Creating a New Connection

After you've chosen which connection to create, you'll be asked to nominate the start and finish locations for your pipework.

It begins with your selected asset - you'll be asked to choose a location to start the connection from when the camera zooms in on your asset and all of the other details in the scene fade out.

Some 3D models include Connection Details - these are pieces of information telling ARDI where the location and size of your most common connection points are.

For example, most valves will have connection points for inlet and outlet.

ARDI allows you to choose between the available connection points - this means your pipework connections can be created much faster, and deals with objects like flowmeters and valves that have large 'voids' you need to connect to.

Simply choose your preferred connection point from the list.

Note that when you hover the mouse over the name of a connection point, the point itself will be highlighted with a red, animated glow - this helps you tell the difference between points that might have confusing names.

In the example above, the mouse is hovering over Side A, so there is a red glow in the direction that Side A faces.

Note that the below techniques also work if your model has connection points - you are not forced to choose a pre-made connection and can instead create your own.

If you chose one of the premade connection points, you can start making changes to your Connection Nodes.

If the 3D model doesn't have connection points - or you can't find a suitable one - then you create the connection differently.

There are three steps to defining the start or end point.

1) Choose a Location
2) Choose a Size
3) Fine Tuning

Point your mouse cursor at the point on the model that you'd like to connect to. You should notice a small red circle appear and pulse. This is the location of your connection point.

Once you have the circle in a suitable location, click the mouse button to create the point.

Note that the connection point might appear very small - we take care of this in the next step.

Now that the location is set, moving the mouse will make the circle you've created expand and contract.

Move the mouse until the connection is an appropriate size, then click the left mouse button to proceed.

Use the editor controls (ie. the numeric keypad) to make any fine adjustments to the position of the connection.

Click 'Continue' to proceed.

Once these steps are complete for both your start and end point, your initial pipework is created. You can then start editing your Connection Nodes.