AutoCAD MEP or what?

[lee-mack]

Hi,
First of all let me congratulate you all on this wonderful forum.
I have been a regular reader for a while to learn and do basic stuff
In our small company with have a very young CAD operator, who is reasonably good with 2D and some 3D stuff, which has been more than enough for what we have been doing.
Recently we have won few contracts that require creating 3d layout of boiler houses for presentation and eventually 2d to send to fabrication companies.
From what I have been reading, AutoCAD MEP seems to be the package for representing the project in detailed 3d model. What I need to know is, if I can send 2d drawings from this model for fabrication, in (CAD 2008-2010)
Can someone help us in purchasing the right package? Is AutoCAD MEP the right software for us, or you would recommend something else?

[designerstuart]

yes you can extract 2d drawings for fabrication from AutoCAD - that's what it is for!
Depending what it is, some people prefer to build from 3d drawings now anyway.

[SLW210]

You might also look into the AutoCAD Plant 3D suites.

[StykFacE]

Boiler Houses is something AutoCAD MEP can do very well. It comes with a full catalog of ANSI standard pipes, pipe fittings, valves, pipe systems, even a really good pre-defined pipe systems that have presets to change different pipe fittings and materials when you go over/under a certain size. AutoCAD MEP is perfect for the contractor to make fully coordinated 3D models, and since it's still AutoCAD the learning curve is not too steep at all. When you make things in "3D" it's always making a 2D representation of it in Plan View, or an Elevation View, etc.

Best bang for your buck as a contractor needing to produce coordinated drawings for fab.

[lee-mack]

Thanks Guys

I have done more reading here and it seems like AutoCAD MEP is the right package for us.
I am going to order it and also order the Paul F. Aubin book

Thanks

[StykFacE]

That book is great. You won't be disappointed. Feel free to utilize this forum when you get it installed.

[hertz hound]

AMEP is an amazing program for construction. This is coming from someone that took the leap from ACAD 2000 to MEP 2012. Those two are worlds apart.

Great book also. I bought a different one (author and publisher)for Revit and it was very confusing. Then I bought that one for Amep. That made a big difference. Realy got me up to speed. When I have more time I wil get Aubin's book for Revit MEP, hopefully that will be before my student version of that program runs out! For now the company version of AMEP is all we need.

[StykFacE]

Well, Revit is a totally different animal. Revit and AutoCAD are two programs that are nothing alike, nor can you take similar approaches in design between the two programs either. The parametric world is much different than a drafting world.

[hertz hound]

I was just hoping that the Aubin book was better than the book I have, which is pretty useless. The book I have just does not explain anything very well. I thought it was me, and maybe some of it is. But I took an online tutorial course for it and there was a big difference in the way things were explained. And then a lot of things made sense. One day I will buy his book for revit mep and take the rest of the course which I never finished.

[lee-mack]

Well, Revit is a totally different animal. Revit and AutoCAD are two programs that are nothing alike, nor can you take similar approaches in design between the two programs either. The parametric world is much different than a drafting world.

I had a sales man in our office yesterday, and he was trying to sell us Revit.
He was adamant that autocad MEP will not be the answer to our needs and Revit will do a lot better job
I need to do some more reading??!!