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User Interface
You start PlantCenter from your desktop. Depending on the installed PlantTools on your machine, the PlantReporter or PlantDataManager are enabled so you can start these tools from within PlantCenter.
If you have Plant 3D installed too, you will see the Plant 3D icons enabled as well. In case you still have AutoCAD P&ID installed, you would see a P&ID icon too. The Plant 3D version shown on the icon depends on the Settings of PlantCenter.
Select Project
To open a project you can select from the most recently used selection. The path is shown in the tooltip in case you have the same project name in different locations.
The project is now selected and all P&ID and 3D drawings are shown.
If the project is not shown in the list you simply use "Open project..." to select the project.
The file dialog opens and you navigate to your project and select the Project.xml.
View drawings
If you click on a drawing name, the drawing will be shown in the viewer window. The type of viewer is selected in the Settings.
The following pictures use DWG TrueView. The first drawing you select will take a while to show, because the viewer must be loaded in the background.
DWG TrueView also has a context menu. File...
And View.
At the bottom you can also switch between Model Space the the Layouts of your drawing.
Starting PlantReporter or PlantDataManager
If you have no project selected and you start PlantReporter,
then PlantReporter is started with no selected project either.
When PlantReporter was started, the icon is disabled in PlantCenter while PlantReporter is running. If PlantReporter is closed, the icon will be enabled again.
When you start PlantDataManager without a selected project in PlantCenter,
then PlantDataManager is started also without a project.
When you start Plant Reporter even with a drawing in the viewer,
the project is set in PlantReporter, but no drawing is selected. Also not the drawing you had in the viewer.
The PlantReporter is disabled again while PlantReporter is running.
If you start PlantDataManager with a drawing in the viewer,
the project is selected too, but also no drawing.
Now the PlantDataManager icon is disabled while PlantDataManager is running.
If you select one or more drawings with the checkbox and then start PlantReporter,
PlantReporter not only gets the project, but also the Data Source is set to "Drawing Data" and the selected drawings in PlantCenter are selected in PlantReporter as well.
If you start PlantDataManager with one or more selected drawings in PlantCenter, then VIews shows "Drawing Data" as well and the drawing(s) are selected.
Start AutoCAD Plant 3D
When a project is selected and you start Plant 3D,
Plant 3D starts with the project selected.
The Plant 3D icons will be disabled also while it is running.
When you have a drawing in the viewer,
Plant 3D is also starting with the selected project, but no drawing.
When selecting one or more drawing,
Yo see those drawings loaded in Plant 3D.