I was told by the dealer that it is necessary to have two licenses for CADWorx Structure, in order to run CADWorx Structure 2018 inside of CADWorx 2018. I can't find anything in the documentation that would indicate this to be the case. Is this true?

That's correct - Plant and Structure are now separate products therefore separate licenses. While it might be tempting to have them both in one profile, the actual near-simultaneous use should be minimal i.e. structural design in structural models, piping/equipment design in piping models.

Here is a quick snip from their FAQ:
Can CADWorx Structure be ran concurrently with and inside a CADWorx Plant session?

Yes. CADWorx Structure can either be run concurrently alongside an active CADWorx Plant session or it can be initialized via a manual AutoCAD command-line function from within CADWorx Plant. In each case, CADWorx Structure is a separately running application from CADWorx Plant, which results in the use of one license per application running at any time. Refer to Appendix B of the CADWorx Plant 2017 User Guide for more information on how to load CADWorx Structure from within CADWorx Plant.

More information can be found here:
http://icas.intergraph.com/cwx-structure-licensing

I think its nice having a tool that is all inclusive, but as dgorsman stated, its not all that common to need to run both at the same time.

Also note, if youve ever loaded Equipment into Plant, its a similar process. When you launch Plant, Equipment also takes a license to run.

Thanks for your help Matt.

I could be wrong, bit I am sure this only applies to SPLM licensing. With HASP Licensing this should be possible.

WOW i may need to tell our IT dept not to upgrade any machines to 2018 now. we have no separate structural group from piping. typically our piping lives in the skid structural models.

We made the switch from the Cadworx 2017R1 to 2018 beginning of this year. I wish we could have gone back and stayed with the 2017R1 version. We have had lots of issues with the 2018 software. The Structure still is not that great and the solids and centerlines are always disconnecting. We are constantly having to go back to the model and solid convert then save to update in the model it is xref'd into. You will have lots of workarounds that they just don't seem to fix.

What command are you using for solid convert on the structural members?

in structure, solid convert is not as simple. we have been selecting components and then you have to click OK to get them to go back where they supposed to be. once you edit the object and click the OK then the solid and centerline seem to go back together. its just a pain to do this all the time.

DON'T DO IT! Stick with what you have. This separation "trial" is junk! When CADWorx plant professional had structural inside the program, the structure commands work AWESOME! Now, you can't do anything with it, base on what you were able to do with the previous versions.

DON'T MAKE THE SWITCH! I'm so frustrated with this so called new version, I believe it was just a money ploy, another reason to charge you more money. They need to go back to the way it was.

You can't just simply change a member or cope members. Its a process to go through just to simple change a few things. Where before you could do it in a double click.

I am going to disagree with pretty much everything you have posted. Structure is light years ahead of the old legacy steel product.

Its not neccesary to run a command to cope members, you can if you like, however I prefer making use of the Rule to cope members automatically as they are modelled.

Changing member sizes is also not a process as you make it out to be, there are now a number of different ways to do this. Global edit, Replace or making use of the "+" grip reactor.

The workflows and GUI are different but not radically so.

Man, I hope you're correct. My thinking is that I just haven't played around with the new version enough. Fingers crossed. Thanks!

Vanman, you are correct. Running on SPLM it will pull two licenses when running Structure with Plant, on HASP it only uses one license. With the new licensing, ISL, it will function like HASP and only pull a single license.

I also agree with you concerning Structure vs Steel. I had little experience with Steel, and my experience with Structure has not been on the industry side, but I have not felt at any part of using it a pain. Usually when seeing disconnections with the center lines has been not connecting them initially and using the Snap to Cardinal Point relieves a lot of that headache.

Again, Structure running separately wasn't a way to make more money or running it inside Plant and pulling two licenses on SPLM. It all has to do with how licenses are pulled by SPLM and HASP. If money was the desire, it wouldn't have been designed to work like HASP with the new license manager.

If you run steel within plant its ok. but having it pull 2 licenses is CRAZY! when centerlines move from the 3d objects you have to click each component, hit apply then it regenerates. god forbid you have a massive steel model with centerline/3d disconnects and have to regenerate each component singly. I honestly like the old package far better than this new "Separated" one. Then again im a piper, not a structural designer so the steel in my models are typically cartoons.

The 2 license pulling wasn't something planned, its a side affect. It only does that with SPLM, it won't be an issue later next year as all licensing will be going to ISL and it will work like HASP licensing.

I haven't come across any issues with lines and the 3D model becoming disconnected in Structure (2018 or 2019), I have seen issues with center lines not lining up and being connected to other members, but that has always been user error and not making sure it is placed properly.

So if I run Plant, Structure, and Equipment in one profile with SPLM is it pulling 3 licenses?

I could be wrong, but I think Equipment has its own license tag for SPLM. Its only plant/structure that does the 2 license thing.

My understading is that this is going to be a non issue as soon as the new licensing system is implemented, but don't quote me on that one.

I had to break Plant out separate from Structure. the machine runs way too slow, boggy and crashes almost constantly while trying to have them all loaded in one instance. now they the profiles are fresh and plant runs by itself all the problems with slow laggy models, and crashing is gone. really wish we can just go back to 2017 or just dump cadworx and go to Plant 3d now.