Drawing a Pipe

After dropping a Pipe object from the Tool Chest window onto the screen, you can add points and branches to draw the pipe.

Draw a Pipe

Add, Delete, and Move Points

Work with Branches

Properties

Draw a Pipe

  1. After dropping the pipe object from the Tool Chest window, click the pipe object to enter Edit mode.
    A square marks a point on the pipe.

    : Point
  2. Right-click an end point, and from the shortcut menu click [Add Points].
  3. Move the mouse cursor to the position where you want the next point and click to add the point. Click to continue adding more points.
  4. Right click to end drawing points.

Add, Delete, and Move Points

  1. Click the pipe object to enter Edit mode.
    The cursor turns into a pencil.
  2. Click anywhere on a pipe segment to add a point at that location.
  3. To move a point, click and drag a point to the desired coordinate.
    Note: To move the point without moving branch points, hold down the [SPACE] key and drag the point to the desired location.
  4. To delete a point, right-click the point and from the shortcut menu select [Delete Point].
    Note:
    • If you try to delete the end point and there is a branch just before it, the point cannot be deleted.
    • To delete a point without moving the position of branch points, click the point while holding down both [Space] and [CTRL] keys.
      (Select [Delete Point] from the shortcut menu)

      (Click point while holding down both [Space] and [CTRL] keys)

Work with Branches

Add Branch

  1. Click the pipe object to enter Edit mode.
  2. To add a branch, right click a segment on the pipe and from the shortcut menu select [Add Branch].
  3. Move the mouse and click to define the pipe segment.
  4. Right click to complete the branch.

: Point

: Branch

Move Branch

  1. Click the pipe object to enter Edit mode.
  2. Click the branch point and the entire branch is colored red.
  3. Drag the branch point to its new location.

Note: If you want to move only the branch point instead of moving the entire branch, after the branch is selected hold down the [SPACE] key and drag the branch point to the desired location.

Delete Branch

  1. Click the pipe object to enter Edit mode.
  2. Right-click the branch point and the entire branch is colored red. From the right-click menu select [Delete Branch].

Copy and Paste Branch

  1. Click the pipe object to enter Edit mode.
  2. Right-click the branch point and the entire branch is colored red. From the right-click menu select [Copy Branch].
  3. Just as if you were adding a branch, right click a segment on the pipe where you want the branch and from the right-click menu select [Paste Branch].

Note: You can copy a branch from one pipe object and paste that branch onto a different pipe object.

Rotate/Flip branches

  1. Click the pipe object to enter Edit mode.
  2. Right-click the branch point and the entire branch is colored red.
  3. From the right-click menu select one of the following commands to either rotate or flip the branch: [90º Clockwise], [90º Counterclockwise], [Flip Vertical], or [Flip Horizontal].

Properties

When setting up the Pipe object, define the following key properties.

Property Description
[Current Value] Value that defines the current state of the pipe object.
Property Description
[States] Set the number of display states, from 1 to 100.
[Item 0], [Item 1] . . . [Item 99]

When the [Current Value] is 0, the pipe object displays the property settings in [Item 0]. When the [Current Value] is 1, the pipe object displays the property settings in [Item 1].

Set the display settings for each state.

[Pipe (Inside)] Color settings for the inner portion of the pipe.
[Pipe (Outside)] Color settings for the border of the pipe, and settings for the inner and outer diameter of the pipe.
[Invalid State]

When the [Current Value] does not match any of the defined states, the pipe displays the [Invalid State].

Set the display settings for the invalid state.