What is AutoCAD MEP?

[Siberian]

I noticed something called AutoCAD MEP the other day. I'm just curious as to what it is used for. I got the impression that its use lies in the designing of parts for electrical and plumbing parts, correct?

[StykFacE]

MEP = Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing.

It is a sweet program that i'm currently trying to talk my boss into upgrading for me. it's specifically designed for the HVAC, Piping, and Plumbing industry, and best of all it completely draws in 3D on the fly. not to mention instant elevation/iso views, automatic scheduling and B.O.M. counting, and it can plug into 3rd party engineering software for automatic duct/pipe sizing on the fly as well. it's as close as you can get to BIM (Building Information Modeling) without the use of Revit.

see here:
http://www.autodesk.com/autocadmep

[Siberian]

But can it be used for general drawing of complete HVAC systems in buildings? Or is it for designing parts and components for this industry?

[StykFacE]

1st of all, you have the full working version of AutoCAD 2008 running as the core - so you have 100% all the capabilites of AutoCAD. it just has a ton of efficient add-ons that are extremely industry specific (hvac, elec, and plumb).

and to answer your question: Yes. it can be used for general drawings of complete HVAC systems in plan view on top of architectural backgrounds - and it does a damn good job at it once you get through the learning curve of the add-ons. it literally on the fly creates HVAC drops, taps, vained 90's/45's, transitions, radius 90's/45's, and while it doint this it allows you at any time change the duct size, and it sizes the duct for you as well as keep track of elevations. Also, it will lay grilles on the fly, and keep a schuedule and Bill of Material count list while doing so. it can work completely in 3D or you can work in 2D plan view.

Hope this helps. :)

[giangnsn]

Do you have program to draw duct and piping easy and quickly?

[StykFacE]

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?p=146883#82 (http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?p=146883#82)

Post #82 has a LISP program that allows for mitered and radius double lined duct drawing. It's a freebie and works really well. :)

[alexg]

Using in for two weeks now and I'd say it's a raw beta-version of what MEP CAD should be in prolly two-three years from now?
The parametric mvpart modeler is rediculously basic and buggy, very difficult to use and without it MEP part is useless... :(

[nemo]

I'm looking into MEP as well, really for my own personal use. My office is still using 2005 (nobody is making the switch to 2007). I've been re-designing our electrical system to updated use with dynamic blocks... who knows if it will ever be put into use.

I doubt we'll ever switch over to AutoCAD MEP... our current system was developed in the 80s :D

[myself]

well, thats the exactly same doubt we are currently facing in my office, there are people willing to bet everything on Revit MEP saying that is the best program, although and until now what i see is that working with Autocad MEP is pretty easy compared with Revit MEP, and plus it has much more libraries than Revist MEP as well, so in my opinion Autocad Mep would be a better choice, what do you think and what is your experience?

best reagrds ;)