PiCri User Guide (EN)

PiCri – User Guide (Manual)

Welcome to the user guide for PiCri, the powerful productivity add-in for AutoCAD Plant 3D. This documentation walks you through all features, from installation to automated piping design, to help you streamline your workflows.

1. Introduction

PiCri is an extensible productivity add-in for AutoCAD Plant 3D, developed to optimize and accelerate workflows in piping design and engineering. By reducing repetitive manual tasks and minimizing human error, PiCri allows designers to focus on complex design decisions instead of administrative data entry.

2. Installation

Installing PiCri is quick and straightforward. Proceed as follows:

3. Ribbon Overview

Once loaded, PiCri adds a dedicated tab named PiCri to the AutoCAD ribbon. From left to right, this tab contains several panels for specific tasks:

4. Bolt Length Calculation

The Bolt Length panel provides tools for automatically calculating and updating bolt lengths across one or multiple drawings within a Plant 3D project. The calculation is based on a configurable JSON data structure that accounts for project-specific standards.

5. Numbering (Weld / Spool / Part)

The Numbering panel is used for the automatic assignment, display, and removal of sequential numbers for piping components. Three operating modes are supported and can be selected via a dropdown menu, allowing precise labeling of welds, spools, or parts.

6. AutoRouting

The AutoRouting panel provides specialized tools for automated design. This includes the routing of cable trays (or custom shapes) and pipes, the placement of custom components at connections, and the automatic placement of supports along piping runs.

7. Clip Box

The Clip Box panel allows you to define a 3D bounding box to hide geometry outside of that area (clipping). This is particularly useful for isolating specific regions within large, complex models for detailed editing or review.

8. Tools

The Tools panel contains helpful commands for maintaining your model. These include functions for Connection Repair as well as Weight Correction within the project data.

9. Settings

The Settings dialog provides various configuration options. Here you can adjust the behavior of the numbering, define the appearance of annotations (labels), and select the application language.

10. License Manager

A valid license is required to operate PiCri. The License Manager provides the tools to activate and manage your licenses.

11. Command Reference

This section provides an overview of the PiCri commands available in the AutoCAD command line. One important configuration parameter is WASHER, which defines the number of washers used. The total thickness is automatically calculated by multiplying the value from the washer table by this number.