Editing MEP Elements
•MEP-specific editing operations are available in the Floor Plan and 3D window. (In the Section/Elevation/IE windows, only the basic - Move, Stretch - editing commands are available.)
•For any selected MEP element, use its Settings dialog to edit its parameters. Use the Pet Palette commands to edit the MEP element graphically.
•When you edit a selected MEP element, certain parameters of connected (though unselected) MEP elements may also change as a result.
•Following the edit, every modified element becomes selected.
For example, if you change the cross-section of one selected element, the connected elements will become disconnected as a result, and they will all be shown as selected following the edit.
Select the MEP element(s) to be edited. The Pet Palette commands include the usual element-editing options common to ARCHICAD elements: Drag, Rotate, Mirror, Elevate, Multiply.
The top row of the Pet Palette can include certain commands specific to the type and geometry of the selected MEP element: The following sections illustrate these Pet Palette editing options.
Move Connection: Available for the connection node of a selected straight element connected to another straight element.
Use the cursor to drag the connection node, or enter values in the Tracker; this modifies the length of the segment. (The Length parameter is the length of the element; the Distance parameter is the distance by which you move the node.)
Insert Node: Available for every straight MEP element, by clicking on its edge. This command will affect not just the selected MEP element, but all straight connected elements up to the next connected junction, or to the last straight element. New bends are inserted as needed.
Offset Edge: Available for every straight MEP element. Affects all straight elements connected to the clicked element, including any inline, transition and junction elements.
Elevate Edge: In the 2D window, this Pet Palette command brings up the Elevate dialog box. Enter the value by which you wish to elevate the selection.
Since this is a vertical edit, you will have no feedback in the Floor Plan on the result, unless a previously connected straight segment is now disconnected: the hotspots will change.
In the 3D Window, use the Tracker’s Elevation control to enter the desired value.
Stretch: Available at the end of an unconnected straight segment.
Select a Flexible Duct and use the available Pet Palette commands to modify the duct shape. (Note that these commands will also allow you to create duct elements of extreme geometries that are not structurally valid.)
Move Node: Available from the Pet Palette of a flexible duct element’s internal node.
Insert Node: Available from the Pet Palette of a flexible duct element’s edge.
Stretch: Available from the Pet Palette at the end node of a flexible duct.
Move Node: Available at the corner point of a connected Bend.
Affects the selected Bend plus all straight elements connected to it, including any inline, transition and junction elements. The selected Bend angle will change, and new Bends are inserted as necessary.
Elevate Node: Available at the corner point of a connected Bend with a circular shape, in 3D only. Also available in 3D at the endpoint of a free-standing element having a circular cross-section.
Use this command to change the Slope Angle of an MEP system after it is placed.
Move Inline: Move an in-line element along its straight axis.
Move Terminal: Use this command on a Terminal-type MEP element in Floor Plan. The Terminal plus all connected straight segments move together.
Elevate Terminal: Use this command on a Terminal-type MEP element in the 3D window. You will be able to elevate or lower the Terminal element plus all of its connected straight segments simultaneously.
