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About Managing Drawing Sizes with Xref's

Designers can turn on or off any layers in the reference files or unload the whole reference file as needed.

The optimum size for a model file is 5-10MB. Depending on the hardware you are using and the type of plant model, it may be better to keep the model size smaller. This can be especially true if you have objects that are not Plant 3D objects (e.g., imported from Inventor or Revit). This will result in more dwg files, but good model management will maintain good performance. It doesn't matter how many files you have in the project, AutoCAD Plant 3D toolset project manager can manage large numbers of drawings.

With experience, you'll be able to guesstimate how many lines or how many equipment items will be in each model file in order to keep the sizes down, but there is no problem adding more model files as the project develops. This is especially true for piping files.

One Drawing or Many?

Some users like to put all equipment in an area into one dwg. Others like to split them up into sub-areas where others may split the equipment up by levels on a structure.

In the case of structures, many users will place a 'single' structure into a single model file. This is so the structure can be exported for analysis and then replaced with a detailed structural model after the detailed engineering has been done. In some cases, the structure may actually extend across an area boundary. This is not a problem, simply place the structural model in one area and then have the master area model of the other area(s) xref this structural model.

Pipe Racks are typically handled separately too. This is to allow the piping designer to optimize the space available on the rack and this is its own layout problem. Thus the Pipe Rack area may also contain sub-racks which will encroach into process areas. The best practices approach discussed so far handles this approach easily.

Managing piping models can be done in many different ways. Since Plant3D allows intelligent connections across Xref's. Thus piping models can be divided into sub-areas or by line numbers, with each designer allocated a certain number of lines. There are no constraints on how to divide up the area.

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