….puts methods behind the CADWorx (CWX) ISOBATCH and AutoCAD Plant 3D (P3D) QuickIso processors. Both platform workflows end with generating drawings, so post-processing them is where ISOWorx takes over. It accomplishes many tasks designers do manually like moving around ISOs drawing files, renaming them, updating border attributes, and updating sheet-to-sheet continuations. You can simplify material and weld takeoffs or get them ready for consumption as Xcel Load Sheets. Add Work Orders and now you’ve stood up a system to manage content in the cloud and edge compute where activities like purchasing and compliance record keeping can occur.
Advancing output through optional stage gates for logical hold points to manage your workflows.
Check out these use cases
IsoCreate from CADWorx and AutoCAD PLANT 3D
Batching piping isometrics from CWX and P3D Projects the same way.
The ISOCREATE command launches either IsoBatch or Production Iso. Once Lines have been created by these processors, ISOWorx steps to help finish.
Everyone wants the ‘No-Touch Iso’, but everyone will admit to opening them right after they have been first created. We can’t help ourselves, we want to see the fruits of our hard work.
So, ISOWorx starts out by making drawings easy-to-open.
Stage 1 IsoOut
Bulk updating piping isometric drawing Attributes from Excel Line Lists.
Bulk Update BOM & WELD drawing tables from companion Excel workbooks
Stage 2 Work In Progress
Bulk updating piping isometric drawing Attributes & Drawings from Excel Line Lists.
Bulk Update BOM & WELD drawing tables from companion Excel workbooks
Stage 3 – Plot to PDF
Combine multi-sheet isos into one PDF file
Update BOM Tables and Excel Workbooks from ISOWorx Stage Gates
ISOWorx consumes Excel workbooks exported by CADWorx and AutoCAD PLANT 3D.
BOM and WELD worksheets can be created for each DWG file created.
Changes to BOM and WELD tables pushed to the active drawing and workbook keeping them in sync.
Weld Extraction
ISOWorx outputs Excel workbooks containing weld worksheets for every piping isometric created.
Worksheet data is inserted onto each drawing as a CAD table, effectively replacing the Isogen table.
These workbooks can be used for many purposes, but most commonly they are used to collect fabrication information.
In this way, ISOWorx can create as-built drawings because it automatically updates drawing CAD tables.
Step 1: Create an isometric drawing index worksheet
The foundation of ISOWorx is a piping isometric drawing index.
It must contain a row for every piping route, and in some cases, every piping route segment if split into spools or split across multiple sheets for drawing clarity.
The worksheet must contain mandatory ISOWorx columns like ISO_DWG_NAME and TAG.
The key to isometric drawing revision control is to have a REVISION column. This is not a mandatory column, but rather a strategic user column to control drawing revisions.
Step 2: Increment the isometric drawing revision
Nobody knows when changes are made to a piping model, except for those who make the changes or assign changes to be made.
There are probably hundreds of ways to manage change, and ISOWorx offers yet another. Regardless of the method, it still relies on someone to manage it and populate revision data for each and every isometric drawing. ISOWorx improves this situation by standardizing and streamlining the processes via an Excel drawing index or ISOWorx Index
An IFR to IFC story:
Acme Co. produced 109 isometric drawings and automatically created PDF files for review (IFR) using ISOWorx. PDF markups were collected via SOCKETWorx, and only 32 of the 109 drawings required changes. The design team got busy and made 3D model modifications to 26 of the 79 piping routes satisfying all PDF markups. The team lead incremented the revision to 1 in the ISOWorx drawing index for each of the 32 drawings associated with the 26 piping routes. Then ISOWorx is used to ISOBATCH only the 26 pipe routes and recreate the 32 revised piping isometrics. The revised drawings were reissued for review and subsequently approved as-is. Now, what does Acme Co do when they need to issue all drawings with a new status, Issued for Construction (IFC)?
Using ISOWorx, they a) incremented the revision in the ISOWorx Index for all 109 isometrics, and b) changed the STATUS attributed in the ISOWorx Index to issued IFC, and c) produced 109 IFC drawings from the Work In Progress directory.
Eliminating the need to recreate approved isometrics using Isogen, or not having to open every drawing to update the border information is how ISOWorx improves and streamlines the revision process.
