MEP 09 interference detection report

[GolfBum]

anyone now how to run a report with the new interference detection tool???????

Thx In advance :?

[LifeoRiley0]

We stopped trying to even use it and went back to the collision detection due to the long detection times and crashes. Good luck!

[aczeller]

i use it all the time. i just followed the tutorials and it works great... as long as it doesn't make the system crash. here's a few things i would suggest you do that the tutorial doesn't tell you:

1.) SAVE BEFORE YOU RUN IT!!! it tends to make my super-computer crash about 50% of the time

2.) i tend to run all the interferences at once. this lets me know a total of what is there, and depending on what you have turned off, it will nto tell you all of your hits. let's say that you have "Solids" and "Pipe" turned on. it obviously will not tell you that the solids hit the duct work, but it also does not tell you where the PIPE hits the duct, even though the pipe is turned on. when a category is turned off (like duct in this scenario), MEP acts like it is not there at all, and thus does not run analysis on it.

3.) Save before you run it. see rule #1

4.) i have found that Xrefs can help in some instances. i tend to break my systems into xrefs (pipe, duct, medgas, etc.) and the interference tool still detects MEP items within the xrefs, as tho they are all within the drawing. relaly helpful to keep file sizes smaller, but it does take a little longer due to the extra computing power.

5.) save before you hit the magical button.

6.) if you have to save for some reason while you are in the interference tool, it will save all of your hits as mass objects. after you get out of the tool, i would reccomend that you find one of the mass objects, hit "select similar" and delete them. THEN save again. just keeps the drawing cleaner.

7.) if you have a larger file, and you know that you will probably be rotating the view after you run the analysis, i woudl run the tool in one of the iso views. the ortho views take less time to generate the mass objects within the drawings, but the 3d orbit can take a toll on the GPU and the processors.

8.) save

9.) not sure why this is... according to autodesk, the analysis tool only uses processor power when it is finding the hits, as it is not an active anaysis tool. i.e., the interference tool does not continuously update the hits/mass objects as you modify the drawing. HOWEVER, if you can shut down the interference tool when you do your other tasks, it will help alot. my system seems to lag a bit more when the tool is "active" (docked and hidden, even with no hits in the drawing) than when it is shut off.

10.) did i mention to save whatever you are doing before you even look at that little button? i honestly think that the interference analysis tool is the most memory-intesive task in MEP to date.

any other questions, let me know. i am not an expert on this tool (by far), but i have run it enough to know what my system likes and what it doesn't.

Later,
Andy

[Eeyore]

Andy,

Thanks for the confirmation that someone else is using this tool. I think I got the save first bit???!!!! :twisted: :D :wink:

Question - do you run a table to so that the clashes are saved? I have a model with lots of xref's built in (I pray to the computer that it doesn't crash everytime it runs the report!!) I'm trying to build up a table. I've checked out the tutorials and although they're helpful they don't mention why I keep getting question marks!!!!

All I want is like in 2008 the clashreport so that the table is a hard thing in the drawing and can be saved and moved around. We run here in the UK MEP and some of the engineers who would sort the clashes are in a whole other country/continent!!!!!

Help would be good :)

Ta
Eeyore

[aczeller]

Andy,

Thanks for the confirmation that someone else is using this tool. I think I got the save first bit???!!!! :twisted: :D :wink:

Question - do you run a table to so that the clashes are saved? I have a model with lots of xref's built in (I pray to the computer that it doesn't crash everytime it runs the report!!) I'm trying to build up a table. I've checked out the tutorials and although they're helpful they don't mention why I keep getting question marks!!!!

All I want is like in 2008 the clashreport so that the table is a hard thing in the drawing and can be saved and moved around. We run here in the UK MEP and some of the engineers who would sort the clashes are in a whole other country/continent!!!!!

Help would be good :)

Ta
Eeyore

Eeyore,

I know exactly the report that you are talking about. i tried to run it once or twice, following the tutorials that i could find on YouTube and on the program itself. I got the same issue... Nothing but question marks within the triangles. i'm sure that it is just a simple little system variable change, or some setting within the command, but i have yet to find it. If there is one thing that i have noticed from Autodesk products (specifically AutoCAD), it would have to be that the program can be the most powerful, best performing piece of software that money could buy. i have used it for anything from industrial tool and die design and fabrication, all the way to what i am doing now, which is complete 3D modeling for industrial, commecial and institutional buildings, and have yet to see another program that can really compare to it's functionality.

on the other hand, if you didn't develop the software yourself, there are way too many things that can go terribly, terribly wrong. lol. i think that if there were a better search tool within the help dialog, things would be nicer... there are countless times that i know what i am looking for (what the system varibale DOES), but i have no clue what it is called... if i knew what it was called, i wouldn't need the help dialog. lol.

so, in short to answer your question, no, i have no idea how to get the question marks to be replaced by numbers. they make it seem so simple and quick in the tutorial(s) and the sales pitch(es), but as we all know, the tutorials and sales pitches are pretty simple and basic compared to what we REALLY do every day.

Later,
Andy