my $.02 so far

[dave]

i think monkey said it. This software is everything Aplant should or could have been. Consistancy checks, rules that flag you when violated, graphics are stored in the DB so it's very easy to make mass graphical changes. Flow that reads in the direction you draw the pipe. OPC's (off page connectors) the equivalent of Aplant arrows. When you draw one, it automatically makes it's partner that it send to a drawing "stockpile". All project data is searchable and sortable inside the drawing...it's badass. There are a few drawbacks, the UI could use a lot of help - A dropdown list would be nice for the components instead of picking from a box. Unless you have a VBA programmer on board report customization is a beech.

B) two thumbs up from me though B)

[Data Wrangler]

I'm hoping as people use more different types of P&ID software (and talk about what they find) that the vendors of this type of software will realise that there IS competition out there.

Derek

[dave]

Monkey, which modules do you support?

Derek, why did you move away from SPPID?

[HybridAWD]

I would like a demo of it :) But everyone is stuck on AP here.

[Data Wrangler]

I moved away from Smartplant beacuse I changed employers. Interestingly enough, my current employer is looking around at updating our P&ID software, which includes looking at Smartplant, as well as other packages on the market like Innotec's Comos package.

Derek

[dave]

Innotech eh? I'll have to check that one out. Brand new package? Are you guys considering Autodesks PID software?

[dave]

Derek - cool! Which way are you all leaning and why?

Monkey - how are your PDS pipers reacting to SP3D? Many of ours don't like it b/c of the complexity of the program vs. PDS.

[Data Wrangler]

I've looked at AutoDesk's software, but right now it's not got the enterprise-wide type of features we need. Nice package, otherwise...

As far as the other packages go, I do not think there is a consensus yet on a way to go. The package to be chosen has to have a lot of features, and integrate with things like PDMS (which was the 3D package chosen.)

We were shown Comos last week. I had not heard of them until last year, and from what I saw is looking very good. IMHO the design of the software is different in that they did not start out as a pure "PID drawing" package, but have always been a "design a virtual plant in the database" kind of package. In other words, the design is similar to the Smartplant package, in that the PIDs are basically a graphical report from the database, but the database is much more integrated. Everything in a plant is an object, with attributes that can be exposed in whatever format you want (PID, Datasheets, Single lines, etc.). It does a lot with very minimal effort. It uses a lot of drag and drop, as well as XML for transferring stuff, etc.

Take all of this with a grain of salt, though. If I've learned anything over the years, a dog and pony show is one thing, getting the software to work how you want it to is quite another. I was impressed though.

[Data Wrangler]

Did you just redraw the PIDs, or did you do some sort of import? One of the questions that is floating about is how to get projects moved from one package to another.


Derek

[dave]

you switched mid project!? Holy crap dude, that's "gutsy" - was that a decision made by your company or your new parent company? Last question, is that project still on budget?

p.s. as Derek asked, how did you do it?

[Data Wrangler]

I wasn't thinking about moving drawings across... I know that's just not the way to go. I was thinking about populating the database (moving instruments, etc.) via excel. If you can map the right fields, I was wondering how much you could do that way. Have them all in the stock pile and then place. Actually, I believe the location coordinates for the stuff on the AP PIDs are in the database somewhere - maybe you could even get them placed in the right location on the drawing...

Just thinking here...

[dave]

yeah that's interesting. If they were in the stockpile, how would you get them onto the drawing? Obviously you manually place them from the stockpile and therefore overwrite the x,y - I wonder if there is a switch the controls that or if the coordinates tells the database that the component is not in the stockpile. Innteresting...

[Data Wrangler]

One of the things I always thought was cool about SP PID was the fact that ALL of the information on the PID was in the database...if the program crashed and corrupted the drawing (and it does) it just went and recreated the entire drawing from the database. I never lost any information that way...

[Data Wrangler]

...my point being that if the program could do that, why not feed it with the information to redraw the imported drawings?

[dave]

One of the things I always thought was cool about SP PID was the fact that ALL of the information on the PID was in the database...if the program crashed and corrupted the drawing (and it does) it just went and recreated the entire drawing from the database. I never lost any information that way...

Yeah that made me uncommfortable the first few times I had to deal with that. In AP that's a big o sh*t, but in SP it's standard procedure. Makes it much easier to fix drawings to that end.

Also, if a drawing is behaving strangly - you can open it up then while it's open kill the draft service. The drawing will corrupt and have to be re-created. Fixes a lot of little quirks.

[XM_User]

Hey guys, do you know the E-Plant?

http://www.e-eplant.com/

This software is interesting because represent an alternative in the DB handle approaches that you talk.

The DWG contains everything and have a high compatibility, for the rest contains all the features to feed the site, MTO, Clash detection, Support modeling, you can import any Acad 3D and include it to your library mapped with your classes, equipment modeling, Isos full customized, and all you can do with acad.

I think that is an alternative to big platforms, for on fly projects, cheep and efficient.

Is also correct highlight that for a rendered presentation you will have to use other software.
On the site is available a demo with examples very functional to get a first impression.