Drawing polylines seems to be the only solution. There are so many “canned” pipe materials for PVC within C3D, but those are for sewer systems. Take a look at this example:
It shows a HELP search for “sewer.” Notice what is found. Rules, networks, profile views, etc…
The next example is of a search for “water.” Again notice what is found:
Water Drops, & Watersheds, but no water line design tools!
Why?
Is it because it is way too simple? Or there is not a need to include it in your design?
I don’t think so. With agencies requesting minimum depths, separations, and even profile views to ensure these requirements are met, it is absolutely necessary to be included, dynamically, in our models.
But how do we achieve this?
Using polylines can be useful in horizontal locations; it becomes visible and can be utilized for noticing separation conflicts. Also alignments can be created using these polylines and then a vertical design can be utilized as profiles can be created. After that you still have no “pipes” or “networks” to apply revisions too all at once. Or if you needed the water line to be shown as a crossing pipe in your sewer profile. Or if you needed to label it?? What! Why would you ever want to label it? Labeling your polyline will give you length from beginning to end, but maybe you want this length to be measured from valve to valve. Well guess what? The model has no idea that there is a valve anywhere at all, as it is probably a simple block for visual representation proposes only. These labels are not dynamic either, meaning, if the line needs to be extended, the label has to be revised manually. :(
After all that venting, I can make a couple of suggestions.
Make one or more styles for your water line design labels. These styles should be alignment driven not by the polyline. This can read 3D lengths and will update when revised. Keep in mind the waterline is not dynamic but the alignment is. These label styles will only be using the 3D length of the alignment everything else remains non-dynamic, such as size and material. These labels should be on a layer all there own as you would a sewer pipe label. Text styles of these should all ways be associative. For fire hydrants, bends or valves, these will be non-dynamic as well, unless you have a block label reading the name and consecutive numbering of the block, but that is another Blog altogether.
A cool routine comes to mind when I discuss water design. It’s relatively simple to use, and creates more information than a List or Properties.
How much 6”? How much 8”?
1. First make sure all water pipes that are 6” are on the same layer (like C-WATER-PIPE-6”), and the same for 8”.
2. Then Using Map Explorer go to Topologies, Create New.
3. Create a new Network Topology named 6” Water. Notice that you can select: each line, all lines, or simply the layer that you created in the first step.
Once finished, your water line topology has a mass of information useful in any cost analysis or application for permit.
4. Now you can expand Topologies to view your created “6” Water” topology. Right clicking on this will give you several options, like showing geometry to verify what you’ve created, and statistics for things like number of nodes, links, and total lengths.
5. Repeat steps for your 8” lines.
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