oCAD Plant 3D –

Auto
How
w to Manag
M e Largge Pro
ojects

Large projjects are not handled by a single design

ner and so coorrespondingly, a large pro
oject should n
not
reside in a single DWG. Sounds logical, but how do you divid e up a large p
project so thaat many desiggners
can work together as a team. Split it up into lotss of DWG’s! SSounds easy, but how?

This paper will give youu some ideas as to how too organize youur Plant 3D prroject so thatt the project
remains as
a a single prooject for reporting and yet has many drrawing / modeel files, so thaat designers oof
different disciplines
d can work togetther and yet work
w with maanageable datta sets so that modeling
response remains good w will do thiss is through e xtensive use of XREF’s.
d. The way we

And just as ojects are the same, there are many diffferent ways tto organize a project. We’’ll
a no two pro
suggest one way, but you
y can modify these sugggestions in ordder to suit yo
our project beetter.
Contents
Getting Started.............................................................................................................................................. 3
Setting Up Your Project ................................................................................................................................. 3
Controlling Rights Between Disciplines .................................................................................................... 4
Working With Xref’s. ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Simplifying Working With Xref’s ............................................................................................................... 5
Modeling Using Xref’s ............................................................................................................................... 6
Managing Drawing Sizes With Xref’s ........................................................................................................ 7
Data Management ........................................................................................................................................ 8
Working In a Distributed Environment ..................................................................................................... 8
Managing Deliverables.................................................................................................................................. 9
Piping Isometrics ....................................................................................................................................... 9
Orthographic Drawings ........................................................................................................................... 11
Working with a Master Model .................................................................................................................... 13
Working with Navisworks ....................................................................................................................... 14
SQL Server ............................................................................................................................................... 17
Vault ........................................................................................................................................................ 18
Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................. 18
Appendix 1 – Managing Drawing Rights Access ......................................................................................... 19
Windows Folder Structure ...................................................................................................................... 19
Plant 3D Project Folder Structure ........................................................................................................... 21

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managing Large Projects Page 2

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

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

o a refinery--like project. We have a site plan that we have brokken

In this exaample we will be working on
into 14 arreas:

In the midddle is a pipe rack which jo

oins up the se
eparate areass (Area 2). Thiis is considereed a separatee area
since we want
w a design
ner to be resp
ponsible for considering
c thhe layout of o
only the pipess in the rack. Area
13 is a serrvicing area and contains no
n ‘plant’ item models in this area are AEC models, not Plant
ms (i.e. the m
3D models) and so there are no P&IDs and no Plant models inn this area.

Within eaach area we have to considder Equipmennt, Structures and Piping. And if we havve different
designers focusing on each
e disciplin bly want to diivide up our aareas into thee disciplines.
ne, we probab

Settin
ng Up Your
Y Pro
oject
Using the example abo ove we have decided
d that we
w will have 14 areas. Eacch area can m
managed by a lead
designer, but each area has a design team compprising equipm
ment layout d
designers, Structural layout
designers, and piping designers.
d

In the case of P&ID’s we

w have split thet project up p into three pprocess areass plus one utillities area wh
hich
will contain all the Utility P&ID’s (orr ULD’s). The fact that thee P&ID area w
will span severral of the Pipiing
areas is no
ot important as Plant 3D will
w track and manage all t he lines and eequipment in n the project.

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managging Large Projeccts Page 3

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

Note we have 4 P&ID Area’s and 13 Piping Areaas. We have aalso

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

Now lookking at Area 6 as an examp

ple:

We have created
c a Struuctural file in the Structure
es folder, an Equipment M
Modeling file iin the Equipm
ment
folder, and 2 Piping file
es in the Pipinng folder.

This structure keeps th

he file content small and manageable
m a nd yet allowss maximum flexibility in
working inn the project.. By using Xre
ef’s, the desiggner can focuus on the partt of the modeel he is particu
ularly
interested
d in at any mooment by unloading the Xref’s he does n’t need. Theen when he n needs more
informatioon, simply reload the Xref’s for full mod del realizationn.

Contro
olling Righ
hts Between Disciiplines
In some organizations,
o , CAD Manage ers feel moree comfortablee controlling w who has writee-access to
drawings based on the e discipline. (So Structural designers ca n’t change piiping configurrations and vice-
versa.) Many
M CAD Managers (or Pro oject Adminisstrators) do t his by settingg access rightss at the foldeer
level. In the
t above exaample, the hie erarchy is are
ea-based and disciplines arre sub-folders of the area.. In
this case, the administrator will nee
ed to set rightts for every d iscipline in evvery area. No
ote that this wwould
be done ata the project setup and thhe rights would only need tto be changeed when projeect personnell
change.

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managging Large Projeccts Page 4

An alternaative approacch could be too create a fold
der structuree with the discciplines at thee top and areeas as
sub-folders for each discipline. In this approach the rights neeed only be seet at the disciipline folder level.

Plant 3D folders
f do not need to exaactly match th
he Windows ffolder structu ossible to set up
ure, so it is po
the projecct folder to be
e hierarchical based on are
eas (as shownn above) but have the Win ndows folder
structure be set up bassed on discipllines. See Ap
ppendix 1 for more informaation on how w to set this up.

Workking Witth Xref’’s.

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

Noote that the ppump is in thee equipment Xref and thatt

sin
nce we were routing an 8”” line and con nnecting to a 10”
no
ozzle, a 10” mmating flange with a 10x8 rreducer was
plaaced in the p iping model. Also note the connection n was
alsso placed which will give u
us the correctt bolts and gaasket.

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

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managging Large Projeccts Page 5

The Area Master file iss maintained by
b a project lead who ensuures that all tthe model filees in that areaa are
attached. The reason we use attachment refere ence type, ratther than the usual overlayy, is that we w
will
be using these
t Area Master files as Xref’s in the Master Modeel (see later) aand we want the nested X Xref’s
to displayy.

ng these Area Master mod

By creatin dels, we make e managing m model files in tthe area simppler. Now anyy
designer working
w in that area simply attaches this one file as an Xref, but iin this case in
n Overlay mo ode,
dels in that area are attachhed. (A warniing message d
and he wiill be sure thaat all the mod detecting circcular
referencees may be disp played; simply click Continnue.) If workiing across areeas, for example connectin ng
pipes to a pipe rack thaat may be in a separate arrea (for exam ple attachingg to pipes in PPipe Racks), thhen
attach thaat Area Maste er drawing annd then detacch (or unload)) when no lon nger needed.

Word of warning
w re Circular Refere ences: If you follow the guuidelines abovve, then circuular referencees
(file referring back to ittself as a lower nested Xreef file) will be taken care oof by AutoCADD. The dangeer
arises when you need to Xref a file in another arrea. In this caase if you attaach the external area file tto
your mod del file as an attachment,
a you
y will create circular refeerences in the Master Model file (see
below) orr in the Orthographic Draw wing master model
m files. TTo avoid this p
problem, bestt practice is to
o use
the overla ay reference type for these external file es.

Designerss can turn on or off any layyers in the refference files oor unload thee whole refereence file as
needed.

Modeling Usingg Xref’s

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

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managging Large Projeccts Page 6

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

Managging Draw
wing Sizess With Xrref’s
The optimmum size for a model file iss 5-10MB. De epending on tthe hardwaree you are usin ng and the typpe of
plant mod del, it may be
e better to kee
ep the modell size smaller.. This can be especially tru ue if you havee
objects thhat are not Plaant 3D objectts (e.g importted from Inveentor or Revitt). This will reesult in more dwg
files, but good
g model management
m will maintain
n good perforrmance. It do oesn’t matterr how many fiiles
you have in the projectt, AutoCAD Plant 3D proje ect manager ccan manage laarge numberss of drawingss.

With expeerience, you’lll be able to guesstimate

g how
h many linees or how maany equipmen nt items will b
be in
each mod del file in orde
er to keep the
e sizes down, but there is nno problem aadding more m
model files ass the
evelops. Thiss is especially true for pipin
project de ng files.

ers like to put all equipmen

Some use nt in an area into
i one dwg . Others like to split them
m up into sub--areas
where oth
hers may splitt the equipment up by levels on a struccture.

In the case of structure

es, many userrs will place a ‘single’ struccture into a single model ffile. This is so
o the
structure can be exporrted for analyysis and then replaced withh a detailed sstructural model after the
detailed engineering
e has been done e. In some caases, the struccture may acttually extend across an areea
boundaryy. This is not a problem, simmply place thhe structural m model in onee area and theen have the
master arrea model of the
t other are ea(s) xref this structural moodel.

parately too. This is to alloow the pipingg designer to optimize the

Pipe Rackks are typicallyy handled sep
m. Thus the Pipe Rack areaa may also contain
space avaailable on the rack and thiss is its own layyout problem
AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managging Large Projeccts Page 7
sub-racks which will encroach into process areas. The best practices approach discussed so far handles
this approach easily.

Managing piping models can be done in many different ways. Since Plant3D allows intelligent
connections across Xref’s. Thus piping models can be divided into sub-areas or by line numbers, with
each designer allocated a certain number of lines. There are no constraints on how to divide up the
area.

Data Management
AutoCAD Plant 3D uses an SQL database to manage non-graphic data. The default SQL database engine
delivered with Plant 3D is SQLite (www.sqlite.org) Everything you need to manage the data within a
Plant3D project is delivered with Plant 3D and you do not need to be a database expert nor do you need
to understand SQL databases in order to use SQLite. SQLite is a simple and effective solution for
managing data in smaller projects where integration with enterprise databases is neither necessary nor
desirable. Thus small companies can use SQLite for their projects and Plant 3D Data Manager will be an
effective interface to the project and drawing data. For more information on SQLite visit
http://www.sqlite.org/about.html

For larger organizations who have large amounts of data stored within Enterprise Databases, Plant 3D
will support SQL Server. The inclusion of SQL Express in the Plant 3D allows you to select whether to use
SQLite or connect to your corporate database.

When should I stick with SQLite and when should I use SQL Server? This is a difficult question to answer
and it depends more on how you use the data than on how many users need to access the project
database. If you are already using corporate databases and want to share the Plant 3D data with other
database applications, then SQL Server is definitively the correct answer. If your project users are
distributed geographically, then SQL Server may be the best solution as the database server will manage
the distribution of the database, or manage the centralization of the data.

Regardless of whether you use SQLite or SQL Server, the Data Manager allows you to extract data to
Excel spreadsheets for non-CAD users to manipulate the data.

Working In a Distributed Environment

Buzzsaw (www.buzzsaw.com) offers a very useful way of placing files in a central server to allow
distributed users to access these files if you do not have a central server and WAN for project
collaboration, or if you have external people/companies working on a project and you do not want to
grant them access to your local network.

Autodesk® Buzzsaw® software as a service (SaaS) delivers document, data, and design management
solutions to architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms and owner-operators. Autodesk
Buzzsaw helps organizations centralize and more securely exchange project information inside and
outside their organization. And with proven SaaS technology, your company can focus more on project
delivery and less on managing costly IT infrastructure.

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managing Large Projects Page 8

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

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

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

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managging Large Projeccts Page 9

Isometricss are created by line numb
ber and are so
orted by Iso sstyle in the Prroject Managger:

Isometricss can be created just fromm a drawing, inn which case only those piiping compon nents in that
drawing will
w be extractted to the isoo, or for the whole
w project.. In this case the whole lin
ne (across sevveral
model filees perhaps) will
w be extracted into the single isometr ic. Note thatt an isometricc drawing mayy be
split into several
s sheetts. Each sheet will be a sep
parate dwg.

t isometricc is extracted from the 3D model, mostt CAD Managgers do not alllow isometriics to
Because the
be edited
d in any way. This preventts inconsisten
ncies betweenn the model aand the isomeetric.

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managging Large Projeccts P

Page 10
Orthoggraphic Drawings
D
Orthograp phic drawingss are created from a selecttion of files thhat are availaable in the Plaant 3D Drawin
ngs
under Souurce Files. The
e files are selected in the ortho
o creatio n process, an nd may be selected to creaate
Area plans, or master plans.
p Sections and details include few wer files since they are showing smaller
areas of the overall pro
oject.

Layering for
f the generaated view is controlled
c by Ortho DWG SSettings.

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managging Large Projeccts P

Page 11
Layers can
n be used from the 3D mo
odels, or objeccts can be plaaced accordin
ng to specified
d layer settings.

To updatee the orthographic drawings, the modeel must be chaanged first. Th

hen the user can open thee
ortho, select a viewport and use the
e Update View
w command.

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managging Large Projeccts P

Page 12
The above
e process may look like we e will have maany files to m
manage, and tthis may be trrue. But by
managingg them in this way, drawinggs can be created at any tiime, even wh hile modeling is going on aand
then draw
wings can be updated
u conssistently.

Workking witth a Master Mo

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

e Xref’s at certain times in

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

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managging Large Projeccts P

Page 13
Workin
ng with Naviswor
N ks
Dependinng on whether you want too work at a prroject level orr at an area leevel, the proccess is the sam
me.
Simply staart with the Master
M Modell or the Area Model.

The first time

t you set up
u for a Navissworks review
w, open the M
Master Modell DWG file. N Now after
performin ng any operattions you wan
nt to do, save
e the model a s a NWF. In ffuture review
ws, open the N
NWF
file and co
omments, maaterials are re
etained even after the DW
WG files which are referencced have been n
updated.

Sometime es you want to

t do reviews at a particulaar milestone and want to ssave the project for furtheer
reviews even though the project de
esign is contin
nuing. In thesse cases, open the Masterr Model or Area
Master DWWG in Naviswworks, and then save as NWWD. All the mmodel entities are now savved in a singlee
source moodel which caan be viewed using Navisw
works.

For betterr performancce, make sure the nwc or nwd

n files get cclosed after tthey are read.

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managging Large Projeccts P

Page 14
You also should
s enablee occlusion cu
ulling, and togggle the Harddware Accelerration, and W
WPF Hardwaree
Acceleration if you havve having performance issues.

As a rule, only 3d model objects sho

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

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managging Large Projeccts P

Page 15
You may prevent
p Navissworks from even
e loading these objectss at all underr the followingg options.

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managging Large Projeccts P

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SQL Server
The decision to use SQL Server is driven by the number of users modifying project data at one time. The
default database type, SQLite is valid for up to 2 TB per file, so the project file size is not the issue.
Because the SQLite database is a single file, successful read/writes depend on fast access. When more
users access the database at one time, they have a higher chance of hitting the database at the same
time (or close enough).

Due to network configurations, server performance, computer performance, network loads, and a host
of other factors, a precise number of users cannot be given. However, through experience with various
clients, most people start to see performance degradation with between 6 - 10 users.

If you know you will have more than 10 active users, you should implement SQL Server Express or SQL
Server.

You must also use SQL Server if you plan to use Plant 3D with Vault.

Database Types
SQL Server – An enterprise-level product offering from Microsoft that includes a database server with
administration tools for replicating databases between sites, and other advanced features

SQL Server Express – A free product offering from Microsoft that includes a database server without
advanced administration tools. You can still configure backups.

SQLite – An open source file-based database used by developers world-wide. The database engine is fast
with good performance.

Versions
AutoCAD Plant 3D has been run with SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, and SQL Server 2012.

Articles on setting up SQL Server Express and creating backups are available here:

http://www.pdoteam.com/series/plant3d-on-sql-express/

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managing Large Projects Page 17

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

Vault should be used in the following conditions:

• You have multiple sites that need to share data

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

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

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

AutoCAD Plant 3D – Managing Large Projects Page 18

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

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

The folder organization

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

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Page 19
Use the sttandard Wind
dows Folder security
s featu
ures to assign rights to the folders:

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

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Page 20
Plant 3D
3 Projecct Folder Structure
e
In the pro
oject we wantt to create a structure
s by area
a and thenn by disciplinee as follows:

However, we want to ensure

e that the equipmen nt and Piping ddrawings are stored in thee project
Equipmen nt and Piping folder and thhat all the stru
uctural drawi ngs are held in the structu
ures folder (as we
created in
n the previouss section)

We do thiis by creatingg a new folderr for the area and then linkking this foldeer to the disccipline folder w
we
created previously:

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Page 21
Now when we create a new piping drawing in an n area (in thiss case Area 2)) the Project M
Manager will
show it ass a member of
o the disciplin
ne folder in th
hat area but tthe actual draawing file is h
held in the
discipline folder and asssumes the rights access of
o the folder:

Although this seems a complex process, it only has

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

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