Annotate tube and pipe drawings

Use Autodesk Inventor AIP-specific drawing templates to create and annotate tube and pipe drawings. Settings specific to tube and pipe have been set in tube and pipe drawing templates, such as notes, symbols, and tube and pipe styles to annotate tube and pipe components.

You can create new drawing templates or modify the default drawing templates to include more appropriate tube and pipe drawing annotation styles. However, it is recommended that you associate a style library in the project file to format drawing annotations if you are working in a design team .

Customize drawing templates

We recommend that you create a new template, either by modifying an existing drawing template or creating a new one, to include tube and pipe-specific features. To create new templates, create a drawing document, add the needed drawing styles and formats, and then save it to the directory where drawing templates are installed.

• XP default: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor <version>\Templates
• Windows 7 default: C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor <version>\Templates.

The following workflow illustrates how custom drawing styles and formats are added to the drawing template. You start with a drawing template file in your local drawing templates category.

1. Open a drawing template file.
2. On the ribbon, click Manage tab Styles and Standards panel Styles Editor .
3. In the Styles and Standards Editor dialog box, expand Parts List and click a parts list style in the appropriate standard. Inventor ships with an AIP-specific Parts List in the standard template file styles titled <standard>-AIP (ANSI-AIP for example), but it is not the default Parts List style.
4. Optionally, to create a new parts list style, click New on the right pane as displayed, and enter the parts list style name.
5. Click Grouping. In the Group Settings dialog box, set the following options as needed:
   • To determine whether parts are grouped based on the specified sequential keys, select or clear the Group check mark.
   • If the Group check mark is selected, set the first key to STOCK NUMBER or a property of your choice, and optionally set the secondary and third keys.
   • Determine whether to display group participants in the grouped row.
   • Determine whether to display item numbers in parts lists.
6. Click Column Chooser and add or remove the needed columns to the parts lists.
   Note: In tube and pipe drawings, Stock Number and Base QTY properties are important to document routes and runs.
7. Optionally, make appropriate edits for the parts list heading, table setting, text styles, item sort order, and so on.
8. Click Save.
9. In the Model browser, expand Drawing Resources and add new property sets of tube and pipe styles.
10. To create and modify more parts list styles, repeat Step 4 through Step 8.
11. Click Done to complete the customization.

Note: You can also edit parts lists in a specific drawing document. Right-click the parts list, select Edit Parts List, and then apply changes.

Annotate drawings with tube and pipe styles

You may want to use information that is defined in tube and pipe styles to annotate tube and pipe drawings. Use the Text command to insert property references in text. When property values change, text that contains the property updates with the new values.

Note: If you already have the needed custom sketched symbols, start from Step 8 to annotate the drawing views using piping styles.

1. Open a drawing document or AIP-specific drawing template.
2. In the Model browser, expand Drawing Resources. Right-click Sketched Symbols and select Define New Symbol.
3. On the ribbon, click Sketch tab Draw panel Text .
4. Click a location in the graphics window to place the first property.

   The Format Text dialog box is displayed.

5. Specify the text format settings and ensure that you select _Piping Style from the Type list, select a specific piping style property from the Property list, and then click the Add Text Parameter command to set the selection.
   Note: All piping style properties available in the Property list are determined in tube and pipe styles.
6. Repeat Step 5 to add more piping properties to the selection list.
7. Click OK to close the Format Text dialog box.
   Note: A string of all selected piping style properties is previewed in the drawing document.
8. Right-click in the graphics window and select Done.
9. Optionally, to edit the property set, move your cursor over the preview string, right-click, and then select Edit Text.
10. Right-click again and select Save Sketched Symbol. Enter the name in the Sketched Symbol dialog box and click Save.

    The new sketched symbol is added to the Model browser, Drawing Resources, Sketched Symbols list.

11. To place it to annotate tube and pipe parts, click Annotate tab Symbols panel User , pick the desired symbol, and then pick an edge on a tube or pipe part.
    Note: Ensure that you pick an edge on the conduit part or fitting while placing a custom piping style sketched symbol. To end, right-click and select Continue. Right-click again and select Done.