added to the Drawlist of the
current view. The view settings, i.e. direction, scale, etc., are not changed to the saved view settings.
Replace Drawlist - The Drawlist content of the selected saved view replaces the Drawlist of the
current view. The view settings, i.e. direction, scale, etc., are not changed to the saved view settings.
Saved views may be deleted using the buttons on the Save & Restore View form:
Delete Saved View – this option deletes the saved view named in the Save Name option list. A
confirmation message is displayed:
Delete All Saved Views – this option deletes all saved views. A confirmation message is displayed:
On the 3D VIEW tab, in the Manipulate group, clicking the Copy Image button copies an
image of the contents of the current view to the clipboard from where it can be pasted into
any document.
The button has an options list of the different resolutions available for the image.
This chapter will describe the different settings and options that may be applied to the tools seen previously
but are not essential for an overall comprehension of the application.
In the PROJECT tab, selecting Options > Configuration > Explorer Settings displays the Explorer Settings
form.
TUBI and ROD elements are Piping and Cable Tray components respectively. These elements are
discussed in the appropriate discipline training guide.
On the VIEW tab, in the Settings group, clicking Current View button displays the View Settings form. This
form enables settings to be made for the current 3D View and is divided into several frames which are
explained in this section.
Title – the textbox displays the title of the current view which
defaults to 3D View. A different title may be entered which
will be displayed on the 3D View header, for example: My
View(1) – Drawlist(2).
Tools –these options enable the user to display or hide the PowerCompass and the World Axes.
Background – these options enable the user to set the colour and effect of the 3D View background.
Clicking the More… button displays a larger form with 256 colours that
may be chosen.
By default the Graduated checkbox is checked, which gives a graduated effect to the 3D View background.
Unchecking this checkbox removes the effect and makes the 3D View background a solid colour.
Capping – these options enable the user to set the clipped element capping colour and toggle capping on
and off. See section 5.10 for details of clipping and capping.
Lighting – these options enable the user to set the Brightness and Reflection for the 3D View graphics
using a slider and a relative number between 0 and 1 for each setting. The default settings are 0.7 and 0.8
respectively.
Brightness 0 Brightness 1
Reflection 0 Reflection 1
Clicking the Save button will store the current View Settings to be re-applied on the Main 3D View for the next
AVEVA E3D sessions.
Clicking the Reset button will restore the default settings for the current 3D View.
The Drawlist has many features to help control the Drawlist for a 3D View and has three areas, as described
in the following sections.
9.3.1 Tabs
The top part of the form consists of three tabs, each of which
has a grid.
The grid in each tab have the same functionality. Each grid
has two columns showing the element Name, either an
explicit name or the system generated name, and the
element Type.
The grid entries may be grouped, sorted and filtered to suit the user’s requirements.
The grids have a right click pop-up menu which has the following options:
Navigate To – this option navigates to the element, selected in the list, in the Model Explorer, effectively
making it the current element. Where more than one element is selected this option navigates to the first
one in the list.
Hide in 3D View – this option hides the selected element(s) in the 3D View. The elements are not
removed from the Drawlist, only removed from the 3D View graphics. The Show checkbox in the Display
Settings frame of the Drawlist is unchecked.
Show in 3D View – this option shows the selected elements(s) in the 3D View if they have been hidden.
The Show checkbox in the Display Settings frame of the Drawlist is checked.
Remove from 3D View – this option removes the selected element(s) from the Drawlist and 3D View.
Add to Collections – this option adds the selected element(s) to the current collection.
Export to Excel… – this options opens the Save Drawlist As browser, enabling the grid contents to be
saved to a .xls file.
Print Preview… - this option opens the Print Preview form and displays a print preview of the grid. The
grid contents may be printed from the form.
When the display settings of a top level element in the Drawlist are modified, all lower level elements
owned by the element are also modified, however, individual primitives may have their display settings
changed from their owner’s colour by making a selection from the Primitives of /<nnnn> tab.
The Show checkbox enables an entry in the Drawlist to be displayed or hidden in a 3D View’s graphics. If
unchecked, the Show checkbox hides the selected item(s) in the 3D View. Checking the checkbox displays
the object in the 3D View, if previously hidden.
The Colour button caption shows the colour of the selected element(s) and displays its colour name. If more
than one element is selected the colour of the first element selected is shown, although the operation will
change the colour of all selected elements.
Clicking the Colour button displays the Colour form which displays
the standard 16 AVEVA E3D colours. Any colour may be selected
from the palette by clicking the required colour button
Clicking the More… button displays a larger Colour form with 256
available colours.
When a colour is selected the Colour button on the Drawlist form is updated. The selected elements in the
Drawlist will be displayed in the selected colour.
9.3.3 Options
Select CE in List – this link label selects the CE, as shown in Model Explorer, in the selected tab grid
and highlights the entry. If the CE is not in the selected tab list then a warning alert form is displayed.
Add CE to Drawlist – this link label adds the CE, as shown in Model Explorer, to the Drawlist. This may
be a significant element, a component or a primitive.
Remove Selection – this link label removes the selected row(s) from the Drawlist. The other tabs are
updated automatically. This button is only enabled when one or more rows in any of the tab grids has
been selected.
In the VIEW tab, in the Settings group, clicking the Graphics button displays the Graphics Settings form.
The form contains five tabs from which the majority of graphics settings can be made. Each tab is described
in the following sections.
CE – sets the colour of the current element in a 3D View. This colour overrides any other colour that
may be set for the element.
Active – sets the colour of elements associated with the CE, e.g. if an equipment primitive is the CE
then all other primitives owned by that equipment will be displayed in the active colour.
Visible – sets the colour of all other elements in the 3D View other than the CE and those elements
with the active colour. This setting is only applied if Auto Colour rules are inactive.
Aids – sets the colour of the graphical aids used in AVEVA E3D.
Highlight – sets the highlight feedback colour, e.g. for highlighting elements to be deleted.
The Auto Colours Settings frame contains functions to control and define the auto colouring of elements in
a 3D View.
Auto Colours are a set of rules that define the colour and other representation parameters for elements, e.g.
pipe systems may be displayed in different colours according to the fluid code or equipment in different plant
areas be displayed in different colours.
Auto Colours are toggled on and off using the Auto Colour checkbox on the tab. The Dynamic Auto Colour
checkbox controls the re-evaluation of an elements colour if the attribute that the colour is dependent on is
modified. If enabled the colour will be changed dynamically if the attribute is changed and if disabled the colour
will change when the element is next added to a Drawlist. Both of these settings are checked by default.
Checking the Auto Colour Components checkbox enables the auto colour rules defined for component types
e.g. VALVES. If a colour rule is set for valves and the Auto Colour Components checkbox is not checked,
the rule for Pipes will be applied on the valve components.
The Auto Colour Rules… link label displays the Auto Colour Rules form, from which Auto Colour rules may
be created, deleted and modified.
The Holes Drawn checkbox controls how negative elements are displayed in the 3D Views. AVEVA E3D does
not fundamentally change the solid primitives from which items are created but modifies them with negative
primitives that ‘cut’ the solid primitives.
If the Holes Drawn checkbox is disabled, any negative elements are displayed as black lines in a shaded
view. If the Holes Drawn checkbox is enabled, the negative primitives ‘cut’ the primitives to show the ‘holes’.
This does not apply to holes in pipe flanges.
The Flange Bolt Holes Drawn checkbox controls whether holes in piping flanges are displayed, providing
they have been set-up in the catalogue. This function works in the same was as Holes Drawn but is
independent from it.
Flange Bolt Holes Drawn disabled Flange Bolt Holes Drawn enabled
The Tracing checkbox controls the displayed colour of pipe elements that have a tracing specification
applied. If the Tracing checkbox is enabled, the pipe elements with a tracing specification in the 3D View
will be displayed in the Tracing highlight colour specified on the Colour tab of the form.
The Anti-Alias checkbox and the Anti-Alias Level options list controls the ‘feathering’ of diagonal lines in
the 3D View. If the Anti-Alias checkbox is disabled, diagonal lines will appear ‘jagged’, however, if the Anti-
Alias checkbox is enabled, diagonal lines will appear smoother.
The Anti-Alias Level options list has three levels of anti-aliasing that can be used, 2, 4 or 8. The higher the
number the smoother the diagonal lines will be, however, this does have an overhead on the amount of
processing the graphics card has to perform.
The default setting is Off, i.e. insulation is not shown. The insulation
may be shown as Solid colour, the pipe cannot be seen through the
insulation, however, the options list also has entries for showing the
insulation at different levels of translucency, i.e. the pipe can be seen
through the insulation, from 12% through to 87%. The higher the
percentage the more translucent the insulation becomes.
The default setting is Off, i.e. obstruction volumes are not shown.
Obstruction volumes may be shown as Solid colour, the element that
owns the obstruction volume cannot be seen through it, however, the
options list also has entries for showing the obstruction volumes at
different levels of translucency, i.e. the element can be seen through
the obstruction volume, from 12% through to 87%. The higher the
percentage the more translucent the obstruction volume becomes.
The Representation Rules… link label enables representation rules to be written and set. This functionality
is outside the scope of this training guide.
Refer to TM-1802 AVEVA Everything3D ™ Model Utilities for details of Representation Rules in Model.
The Level frame on the tab shows the current display level for various item types in the model. The display
level may be set by entering a valid display level number in the appropriate textbox.
The Arc Tolerance value controls the representation of certain curves as polygon segments or faceting
planes. The smaller the arc tolerance, the smoother the curve drawn, however, on very large models this may
be an overhead on graphical performance.
The value may be set by entering a number in the Arc Tolerance textbox. The default setting is 1mm
The Mass Arc Tolerance value controls the accuracy of the calculation of the weight and CoG for elements
that does not have a user defined weight.
The Graphics Settings form has buttons along the bottom of the form that are applicable to all tabs. The
buttons have the following functions:
The Load button loads Graphics Settings from a previously saved file.
The Cancel button cancels any changes made and dismisses the form.
Right clicking in a column heading of the Attributes form will display a contextual menu including additional
options and settings for this form:
Track CE : enables the automatic update of the Attributes grid for the
CE
Also, clicking on any row of the attributes grid will display additional options :
9.6.1 Configuration
Explorer Settings : opens the Explorer Settings form (see section 9.1)
Attribute values are stored in databases in the system units and are converted on input and output to the
current session units.
By default, Distance units are metric whilst other unit types have a mixture of Metric and Imperial units to
relevant to industry practice. For example, Bore has Millimetres and Inch available. Some unit types, e.g.
Current, Voltage and Impedance have only one unit available.
Imperial distance units can be made the default by including a UNIT element in a Catalogue database.
The Save / Restore frame enables the current session units to be set to current project defaults and saved
and restored by clicking appropriate button.
Session Units enable the user to display the output of values on forms and input values in forms in a unit
other than the system units. For example, AVEVA E3D works internally in millimetres, however, distance and
bore input and display units can be modified to suit the user during a session.
Attribute values are stored in databases in the system units and are converted on input and output to the
current session units.
Animations & Colours : sets the zoom animations speed, the colours of the
3D View items, the display of the Axes and the Crosshair
Selection & Snaps : sets the appearance and behaviour of grips and snap
cursors
Picking Control : sets the picking offset when using EDG (see section 6.5)
PowerCompass : set the projection mode and the size of the PowerCompass
AVEVA E3D is divided into modules to perform the various functions to produce a 3D Plant design model. The
modules and their function are described below.
Model
Model is the graphically driven data input module for the 3D model in AVEVA E3D. In this module the plant
model is built and the data stored in one or more databases. The databases contain a three-dimensional
description of all items in the plant. Component selection is provided through specifications that dictate which
catalogue components can be used.
Creation of reports, e.g. MTO, weight, Centre of Gravity, model status, etc.
The module has a number of disciplines to assist designers in building models efficiently. These disciplines
are:
General
Equipment
Piping
HVAC
Cabling System
Cable Trays
Structures
Supports
Design Templates.
Laser
Draw
Draw is used to create annotated and dimensioned arrangement and detail drawings from the 3D model and
also has extensive 2D drawing capabilities.
Annotation can be in the form of labels attached to model elements or 2D annotation such as drawing notes,
drawing frames, tables, etc. Annotation attached to a model element on the drawing will move if the 3D position
of the element changes.
Dimensions are projected distances between points in the 3D model and may be attached to model elements.
Dimensions attached to model elements are calculated automatically and are re-calculated when the drawing
is updated, thus reflecting the current model data.
The 3D model can be interrogated through the Draw module, however, the model cannot be changed.
Isodraft
Isodraft produces dimensioned symbolic piping and HVAC isometrics for construction and erection purposes
in various formats.
Spool
Spool is used for pipework spooling. It enables the designer to split the pipework design into logical sections
(spools) ready for fabrication. The spool data can be output as isometric drawings using Isodraft.
The main element types in an AVEVA E3D Model Database are described below. Most element types are
abbreviated, usually to the first four letters of the full name, when they are displayed in the user interface.
These abbreviations are shown in parentheses.
World (WORL)
When the database is first built, it is usually empty except for a single element named the WORLD. Each
database has its own WORLD element as the first element in the hierarchy. The World cannot be deleted or
re-named.
Site (SITE)
Below the WORLD, the second level of the hierarchy is SITE. A SITE may be considered as a significant
collection of plant, whose size is not necessarily determined by physical area, but by practical considerations.
It may, for example be the whole project, or one part of a large project. There can be as many SITEs within
an AVEVA E3D project as required for data organisation.
Zone (ZONE)
The next level below a SITE is a ZONE. As with a SITE, a ZONE is not necessarily used to define a physical
area, it is more likely to store similar types of items for easy reference, such as a piping system in one ZONE,
related equipment in another, and so on. There can be as many ZONEs owned by a SITE as required for data
organisation.
SITEs and ZONE elements are common to all disciplines. Below ZONE level the hierarchy is discipline
dependent, i.e. the elements depend on which discipline the user is modelling.
Equipment (EQUI)
Equipment items are built up in AVEVA E3D using elements known as primitives. Each piece of equipment
can comprise any number of primitive shapes positioned in space to represent the equipment item. The
primitives may be owned directly by the EQUI element or by a Sub-Equipment element.
Sub-Equipment (SUBE)
A SUBE is an optional element to sub-divide an EQUI. The SUBE can own primitive elements.
Primitives
Primitives are the basic building blocks of AVEVA E3D. They are used by other disciplines to create catalogue
components. There are many types of primitives; each with its own features which when combined with other
primitives can represent complex shapes.
Examples of primitives are nozzle (NOZZ), box (BOX), cylinder (CYLI), pyramid (PYRA), cone (CONE) and
dish (DISH).
A VOLM is a ‘simplified’ version of an EQUI element. This allows volumes to be modelled without them being
called Equipment items. A VOLM may directly own any primitive except a NOZZ.
Copyright © 2013. 141 www.aveva.com
AVEVA Solutions Limited and its subsidiaries.
All rights reserved.
AVEVA Everything3D™ (2.1)
Foundations TM-1801
A SVOLM is an optional element, similar to a SUBE, to sub-divide a VOLM. A SVOLM may own any primitive
except a NOZZ.
Structure (STRU)
STRU elements are administrative elements, i.e. they exist to own FRAMEWORK elements, and allow the
plant structures to be sub-divided for ease of modelling and reporting.
Framework (FRMW)
FRMW elements are used to store structural components in the model. A complex structure can be divided
into logical frameworks. Dividing the structure in this way allows structural modelling, and also reporting, to be
done more efficiently, e.g. by copying a complete FRMW.
Sub-Framework (SBFR)
A SBFR is an optional element that can own structural components. They are used to further sub-divide
complex projects or for modelling sub-assemblies within a framework.
Structural Components
Linear structural profiles are represented in AVEVA E3D by Section (SCTN) elements, for straight profiles,
and Generic Section (GENSEC) elements for curved profiles. Profile sizes are selected using a section
specification that references standard catalogue data for section sizes complying with various national
standards or company standards. Flat planar items, such as plates and grating, are represented by Panel
(PANE) elements.
Pipe (PIPE)
Pipes may be considered to be like lines on a flow sheet. They may run between several end connection
points and are usually grouped by a common specification and process.
Branch (BRAN)
Branch elements are sections of a pipe, which have known start and finish points. In AVEVA E3D the start
and finish points are called the Head and Tail. Heads and tails may be connected to Nozzles, Tees or other
Heads and Tails, depending on the configuration of the pipe, or left open ended.
Piping Components
A Branch may own a wide variety of components such as Gaskets (GASK), Flanges (FLAN), Elbow (ELBO),
Tees (TEE), Valves (VALV), etc., which are all elements. These form the shape and geometry of the Branch
and ultimately the Pipe itself.
Piping components are selected using Piping Specifications that reference standard catalogue data. For
example, each time a user wants to use a 100mm bore elbow, AVEVA E3D always accesses the data for it
from the component catalogue. The data for these elements remains constant no matter how many 100mm
bore elbows are used in the design.
Function Keys
F1 Aveva Help
F2 Clear 3D View
F3 Object Snap On/Off
F4 Object Snap Projection On/Off
F5 Toggle Walk Mode On/Off
F6 Toggle Fly Mode On/Off
F7 Grid On/Off
F8 Orthogonal drawing On/Off
F9 Grid Snap On/Off
F10 Polar Tracking On/Off
F11 Toggle Shaded/Wireline mode
F12 Dynamic hints On/Off
General Keys
Delete Deletes selected elements in 3D View with confirmation
Tab Navigates to Contextual Editor input boxes
Space Locks value in the in Contextual Editor input boxes
Home or Page Up Navigates to WORL* level in any Explorer
End or Page Down Navigates to Bottom Level in any Explorer
Exits current CIE Operation / cancels position input/ removes selection/exits edit
Esc mode
Arrow UP Shows In-3D view command of last used CIE Operation
Arrow Down Shows available Tile Icons during CIE Operation
Insert Toggle Feature Highlight function On/Off
Backspace Removes selection from 3D view
Enter confirms position, selects default option, executes command, etc.