Generating 3D and display

#Generate 3D

Goal: place pipes, elbows, tees and reducers from the catalog on selected routing lines. What happens exactly is explained in the Basic concepts.

1. Click Generate 3D – the button is on the Pipe, Risers/connectors, Symbols, Custom parts, Products and Tools pages.
2. Click pipes or drag a selection window; Enter. The whole run of the pipe gets its 3D – everything connected to it.
3. If the catalog offers several suitable parts at a spot, the Fitting selection dialog box asks: double-click or OK takes the selected part, "reuse" takes it for every identical spot in this run, Cancel takes the first part of the list.
4. At the end the parts are in the drawing, numbered. Whatever could not be built as it should appears in the issues list at the bottom right – with "Show" for each row.

Options

• Gear menu › Generate 3D: "Ask when several are selected" or "Do not ask" – whether LuaCAD asks separately for several selected networks.
• Gear menu › Pipe settings: stock length and coupling.
• Tools page › Insulation: visible or invisible.

#Delete 3D

Goal: remove pipes and fittings and work with the routing lines again.

1. Click Delete 3D.
2. Click pipes or drag a selection window; Enter.
3. The pipes and fittings of the selected networks are removed, the routing lines become visible again and can be changed further.

#Pipe lengths and couplings

Goal: set the lengths in which pipes are created when the 3D is generated.

1. Gear menu › Pipe settings, page Pipe lengths.
2. Per catalog and nominal size the pipe length – by default the manufacturer's supply length. If a pipe is longer, "Generate 3D" divides it into stock lengths of this length.
3. With coupling: between two stock lengths sits a coupling from the catalog (same DN, same diameter as the pipe). Without the check mark – or if the catalog has no suitable coupling – the stock lengths butt together without a part.

#Switching the display

Goal: show what is needed right now – for example only 2D symbols for plotting, or symbols instead of real product bodies. The switches on the Tools page change all parts of the drawing at once, without a selection, and also apply to newly inserted parts. The highlighted part is the one currently in effect.

#Converting 2D to 3D

Goal: continue a plan from Piping 2D in 3D without drawing it again.

1. Tools page › 2D pipes › Convert to 3D ….
2. Select the 2D pipes (click or selection window); Enter.
3. In the dialog box set the elevation per system elevation and catalog and pipe spec per system; on the Options tab choose whether the 2D objects are deleted or kept afterwards (by default with a prompt).
4. OK: each 2D pipe becomes a routing line at the elevation of its system elevation; an elevation change becomes a vertical segment, a symbol the chosen generic valve, a riser a riser, a 2D fixture the same fixture in 3D.