Leica New Release Notes

March 23, 2020 by Matt Worland Leave a Comment

Leica Geosystems has released new versions of all software with plenty of new features and enhancements. Here are just some of the new updates you can expect to find:

Cyclone Publisher / Cyclone Publisher Pro

With the 2020 release of the Laser Scanning Software portfolio, Leica Geosystems will have simplified its Cyclone PUBLISHER Family and now offers two PUBLISHER licenses:

Cyclone Publisher
Cyclone Publisher Pro

Cyclone TruView PUBLISHER and Cyclone JetStream PUBLISHER will be replaced by Cyclone PUBLISHER and Cyclone PUBLISHER Pro which provide greater flexibility and several desirable features. This simplified PUBLISHER landscape will ensure that all users are working with the most modern and complete files possible and retain access to the full suite of Leica Geosystems software currently available to them.

Both PUBLISHER licenses will write LGS files which can be consumed downstream in Cyclone, Cyclone 3DR, JetStream Enterprise, JetStream Viewer, the CloudWorx suite, TruView Enterprise and Cloud, and Map360. Cyclone PUBLISHER will also publish ReCap files and multiple pano layers (including IR imagery from the BLK360), all of which were previously only available with Cyclone PUBLISHER Pro.

With this move, historic formats, JSV and TVG, will no longer be published by the Cyclone REGISTER 360 Family, Cyclone or JetStream Admin, though JetStream Viewer and TruView Enterprise and Cloud will continue to accept them (respectively) indefinitely. TruView Local files will continue to be a publish option for the time being.

For Cyclone Publisher technical specifications click here

Cyclone Register 360 2020

Smooth Surface cleaning and ground finding tool – Cyclone REGISTER 360 2020 introduces a new option for semi-automatic cleaning. The new Smooth Surface tool will find continuous ground surfaces in all data types supported by Cyclone REGISTER 360. After running Smooth Surface, the user will be presented with “good” (smooth surface) and “bad” (non-smooth surface) points which they can then keep or discard by either fencing off selected areas for removal or removing all “bad” points. The cleaned point cloud can then be exported to supported formats.

Publish points by Limit Box / Only Selected Setups – Users with a Cyclone PUBLISHER Pro license can now choose to publish only the points inside of existing Limit Boxes or points belonging to certain setups to E57, PTS, PTX, PTG and RCP as a single cloud. Publishing only a Limit Box allows users to selectively reduce the size of an export to only a certain area of interest and speed the publishing process.

Improved publishing to ReCap – The 2-billion-point limitation has been removed from publishing to RCP.

For full Cyclone Register 360 release notes with additional enhancements and bug fixes click here

Cloudworx for AutoCAD/NavisWorx 2020

Join pipes with elbows – Users can now join two pipes with an elbow to create a more realistic connection between pipes. Joints are not fit to the real-world elbows, rather the user defines the parameters for the joint including the two pipes being joined, and an object of those parameters is created based on user specifications.

New flange catalog support – When fitting a flange, the user can now select a flange type and size from a catalog to allow simple creation of these common objects without potential human error. The CloudWorx for AutoCAD flange catalog matches the Cyclone flange catalog.

Support for Silhouette mode – Silhouette mode exaggerates contrast which can make certain operations, like tracing, easier. Silhouette rendering mode requires the point cloud to have been published from Cyclone as an LGS file or JetStream project or opened with ModelSpace View from Cyclone 2020 or later.

For full Cloudworx release notes with additional enhancements and bug fixes click here

TruView 2020

View GeoTags in Snapshots – Users can choose to show, all or none of the GeoTags or individual categories of GeoTags and set their selection as default for the Site. When All is selected as the viewed category, all GeoTags that are visible to that Setup will be shown. This means that GeoTags created in Cyclone, the Cyclone.

Improved Support for GeoTag links to Live Documents – Users can now link to a live document on a local network server rather than attaching a file to a GeoTag to support collaboration on live documents linked from TruView.

Support for Snapshots in LGS files – TruView Enterprise and Cloud now support Snapshots created in JetStream Viewer. Users can either add snapshots in JetStream Viewer directly to an LGS or save them to JetStream Enterprise and publish an LGS from JetStream Admin.

For full Truview release notes with additional enhancements and bug fixes click here

If you have any questions or want to learn more about these new releases, please reach out to Joe Cacchione at jcacchione@ecedesign.com or give us a call at 713-623-1502.

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CADWorx Plant Bolting Followup

November 23, 2015 by Matt Worland Leave a Comment

Hello,

After our CADWorx Plant Bolting Done Right Training Webinar we received a few questions that I would like to share the answers to. Since that time CADWorx 2016 was officially released and there are a few enhancements I would like to discuss with you on as well, but first, here are the questions.

Where can I find this Training webinar as well as others? Our Training Webinars can be found on our site at: http://www.ecedesign.com/cadworx-analysis-training-videos/cadworx-plant-professional-training-videos/. ECE customers who are registered have access to our training videos as well as previously recorded non-training webinars. In addition, we have posted short overviews of the videos on our YouTube Channel.
Is the component class the only thing tying the components together? CADWorx also looks to make sure the end conditions match, like face of flange cannot connect to buttweld end of pipe.
Are the bolt length units defined by the data tables? I am having conflicting units in the BOM from ISOGEN. Check these settings in IConfigure or option switch 65 in Project Manager:

Do you have to have lb at the end of component class for it to match up with the appropriate component? No it is not needed at all, and if you don’t have it in there your flanges will connect better to CADWorx Equipment.
Just to verify, the option to turn the bolt length calculation off is only available in 2016? While no calc bolts are only available in 2016, its not really an option to turn it off, more or less a new bolt style that won’t be calculated. Watch the video in the link below demonstrating this new bolt style.
What if you have a flangeless wafer style where bolts span the length of the 2 flanges + face to face of valve, (2) gaskets? Wafer component bolts are automatically calculated. CADWorx will take the components in between the flanges and add up the distances including all gaskets, then give one overall length. Just make sure your wafer component is set to use a wafer end type.Components in the middle must have a wafer end type on both ends, with up to two component max, being allowed.

Flangeless Wafer Style: Shown with Bolts Spanning

How are bolts length calculated for lugged butterfly with different flange thickness on each end? For this, you would need to create an end type for lug start and lug end. Like this:

Bolt Calculation: Lugged Butterfly with Different Flange Thickness

Then on your lugged butterfly, set the end types as such:

CADWorx 2016 Bolting Enhancements

In addition to the release of the Flange Bolting Done Right Training Video, ECE produced a followup Training video for CADWorx 2016 Bolting Enhancements. This video can be found on our site at: http://www.ecedesign.com/cadworx-analysis-training-videos/cadworx-plant-professional-training-videos/. ECE customers who are registered have access this video.

No Calc Bolts

No calculation bolts are available in 2016. These bolts can be created by using a zero type in the catalog. As you can see below, I have assigned a 0 in the type column. The value in the LEN column will be the length shown in the model regardless of the NUTTHK, EXT, or TOL columns. Please note type 0 bolts only apply to machine bolts. (ie only one nut)

Bolt

User Shape Bolting

The Define User Shape dialog has undergone a make over as you can see below. In CADWorx Plant 2016 we now have the ability to select our own end types instead of generic choices like; BW, SW, THRD, or FLG end types. Now each connection point of your user shape can be assigned to one of your end type tables from your catalog. This greatly increases the number and types of components you can create as a user shape.

Define User Shape: End Connections

We understand bolting can be a difficult process. We hope you have found some valuable information in the videos and this post, but if you have any questions, dont hesitate to ask. We are here to help.

Thank you

Matt

Configuring ISOGEN in CADWorx 2015 – Part 3: The New Interface

April 17, 2015 by Matt Worland Leave a Comment

Let’s get started with the new CADWorx 2015 Plant Profession ISOGEN Interface – Enterprise Control Panel (ECP). Below are the main areas:

ISOGEN Configuration Menu
Navigation Bar/Breadcrumb trail
Search Box
Category/Editing Pane
Drawing Set-Up Tool

ECP Overview — Figure 1 – ISOGEN Enterprise Control Panel (ECP)

SECTION 1: ISOGEN Configuration Menu – The ISOGEN Configuration menu provides access to online help and printed documentation, the Technical User Forum on Linked In, the information needed when entering service requests into Smart Support or emailing support@ecedesign.com, and access to the Options Screen.

1. Home – Selecting this menu item will bring the user back to the Main ECP screen as shown in Figure 1 above.

2. Options – The Options dialog allows switching the interface from mm to in or in to mm.

3. Help – The Help Menu provides access to the all the help files, printed documentation, User Forums and the venerable “About Screen” for program information.

SECTION 2: Navigation Bar: Breadcrumb Trail

I-Configure organizes the hundreds of ISOGEN drawing controls using a hierarchical structure that consists of three levels of content:

Style Category – This is the current ISOGEN Style Sheet to be edited.
Style Group – This is the current style options group
Option Group – This is the current options group

The breadcrumb trail hierarchy allows one-click access to freely move through and configure ISOGEN settings.

Style – ECE-Fab
Style category – Drawing Area
Style group – Piping Components
Option group – the list of options displayed in the panel below the Style group
The breadcrumb trail indicates in which collection of drawing properties you are, and more importantly
allows you to navigate your way through the product to find other collections of drawing properties. The
breadcrumb trail starts with the name of the active style. After this, the active style category is listed,
followed by the active style group.

SECTION 3: Search Box

The search box is a helpful tool to find settings. It works as most search boxes do, in that you type a string and it will display the results if found.

Blog15IC_ECP05 — Figure 5 – Standard search

There are also additional features that can assist those who are transitioning from previous versions. By using the enhanced search features as shown in Figure 6 you can find specific Option Switches, Alternate Text switches, or I-Configure switches.

Figure 6 - Enhanced Search — Figure 6 – Enhanced Search

SECTION 4: Category Pane

The Category pane is full of hyperlinks to quickly navigate you to a main Option Group to check out the switches shown inside. However, once a link is selected you will quickly be transported to an enhanced user interface. This editing pane is where you will see a list of switches on the left and an example iso on the right.

In the options switch pane on the left, you will see a list of switches. Some are graphical and some are textual. If you are unsure what the switch does, you can click on the information button to see a brief description. The graphical switches show you how that switch will impact your iso. Some of the graphical switches give you the ability to see a flyout with all of the options available. See figure 7 below for an example of the options switch pane area.

Figure 7 - Options Switch Pane — Figure 7 – Options Switch Pane

In the example pane you will see an example iso. This iso will update when changes are made in the left options switch pane. There are some navigation tools in the upper right, but you can navigate the example area similar to CADWorx, using middle mouse button panning and zooming. You can also double click a component and it will navigate you in the options switch pane to view the available switches.

Figure 8 - Example Pane — Figure 8 – Example Pane

SECTION 5: Drawing Setup Tool

The Drawing Setup Tool hasn’t been updated much since the previous release of I-Configure. But if you are coming from Project Manager, this tool is a huge time saver. In the drawing setup tool you can control your titleblock, the location of the BOM, North Arrow, and other Attributes, all in an easy to follow graphical interface.

Across the top you will find several tabs to help navigate you through the process of setting up your drawing area.

The first tab is Basic Setup. In here you will find settings to setup the overall feel of your iso. In the Backing sheet area you will choose which titleblock will be inserted, along with the size and units of that titleblock. Note, you will need to have your units set to decimal in your titleblock in order to use the inches units in the Drawing Setup Tool.

In the Reports area, you will select what type of lists you want to have shown on the drawing. You can have three types of reports:

User Defined Material List – BOM
User Defined Weld List – Weld List
User Defined Cut List – Cut/Spool List

The “Number of sections” applies to the User Defined Material List option. One Section would be used for a combined material list (Fabrication, Erection, Misc, & Offshore components together). Your other options are Two or Three sections where the components are broken up into different sections in the BOM area. In Figure 9, I have shown a combined material list with a cut list.

In the drawing area, you will notice a green boundary. This boundary is the area in which is considered the plotable area. Your titleblock and all switches must fall within this boundary in order for ISOGEN to work properly.

Figure 9 - Basic Setup — Figure 9 – Basic Setup

The next tab is Drawing Areas. In this tab you will be able to select the drawing area for the ISO. You will also be able to set the location of your lists just by dragging the box/icons around on the screen. For those of you who like more precise control, you can also type in the exact coordinates in the panel on the left.

Figure 10 - Drawing Areas — Figure 10 – Drawing Areas

The next tab is Material List. Note this is only available if User Defined Material List is selected on the Basic Setup tab as shown in Figure 9. In this tab you will be able to determine which columns are shown in your material list. You can also change several other properties, either by moving them in the drawing area or changing their values in the panel on the left.

Figure 11 - Material List — Figure 11 – Material List

Our next section is the Cut List. Again this is only available if User Defined Cut List is selected on the Basic Setup tab as shown in Figure 9. Similar to the Material list, this tab allows you to set which columns are visible and what their values will be set to.

Figure 12 - Cut List — Figure 12 – Cut List

If you had selected User Defined Weld List you would see another tab across the top to set those settings. In our case we only have the Attributes tab left. In here we will be able to have different ISOGEN attributes be placed as AutoCAD DText in the ISOGEN drawing output file. This tab is similar to the other tab, where you can modify properties, by either moving them in the drawing area, or by changing the text in the panel at the bottom.

Figure 13 - Attributes Tab — Figure 13 – Attributes Tab

Now that we have visited each of these tabs, its time to save and start running some iso’s.

Figure 13 - Save and Exit the Drawing Setup Tool — Figure 13 – Save and Exit the Drawing Setup Tool

Keep in mind that as you work in this nice graphical interface, you can still find all of these settings back in the previous category pane. Once you are happy with your settings you will need to Save and Exit the ECP and finally Export your settings for ISOGEN to read them. There are many switches in ISOGEN and hopefully this gets you started in learning where to find them in the new interface.

Now that we have gone through the new Interface, we thought it would be good to demonstrate. Below is our latest ISOGEN Training Video:

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CADWorx 2015 BETA Testing is now available

May 30, 2014 by Matt Worland Leave a Comment

I would like to announce that BETA testing for CADWorx 2015 is now accepting applicants. CADWorx Development has been very busy and now they are interested in your feedback. If you would like to test the latest version of CADWorx and provide your input to the development of the software, please consider becoming a BETA tester.

Beta2015

If you are unfamiliar with BETA Testing, it is a great opportunity to get involved with your software and provide input to the developers. BETA testing is an important part of the process, where users let developers know what parts of the software are meeting their needs and what could be improved. The outcome of your hard work is higher quality software, better user experiences, and knowing you are part of a community of like-minded users.

If you would like to participate, simply fill out this form to indicate your interest.

Happy Testing,

matt

CADWorx Future Development and the CADWorx Focus Group

July 30, 2013 by Matt Worland Leave a Comment

How do changes make their way into the Intergraph CADWorx & Analysis Software Solutions? As with most things, teamwork!

Intergraph CADWorx & Analysis Solutions (ICAS) has partners all over the world and ECE Design is one of those partners in the CADWorx Focus Group. ECE is the frontline, working with customers to solve everyday workflow challenges. ICAS and ECE then meet and discuss those solutions and generate ways to incorporate them into your favorite ICAS software. Some changes are small and some are pretty major, but all are important.

CADWorx Plant Professional has taken the limelight over the last year with enhanced pipe routing, design grips, and other great time saving tools. With 2014 around the corner and further enhancements to CADWorx Plant Professional, the CADWorx Focus Group is shifting its attention – for a bit – to CADWorx P&ID Professional, CADWorx Steel Professional and CADWorx Equipment. Now, things don’t happen overnight but the CADWorx Focus Group has been compiling ideas from around the globe into a single list. We recently met to discuss this list and how to incorporate the ideas contained within, into the ICAS products we love.

This latest meeting was a genuine success and we thank our hosts at ICAS for getting us all together. We are very excited to see the CADWorx family of products grow and thrive.

We would also like to thank our customers. Together, we can keep the CADWorx Plant Professional Suite the #1 AutoCAD based Plant Design Package in the world!