Good afternoon.
Does somebody know if there is a quick way to show the restraint node when creating isometrics by using C2Isogen?
The only way I know is selecting the "node number" window from the feature drop down menu available in "Stress Isometric Annotation", and then selecting the nodes one-by-one.

Thank you for your help
Regards

I think it is not possible.

if you have to do this multiple times with large calcs, one way to do it is to copy the list of node numbers with restraints (e.g. copied from CAESAR II input restraints list) and paste it to an Excel sheet that automatically formats PCF text for the node number annotations. And then copy the formatted text and append it to the final PCF. This is of course not that quick, and is a little more complicated if Caesar produces multiple pcfs since you'll have to figure out which pcf to put which node number annotations to.

Thank you.

I do have an excel list with support's node numbers, because I'm used to perform some post processing on CAESAR II's by Excel on large models.
Unfortunately large models produce multiple pcf file, so it would be more easy doing this job by hand in the Isogen window.

Providing this option would be an appreciated upgrade to Isogen.
For example would be nice to look up at CAESAR II model and select restraints, hangers, anc, bends, and so on.

Best regards

Check the PCF output when running the line through ISOGEN with each method. Depending on the change of content, you might be able to use a pre-processor to modify the PCF before it gets fed to ISOGEN.

Downside is it's a bit advanced, you need something that's capable of interpreting and properly manipulating the PCF content.

Yeah I've gone as far as creating my own PCF standalone processor to combine multiple PCFs into one, add annotations, rotate models, and make other corrections and automatically feed it back to Caesar Isogen. But that was for a large project with many many stress engineers so it's worth the effort.

I want to congratulate with all of you for the quality of the answers.
I'll try both the solutions you provided.
Thank you

Faizal,

Was it through trial and error you were able to learn the PCF format, or did you find a resource document to explain the structure?

All,

PCF is maintained by Alias group, part of Intergraph (branded as Hexagon PPM). Here is the link,

http://www.alias.ltd.uk/ISOGEN_main.asp

We have some backlog items to improve Isometrics, from this thread this is what I gather,

1. you want to set node numbers for certain locations of interest such as restraints, bends, Tees...

2. You do not want program splitting PCFs.

I would like to get your feedback, please file your suggestions at our support portal,

https://smartsupport.intergraph.com

If you have any issues, send me a message or email me.

That was about 4 years ago, and my memory is not known to be very good. But I vaguely remember reading documentation like you can find in the link shared by Mandeep. But I'm pretty sure Caesar didnt' make use of all that isogen has to offer, since our Caesar model doesn't have as much information as the piping designers have in their models. Lots of trial and errors. Oh the documentations in Caesar installation folder also helped in figuring out what the skey codes for the stuff that I want to automatically replace.

I managed to reverse engineer most of it, but after Intergraph publicly released the format document that helped a bit:

https://ig-prod.entitlenow.com/DownloadCenter/?product=isogen_pcf

The thing is, regardless of whether it's CAESARII or CADWorx at the front end it's still ISOGEN at the back end. It doesn't matter if the front-end program supports a feature, if you can properly modify the PCF with a pre-processor to support an ISOGEN feature it will work e.g. I was doing automatic revision clouding from CADWorx models before it was actually supported in CADWorx.