CadActiveSupport

concept

Implementing Piping Catalogs

Implement CadActive piping by building the catalog first, then specs, then organizing those specs into projects.

Field

Value

summary

Implement CadActive piping by building the catalog first, then specs, then organizing those specs into projects.

audience

cadactive

visibility

public

products

piping

labels

portal-publish audience-cadactive visibility-public type-concept

CadActive Piping helps customers define and maintain their Piping, Tubing, and Hose catalogs so teams can work from a consistent, governed source of approved components and specifications.

Implementing this typically starts with the catalog, then uses that catalog to create specifications, and finally organizes those specifications into the projects where engineers will use them.

The three layers

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1. Catalog

The library: core elements, pipes, fittings, and insulations.

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2. Specs

Approved combinations: which catalog instances a line class may use.

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3. Projects

Group of specs, organizing into pick-and-click options for designers.

Catalog → Specs → Projects

Layer

What it is

Web app

Catalog

Shared lists (sizes, schedules, end types, materials, fitting categories) plus pipe, fitting, and insulation families and instances.

Piping → Catalogs, Core Elements, and Piping Catalog

Specs

Line-class rules. A spec assigns pipe and fitting instances from the catalog, and may default to an insulation spec.

Piping → Specs → Insulation Specs and Piping Specs

Projects

Named lists of piping specs. Creo activates one project at a time.

Piping → Specs → Projects

Implementation sequence

1. Build the catalog

  1. Create or confirm the organization catalog and its unit system. See Piping Catalogs.

  2. Author Core Elements: Sizes, Schedules, Fitting Categories, End Types, Materials.

  3. Author catalog families and instances: pipes, fittings, and insulations. Bolt nuts are optional piping-catalog hardware for fittings.

Do not assign specs until families have instances. A spec cannot include a family that has no instances.

2. Build specs

  1. Create Insulation Specs if the line class uses insulation (code, optional family, optional appearance).

  2. Create Piping Specs: name, appearance, optional mnemonic, layer, and default insulation spec.

  3. On each piping spec, assign pipe instances and fitting instances from the catalog.

3. Organize specs into projects

  1. Create a project and attach the piping specs that job or site is allowed to use.

  2. A spec can belong to more than one project. Changing a spec updates every project that includes it after the next sync.

4. Deploy to Creo

  1. Run Sync Piping Catalog (master catalog, spec projects, or all).

  2. Run Select Piping Project.

  3. Confirm content in Piping Catalog Explorer.

Point Creo at the downloaded folders with the options on Spec-Driven Piping Configuration Settings. CadActive sets most of them when you choose a piping directory or select a project.

What not to reverse

  • Do not create specs before catalog instances exist.

  • Do not create projects before specs exist.

  • Do not treat the Creo piping_data folder as the source of truth. Author in the web app, then sync.

  • Pipeline configurations live under Designs and are not part of this catalog → spec → project sequence. See Pipeline Configurations.