All,
I had a good conversation with one of our new customers the other day. He was describing his experiences with AutoPLANT and now with CADWorx. As CADWorx continues to grow and develop with a very strong backing in terms of development dollars from Intergraph, it appears AutoPLANT (Bentley) is continuing to push its user base over to their newest platform or in his case to CADWorx! Along with the constant AutoPLANT/AutoCAD Compatibility Issues he’s experienced over the years with the lack of Object Enablers for latest versions of AutoCAD, the AutoPLANT SS5 (Only AutoCAD 2012 Compatible) release now totally removes ISOGEN from the product and pushes users to the OpenPlant Isometric Manager (an external application) to generate Isometrics. Basically, you need to have 2 Applications open when you are Iso’ing lines and making changes. Further, there is no magic ISOGEN Style import button on the OpenPlant Isometric Manager.
All in all he was pretty disappointed in the release and offered ECE the opportunity to demonstrate some of the newest enhancements to CADWorx that were aimed directly at AutoPLANT as well as some of the existing features that make CADWorx the Number 1 AutoCAD Based Plant Design Software in the World!
With a little preparation, ECE Demonstrated CADWorx 2014/AutoCAD 2014 with his imported Isometric Style Sheets he had been using for years. When we started piping with the Out-of-the-Box specification and Zero Setup Time he was impressed. When we opened the Specification Editor at the same time we were inside of CADWorx, made some changes to the Specification, saved, and then initiated the Update from Specification Command in CADWorx, he said “Wow”. When we moved back to the Specification, Added Custom Piping Attribute Data to the Project (i.e. Stress Status, Model Area, and Service), saved, and then initiated the Update from Specification Command in CADWorx he said, “No Way”! When we demonstrated the Line Isolation Palette and the ability to not only Isolate by Line but by the newly added Custom Piping Attribute Data, he was hooked!
In the end, he relayed his top compelling reasons for the change:
- Intergraph’s commitment to the CADWorx Product Line as seen by the continuous development since the acquisition back in January of 2010.
- Compatibility – CADWorx is step for step with AutoCAD Releases
- ISOGEN
- Custom Data – The New Custom Data feature that allow projectwide Attributes to be easily added and assigned without having to do it after hours with an IT Staff.
- Lower Administration costs – Project Startup, IT Support, Specification Creation
- Easier Pipe Support and User Shape Creation
- Bi-Directional Support for CAESAR II Pipe Stress Analysis
- Orthogen Integration for 2D Plans and Sections
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.