Interactive Routing gives users full control over conduit placement in ACP. With minimal effort, users can draw the routes for the racks in the exact location that conduits should follow in the project, and ACP provides insight into space requirements and potential collisions against the Background Geometry. Once the routes are drawn, ACP handles the rest, analyzing the schedule inputs, modeling all of the conduit and bends, and organizing the conduit runs into racks. With the speed and flexibility of Interactive Routing, users are able to quickly modify routes and generate conduit solutions multiple times, exploring different routing options with ease.
The sections below provide an overview of each step in the Interactive Study workflow, with links to the full article for each.
PRO TIP:
It may be helpful to have a larger view at each step in the Interactive Routing workflow. To adjust the display, hover your cursor between the split-screen then use the controls which appear.
Adjust split-screen - Click and drag the split-screen line to adjust the display.
Expand screen - Expand either the 3D Model Viewer or Schedule Inputs to full screen.
Return to split-screen - Restore the default split-screen view to show both the 3D Model Viewer and Schedule Inputs
Orientation - Change the orientation of the screens: side-by-side or top and bottom.
Interactive Routing Workflow
The Interactive Routing workflow generally has six distinct steps, each one with a specific purpose in generating conduit routes.
1. Create an Interactive Study
The tools used for the Interactive Routing workflow are available within an Interactive Study. You can start from a new study or duplicate an existing one.
2. Import Inputs
Once an Interactive Study has been created, it opens to a split-screen which shows the required Schedule Inputs and Site Data.
Create or import Schedule Inputs: Conduit Schedule and Feeder Schedule
Use ACP to streamline placing Electrical Elements in your Revit model
Import Site Data (Background Geometry and Electrical Model) from your Revit project
3. Prepare Site Data
Before ACP can route conduit, it needs geometry and electrical data from your Revit project. The Importing and Preparing Site Data article walks you through importing that data into your Interactive Study and setting up the drawing environment. Key topics include:
Setting up floors so ACP correctly interprets elevations when you draw routes
Configuring minimum conduit spacing to control Rack Preview sizing
4. Create raceway routes
Once all the inputs have been imported and set up, you can start drawing segments to create raceway routes.
5. Generate conduit
ACP will generate conduit runs following the raceway routes based on the information in your Schedule Inputs. You can generate conduit routes multiple times in an Interactive Study.
6. Export conduit
When you’re ready to export the generated conduit into your Revit project, follow the steps indicated in the Export to Revit section of the Generating, Modifying, and Exporting Conduit article.
Get Started with
To interactively create conduit routes with ACP, start by Creating a new Interactive Study.