CAD Spool Sheet Generation via Template Anchor Nodes
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current graphical user interfaces for CAD software, such as AUTODESK REVIT, do not provide an easy and standardized method for creating spool sheets, leading to inconsistent and error-prone manual processes that waste time and result in non-standardized output across designers.
Innovation Solution
A plugin with an application programming interface (API) that interacts with CAD applications to generate spool sheets, allowing users to define templates with anchor nodes for specifying views and component lists, enabling quick creation of spool sheets with customizable views and bill of materials (BOM) lists, ensuring only relevant components are included based on whitelists or blacklists.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If manual creation of spool sheets is used, then flexibility in customization is improved, but consistency and accuracy deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The spool sheet creation process is segmented into template definition and instance generation phases. Templates contain predefined anchor nodes, view configurations, and BOM structures that ensure consistency. Users can customize specific instances without affecting the standardized template framework, thus maintaining both flexibility and consistency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system allows parameter changes at the instance level (specific spool sheet creations) while maintaining the standardized parameter structure defined in templates. Users can modify view selections, component filters, and layout preferences for individual spool sheets without compromising the overall standardization established by the template system.
2Adaptability or versatility
If manual creation of spool sheets is used, then customization capability is improved, but time consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Templates perform preliminary actions by pre-defining anchor nodes, view configurations, and BOM structures before actual spool sheet generation. This preliminary setup eliminates repetitive manual work during instance creation, significantly reducing time consumption while preserving customization capability through instance-level adjustments.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates spool sheet instances by copying the standardized structure from templates. This copying mechanism rapidly generates multiple spool sheets with consistent formatting and content structure, while allowing users to customize specific instances as needed, thus reducing overall time consumption.
3Productivity
If automated spool sheet generation is implemented, then productivity is improved, but complexity of the system increases
Solution Approach 1:
Templates serve as intermediaries between the automated generation system and the final spool sheet output. They mediate the complexity by providing a standardized intermediate structure that simplifies the generation process while maintaining flexibility for customization, thus improving productivity without proportionally increasing system complexity.
4Reliability
If standardized templates are used, then consistency of output is improved, but adaptability to specific needs deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments spool sheet creation into template-level standardization and instance-level customization. Templates ensure output consistency through predefined structures, while individual instances can be adapted to specific needs by selecting different views, components, and configurations without affecting the standardized template framework.
Data Source
AI summary
Examples can include a system for generating a spool sheet. A user can select multiple components on a graphical user interface (“GUI”). Then they can select an option to create a spool sheet. The system can determine a list of components in the selection for use in a bill of materials. This can be included in a spool page that includes a printable spool sheet region. Within the spool sheet region, the GUI can display a view of the selected components at a location indicated by an anchor node of the template.