Creating Pipework

This guide will walk you through the process of creating pipework and connections between your assets.

One very important thing to know - an asset can only have one connection for every relationship type.

So if your pump supplies water to three different systems, you need to create one connection that reaches all three systems - you can't create three distinct water connections. (However, there is an approach in Advanced Node Topics to help with highly-connected devices).

You should consider if you actually need pipework in your scene. Often it is complex to build, difficult to create and can be awkward to maintain. We suggest only including extremely important lines.

Note that the pipework system can be somewhat difficult to use and there are planned changes to this system in the future.

The pipe editor can be started from the editor interface.

The process is…

1) Select an object that is connected to the pipe you wish to create. We usually suggest choosing the upstream asset.

-2) Enter Editing Mode (using the slash/divide key (/) on the numeric keypad.

To edit an existing connection, simply click on it.

Note that connections have a lower priority for clicking than some other visual elements, so your assets might get in the way of your pipework. If that happens, move the camera to a new position and try again.

You can then begin to Connection Nodes.

Press the Connection Editor button at the menu on the bottom of the screen.

You will then be asked which of the connections you are planning on drawing.

In ARDI-VE, you can only create pipes along your physical relationships. That means that if you want to connect part A to part B by a length of pipework, ducting or cable, you'll need to ensure that there is a matching physical relationship in the ARDI configuration for those assets.

You can then begin to Create A Connection.