Displaying terminal information in AutoCAD Electrical

In this blog article, we are going to take a look at how to show terminal information within an electrical design in AutoCAD Electrical and how to extract this information for device termination, display cable/wire information and to help later processes such as procurement.  

You can display Terminal information within a schematic layout.  From the icon menu select the terminal symbol and assign the relevant information to that terminal such as installation/location code, tag strip identification, terminal information and catalogue information.

The information can then be extracted into a graphical or table layout on a terminal drawing within the electrical project. This layout is used to show cable/wire information, device information, internal jumper layouts and catalogue information. Additional terminal accessories can be added by assigning the catalogue information. Accessories can include including terminal holders, spacers and covers.

 

Note: To ensure the component is displayed in a graphical layout all catalogue information will need an associated block defined in the footprint database. 

If you are wanting to use a specific component that does not exist within AutoCAD Electrical you can create your own symbols and footprints. Select the symbol builder feature and choose the specific type of component you require such as parent component, terminal or panel terminal.

For further information on the benefits of using AutoCAD Electrical for your electrical design, contact Symetri to arrange a consultation with one of our electrical specialists. We also offer scheduled AutoCAD Electrical essentials training, as well as bespoke training tailored to your requirements .

 

 

Combined Surface for Multiple Pipe Trenches in Naviate for Civil 3D

When you have multiple pipe networks that all have their own shelf in the section, it is usually more work than it is worth to create a corridor for the whole section. The best way is to create individual corridors and then combine the solids or the surfaces later. This blog article will describe how to combine the surfaces to get a combined trench surface by showing two methods of how to do this. The first method requires the corridor and the second method only uses the surfaces.

Starting Point:

So, what is the starting point for both methods? This is the multiple corridor surfaces, which I strongly recommend that the corridor has been fixed with Import corridor Settings to make sure that there are no bowties that would mess up the surfaces.

For both these methods, we will use the Naviate command Max/Min for Surfaces as the main function. That command creates a new surface from the triangles with minimum elevation of two other surfaces. If you would like to find out more about the command you can read more about it on the Symetri e-learning here: [NVMaxMinforSurface].

Method 1: Corridor

The benefit of this method is that it works the same no matter how many corridors you have.

Max/Min for Surfaces creates a combined surface where two other surfaces overlap, therefore the first step is to make the surfaces overlap. When we have a corridor, one way to do this is to extract the Edge-featurelines from the corridors and add those to the trench surfaces.

Extract a single featureline by selecting the corridor, click featurelines from Corridor on the Ribbon and select the featureline to extract. You want to extract the right-most featureline from the right-most corridor and the left-most featureline from the left-most corridor as is shown in magenta below.

We also need to take into consideration that if we add the featurelines to the corridor surfaces, the surfaces expand, as Civil-Surface do. In order to solve this, we use the Naviate for Civil 3D command, Merge featurelines and merge the two extracted featurelines to a single closed featureline. This merged featureline is then added as both a breakline and a boundary to all the trench corridors. When we are done, the section should look like the below image where all the magenta trench surfaces extend to the same edge point.

After that we use Max/Min for Surfaces to first create a Minimum surface for the two right surfaces, then we do a Max/Min for Surface from the first combined surface and the next surface. Keep doing this until you have added all the corridor surfaces. Name the last corridor as Combined Trench since that will contain all the added surfaces. The resulting surface can be seen in cyan in the image below.

Method 2: Surfaces

If you only have two surfaces, then you can use this simpler method to achieve the same result.

Start by using Max/Min for surface of your two surfaces. This creates a surface only where the surfaces overlap.

Then create a new surface and on this surface paste first the two individual surfaces, and then the Max/Min-surface. The important part here is to paste the Max/Min-surface last, you can change the order in Surface Properties if needed.

Want to know more?

For more information about the individual commands and to see the feature-videos for the commands, have a look at Symetri e-learning.

If you would like to know more about Naviate for Civil 3D, have a look at our upcoming webinar series, Naviate Infrastructure for Civil 3D here or get in touch by calling 0345 370 1500 or emailling info@symetri.co.uk

Explore how CAD training can help you use your CAD software more effectively

 Could you be using your CAD software more effectively?

Since Autodesk are now releasing the new version of their software, I thought it would be a good time to talk about software training. Do you learn how to use the latest release or are you just going to carry on using it the same way you always have?

Over the last few years the way we consume and purchase software has changed. Previously we would buy the Autodesk 1998 version keep it for a couple of years then buy the 2000 version. Now with Autodesk subscription and maintenance models and software being hosted in the cloud, you can automatically get an update once a year, or if you look at Autodesk Fusion 360 every 6 weeks. 

Do we use all of this new additional technology that the software companies develop for us? Realistically the answer is probably not very often. When you receive the latest version of your software most people take a quick look at the "What's new" help file presentation and think "that new feature is just what I have been waiting for". You promise yourself that you will use it tomorrow – that never happens, a project lands on your desk and your never have the time to go back and look at the new features, before you know it a new version of your software appears on your desktop!!

I’ve been at Symetri for over 20 years now, providing CAD training to a multitude of people. I love what I do especially when I can see the reaction from trainees when they realise that a particular feature or tool will save them time when working on their designs. Twenty years ago, I taught two courses, AutoCAD Essentials, and AutoCAD Updates. I still teach the essentials today, but very occasionally do I teach an update course for any software, be it AutoCAD, Inventor or Vault.

One of the more recent times I did teach the AutoCAD update course was to some of the most knowledgeable people I have ever had in my classroom, but they were surprised as to how much content they weren’t aware of in both the current release they were being trained on but also in the previous release. Thankfully, this company understood the value of CAD training and embarked on a training programme to update all of their users. This company unfortunately is in the minority. I have asked many people who attend our training courses and those we help on the support desk about their software usage and I would say that around 75% of people still use the software in the same way they always using the same workflows they were originally trained on.

Is this you - I don't mean just the CAD software that you are using, but probably Word, Excel etc. How many of you are still putting a sketch down to create a hole in Autodesk Inventor? If so, you could be a lot more productive, there are new tools and workflows in all of the latest Autodesk releases.  Let us teach you them. Now we all have to look at working smarter and do more with less time, let your software help you do this, unleash its potential and your own.

What is your call to action from this blog? Book an update course, look at the what's new help files, read the blogs, speak to your support team and see if there is a quicker way to do what you are doing. Remember you don’t know what you don’t know - let someone teach you. We may even get the Update Course off the endangered lists.

Explore our range of CAD training courses here: https://www.symetri.co.uk/training/autocad-training-courses

Sharing Inventor 2021 data to earlier versions of Revit rfa

For manufacturers working with customers in construction it’s often a requirement to provide product models in a BIM compatible format, usually a Revit format. With Autodesk Inventor 2021 we have the capability to work with Revit data and to share this data directly from the Inventor BIM Content Environment

When exporting we can save out to the rfa format, but there is no option to select which Revit version we are saving from.

This can cause problems if your client is using an earlier Autodesk Revit version to you.

However there is a method you can follow to setup your system to be able to export out up to three version earlier than your current version.

In this blog article we will provide you the required setup steps and an iLogic rule that will allow you to access this undocumented feature. 

Installation Requirements

1. Install the matching Inventor legacy version. This can be up to three versions behind latest release so currently 2018.
2. Install the latest Inventor version, currently 2021.
3. Obtain the latest version of Navisworks media. Copy RFATranslator.Translate.RevitServerLegacy.exe from Navisworks install files to legacy Inventor version Revit interoperability folder.

e.g. copy from Autodesk_Navisworks_Manage_2021_Multilingual_Win_64bit_dlm\x64\NAVMAN\Autodesk\Ldr\IVS\Bin

to 

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\Revit Interoperability for Inventor 2018\Rx\

4. You can Install the Revit legacy version to check your exported models and also to gain access to the Revit templates. If you don’t have a Revit license you can run it in view only mode. If you need to make any post export modifications you will require a Revit license to make any changes to the exported file in Revit.

 

iLogic Rule

You will require an iLogic rule to access the custom export functionality.

Create the following as an external rule.

 

Dim oBIMComp As BIMComponent

Dim selectedTemplate As String

Dim targetFile As String

 

oBIMComp = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument.ComponentDefinition.BIMComponent

 

Dim templateFileDlg As Inventor.FileDialog = Nothing

InventorVb.Application.CreateFileDialog(tFileDlg)

templateFileDlg.DialogTitle() = "Select Template for Export"

templateFileDlg.Filter = "Revit Family Template (*.rft)|*.rft"

templateFileDlg.InitialDirectory = "C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RVT 2018\Family Templates\English"

templateFileDlg.CancelError = True

On Error Resume Next

templateFileDlg.ShowOpen()

If Err.Number <> 0 Then

        Return

        ElseIf templateFileDlg.FileName <> "" Then

        selectedTemplate = templateFileDlg.FileName

End If 

Dim oNameValueMap As NameValueMap

oNameValueMap = ThisApplication.TransientObjects.CreateNameValueMap

oNameValueMap.Add("CustomRevitFamilyTemplate", selectedTemplate)

oNameValueMap.Add("RevitFileVersion", "Legacy")

 

Dim oFileDlg As Inventor.FileDialog = Nothing

InventorVb.Application.CreateFileDialog(oFileDlg)

oFileDlg.Filter = "Revit Family Files (*.rfa)|*.rfa"

oFileDlg.InitialDirectory = ThisDoc.Path

oFileDlg.CancelError = True

'On Error Resume Next

oFileDlg.ShowSave()

If Err.Number <> 0 Then

        Return

        ElseIf oFileDlg.FileName <> "" Then

        targetFile = oFileDlg.FileName

End If

oBIMComp.ExportBuildingComponentWithOptions(targetFile, oNameValueMap)

MessageBox.Show("Export to " & targetFile & " finished.", "RFA Export Rule Complete")

There is more to BIM though than just the model itself. If you need to know more about BIM as a manufacturer and what’s required, please contact us by emailing info@symetri.co.uk.  We also have on-demand webinars focused around illogic, along with training courses and services to enable you to boost your productivity.

Introducing the IT Solutions Team

As you may have noticed, the SymetriUK website has had a bit of a restructure with many new offerings added due to our recent acquisition of Excitech; one of them being IT Solutions. In this blog post, we introduce you to this new offering and the people behind the SymetriIT Solutions team.

What is Symetri IT Solutions?

As one of the first Autodesk partners in the UK, we have over 30 years' experience working with architects, engineers, construction and product design professionals. In that time, we have helped design professionals transition from paper-based-draughting to 2D CAD, grasp the complexities of today’s complex 3D modeling platforms, and adopt revolutionary concepts such as generative design.

This experience has given us a unique perspective on the demands these applications place on CAD workstations and IT infrastructure which generic IT companies may not have sight of.

As a result, we partner with best of breed IT technology vendors such as Dell, HP, Microsoft, and more, to bring our customers the right solutions to meet their business needs. Underpinned by our comprehensive range of support services to give you peace of mind that your core IT infrastructure and critical business applications will be available when you need them. 

We support four key areas in relation to IT: products, solutions, services & support.

Products

Hardware and software to help you run your everyday operations

As an experienced accredited partner for some of the most respected names in hardware and software including Dell, HP, Adobe, and Microsoft, we can supply a wide range of industry-specific solutions out-of-the-box, or specially configured for the way you work.

We offer:

·       CAD Workstations

·       Laptops

·       Monitors

·       Accessories

·       Software

·       Virtual Reality (VR)

Find out more at https://www.symetri.co.uk/it-solutions/it-products

Solutions

Tailored solutions to help you work smarter and solve a number of industry issues

 

As the pace of technology development in the architecture, engineering, construction, and product design sectors continue to accelerate, the challenges multiply vast file sizes, bandwidth concerns, back-up procedures, inter-office communication, collaboration, remote working, virtualisation, access to data, and file-sharing to name a few.

 

We offer solutions for:

·       Business Continuity

·       Cloud

·       Collaboration

·       Desktop Virtualisation

·       IT Infrastructure

·       PC as a Service (PCaaS)

·       Remote Working

·       Software

·       Virtual Reality (VR)

 

Find out more at https://www.symetri.co.uk/it-solutions/it-solutions

Services

Helping you identify the present and future IT needs of your business

We provide IT services focused on the key priorities any architecture, engineering, construction, and product design business has. Our consultants can help you identify your present and future IT needs, guide you in building a strategic roadmap to drive greater operational efficiencies, and present vendor-agnostic hardware and systems recommendations.

Our services include:

·       Consultancy

·       Cyber Essentials

·       IT Audit

·       Licence Management

Find out more at https://www.symetri.co.uk/it-solutions/it-services

Support

Our support services are here to help

We do more than just supply the IT equipment and software you need. If something has gone wrong and you need to speak to our expert support team, or you’d like to monitor and prevent issues from occurring, our support services are here to help. We make it easy for you to contact our helpdesk engineers, who come from the core industries they support, whenever the need arises.

 

We offer four IT support packages to keep your infrastructure all running smoothly with optimum performance and minimum downtime.

 

Find out more at https://www.symetri.co.uk/it-solutions/it-support

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Real-World Expertise

Our team is built up of experts who come from the core industries they support; they share and understand the challenges of the Buildings & Infrastructure and Product Design & Lifecycle industries and have the passion to explore, assess and evaluate the many new and varied developments in products and processes taking place in our industry today. So, let's meet the faces behind the expertise...

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Meet the Symetri IT Solutions Team

Alan Stone - IT Solutions Business Area Director 

Alan joined as a member of the IT team delivering services to design and engineering specialists, and was appointed Head of IT Solutions in the summer of 2016. He has helped numerous companies design and implements cutting edge IT infrastructures, ensuring they have the right IT strategy in place to meet their business objectives. Possessing a unique blend of CAD, IT, and commercial expertise, Alan can provide a well-rounded perspective on the technical demands facing the Buildings & Infrastructure and Product Design & Lifecycle industries today.

I am a big sports fan. In my spare time, you'll find me playing golf or watching football.

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Jim Bailey - IT Solutions Consultant

Jim joined in 1996, previously working in the communications industry with British Telecom and the burgeoning IT industry with Granada. He has worked within the IT industry for the past 25 years and his knowledge of IT technologies is broad. He's worked on many projects incorporating technologies such as virtualisation (Hyper-V, VMWare, Nutanix), security (Dell, HP, and Cisco), storage (Panzura, SAN, NAS, Cloud Providers Amazon AWS, and Microsoft Azure), and cloud (Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure Office 365 Nutanix XiFrame).

Outside of work, I'm a keen cyclist and enjoy outdoor life including birdwatching.

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Jeremy Vessey - IT Solutions Consultant

Jeremy joined the business in 1998 as a Hardware Engineer and has now progressed to an IT Solutions Consultant. His knowledge varies across a broad range of technologies including virtualisation, storage and cloud solutions. Jeremy also has a great deal of knowledge around the Autodesk suite of products regarding licencing and deployments. IT installations, pre-sales and fully supporting the Helpdesk for escalated calls are his main responsibilities.

 I'm a big fan of motor racing & snooker

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Lee Emery - IT Solutions Specialist

Lee joined in 1999 and has over 20 years' experience in IT support. He received a BTEC in computing in 1998 and is always on the other end of the phone to help customers with any IT related issues they may have. 

My interests are cars, the outdoors and food!

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Barrie Elliott - IT Solutions Specialist

Barrie Joined the business in 2007 as a Helpdesk Engineer and has now progressed to an IT Solutions Specialist. Prior to joining Symetri, he used to manage an Automotive Business as an Engineer and was a senior Electronic Engineer repairing mobile phones before that. He is a Qualified Electronics Engineer holding a City and Guilds 224 in Electronic Servicing and also an NVQ in Engineering. Engineering and IT has always been his passion since he was a child and with this enthusiasm and keenness, he continues to enhance his knowledge in new technologies. His knowledge varies across the board including Virtualisation, Storage, Cloud solutions and much more. He also delivers client training, installations, pre-sales and consultancy for various products, along with fully supporting the Helpdesk for escalated calls. 

I have a keen interest in photography outside of work.

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Josh Timmins - IT Solutions Specialist

Josh joined in 2013 as a trainee IT Engineer with no previous IT experience. While learning on the job, and with in-house training, Josh has quickly progressed to become an IT Solutions Specialist. Josh assists with all aspects of IT Solutions, from pre-sales and installations to supporting the end-user directly via the helpdesk. 

I enjoy fishing, football and going to the pub.

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Andy Evangeli - IT Solutions Support Engineer

Andy Joined in 2014 as a Technical Support Engineer having previously worked in the corporate industry with Sainsburys at their head office in Holborn. Andy has over 15 Years’ experience in the IT industry and is skilled in various platforms including VMware, Hyper-V, Windows Server, Office 365, In-house Exchange, Windows 7, 8 and 10, Software-Hardware Installations and experience with in-house and cloud backup solutions. He is always happy to help customers with a smile with any IT related issues they may have. 

In my spare time, I enjoy being with my family and am an avid supporter of Newcastle United FC.

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Clive Dancey - IT Solutions Support Engineer

Clive has been in engineering most of his life, starting off at GEC Avionics, moving to work in a field service role with MFS group and then support at Santander. He has since worked in several IT support roles, supporting high-level bankers and traders, to home users before joining Symetri to support our customer base. 

Outside of work, you can find me acting at a local theatre around the Hertfordshire area.

 

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Attarpal Bhamra - IT Solutions Support Engineer

Attarpal joined the business in 2018 as an IT Solutions Support Engineer and has over 5 years' experience in the Managed Service Provider sector. Having completed an apprenticeship in IT, he is perfectly suited to helping customers work through any IT systems difficulties they may come across.

My hobbies include football & gym.

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Fabian John - IT Solutions Support Engineer

Fabian joined in 2019 but has spent over 16 years in IT. Before joining Symetri, Fabian spent over 10 years in the Education sector helping schools with bespoke technology needs from consulting on solutions to day-to-day problems. Fabian has always enjoyed taking things apart and seeing if he can fix them again which has translated into a rewarding career in IT. Seeing complex problems resolved always brings great satisfaction to him. 

Outside of work, I’m a Dad to 3 boisterous boys, I play the drums, cycle, and like a good build in Minecraft from time to time.

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Homayoun Ahmed - IT Solutions Support Engineer

Homayoun has over 13 years of experience working in the Managed Service Provider sector. He has experience in implementing, diagnosing, and maintaining different technologies and is able to provide solutions for our customers' expanding service solutions. Homayoun is customer focused and strives to ensure our customers are not just given quick fixes to temporarily solve their problems, but to implement solutions and services that add value to their organisations. 

In my spare time I l play badminton, and to de-stress we have a family movie marathon!

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Jennifer Curtis - IT Solutions Support Administrator

Jennifer joined the business in 2011 as a Support Services Administrator, raising renewal quotes for IT Solutions and CAD Support. Jennifer sets up and maintains contracts and updates customer support and subscription licences. She supports the sales team, Engineers & customers with their contract & general support issues. 

I enjoy football, reading, going to the pub and theatre.

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Jonathan Glass - IT Solutions Sales Support Assistant

Jon joined the IT Solutions team back in 2015 as the Installation Coordinator, ensuring that IT projects were booked in and running smoothly. A year later he took on the additional duty of IT Solutions presales which involves providing quotes for our sales team and hunting out the best prices possible.

He takes pride in getting things right and enjoys the challenges the role brings him daily. He is constantly learning about new technology and matching it to our customers’ requirements. He has a vast knowledge of Dell and HP CAD workstation ranges and his established relationship with suppliers and vendors have allowed him to source the best IT solutions to offer our customers.

I have a degree in Audio Technology, enjoy collecting vinyls, DJing, and all things music. I live on the south coast with my girlfriend and cat Chewie and enjoy walks on the beach and going to the arcades (not with the cat, that would be weird).

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Daniel Gonzalez - IT Solutions Internal Presales

Daniel joined in early 2020 following a career in the Telecoms industry working with BT and many other companies. From a young age, he has been passionate about IT systems; he is continually embracing new technologies to enhance his knowledge in order to provide for customers' ever-changing needs and ensure end-users get the best out of their equipment.

Prior to joining Symetri, he worked alongside senior engineers doing on-site visits with clients and provided sales support during client negotiations for bespoke proposals. His experiences have given him a good insight into every step of customer onboarding from the quotation stage, right through to end-to-end installations and aftercare. He has learned the importance of forming good customer relationships, and moreover to gain an understanding of their individual requirements.

In my spare time, I enjoy playing and composing music on the piano, working on techie projects like repairs/upgrades on CAD workstations and laptops, gardening, and playing with my little one spending quality dad time whenever I can.

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Nita Hoffmann - IT Solutions Service Delivery Manager

Nita joined the business in early 2020 and has been in the IT industry for 20 years. She started her career teaching IT to adults and children which included supporting students through GCSE and A level computing, before becoming an IT Support Engineer. She then moved onto become a Service Delivery Manager which she has now been doing for over 10 years, having supported a variety of different industries including medical insurance, educational and entertainment.

In my spare time, I enjoy hiking, sailing, camping and cycling.

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Nicole Breeden - Marketing Executive

Nicole first joined the business as a Marketing Assistant in 2017 after graduating from university with a degree in English Language & Communications with Journalism. Shortly after she became a Marketing Executive which now involves planning and executing campaigns for different business units within the company; one of them being IT Solutions. 

Outside of work, I enjoy all things food, fashion, and makeup.

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To learn more about Symetri IT Solutions and how our team of experts can help you, get in touch with us or visit our webpage here.