EPLANT – A Viable Alternative – Plant Modeling Software
EPLANT, an AutoCAD-based plant modeling software, is worth considering as a very effective alternative to other sophisticated and expensive modeling programs such as PDS, PDMS, Autoplant, Cadworx, etc. The main thing to consider for EPLANT is its surprisingly low price without sacrificing any important features offered by other competitors. Price is the critical issue, preventing organizations from making a decision about purchasing and using modeling software regularly, although its obvious benefits are well known to most CAD and plant engineers. The vigorous marketing techniques and tactics of high-cost modeling software companies make it difficult for equally good low-cost software like EPLANT to reach the realm of decision makers.
You need an open mind and in-depth evaluation to assess the power of EPLANT versus other high-cost add-on software. For information, the price of an EPLANT pipe module license, which also includes the equipment, costs very close to that of a single AutoCAD license. Therefore, it is very relevant to the present and users of plant modelers should closely observe EPLANT and evaluate the software impartially. Let us now review some of the defined characteristics of the EPLANT piping module.
One of the main features of EPLANT is its exceptionally small drawing file size, which contains all the model information. This definitely beats other competitors. Most other software consumes a lot of disk space for the drawing file, and to avoid file corruption, many competing software force splitting the project into many small files and then messily combining them. EPLANT can accommodate many lines and equipment in one file without any problem. Therefore, by using even cheaper computers, EPLANT can deliver satisfactory results.
Ease of use and simplicity is the focal point of EPLANT’s specialty. There’s no point in advertising, but the free demo is worth a try. Without going into detail, it is worth noting one aspect of EPLANT regarding line routing. Well, there are center line routers in other software too, but the EPLANT line router helps to route the line by providing x / y / z distances in an editable panel to the next selected / selected point. Automatic generation then provides facilities to automatically place elbows, flanges and pipes, which many competitors only provide pipe generation. These two features in combination greatly speed up modeling work.
Many modeling software companies force users to buy piping modules and equipment separately and spend more money. But EPLANT combines them into one pipe module, saving money, disk space, and modeling complications like attaching many files, etc.
Most modeling software sells the conflict checking module separately and again forces users to spend more money. But for EPLANT, it is a built-in function and easy to use at any time during development.
Checking for continuity or connectivity in many competing software is not that easy to use. But in EPLANT it is really useful to show the point of discontinuity by differentiating two colors. Subsequently, the user can solve the problem very easily.
The database is very well structured and offers many useful results as a built-in feature. But the noteworthy aspect is that the project’s material request and monitoring features are integral parts of the database, which many other parallel programs lack.
Specification preparation is very well structured. It takes some initial time to understand the structure, but the way it is organized to eliminate the chances of duplication errors is nil. Also, the software itself comes with many built-in catalogs and specifications, including tubes.
The generation of 2D drawings from the model in EPLANT is extremely fast and allows many options such as single / double line representation, choice of line sizes, etc. unlike many other equivalent programs. Another unique feature is that the generated 2D drawings are also smart drawings, carrying all the model information when opened in the EPLANT software. This helps to do more annotation on 2D drawings to a great extent and a definite advantage over competing software.
The automatic isos generated from the model by EPLANT allow many options, but the most important feature is that the isos are intelligent drawings that contain all the information of the model. This helps to edit and annotate isos after generation in EPLANT and is so useful unlike others. Due to customer demand, the 2009 version of EPLANT will also have Isogen support, for those users who prefer the Isogen output.
The EPLANT learning curve is very steep. In fact, the learning time is in hours, rather than days for plant engineers and experienced AutoCAD users. Most plant modeling software companies design their products in such a way that company sponsored training becomes almost mandatory and forces users to spend more money. This also makes the user organization captive of specially trained people, which increases the cost of the organization. For EPLANT, this aspect can be taken in stride as long as CAD engineers and people are familiar with basic plant engineering and Autocad software. Well-constructed EPLANT training flash videos are of great help to both testers and regular users.
EPLANT can generate and export compatible files for upload to Autodesk Navisworks software, where the model can be vividly reviewed, traversed and verified for all kinds of interferences.
It can be conclusively summed up that it is high time to take a serious and unbiased look at a software like EPLANT and compare it with other famous counterparts both when it comes to price and features. This provides an opportunity for users who fear the price of so-called well-known packages, but want to use them, and for those who are tired of the complexities of modeling work.