Paul,
The key difference between the 2 products is that SPR includes database information from the PDS model along with the 3D graphics while I believe Bentley Viewer provides a graphics only environment.
You can select a pipeline or fitting in SPR and get the process and spec data. It has the ability to query the data so that you could easily identify and view (count) anything you choose - 12" ball valves, any insulated or traced line... If you search for a particular line number it will highlight it and bring you right to it. This is extremely valuable to a lead/checker/co-ordinator especially if it is a big model.
Check out the TAG environment - this is a great tool for making comments and saving views which can be reviewed in later SPR sessions - ex. TAG 1 comment "Relocate this handwheel" - review these tags again next week to see if the comments have been incorporated into the model. In the latest version of PDS and SPR I believe these comments can actually be passed back to PDS. It has a ton of other features but basically you are paying to access the design data.
SPR works off a published dataset - meaning when you look at it, you are viewing a snap shot of the model at the time it was last published - usually scheduled for every night.
If you do a search for PDF files in the directory where the SPR software has been installed you should find a user's guide - it is buried in a very obscure subdirectory for some unknown reason.
I think Intergraph also has some videos on the CD and their website. Yes it does crash more than it should but if you invest some time into it you will see the benefits.
Hope this helps
Paul Hawco
Mechanical Engineer
Neill & Gunter (Nova Scotia) Limited
<a href="http://www.neillandgunter.com">http://www.neillandgunter.com</a> <<a href="http://www.neillandgunter.com/">http://www.neillandgunter.com/</a>>
From: Paul Bowers [mailto:pbowers@pipingdesign.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2005 9:23 PM To: <a href="/group/PipingDesign/post?postID=EaCvVwFYRHuo5G0ab4JAzi0hcKNevJ7Q3ba_5S2Ot9bSXTMcWAsathUeW0zHYWuQ3aqpBxXwweyQqeaP0PT-oVj3walNbA">PipingDesign@yahoogroups.com</a> Subject: [PipingDesign] Bentley View vs. SmartPlant Review
Part of what I'm doing now involves interacting with 3D PDS piping/plant
models and I've just discovered Bentley View.
After fighting with SmartPlant Review for a few weeks (crashes/hangs, confusing (to me) GUI, having to deal with out-of-date .dri files, network licenses, etc.), View is pretty impressive. Does anyone know the
history of these two products and have tips for using them?
It seems like SmartPlant Review is more powerful and can do more "stuff"
like creating videos of fly-thrus and photorealistic images (assuming that all the modules are installed) but View is much easier to use for someone just doing design checking and model manipulation/visualization.
View is a free download (it also reads .dwg, maybe other files) whereas SmartPlant Review is not and each additional module costs extra.
Why would a piping design lead/checker/co-ordinator use SmartPlant Review?
Paul
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Received on Tue Feb 08 14:07:00 2005
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