Victaulic, the world's leading manufacturer of mechanical pipe joining systems, has announced various launches and upgrades for its suite of Autodesk MEP software offerings.  

• Now Available – Victaulic Tools for AutoCAD (VTFA): VTFA is an all-new, free tool that provides AutoCAD users the same classic routing features and drawing productivity gains that were previously only available in the Victaulic Tools for Revit platform. This add-on provides toolsets engineered for civil, industrial, plant or mechanical projects, and includes features to simplify pipe routing, procurement and exporting bill-of-materials.  
• New "Project Mentor" tool is now available in Victaulic Tools for Revit (VTFR): The new feature — likened to a "spell-check" for modelers — enables users to create custom rules that help improve model accuracy and data transfer reliability. Find missing parameter data, identify incompatible components, and automatically highlight any issues within the model with a few clicks.
• New Victaulic Software website is now live: Victaulic launched a newly designed microsite, providing users access to and resources for its expanded suite of MEP software offerings. The site includes a robust playlist of video tutorials, led by Victaulic experts, and will soon feature a new online community for enhanced customer support.

"We recognized customers are modeling Victaulic in the AutoCAD platform; in fact, many have asked us specifically for a tool like this," noted Mark Gilbert, vice president at Victaulic. "The fact that we can offer this for free to the industry to streamline BIM processes and make projects faster from the start is something we are incredibly proud of. We believe it shows our commitment towards supporting customers no matter what medium they are working in."

"We saw that customers were downloading individual AutoCAD blocks from our software library, sometimes at a higher rate than they were downloading Revit families," added Kenneth Verlinden, Victaulic's virtual design and content manager.

Ralph Schoch, Revit technology and internal support manager at Victaulic said the company has created a way to repurpose some of the modeling shortcuts it developed for Victaulic Tools for Revit and apply them to the AutoCAD platform." Model based estimation is a cornerstone of how Victaulic approaches our projects and now more than ever ensuring alignment to budget is critical,” he said. "To know that estimates are based on exact measurements of materials from the design is a critical first step to ensuring project success. That is why we continue to develop new tools and updates, such as the "Project Mentor" to help BIM modelers ensure their designs are accurate."