manual - caxperts · pdf fileaveva pdms ifc ... 3d reportadapter (.db) pdms adapter: pdms...

UniversalPlantViewer Manual

Copyright

Copyright © 2018 CAXperts GmbH. All Rights Reserved.

Including software, file formats, and audio-visual displays; may be used pursuant to applicable

software licence agreement; contains confidential and proprietary information of CAXperts and/or

third parties which is protected by copyright law, trade secret law, and international treaty, and may

not be provided or otherwise made available without proper authorisation.

Restricted Rights Legend

Rights reserved under the copyright laws of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Warranties and Liabilities

All warranties given by CAXperts about equipment or software are set forth in your purchase contract,

and nothing stated in, or implied by, this document or its contents shall be considered or deemed a

modification or amendment of such warranties. CAXperts believes the information in this publication

is accurate as of its publication date.

The information and the software discussed in this document are subject to change without notice

and are subject to applicable technical product descriptions. CAXperts is not responsible for any error

that may appear in this document.

The software discussed in this document is furnished under a licence and may be used or copied only

in accordance with the terms of this licence. THE USER OF THE SOFTWARE IS EXPECTED TO MAKE

THE FINAL EVALUATION AS TO THE USEFULNESS OF THE SOFTWARE IN HIS OWN ENVIRONMENT.

Trademarks

CAXperts is a registered trademark of CAXperts GmbH. Intergraph, the Intergraph logo, SmartSketch,

FrameWorks, SmartPlant, INtools, MARIAN, PDS, IGDS, RIS and IntelliShip are registered trademarks

of Intergraph Corporation. IGDS file formats ©1987-1994 Intergraph Corporation. Microsoft and

Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Bentley, the Bentley logo “B,” and

MicroStation are registered trademarks of Bentley Systems, Inc. ISOGEN is a registered trademark of

Alias Limited. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

Version: April 12th 2018

Table of Contents I. Introduction ......................................................................................... 6

II. Setup .................................................................................................. 6

Technology

Devices and operating systems

Supported Formats

Optional Modules

Input Adapters

III. Licence ............................................................................................... 8

Site licence (local)

Floating (server) licence

IV. Overview ........................................................................................... 10

Interface

Help

Close

Navigation

Search

Selecting, clipping, colouring and highlighting objects

Measuring distances

Adding objects

Comments

Advanced options

V. Technical information ........................................................................ 15

Technology

Devices and operating systems

Supported Formats

Model generation

VI. Start-up ............................................................................................. 16

Quick start

Load, copy and delete a model

VII. Navigation ......................................................................................... 17

Quick start

Camera modes

Additional navigation: mini map, cube, navigation bar and search

Attributes

Views

VIII. Search ............................................................................................... 20

Quick start

Search in 3D

Search in PID and Isometrics

IX. Selecting, clipping, colouring and highlighting ....................................................................................... 21

Quick start

Clipping modes and their options

Colouring and highlighting objects

Measuring distances

X. Packaging ......................................................................................... 24

Defining packages

XI. Views ................................................................................................ 28

XII. Line tracking ..................................................................................... 29

XIII. Additional Objects ............................................................................. 29

Quick start

Additional objects

XIV. Commenting ...................................................................................... 30

Quick start

Quick comments

Commenting system

XV. Sketching .......................................................................................... 34

Quick Start

Sketching

XVI. Custom attributes .............................................................................. 40

Custom attributes window

Import / Export all changes

Custom attributes management

XVII. Tools ................................................................................................. 45

Quick start

Tools

XVIII. Settings ............................................................................................. 47

Quick start

Settings

XIX. File management ............................................................................... 50

Quick start

File management

XX. Linking .............................................................................................. 54

Quick start

Link files

Create a link file

Links in isometrics

Deep Linking

API module

Using JSON via TCP

XXI. Advanced Options ............................................................................. 61

Output settings in UniversalPlantViewer Builder

Set a password for your model

Performance settings

Adding predefined clippings

Starting with a splash screen

XXII. Configuration file ............................................................................... 63

Recap: elements that can be predefined / added

XXIII. Contact ............................................................................................. 66

Helpdesk

CAXPERTS UNIVERSALPLANTVIEWER - APRIL 2018 5


Introduction

UniversalPlantViewer is an easy to use tool to plan and visualise industrial plants on desktop and

mobile devices. It gives you a quick overview about chemical plants, off-shore platforms, ships, etc.

Simply load a 3D model from your computer or stream it from an online source. UniversalPlantViewer

works on Windows, iOS and Android.

In UniversalPlantViewer you can link all internal and external specifications, manuals, isometrics, etc.

and stay updated on the status of individual components thanks to the commenting system.

You can also add sketches.

Setup

Technology

Based on Unity Gaming Engine

Streaming or local storage

Devices and operating systems Desktop: Windows

Tablet and mobile devices: Android, iOS

Navigation with mouse / keyboard or touch-sensitive screen

UniversalPlantViewer for Windows is contained in a small .exe that doesn’t need installation or admin rights.

Supported Formats

3D model Intergraph PDS

Smart 3D (.vue, .xml, .mdb2, .svf)

AVEVA PDMS

IFC (BIM)

UniversalPlantViewer version 4 or newer uses a new file format (.upvc) for adapters and generated models. Older models must be re-captured to be compatible.

P&ID Intergraph SmartPlant P&ID

Documents Adobe PDF

Smart 3D Isometrics created from Smart 3D: IFC input, PDS (.dri), PDSM (.rvm, .att), BMI (.ifc)


Optional Modules API

Sketching

Server based centralised commenting

Input Adapters Different adapters for UniversalPlantViewer Builder handle different kinds of input files and convert

them to UPVC files:

ReviewAdapter: SmartPlant Review (.vue, .xml, .svf), SPRDirect (.vue, .mdb2, .svf), PDS (.dri, .dgn, drv), 3D ReportAdapter (.db)

PDMS Adapter: PDMS (.rvm, .att)

IFC Adapter: BIM (.ifc)

DocumentAdapter: S3D isometrics, PDF files

DWG / CADworx adapter: in development

UniversalPlantViewer Builder generates the streaming output format for viewing with

UniversalPlantViewer. It can apply colour files, Excel data and create 3D PDFs.

If you update a model that you already have converted in the past the system will automatically detect modified parts and only capture those objects. Converting 1 GB of .vue file normally will take approximately 1 hour but due to this selection processing time can be sped up considerably.

Uninstall Simply delete the .exe file from your computer or follow the uninstall instructions for apps on your

mobile device.


Licence

You need a license for the following functionalities in UniversalPlantViewer:

Saving sketches

Using the API module

Using CentralisedCommenting

CAXperts software supports two types of licences:

Site licence (local) Domain based licences are restricted to machines within a 5 miles (8 kilometres) radius at a specific

geographic location (building) for which the licence key file was issued for. There is no limitation

regarding the number of users or machines.

CAXperts will need your Current domain name to issue a licence file (.lic).

The licence file has to be stored on a local or network location accessible by the machine running the

CAXperts product; a licence server is not required.

The location of the licence file should be defined on every machine with the CAXperts product

installed, which can be done

Either by setting the environment variable CAXPERTS_LICENSE_FILE=C:\Program Files (x86)\CAXperts\Licensing\

Or by setting the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\FLEXlm License

Manager\CAXPERTS_LICENSE_FILE=C:\Program Files (x86)\CAXperts\Licensing\

Multiple licence key file locations should be separated by semicolons (“;”).

If the licence key file location is not defined, “C:\Program Files (x86)\CAXperts\Licensing\” is used

The licence key file may be renamed (including the extension). The CAXperts product will check the content of all files in the licence folder(s) for valid keys.

Changes to the key path (in the environment variable or registry key) are read during the next start of the CAXperts product.

Floating (server) licence Floating licences require a FlexNET server (lmadmin or lmgrd) accessible by the machine running the

CAXperts product. The licence key file is typically located on the FlexNET server machine. The licence

key file defines the maximum number of seats which can be used at the same time.

Every running instance of the CAXperts software product will require one seat, no matter if the application is running multiple times on the same or different machine(s).

New instances can only be started as long as seats are available and the FlexNET server is

accessible.


The location of the licence server must be defined on every machine with the CAXperts product

installed, which can be done

Either by setting the environment variable CAXPERTS_LICENSE_FILE=@YourServerName

Or by setting the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\FLEXlm License

Manager\CAXPERTS_LICENSE_FILE=@YourServerName

Every computer name must be preceded by the @ symbol. Multiple licence server locations should be

separated by semicolons (“;”).

YourServerName is the Windows computer name of the machine running lmadmin (FlexNET server).

If lmadmin is running on a non-default port, the port number should be defined like this: port@

YourServerName.

Changes to the server path (in the environment variable or registry key) are read during the next start of the CAXperts product.

Borrowed licences Licence seats can be borrowed for a period of time from the server and saved to the local machine.

Once the seat has been borrowed the CAXperts application can be used without any connection to the

FlexNET server.

To borrow a licence seat press the Borrow seat button, define the loan period (up to 7 days) and press

OK. When the borrowed seat expires it gets automatically returned back to the FlexNET server.

The seat can be returned earlier by pressing the Return borrowed seat button.


Without a valid licence file the software will run in demo mode.

Overview

This chapter provides a quick overview of UniversalPlantViewer’s functions. For detailed information

please refer to the specific chapters.

After starting the UniversalPlantViewer a list shows the names of recently used models and some

additional information about them. Load a valid model by clicking on it. Alternatively you can enter a

path in the line at the bottom of the list and click on stream in the lower right corner. In the upper right

corner you can choose a language for the interface.


Interface

Additional functions menu The menu on the right contains a search box and links / information for the selected objects.

Additional options appear if you click on the icons for packages, views, additional objects, comments

and sketch mode. The menu on the right also contains the tree view if you toggle from tree bar to tree

view.

Help If you click on the help icon on in the upper right corner UPV will highlight all menu items with

a short tutorial video. Click on one of the highlighted items to play the video directly inside

UPV.

Close If you click on close or hit “Alt + F4” a message will ask you if you really want to close the viewer. This

will prevent you from accidentally closing the program and loosing data.


Navigation

Camera movements Navigate the camera with click and drag on your mouse, W, A, S, D, and the arrow keys on your

keyboard and one to three fingers on your touch-sensitive device. Select an object by clicking on it.

Centre it with a double click. The camera will rotate around the selected object.

Camera modes You find UniversalPlantViewer’s three camera modes on top in the left side menu.

If you are lost, the button Reset view brings you back to the default view (and resets all

changes made to colours etc.)

Orbit mode: default; camera is centred on an object / point on the screen.

Flight mode: camera is centred on itself.

Walk mode: developed for touch-sensitive devices.

Navigation bar

Select (multiple) objects or 2D drawings by clicking on their name in the navigation bar (tree bar) on

top of the screen. (De)select the boxes if you want to show / hide objects.

Mini map Add the mini map to the lower right corner of the screen via the settings

menu to quickly navigate through your model. Move (left mouse button) and

rotate (right mouse button) the camera, zoom in and out with the

magnifying glass icons and adjust the camera’s height with the bar on the

right. By default the mini map is switches off.

Common views cube Quickly face the camera to a direction by clicking on the faces of the cube or the small

spheres connecting the edges / corners.

Select and fit Centre and fit selected objects to your screen by clicking on Centre and fit the currently

selected objects (or with a double click).

Views A click on the icon Views opens the views panel on the menu on the right side. There you can

save views for the current session.


Search Enter your search in the search box then click the button or press enter. Results are sorted by

categories (attributes).

? stands for any single character or number, * stands for any number of characters or numbers (a* matches a, abc, a-12 …) Use >, <, =, => and =< to search for numbers.

Selecting, clipping, colouring and highlighting objects Select objects by clicking on them (Ctrl + click for multiple objects) or their name in the navigation

bar. A red volume box indicates selected objects.

Clipping Three clipping modes allow you to limit your view to the selected objects and their

surroundings.

With the clipping options you can narrow / widen your view.

Volume clipping

Shows everything inside a rectangle around the volume boxes.

Options: Narrow / widen the rectangle.

IntelliClipping

Shows only the selected objects.

Options: Show objects adjacent to the selection.

Inverse clipping

Opens a free view to the centre of the selected objects.

Options: Show grid.

Move the clipping box by clicking and dragging on the direction arrows. Move one of its (highlighted)

sides by clicking on it.

Colouring and highlighting objects Click on the “Colour” icon to change colour and transparency of the selected objects. Use

predefined colours or

Pick any object’s colour with the pipette and drop that colour in one of the white squares in

the bottom row. You can use that colour like the other colours.

Click on the icon “Highlight currently selected objects”. All objects except the selected ones

will appear greyed out and transparent.

Measuring distances Click on the icon and drag the markers to display X, Y & Z distances and the direct distance

between the markers or click on them to show their absolute coordinates. If you have

activated object recognition in DocumentAdapter and use the right settings in ReviewAdapter you get

additional measuring points (for example centre of a pipe).


Adding objects A click on the icon Additional objects opens the additional objects menu on the right side. You

can drag objects to your model,

walk them around, delete them and move them to the ground on the current

location.

Comments A click on the icon Comments opens the comments menu on the right side. There you can

attach comments to selected objects and save them.

A click on the icon Commenting system opens a new tab with the commenting system. There

you can coordinate your work on the model and the actual plant with other stakeholders.

Choose a project and enter your login information to add or edit a comment.

Advanced options

Packages A click on the icon Packages opens the packages panel in the menu on the right side.

Packaging allows you to include / exclude certain objects of a model and save the selection in

an .xlsx or .json file.

Sketching A click on the icon Sketch mode opens a new tab with a menu on the right side. There you can

click on objects and place them in your model.

Custom attributes If you have defined custom attributes you can display them in menu on the right side of the

screen.

Tools: Centre of gravity, highlighting links, automatic labelling, QR decoder This button contains options to show the (estimated) centre of gravity, highlight all objects

with links to other documents, turn the automatic labelling on / off, open the QR decoder and

make a screenshot of the current view.

Settings Click on the icon “Settings” to toggle between tree view (in the menu on the right) and bar

view (in the navigation bar), configure your project tree and open the settings tab.

File management In this menu you find options to load / save configurations, colour files, link files and

sketches (also as DGN).


Technical information

If you use Windows UniversalPlantViewer is contained in a small .exe that doesn’t need installation or

admin rights.

Technology

Based on Unity Gaming Engine

Streaming or local storage

UniversalPlantViewer for Windows is contained in a small .exe that doesn’t need installation or admin rights.

Devices and operating systems Desktop: Windows

Touchscreens and mobile devices: Android, iOS

Supported Formats

3D model Intergraph PDS

Smart 3D (.vue, .xml, .mdb2, .svf)

AVEVA PDMS

IFC (BIM)

UniversalPlantViewer version 4 or newer uses a new file format (.upvc) for adapters and generated models. Older models must be re-captured to be compatible.

P&ID Intergraph SmartPlant P&ID

Documents Adobe PDF

Smart 3D Isometrics created from Smart 3D: IFC input, PDS (.dri), PDSM (.rvm, .att), BMI (.ifc)

In development AutoCAD/CADWorx (.dwg)

Model generation Different adapters for UniversalPlantViewer Builder handle different kinds of input files and convert

them to UPVC files:

ReviewAdapter: SPR (.vue, .xml, .svf), SPRDirect (.vue, .mdb2, . svf), PDS (.dri, .dgn, drv), 3D ReportAdapter: .db


PDMS Adapter: PDMS (.rvm, .att)

IFC Adapter: BIM (.ifc)

DocumentAdapter: S3D isometrics, PDF files

DWG / CADworx adapter: in development

UniversalPlantViewer Builder can add colour files, Excel data and create 3D PDFs and model data

(UPVC) for UniversalPlantViewer.

If you update a model that you already have converted in the past the system will automatically detect modified parts and only capture those objects. Converting 1 GB of .vue file normally will take approximately 1 hour but due to this selection processing time can be sped up considerably.

Start-up

Quick start After starting the UniversalPlantViewer you will see a list of models and some additional information

about them. Load a valid model by clicking on it or enter a path and click on the button stream in the

lower right corner.

Choose a language in the upper right corner.


Load, copy and delete a model Load a valid local model by clicking on it. Alternatively you can enter a path in the line at the bottom of

the screen and click on the button stream in the lower right corner.

You can also download an online model to your local / mobile device. With an internet connection you

always can access the CAXperts demo model.

Open the help screen.

Show the list of log files. You can open and copy the content of a log file to the clipboard.

Run model from local device.

Local model is invalid.

This local version is outdated and can no longer be accessed. You can set the expiration date of a model during model generation in the UniversalPlantViewer Builder.

Stream model from the Internet.

Download model to the local device. For example if you take your mobile device to a plant without internet connection.

Copy filename to the input box.

Delete local version.

You can enter a custom file path (local or online) in the line at the bottom of the screen and stream or

download the model:

If you are providing a model while using https you can protect access to your model by HTTP Basic Authentication with user name and password. You can also allow downloads. Those options are available in the Generate output options of the UniversalPlantViewer Builder.

Navigation

Quick start After loading a 3D model you can choose between the following camera modes:

Mode Left click Hold left mouse button

Hold right mouse button

Mouse wheel Keyboard

Orbit (default) Select (centre object with

Rotate camera around centred object

Move camera forward / back

Move camera to and away from mouse pointer

W, A, S, D, arrow keys: move camera Shift + W, S: Lift / lower


double-click)

(focus on centre will be lost)

(focus on centre will be lost)

camera Space: lift camera

Flight Select (centre object with double-click)

Rotate camera Move camera forward / back

Move camera to and away from mouse pointer (centre will be lost)

W, A, S, D, arrow keys: move camera Shift + W, S: Lift / lower camera Space: lift camera

Walk(for touch-sensitive

devices)

One finger: Rotate camera left / right

Move camera forward / back

Two fingers: Move camera left / right & up / down

Three fingers / mouse wheel click and hold: Rotate camera

You can also navigate by clicking on the mini map in the lower right corner of the screen or on the

common views cube on the top right. Select objects by clicking on them or their name (in the

navigation bar on top of the screen, search results, etc.).

If you are lost, the button Reset view brings the camera back to the original position in Orbit

mode.

Camera modes UniversalPlantViewer offers three camera modes, one of them (Walk) for touch-sensitive devices.

After loading a new model UniversalPlantViewer will start with Orbit mode as default. You can choose

another mode by clicking on the icon Select camera mode (it indicates the current mode) on the top

left of your screen. The camera will rotate around the selected object. If you want it to rotate around

the centre of the screen enable “Use old camera rotation behavior” in the settings tab.

Orbit mode (default): In this mode you can move the camera with W, A, S, D or the arrow keys (Shift + W or Space to lift the camera, Shift + S to lower the camera) on your keyboard while rotating or panning it with your mouse buttons. A double-click brings an object to the centre of the screen. The camera will rotate around this object until you pan the camera with right click or mouse wheel.

When holding Ctrl the camera will rotate around itself like in flight mode.

Flight mode: Similar to Orbit mode but the camera will always rotate around its own centre, regardless of the selected object.

Walk mode: This mode is designed for devices with a touch-sensitive screen like mobile phones or tablets. With a touch two circles will appear. The farther you drag the smaller circle outside the bigger one, the faster the movement will be.

If you include an additional object or person you can drive / walk through your model with it by clicking on the walk icon in the menu on the right side.

The button “Reset view” brings the camera back to the original position in Orbit mode and resets all changes in colour, selection, etc.

All comments and views will be lost if not saved in a configuration file.


Additional navigation: mini map, cube, navigation bar and search Mini map: If you activate the mini map via Settings you can

quickly navigate with it in the lower right corner of the screen

regardless of camera mode. If you hover your mouse over it,

the background colour will change. After that you can move

(left mouse button) and rotate (right mouse button) the

camera and directly bring it to a point on the map (left or right

click). The 90° angle shows the camera’s field of vision.

You can zoom in and out with the magnifying glass icons.

With the bar on the right you can change the camera’s height.

The lower half represents the total height of your model.

Common views cube: The cube in the upper right corner of the screen gives you directions: N – North,

W – West, S – South, E – East, U – Up, D – Down.

You can click on any face of the cube and the small spheres connecting two or three faces to look

straight at that face(s). For example if you click on Up the camera will point straight down.

You can decide to show / hide the cube (also in XYZ-mode) in the settings menu.

Select (multiple) objects by clicking on them or their name in the navigation bar (tree bar) on top of

the screen.

In the settings menu you can toggle between tree bar (“breadcrumb navigation”) on top

and tree view inside the additional functions window on the right.

The tree bar will always be visible even when you open a PDF, PID or isometric.

Select and fit: If you want to centre and fit objects to your screen, select them and click on

“Centre and fit the currently selected objects”.

Search: Enter your search term in the search box and click the button or press

enter. Results are sorted by categories (attributes).

Expand results with a click on the small angle on the right.

? stands for any single character or number,

* stands for any number of characters or numbers (a* matches a, abc, a-12, …).

Attributes In the attributes panel you see:

The number of objects you have selected

A list of links for that object


All attributes of that object(s). In the settings tab you can decide if you want to show / hide

empty attributes.

Drag an attribute to the main window to transform it to a comment.

Double-click on an attribute to copy it to your clipboard as text.

Example: For FileName > Equipment you get Equipment

Views A click on this icon opens the views panel where you can save the current camera position.

Return to a position by clicking on the name of the view. You can create multiple views to

quickly switch between them.

Views can be saved in file management > save configuration. If you don’t save your views they will be lost after closing UniversalPlantViewer or clicking on “Reset view”.

Search

Quick start Enter a search term and click on the search icon.

Abort a search by clicking on Abort the current search.

Search in 3D UniversalPlantViewer’s search function is especially adapted for working with 3D and 2D drawings.

Therefore there are two sets of results:

Hard results that exactly match the entered criteria. Displayed in light grey.

Soft results. Characters after the search string or those that are commonly added or dropped

when converting data to another format are not considered during the search. (“slab 1 0002”

or “slab-1-0002”). Displayed in dark grey.

Make sure there is enough room for the display of your search results by dragging the bar under the search box downward. Otherwise maybe only Please select from search results will be visible.


Wildcards You can add wildcards to the start or end of your search term:

? stands for any single character or number

* stands for any number of characters or numbers (a* matches a, abc, a-12, …)

With >, <, =, => and =< you can search for attributes that start with a number. All numbers after

text strings will be ignored.

Search Tools Use the search tools under your search results for easier identification and selection of objects.

Grey out / hide all except the selected objects / groups.

Disable / Enable automatic zoom on selection. This option will centre and fit the current

selection to the screen.

Go to the previous / next group of x objects.

Search in PID and Isometrics You can also search a PID drawing / Isometric for characters and strings but without using

wildcards.

Selecting, clipping, colouring and highlighting

Quick start Select objects by clicking on them (Ctrl + click for multiple objects) or their name (in the navigation

bar, search results, etc.). A volume box indicates selected objects. For a better view you can use the

following clipping modes:

Icon Name Function Options

Volume clipping Clips objects by the clipping box Enlarge the clipping box by dragging a slider or dragging the sides of the clipping box (by default highlighted in red, change colour in settings).

IntelliClipping Clips objects by the object itself Include objects that touch the surrounding of the object in a radius from 0 – 25 m.

Inverse clipping Opens an inversion clip-ping box to look inside the object.

Resize the inversion clipping box and show a grid of 1 x 1 / 10 x 10 / 100 x 100 m.

After deselecting the clipping mode it may take a few moments until the entire model is loaded again. Please wait until the progress bar in the upper right corner stops changing.

Click on the icon “Colour” to change colour and transparency of selected objects.


Click on the icon “Highlight”. All objects save the selected ones will appear greyed out and

semi-transparent.

You can save the volume of you current clipping to your clipboard to include it into an excel

file.

Common attributes during multi-selection If you multi-select objects using the Ctrl key or by clicking on predefined groups or parts of your plant,

(custom) common attributes will be displayed for up to 1000 objects at the same time.

Clipping modes and their options For a better view of the objects in your model you can clip the view. This means that you include /

exclude a certain area around the selected objects. Choose one of three clipping modes. You can

adapt them with individual options.

Volume clipping Surround the selected object with a rectangular clipping box, that’s exactly as high, broad and

deep as the objects, regardless if they are square or round. Note that all adjacent and

attached objects end at the borders of the box.

Options: To adjust the bounding of the clipping box, drag the slider from 0 – 25 m or select a

side of the box and drag it. You can move the box by dragging the coloured arrows.

You can expand the box to be bigger than 25 m and reduce it to be smaller than the original size (to get a cross section, for example). If you drag a side to a size smaller than 0 m, you also move the opposite side of the box.

IntelliClipping In IntelliClipping the original clipping box is the shape of the object itself (surrounded by the

default selection box).

Options: By dragging the slider, add all objects to the clipping that are at least partly in the

given vicinity (0 – 25 m) to the object. None means that the additional objects are touching

the original object.

Inverse clipping This type of clipping gives a free view to the centre of the selected objects by clearing a

quadrant along the x, y and z axis. All other quadrants will be displayed as usual.

Options: You can add a grid that reacts to the camera’s distance to the object. The grid will

have a size of 1 m x 1 m / 10 m x 10 m or 100 m x 100 m depending on the camera’s distance

from the object. You can drag the sides of the quadrant to change its size.

Similar to inverse clipping, in walk mode with an additional object / person there’s always a free corridor between the object and the camera.

You can save the volume of you current clipping to your clipboard to include it into an excel

file.

Example:

minY minX minZ maxY maxX maxZ

NewVolume 3023.24 2375.117 67.1984 3037.241 2393.118 72.14941


Colouring and highlighting objects

Click on the icon Colour to change colour and transparency of the selected objects.

Your model is loaded with a default colour file. But you can also create a custom colour file and load it via the file management menu.

Click on the icon Highlight. All objects except the selected ones will appear greyed out and transparent.

Creating a colour file You can create custom colour files using Excel by entering a colour and a condition. You can use

colour names and html colour codes starting with # followed by 6 digits (intensity of red / green /

blue) plus two optional digits for opacity.

For condition you can enter task, piping, name, system path or any other attribute. Aspect is an

optional value to colour insulation and / or simple physical for piping.

Example:

Colour Condition Aspect

red Task=Equipment

blue Task=Structure

#FF00FF22 Task=Supports

red Task=Cableway

red Task=Conduit

red Task=HVAC

#FF00FF piping

In file management you can save your changes to a configuration file.

Measuring distances Click on the icon and drag the markers to display X, Y & Z distances and the direct distance

between the markers or click on them to show their absolute coordinates. If you have

activated object recognition in DocumentAdapter you get additional measuring points (for example

centre of a pipe).

Please use the following settings in ReviewAdapter Tools > Settings > Advanced to get the best

results:

Set stroking tolerance to “100”

Enable “Advanced Grafics Handling for measuring and line tracking”

You can also use the single marker to get coordinates.


Packaging

Packaging allows you to include / exclude objects of a model and save the selection in an .xlsx

or .json file. This can be very handy if you want to give different versions / parts of a model to

different stakeholders. See example at the end of this section.

A click on the icon Packages opens the packages menu on the right side. Packaging allows

you to create a custom folder structure, include / exclude objects of a model and save the

selection in an .xlsx or .json file. Options that cannot be used in the current situation are greyed out.

Select all elements contained in the package.

Show package elements. This doesn’t affect other elements.

Hide package elements. This doesn’t affect other elements.

Create new package in the selected level / folder. If nothing is selected it will be created on the top level.

Create new folder in the selected level / folder. If nothing is selected it will be created on the top level.

Delete selected package / folder.

Duplicate selected package.

Save all folders / packages.

Load a folder / package.

Creating / Loading folders / packages Load or create a new folder / package by clicking on the respective icons.

After that you have access to the Definition area in which you can add

definitions and connect them by using logical operators.

If there already is a folder / package prior to loading another one you can either replace the existing

folders / packages or append them.

If you try to load a package that doesn’t contain any conditions loading will abort with an error message. If you accidentally saved a folder that contains empty packages simply open the .xlsx or .json file and delete any empty package.


You can duplicate a selected package by clicking on this icon.

Deleting / saving folders / packages

Delete a folder / package by selecting it and then clicking on the icon Delete. You will be asked if you really want to delete the folder with all its contents / the package.

Clicking on the save icon will always save the whole folder structure regardless what you have selected. A message will appear if there are any empty definition groups.

Organizing folders / packages

You can drag folders / packages to the end of the list and into / out of folders.

Visualisation After selecting a package you can show its elements only or grey out the rest.

Defining packages Start by loading or creating a new package. After that you have access to the

“Definition” area. There you can add definitions and connect them with logical

operators (AND NOT, OR, AND).

Condition by attribute Condition by volume

Options Equal

Not equal

Like (wildcards)

Not like (wildcards)

Inside

Overlap

Outside overlap

Outside

After selecting a package you have access to the tools for condition definition:

Condition by volume You can choose which area defined by the volume you want to include:

Inside

With overlap

Outside overlap

Outside


Inside / outside

Define a volume like you would do with volume clipping. All objects that are completely inside /

outside this volume are part of the package.

Inside / outside overlap

Define a volume like you would do with volume clipping. All objects that are / aren’t at least partly

inside this volume are part of the package.

Condition by attribute You can choose an attribute (approval status, area …) expressed by a character / number

string to define objects you want to include and a matching condition:

Equal / not equal

Like / not like

Equal / not equal

The attribute exactly matches the string entered in the text box.

Example: Uid = c0fc06552004 for exactly this object with exactly this unique ID.

Like / not like

The attribute exactly matches the string with wildcards entered in the text box.

? for exactly one character.

* for any number of characters.

Example: Uid c0fc06552? for all objects with the unique ID c0fc065520 – c0fc065529 and

c0fc06552a – c0fc06552z including all valid characters.

Using wildcards: If you use equal / not equal the characters ? and * stand for ? and *. If you use like /

not like instead, ? and * can stand for any (number of) character(s). You can only add wildcards to the

start or end of search strings.

Grouping conditions It is possible to group conditions and nest them inside one another.

With an IntelliGroup you have to choose a radius. All objects that are at least partly inside that

radius, are included in the package. A radius of 0 means the objects are touching an object in

that group.

Example Your model contains an area that’s classified for

security reasons. You want contractors to have

access to your model and exclude the classified

area. In this case you can include the classified

area in a package. You can do this by defining

rules combining attributes and / or volumes.

If you want to exclude the selected parts of your

model, you can do this by the following steps:

Create a new package.


Select all objects you want to exclude. In the definition area click on Condition by volume.

Choose Inside

A click on the highlight icon reveals that the selected volume also contains some small pipes

and structural parts that shouldn’t be part of the package:

To exclude the structural parts create a new condition. This time choose Condition by

attribute.

As the FileName attribute of all objects to exclude contains Structure select FileName in Available

attributes and enter Structure in the text box. In this case you can use exact (“Structure”) or fuzzy

matches.

Now choose and not as the logical connective,

so that all objects included in the first condition

are inside the selection except from the objects

that are defined in the second condition.

To exclude the two nozzles select them and

create a Condition by volume with Inside as an

attribute.

Connect that condition with “and not”:

So as final result your package only contains the desired objects:


This is only one of many possible ways to get this result.

The last step is to save your package by clicking on the icon “Save package”. Enter a name

and choose a file format.

In UniversalPlantViewer Builder you can load this as packages definition file.

Views

A click on the icon Views opens the views panel on the menu on the right side. There you can

save, delete and edit views for the current session.

If you want to save a view, you can enter a name for that view and choose particular information:

Colours and visibility

Position

Highlight

Clipping

Active aspects

You can reset your view including all colours and other

information by clicking on “Reset view” in the camera modes

menu.


Line tracking

With line tracking you can easily highlight all parts of a pipeline. Use the arrows to follow the

pipeline to its end or start.

Please use the following settings in ReviewAdapter Tools > Settings >

Advanced to get the best results:

Set stroking tolerance to “100”

Enable “Advanced Grafics Handling for measuring and line tracking”

Additional Objects

Quick start A click on this icon opens the additional objects panel with a preview of objects you can add

to your model. You can position and rotate all additional objects and move them through your

model in walk mode.

Additional objects

Purpose With additional objects you can visualise the size of your model and go on a virtual tour.

Placing, moving and deleting additional objects

Open the additional objects panel and drag an object to the desired place. You can also select an

object and click on the object in your model it should stand on. Clicking on an empty space will place

the additional object somewhere inside your model.

After placing an object you can move and rotate it horizontally by click and hold on

the respective icons. You can always click on an additional object regardless if the

additional objects menu is open or not.

A click on this icon brings the bottom of the object to the closest surface above or below.


You can delete additional objects after selecting them by clicking on the delete icon. If you want to delete multiple objects it could be easier to close and reopen UniversalPlantViewer. All additional objects, that aren’t saved in a configuration file will be lost.

Walk mode If you select an additional object and enter walk mode you can walk / drive around

with that object. You can switch to any additional object in your model by clicking

on it and continue moving.

Camera You can move the camera behind and slightly in front of the additional object. Similar to the inverse

clipping mode you’ll always have an unobstructed view to the additional object.

Stairs There’s no collision detection for (additional) objects in your model yet, but your object will lift / drop

to surfaces that aren’t too high / low. With a little bit of practice this allows you to walk up / down

stairs.

Collision detection You can toggle collision detection in walk mode on / off.

Saving additional objects If you want to save the placing of your additional objects use a configuration file.

Commenting

Quick start In UniversalPlantViewer there are two types of comments:

(Quick) comments linked to an object. Select an object and add a comment to be shown in

the model. You can show / hide comments by (un)ticking the box.

(Online) commenting system for detailed comments including status report, picture, sharing

options and additional information. The commenting system is protected by a password.

Quick comments After a click on this icon you can add comments to an object or a group of objects. Select

objects and add a comment to be shown in the model by entering your text into the box. You

can show / hide comments by (un)ticking them or clicking on the toggle icon.

You can drag attributes from the menu on the right into the main window. Those attributes are treated as comments and are linked to their object.


Changing and deleting comments To change a comment click on it (it will be highlighted in red) and enter a new text or

drag a new attribute to the main window.

You can delete one comment or all comments. Clicking on “Reset view” will also delete all comments.

Commenting system A click on this icon opens a new tab with the commenting system where you can choose a

project and log in. You have to set up a server component with a SQL server to use the

commenting system.

After logging in you get an overview of all comments for that project:


There you can:

Refresh the list of comments

Add a new comment

Edit an existing comment

Close the commenting tab and show the objects the comment is linked to

View the comment (without option to edit it)

Delete a comment

Check out comments. Checked out comments are offline and cannot be edited. Use this function if you want to go offline with your mobile device and take comments with you.

Switch between multi / single selection of comments

Switch between displaying online / offline comments

Filter comments

Log out of the commenting system and close the overview tab

Adding / editing comments Adding / editing a comment opens a new tab:

Enter the desired information and / or choose from the drop down menus.

You have to enter a deadline and a title before you can save the comment.

There’s an admin tool available to edit the items in the drop down menus.


You can capture a new image (current view) from your model in UniversalPlantViewer and open the

camera of your mobile device to document the situation on site.

With Enable you can enter an originator name that’s not included in the list.

Viewing comments If you view an active comment you can enter text describing actions that were taken to resolve the

issue. When saving you will be asked if you want to change the comment work status to resolved.

The overall status of the comment will then jump to the next percentage level. (i.e. 0% 70%)

Status In the commenting administration tool you can define events for status completion. So for example if

a user marks an issue as resolved the status is automatically set to 70% completed, if the engineer

approves it, 80% and if the company approves it 100%.

Online / Offline comments If you want to work at a site where you don’t have an internet connection you can check out

comments and take them with you. Those comments are locked while you are away. This makes sure

that nobody else changes this comment while you are working on it.

Filter comments You can check out comments that no longer need to be worked on. If you want to review old

comments, switch online comments on or off:

You can filter by:

Discipline to resolve

Work share location

Comment stage

Type

Area

Key objectives

Project phase


Sketching

Quick Start A click on Open new sketch opens a new tab and adds a new layer “Sketch (1)” to your model.

On this layer you can add custom objects, that don’t interfere with your model but can easily

be placed in dependence to it.

This is very useful if you want to quickly compare various versions of a

design without placing them in their own packages or if you want to add

new ideas.

If you want to add an object, first choose it from the menu on the right

and click on it. Then click on the area it should be placed it.

There are four categories of objects:

Basic Structure (ground plate, column, steel, slab)

Basic shapes (cube, cylinders)

Piping (pipes, valves, flanges, etc.)

Advanced Structure (platform, wall, scaffolding, HVAC)

You can also load custom objects from your drive (in OBJ format).

With the menu on the left (and your keyboard) you can manipulate the selected object:

Delete (del)

Move (m)

Scale (s)

Rotate (r)

Convert

Colourise

By converting 3D view objects from your model to sketch items you can edit them like any other sketch item.

Use Undo / Redo last action to cancel / repeat your last sketching action.

Make a screenshot of your current view.

Open the settings tab.

Save your sketches with Save a sketch in the file management menu.


Sketching Click on Open new sketch to open a new tab for your sketch. This adds a new layer to your model. On

this layer you can add custom objects that don’t interfere with your model but can easily be placed in

dependence to it.

You can open multiple tabs with sketches but only one sketch is shown at a time. To return to your model, click on 3D.

Adding and editing objects If you want to add an object, first choose it from the menu on the right and click on it. Then click on

where you want to place it.

There are four categories of objects:

Basic structure (ground plate, column, steel, slab)

Basic shapes (cube, cylinders)

Piping (pipes, valves, flanges, etc.)

Advanced Structure (platform, scaffolding)

You can also load custom objects (in OBJ format).

With the menu on the left (or your keyboard) you can manipulate the selected object:

Delete (del)

Move (m)

Scale (s)

Rotate (r)

Transform

Colourise

UniversalPlantViewer will automatically detect the device type you are using. This may not work for some devices. Therefore you can force UniversalPlantViewer to switch to touch mode.

It’s only possible to select one object at a time.


Basic structures and shapes Basic structures and shapes have a default scale and custom editing possibilities in accordance with

their function:

Object Default scale Scaling options Property to choose from

Ground plate 10 x 10 m X, Y & Z -

Column 0,3 x 0,3 x 3 m Height only Profile type

Steel 0,05 x 0,05 x X m Length only Profile type

Slab 1 x 1 x 0,2 m X, Y & Z -

Cube 1 x 1 x 1 m X, Y & Z -

Vertical / horizontal equipment 2 x 1 m X, Y & Z -

Pipe 1 m, DN 50 Length only Length and diameter

Scaling objects in dependence to other objects

If you want an object’s measurements to match the position of another object,

select the object, click on the scale icon and then click and hold one of the semi-

spheres on the object you have selected. When you now move your mouse

pointer over another object in your model, a yellow / red circle with crosshairs in

it will appear. The crosshairs indicates the X, Y and Z coordinate where the

scaling will end.

Piping When placing a pipe you’ll automatically get some extra options that allow

you to create a pipe run and connect it to other pipes or vessels. You can

choose the diameter from a drop down list in the properties menu (1’’ – 40’’)

You can add a 90° angle to the end of your pipe run by dragging the semi-

circles and move / lengthen your pipe by dragging the coloured arrows.

Pipes have an initial length of 1 m.

Creating a pipe run The easiest way to create a pipe run is to click to where your pipe should start.


This will add a horizontal / vertical pipe depending on the orientation of the surface.

By dragging one of the semi-circles you can continue the pipe with a 90° angle connected by a bend.

You need enough space for a bend. Otherwise bends will be displayed in red.

You can add additional pipes between bends or loop pipes back on themselves.

Moving and deleting pipes

If you select a pipe you can move it by dragging the directional arrows.

If you want to delete a pipe you will be asked if you want to delete the section or all connected

sections, too.

Adding piping equipment

Valves etc. only can be added to pipes that are sketch items. Select a piece of equipment and click on

the part of the pipe where you want to place it. After that you can move it to the desired place on the

pipe.

Some pipe equipment has optional properties you can choose from.

Advanced structures Like pipes advanced structures are added in consecutive stages for easier construction.


Adding a platform

Start by placing the platform. Click on the Platform icon and then on any place in the model.

Next you can transform the platform and any of its parts. To select the whole platform doubleclick on any of its parts.

Adding scaffolding

Scaffolding is comprised of uniform elements that can be stacked

side by side and / or on top of each other. Doubleclick on the

scaffolding, then click on scale and drag the semi circles to expand

the scaffolding.

You can rotate the whole scaffolding around its centre.

Adding objects There are a selection of common objects in the catalogue

If you want to include an OBJ file from your computer, click on Load object from disc. There’s

a size limit for OBJ files. Therefore you may only add up to 20 objects at a time.

Adding objects from the catalogue When loading a model UPV looks for a “Catalogue” folder with subfolders for objects (i.e. [Ladder]).

The catalogue folder must be in the same folder as the “Data” folder

The catalogue is a set of .obj / .xls and .jpg/.png files and a list file (upvsketchitemindex.txt) that

includes all the available items. The default catalogue includes common parts of a plant (pumps,

vessels, stairs, etc.) that can be added like regular objects. Objects from the catalogue also can be

scaled but only parametric symbols will keep the right proportions of all their parts.

Adding objects to the catalogue

You can add any .obj file and a corresponding .jpg / .png file (optional) to your catalogue. UPV will

include it while loading your model, if the object is valid and properly included in the file

upvsketchitemindex.txt. You can use absolute paths, relative paths and include. For example:

Catalogue/Ladder/ladder1.obj

/Ladder/ladder2.obj


#include D:\yourindex.txt

With include you can manage objects for your whole company in as many files as you like rather than

adding single objects to single models.

To automate the creation of your upvsketchitemindex.txt file you can use a .bat file with the following

lines of code:

@echo off

for /f "delims=" %%i in ('CD') Do set wdrive=%%i

Setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

if exist upvsketchitemindex.txt del upvsketchitemindex.txt

for /r %%a in (*.obj,*.xlsx) do (

SET out=%%a

rem set out=!out: =%%20!

set out=!out:d:\_DemoPlant\__work\20_config\=!

rem set out=!out:\=/!

set out=!out:%wdrive%=Catalogue!

echo !out! >> upvsketchitemindex.txt

)

Start your batch file in the root folder of your catalogue that contains all subfolders with your objects.

The batch file will delete any existing upvsketchitemindex.txt file and create a new one containing

all *.obj and all *.xlsx files in all subfolders.

Adding parametric symbols to the catalogue

Parametric symbols are added using an Excel file that contains:

Start

Mapping 3D SymbolDesigner DatumPoint1 Colums with parameters (length, height, etc.)

SymbolName 1

Mapping SmartPlant 3D DatumPoint1 Colums with parameters (length, height, etc.)

SymbolName 1

End


Parametric symbols are created with 3D SymbolDesigner. There you can map attributes for your

symbols.

Using parametric symbols

In the catalogue you’ll also find parametric symbols that easily can be scaled correctly after placing

them in your model. Simply enter the right values in properties.

Converting objects from the 3D model

If you want to edit / delete an object from your model you can select it after clicking on Select a 3D View object

After that you can convert 3D view object to a sketch item or clone it. Then you can use it like any other sketch item.

You can delete selected objects from the current sketch and hide / show all deleted objects.

Saving and loading sketches

Save your sketches with Save a sketch in the file management menu. Load sketches with Load a

sketch.

Be careful when you close a sketch tab because the sketch will not be saved automatically.

Sketching is available for everyone but you need the sketching licence to save the sketch. Saving a sketch as .dgn file is in development.

Example You want to test an alternative location for the office area in your plant. To do this open a new sketch

and click on Select a 3D View object. Select the office area and click on Convert. Now you can move

the whole object to a different location and save your sketch. You can save a sketch for each location

you may put the office and load each of those sketches into your model to quickly compare them.

Custom attributes

If there’s a valid attributes.xlsx file in UniversalPlantViewer’s data folder UniversalPlantViewer will

display all available attributes plus your custom attributes in the (custom) attributes menu on the right

side of the screen for selected objects. If multiple objects are selected (using the Ctrl key) all

common attributes of those objects will be displayed (up to a limit of 1000 objects).


Users can work with your predefined values available in the dropdown lists or enter information in text

fields.

Custom attributes window

With a click on you open the custom attributes menu:


Choose an attribute from the drop-down menu. All objects with that attribute will be coloured

according to their status. All other objects will be greyed out. Change the entries in the drop-down

menu according to the object status and / or enter information in the text box.

The legend gives you an overview on the description of colours used in your model.

Import / Export all changes You can save / load changes to the custom attributes’ status via Excel file. This file

will contain:

ID The ID for the attribute from the custom attributes file that was used.

Be careful if you create multiple attribute files containing the same ID values.

SourceValue The attribute that the custom attribute was based on.

CustomValue The value a user chose from the dropdown menu or entered in the text box.

User Computer ID of the device the changes were made on.

Timestamp The time the change was made.


Custom attributes management CustomAttributes provide a way to append new attributes dynamically to a model.

These added attributes can be edited by the user or static (see DataType for all options).

Custom attribute files are created as an Excel file (attributes.xlsx). They should be placed in

UniversalPlantViewer’s Data folder and contain the following tabs:

Definition: Includes all information about ID, Name, SourceAttribute, Filter, DataType,

DefaultValue, and parameters.

Meta: Contains additional information about email address and subject for changeset submissions

to the custom attributes administrator.

CodeList: Contains name, value and colour for drop down selections in the attributes menu on

the left side of the screen in UniversalPlantViewer.

Filter: Contains filter definitions and their names.

The Definition tab

ID

Unique integer ID for your custom attribute (customattributes value). Filter definitions for custom

attributes with the same ID will be treated as combined with an OR connector. In the following

example ID “6” will create a dropdown list for the custom attribute “rusty” and objects with “Name=V*”

and “Name=CV*” in “Task=piping&Unit System=Recovery Stage 1-A”.

A more elegant way that uses less computing resources is to define a filter in the Filter tab and enter the filter name in the Definition tab.

Name

The name for the attribute that will appear in the custom attribute window (customattributes name).

SourceAttribute

Attribute which the new attribute and its filter is based on.


Filter

You can filter with a MultiSearchQuery rule for all attributes like “Task=Structure”, “Name=V*”,

“Status=Approved”. If you want to combine filters, it’s best to define them in the Filter tab of your

attributes file and enter their Name here.

DataType

The following data types are possible:

Calculation Calculates TOS (top of steel), BOS (bottom of steel), the ElementColor or (currently) VisibleColor or displays a StaticText.

Codelist If DataType is codelist you can define items for a dropdown list in the CodeList tab.

FreeText If this kind of DataType is given, Users can enter any text in the attributes menu.

Numeric Enter the minimum value as Parameter1 and the maximum value as Parameter2. Parameter3 contains the floating point precision.

DefaultValue If you create a dropdown list of values you can enter a default value for your attribute here. This value

also must be included as Value in the CodeList tab.

Parameter

You can enter the following predefined types of parameters when using Calculation as DataType:

TOS TOS (Top Of Steel) returns the elevation in meters on the highest point of the element.

BOS BOS (Bottom Of Steel) returns the elevation in meters on the lowest point of the element.

ElementColor returns the elements current base colour as hex code.

VisibleColor returns the element’s colour as hex code also considering temporary UniversalPlantViewer features (CodeList Colour, highlighting, Center of Gravity …)

StaticText returns the text entered in DefaultValue.

Custom parameters You can also define custom parameters in the CodeList tab and enter their name here.

For Numeric enter the minimum value as Parameter1 and the maximum value as Parameter2.

Parameter3 contains the floating point precision.

The CodeList tab If you want to create a dropdown list to choose from different options in the custom attributes menu,

you have to define at least one custom attribute with Codelist as DataType and a custom parameter

in the Definition tab.

Example definition:

In the CodeList tab you can enter the possible values to be chosen from and optional colours for

them. The column Name is the identifier used for Parameter1 in the CodeList Datatype. Colour is

optional. For example:

The result for this will be in the custom attributes menu:


To add another codelist simply start it in the next free line of the Excel table.

You can use colour names (red, green, blue, …) or a HTML colour code (# followed by 6 digits.)

The Filter tab In the filter tab you can define filters by entering a name and as many filter conditions as you like.

Conditions in separate lines are combined with OR by default.

Custom attribute examples:

gives you in the attributes menu.

gives you in the attributes menu.

gives you in the attributes menu. Users can enter any text and save it as

custom attributes information.

Tools

Quick start The tools menu contains additional helpful functions and

options for working with your model:

Calculate the centre of gravity (COG) and export COG data.

Highlight objects with a link to additional documents.


Switch automatic labelling on / off.

Open a new tab to capture a QR code with the camera of your mobile device.

Tools The tools menu contains specialised functions and options for working with your model.

Centre of gravity There are two methods of calculating the centre of gravity (COG) of objects in your model. If

the necessary attribute data is available in Smart3D or via special labels in ReviewAdapter

(Dry CG), it will be used to calculate the COG. If there’s no data UniversalPlantViewer will

calculate an approximate COG. Objects are highlighted in green / red if they have / lack COG

data. You can export COG data as an excel file.

Highlight linked objects Objects in UniversalPlantViewer can be linked to documents (maintenance manuals,

equipment lists, websites …). Clicking on this icon greys out all objects without a link.

Automatic labelling In the settings tab you can define which labelling attributes should be displayed.

Click on Configure auto labelling attributes. Then choose your desired attributes by dragging them to

the box on the right:

You can enter a character on the keyboard to directly jump to that position in the list.


After that you can switch the automatic labelling on / off. Labels appear on the objects

closest to the camera.

QR code decoder You can place QR codes containing a deep link in your plant that can be scanned with a

mobile device and interpreted by UniversalPlantViewer.

To do this click on “Open QR decoder”. This opens a new tab and switches your mobile device’s

camera on. If it detects a QR code with a deep link UniversalPlantViewer will automatically follow it.

Refer to Linking in this manual to get more information on how to create a deep link. Use a QR code

generator to create a QR code with your link.

Take a screenshot If you click on the button Take a screenshot you can save a screenshot of the 3D model

(including the common views cube but without other interface elements). The default file

name is:

screenshot yyyy-mm-dd hh-mm-ss.pdf

Settings

Quick start

Use the settings to toggle between tree view and tree bar, configure the project tree and open the

settings tab with additional settings.

Settings After clicking on settings you can configure:

The structure and look of the project tree

Additional settings

Project tree configuration You can toggle between tree view and tree bar:

Tree bar places the project tree on top of the main window.

Tree view places the project tree in the menu on the right.

You can choose attributes to automatically generate a different project tree.

Each attribute defines a level in your project tree.


Example: Material, Date created will give you all objects with the same creation dates for each

material.

Additional Settings

Aspects

With this options you can show / hide insulation and the physical shapes of all objects in the model.

So you can show only the insulation only the objects, both or none of them.

This doesn’t apply to additional objects and objects in sketches.

Attribute options

Here you can decide if you want to show / hide empty attributes, configure attributes that should be

generated for automatic labelling and priority attributes.

Automatic labelling can be switched on / off in the tools menu.

Priority attributes are automatically shown on mouse-over event if you configure priority attributes

and choose a preview attribute limit bigger than 0. Priority attributes also appear first in the attribute

window.

Units


Choose the unit to be displayed when measuring or adding objects.

This doesn’t apply to the attributes information.

Toggle options (Navigation and drawings)

Here you can show / hide the common views cube and switch between compass directions and XYZ

directions. You also can show / hide the mini-map.

On the right side you can switch to printer friendly grayscale drawings and choose which direction the

2-sided ISO perspective will face. You can also enable the rotation behaviour from older versions of

the UPV: rotate the camera around the centre of the screen instead of an object.

Colour

Select the colour of items in the background / colour of the volume box and background colour /

image.

Performance

Advanced users can adapt cache size, maximum number of triangles and maximum camera range to

fit their needs.

UI options

Adapt the scale of the user interface from 0.6 to 2.0 to fit your needs. You can also change the

attribute font size from 2 to 6.

Your changes to additional settings instantly become effective but you have to save them in a configuration file if you want to reuse them after closing the UniversalPlantViewer.


About

Show licenses: This opens a new tab with legal information about software and licenses used in UniversalPlantViewer.

Viewer version: Shows the UniversalPlantViewer version you are using.

Model version: Shows the version of the model you are using.

Builder version: Shows the version of UniversalPlantViewer Builder the model was created with.

Conversion date: Shows the conversion date of the model.

Expiration date: Shows the date until you can use the current model.

File management

Quick start Use the file management to:

Add configurations (save and load settings, clipping, colourisation, sketches …)

Save and load colour files

Create links and load link files

Create reports

Save and load objects

Generate double-sided ISO PDFs

Check the file name you have entered before saving. There will be no warning if the file name already exists!

File management The file management menu includes most options for saving and loading except packages

and views that can be found in their respective menus.

Save and load configurations to a .upv file. A configuration includes the current settings, clipping, colourisation, view, sketches, etc.

Load a colour file. You can choose between local and online colour files.


Load a link file. You can replace existing links or append the existing links with new ones.

Create a link and copy it to your clipboard. Example: upvapi://http://demo.universalplantviewer.com/demoPlant/4/0/?uid=0003a998-0000-0000-681a-a3ff06552004

Create a report

Save objects to disk in OBJ format

Generate a double-sided ISO PDF. This will create both an isometric view and an orthographic drawing for better visualisation.

Open the manual

Save configuration You can choose which information you want to save in your config:

Load settings automatically UniversalPlantViewer automatically loads a default configuration file. You can save a custom

configuration file as defaultConfig.upv in the same location as the UniversalPlantViewer.exe.

You can also define the path to the settings file in the URI: file://C:\Path\To\UPV_Web.html?settings=c:\MySettings\Config.upv

To use the URI function the configuration file must be accessible from the machine where UPV_Web.html is located. If UPV_Web.html is hosted on an IIS server only configuration files located on the IIS server can be loaded. To apply the local settings file use File > Load Settings instead.

Relative paths can be used to define the location of settings files.


Save and load objects You can save selected objects as OBJ file to edit them with a modelling tool or to duplicate

them in your model. Click on “Import avatar from disk” in the additional objects panel and then

click on a location in your model to add it. After that you can move and rotate the object.

Those objects are treated as additional objects if you load them in the 3D view. You can delete them in the additional objects panel. If you load them in sketch mode they are treated like objects from the catalogue.

If you save objects as OBJ files there is a size limit matching the maximum input size UniversalPlantViewer can handle. If you export more than 20 objects you’ll get the following warning message:

Before saving you can choose to swap the height axis (Z) for the breadth (Y).

Create a report After clicking on Create a report you can choose a report definition file or create a new

report. Report definition files are Excel files that must be stored in the Data folder of your

UniversalPlantViewer directory. By default saved reports will follow this naming convention:

Report name (1)_YYYY-MM-DD_HH_MM


Report definition files

A report definition file can contain the following columns:

Name A descriptive name for your report.

Description (optional) Additional description what your report is for.

Filter (optional) You can use all attributes including custom attributes.

Scope (optional) Choose “All”, “Selected” or “Visible”.

Column (optional) The attribute column that should be used for sorting your report.

Sort (optional) You can sort in ascending (asc) or descending (des) order. If no sorting order is given UniversalPlantViewer will sort in ascending order. Example: descending:Name

Forbidden (optional) Enter actions you do not want to allow for your reports: C (customise), F (filter), S (save). Combine with comma or semicolon. Example: C,F;S

Attributes Attributes your report should contain. “Color” gives you the current colour, “Count” gives you the number of objects contained in that object. For example a vessel with 4 nozzles will have a count of 5.

Creating reports

After clicking OK your report will be created.

After that you can

Save the report to an Excel file.

Customise the report attributes.

Reload the report.

Select underlying objects.

View object(s) in model.

Show / hide the quick filter. This will add a filter field under the attribute:

When you are done choose a file name and a folder for your report which then will be saved as

an .xlsx file. It will list all attributes you chose for all objects that are visible regardless if they are

selected or not.

For more detailed reporting please use the UniversalReporter.

Filter and sorting

You can sort in alphabetical order by clicking on the attribute. Combine multiple search strings with

space. Exclude search strings by using !


Create a link file You can create link files using Excel. Simply include a column for condition, link URL (or local path)

and name. In condition you can use all attributes. If you want to select all objects, use * as a wildcard.

For example: Task=*

Example:

Condition Link Name

Task=Piping https://www.caxperts.com/ Homepage

Task=Structure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure Wikipedia

Create a double-sided ISO This will create both an isometric view and an orthographic drawing for better visualisation.

After clicking the button you’ll have to choose an .xlsx file with the objects you want to

visualise. You can enter the names of all objects that already have an ISO drawing.

Excel file example:

A

1 P-1676

2 P-1677

3 P-2676

4 P-2677

After that you can save your double-sided ISOs as PDF.

Linking

Quick start You can automatically and manually link objects to and from online and offline files:

P&ID (opens inside UniversalPlantViewer)

Isometrics (opens inside UniversalPlantViewer)

PDF (opens inside UniversalPlantViewer)

Microsoft Office (opens outside UniversalPlantViewer)

Web pages (opens outside UniversalPlantViewer)

UniversalPlantViewer supports deep linking via URL handler upvapi:// to open UniversalPlantViewer

from an external source (email, document, website, …) and display a specified part of your model

Example:

upvapi://http://demo.universalplantviewer.com/demoPlant/4/0?Name=K-001&Nozzle

Name=N5&CMD!Fit&CMD!Highlight

UniversalPlantViewer uses link files and also has an API module. With the API you can control

UniversalPlantViewer input and output using other programs.


If an object is linked to a resource the list of links is shown on top of the attributes.

You can also grey out all objects without a link if you click on “Highlight linked objects”.

Load custom link files via File management > Load a link file.

Link files If you want to link from an object to an external source use a link file.

If you want to link from an external source to an object in UniversalPlantViewer use deep linking.

Deep linking API: Link from outside > UniversalPlantViewer > Link to outside

UniversalPlantViewer uses link files to store link information. Link files are loaded automatically when

you open UniversalPlantViewer but you can also load them manually at any time via File management

> Load a link file ( ).

Create a link file You can create link files using Excel. Simply include a column for condition, link URL (or local path)

and name. For condition you can use all attributes. If you want to select all objects in your model, use

* as a wildcard. For example: Task=*.

Condition Link Name

Task=Piping https://www.caxperts.com/ Homepage

Task=Structure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure Wikipedia

You can use absolute and relative paths (with backslash “\”). Example: data\docs\Valve.pdf

Links in isometrics UniversalPlantViewer automatically links objects in 3D models with their symbols in isometric and

P&ID drawings. Therefore you can open drawings from the 2D / P&ID level of your project tree and

also from the link list.

It is possible to select an object in the 3D model by clicking on a symbol in a drawing that is

highlighted when you hover your mouse pointer over it:


Because drawings are rendered in PDF format you can zoom in without loss of quality.

You can generate a double-sided ISO PDF and preview the 3D objects to be included.

Links to objects in the 3D model will be lost.

Deep Linking You can include deep links in all types of documents that support links, i.e. Word, websites, email … to

open UniversalPlantViewer and transfer a combination of queries and commands.

Deep linking uses the URL handler upvapi://

Structure:

upvapi://<MODEL-URL>?<QUERY>&<COMMANDS>


Name=N3&CMD!Select&CMD!Fit&CMD!Highlight

Wildcards:

Use _ (any character) and * (any number of characters) as wildcards.

Example:


Name=N3&CMD!Select&CMD!Fit&CMD!Highlight

This will look for the Nozzle 3 on the object K-001, select and fit it to the screen while greying out all

other objects.

There are no error messages for broken links, for example due to a typo.

Building deep links with Excel In Excel you can use the “CONCATENATE” and “HYPERLINK” functions to easily build a list of links.

Enter your model URL or path and a column for attributes, values and commands you want to include:

A B C

1 Model URL http://...

2

3 Attribute Value Commands

4 Name D-100 CMD!Fit

5 Task Piping CMD!SetVisibility=false


6 Pipeline S-1672 CMD!Select&CMD!IntelliClip=1

7 Task * CMD!SetCameraView=3037!2476!72!180!180!10

8 …

Then add a function with the following structure:

=HYPERLINK(CONCATENATE("upvapi://";$B$1;"?";A4;"=";B4;"&";C4))

Table 1: Commands

Command Description

ClearClipping

ClearColor Restores the initial object colours.

ClearHighlight

ClearLinks

ClearSelection

Color Color=[html color code] (format #RRGGBB or #RRGGBBAA) Example: CMD!Color=#FF0000

Combine Combine=[OR/AND] Use “OR” if you want to use the operator “OR” between query conditions instead of “AND” (default).

Fit Optional parameters: Centred

true (standard): fit to centre of the box false: fit to the screen borders of the current view

Example: CMD!Fit=true

Highlight

IntelliClip IntelliClip=[distance in meters]

Values >0 will display only the object. 0 will also display objects touching the selected object. You can use values with a decimal point.

LoadColorFile LoadColorFile=[online or offline location]

local: CMD!LoadColorFile=C:\colors.xlsx

via http: CMD!LoadColorFile=http://sdfsdf.sdfsd.sdfsd ....

via UNC: CMD!LoadColorFile=file://////server/share/colors.xlsx

Note: For UNC it is important to use 6 slashes “//////” after “file”.

Examples:

CMD!LoadColorFile=c:\colors.xlsx CMD!LoadColorFile=http://demo.universalplantviewer.com/demoPlant/4/0/colors.xlsx

LoadConfigFile Loads a configuration file.

Parameters:

Configuration file name

Combine mode (optional). Sets handling of existing settings. By default set-tings are cleared: Merge (existing views will be merged and not cleared. Overrides existing values with the values of the configuration file)

Example: C:/config.upv!Merge

LoadLinkFile LoadLinkFile=[online or offline location]

local: CMD!LoadColorFile=C:\colors.xlsx

via http: CMD!LoadColorFile=http://sdfsdf.sdfsd.sdfsd ....


via UNC: CMD!LoadColorFile=file://////server/share/colors.xlsx

Note: For UNC it is important to use 6 slashes “//////” after “file”.

ResetView

SearchFallback This command adds a fuzzy search if the exact search doesn’t return any results. Function: SearchFallback looks for the individual search strings and combines them with AND.

Example:

upvapi://http://demo.universalplantviewer.com/demoPlant/4/0?Name=E240&Nozzle Name=N8&CMD!Combine=AND&CMD!Select&CMD!Fit&CMD!Searchfallback

This will find the Nozzle N8 of the equipment E-240.

Select

SetCameraView SetCameraView=[X!Y!Z!rotationX!rotationY!rotationZ] (Euler angle)

Example: CMD!SetCameraView=3037!2476!72!180!180!90 sets the camera to the coordinates 3037 (X), 2476 (Y), 72 (Z = height) facing parallel to the ground rotated 90° to the left.

SetTreeConfiguration SetTreeConfiguration=[discipline!discipline…]

Example: CMD!SetTreeConfiguration=Task!System Path

SetVisibility SetVisibility=[True/False]

SetVisibleAspects SetVisibleAspects=[aspect!aspect]

Example: CMD!SetVisibleAspects=Simple Physical!Insulation

to show both insulation and simple physical.

ShowOnly Sets the visibility of all query objects to visible and hides all other objects.

VolumeClip VolumeClip=[distance in meters]

Values < 0 will be treated as 0. You can use values with a decimal point.

VolumeClipByCoordinates Runs the volume clip algorithm with a bounding box defined by the parameters:

X min

Y min

Z min

X max

Y max

Z max

Example: CMD! VolumeClipByCoordinates=-10.0!-10.0!-10.0!20.0!20.0!20.0

Wildcards:

* = any character

_ = any single character

Condition Operators By default query conditions are combined with AND:

Name=K-001&Nozzle Name=N5

OR is possible with the combine command:


Name=K-001&Name=D-100&CMD!Combine=OR

API module With the UniversalPlantViewer API external applications can send queries via URI or TCP to

UniversalPlantViewer. You can integrate UniversalPlantViewer in any software.

Using the API module requires an API licence.

Queries You can use all deep linking commands with wildcards and additional Get commands.

Use the Combine command to switch between AND / OR. After starting UniversalPlantViewer AND is the default value but it will not return to that automatically.

Table 2: Get commands (TCP)

Get Commands Description

GetCameraView Returns the current camera view.

GetModelInfo Returns a dictionary describing all loaded models by

Model URI

List of all available attribute names

List of all available aspect names.

GetObjects Returns a list of all object UIDs.

GetObjectsAttributes Returns a dictionary for each object containing its attributes. (Optional parameter: a list of attribute names). Example parameters: Name!Task

GetObjectsBoundingBox Returns the bounding box for each object.

GetObjectsColors Returns a dictionary for each object containing aspect name and default/current colour.

GetSelectedObjects Returns a list of all selected object UIDs

GetVisibleAspects Returns all visible aspects

Using JSON via TCP The UniversalPlantViewer starts a TCP server (IP 127.0.0.1, listening to port 40123; the port can be

changed via command line parameters) and can process simple JSON messages.

To start the communication, send the following initial message:

Field Description Type

Header “UPVAPI1\n” UTF-8 String

Table 3: Event callback registering

Command Description Example

AddEventCallback Registers a new callback for the specified event name. The event callback has its RequestId set to the

SelectionChanged!1000


RequestId specified by the second parameter. Parameters:

Event name

RequestId (must not be used for other event callbacks)

RemoveEventCallback Unregisters a callback with the matching RequestId. Parameters: • RequestId

1000

Table 4: Events (TCP)

Command Description Example

SelectionChanged Is called after the list of selected objects changed. Returns a list with the UIDs of objects in the new selection.

"SelectionChanged": ["00004e23-0000-0000-0080c0fc06552004"]

PointerClicked Is called after the user clicked somewhere in the model. Returns a dictionary with the position of the click within the window and the mouse button that was pressed. The mouse position origin is at the bottom left. Possible mouse button names:

Left

Middle

Right

"PointerClicked": {"Button": "Right", "X": 323, "Y": 549}

Table 5: Message protocol definition


Message length The number of bytes in the message. Unsigned Integer (4 Byte) in Network Byte Order

Message The JSON text UTF-8 String

Table 6: JSON request definition


Model The URL of the model. Commands will be executed for this model only.

If missing, commands will be executed for all models.

String

Condition The object request in query syntax. String

ConditionCombineMode Sets the combine mode for queries with several conditions. If not specified or set to AND, the conditions will be combined using AND. If set to OR, the conditions will be combined using OR.

String

Command The command to be executed. String

RequestId A unique number that allows linking answers to requests. If not specified, “-1” is assumed.

Integer

CommandParameters Used to set command parameters. List of String, Integer und Floats


JSON Example:

{

“Model” : http://demo.universalplnatviewer.com/DemoPlant/3/”,

“Condition” : “Task=Equipment”,

“Command” : “Fit”,

“RequestId” : “1000”,

“ConditionCombineMode” : “OR”,

“CommandParameters” : [ “True” ]

}

Table 7: JSON response


ErrorCode Contains the error code (0 = no error) Integer

ErrorMessage Contains the error description (empty = no error)

String

RequestId Contains the RequestId that was transmitted in the query (-1 = standard, none transmitted)

Integer

ResultData Contains the result of Get commands Dictionary<String, Object>

Object depends on the Get command.

Example:

{

“ErrorCode” : 0,

“ErrorMessage” : “OK”,

“RequestId” : -775527921,

“ResultData” : {

}

}

Advanced Options

Output settings in UniversalPlantViewer Builder When you prepare a model in UniversalPlantViewer Builder you can allow / prohibit downloads during

the output configuration and set the default type of common views cube (directional or XYZ).

You can enter an expiration date (must not be a date in the past) for your model. After expiration the

model can no longer be opened.

You can also include an optional colour configuration file (.xlsx) to load by default and a colour files

directory that will be opened after a click on File management > Load a colour file.


In the same way you can include a link mapping file and an attribute mapping file (which defines links

between P&ID and 3D).

Set a password for your model If you are providing a model using https you can protect access to your model by HTTP Basic

Authentication with user name and password.

Performance settings In the settings you can change the camera range, triangles limit, memory model cache size (bytes)

and the memory mesh cache size (triangles).

Camera range: Viewing distance in meters where the camera is in the middle of a cube.

Triangles limit: The number of triangles your 3D model is comprised of. UniversalPlantViewer

will use more triangles for objects nearer to the camera. So objects in the distance may

appear coarser or lack parts.

Cache size: Determines the resources reserved for caching your model.

You can add objects to the catalogue in Additional items. To do this you need to place your .obj files

with an optional preview .jpg (64 x 64 pixels) into the folder Catalogue in the same location as your

UniversalPlantViewer.exe.

Add the text file upvsketchitemindex.txt with the file paths to all objects to the same folder.

The file will include for example:

Catalogue\HeatExchanger\Type 1.obj

Catalogue\Pumps\Type 1.obj

Catalogue\VerticalVessel\12m2.obj

Adding predefined clippings If you saved a clipping to the clipboard you can save it in an Excel file:

minY minX minZ maxY maxX maxZ

NewVolume 3023.24 2375.117 67.1984 3037.241 2393.118 72.14941

Save this file as Volumes.xlsx and place it in the data folder of your UniversalPlantViewer.exe to

make it available in Select clipping mode.


Starting with a splash screen UniversalPlantViewer looks for projectMessage.png or projectMessage.jpg in the data folder during

start-up. If this file is found it will be automatically displayed. Users have to click on Cancel or

Continue. This is very handy if you want to display a legal text, a welcome screen or additional

information.

Configuration file

By editing the configuration file you can hide buttons from the menu on the left, the tree bar on top of

the screen and the menu on the right. Only the tab bar at the bottom cannot be hidden so that PDFs

and other internal documents can be viewed and closed.

The configuration is stored in defaultConfig.upv files in the same folder as the Universal Plant

Viewer.exe and can be edited using a text editor.

Keep in mind that certain elements can influence others.

Table 8: List of menu items

Key Description

All Hide the whole UI.

CameraModes Hide the camera modes. UniversalPlantViewer will use the orbit mode.

ClippingModes Hide the clipping modes.

ClippingModeSettings Hide the settings for the clipping modes.

ColorButton Hide the button for colouring objects.

ConfigureReportAttributes Hide the button for personalising reports.

CreateLink Hide the create link button.

DeviceType Options: Windows, IOS, Android, UniversalWindowsPlatform

DisplaySize Options: Smartphone (<9 inch), Tablet (9 -14 inch), Desktop (14-28 inch), Large (28-40 inch), VeryLarge (> 40 inch)

ExportObjects Hide the save objects to disk button.

FileButton Hide the file management.

Fit Hide the Fit button.

Highlight Hide the Highlight button.

ImportObject Hide the Load object from disk button.

LeftMenu Hide the complete menu on the left.

LineTracking Hide the Activate line tracking button.

LoadColorFile Hide the Load a colour file button.

LoadLinkFile Hide the Load a link file button.

LoadSettings Hide the Settings button.

LoadTwoSidedISOBatchFile Hide the Generate doublesided ISO PDFs button.

Measure Hide the Measure distances button.

OpenConfigTab Hide the settings tab.


OpenCommentsOverview Hide the Open commenting system button.

OpenSketchMode Hide the Open sketch mode button.

ProjectTreeVisible Hide the project tree.

RightMenu Hide the complete menu on the right.

SaveSettings Hide the menu on the right side.

Search Hide the search menu.

SettingsButton Hide the settings button.

ShowAvatars Hides the Open additional objects panel button.

ShowCommentsPanel Hide the Open commenting system button.

ShowPackagesPanel Hide the Open the packages panel.

ToolsButton Hide the Tools button.

TreeBar Hide the navigation bar on top.

TreeConfiguration Hide the Configure the project tree button.

UserDomainName Name of the user in a certain domain.

ViewPanelVisible Hide the Open views panel button.

Example: The following code will hide the centre, highlight and measure buttons from the menu on

the left:

{

"ConfigVersion": 2,

"Views": [{

"Name": "Default View",

"HiddenMenuItems": [

"Fit",

"Highlight",

"Measure",

],

...

Recap: elements that can be predefined / added Predefining certain elements speeds up working with UniversalPlantViewer, especially for routine

tasks.

In the respective chapters you can find descriptions how to predefine:

Views

Volumes

Reports

You can add


Colour files

Link files

Object lists for creating double-sided ISOs


Contact

Contact CAXperts’ support by email, online, or phone:

CAXperts GmbH

Carl-Zeiss-Ring 4

85737 Ismaning

Germany

https://www.caxperts.com/contact/

Phone: +49 (89) 969772-0

Email: [email protected]

Helpdesk Available Monday to Friday 08.00 a.m. – 5.00 pm (UTC +1)

Phone: +49 (89) 969772-250

[email protected]