13_Clean Up Your Routing: Editing Connections Around Obstructions in AECinspire (3:22)

Overview

When connections cross each other or cut through furniture, the sheet is hard to read and the routing does not match how the job will be installed. This video shows how to open every connection on a sheet for editing, reshape runs by dragging segments and bend points, add or remove bends, drop a pull box or junction box into a home run, and save so AECinspire recalculates cable lengths. It is for anyone detailing circuits and home runs after the initial connections are in place.

What you'll learn

• Open every connection on the sheet for editing with one right-click
• Drag straight segments and gray vertex dots to reroute a run
• Add bend points to route around furniture and obstructions
• Remove unwanted points
• Replace a point with an assembly such as a pull box or junction box
• Use the 90° snap and help lines to keep runs square
• Save your edits so cable lengths recalculate

Before You Begin

You need connections on the sheet before you can edit them. Creating them is covered in 13-creating-connections. To insert a pull box or junction box into a home run, first make sure the box is in your assembly library. Replace with Assemblies uses assemblies from that library.

Part 1 — Open Connections for Editing

You do not need to select the connection you want to change first. In AECinspire, one right-click opens every connection on the sheet for editing.

1. Right-click anywhere on the sheet.
2. Click Edit Connections.
3. Click any straight segment of a connection.
4. Drag the segment vertically or horizontally to its new position, such as tight against a wall.
5. Click any gray dot at a bend. Each gray dot is a vertex.
6. Drag the vertex to where you need the bend.
7. Go to the bottom toolbar.
8. Select Add Points.
9. Click the run to add a point at each place you want a bend.
10. Toggle back to Move Points.
11. Drag the new points to shape the route around the obstruction.
12. In the bottom toolbar, select Replace with Assemblies.
13. Click the gray dot where the box belongs. Your assembly library opens.
14. Select the junction box or pull box assembly you want. The point is replaced with that assembly.
15. When you finish adjusting the routing, go to the top of the screen.
16. Click Save.

Note: Edit mode frees up all the connections on the sheet at once. You do not have to hover over one specific connection, select it, and right-click it, as you would in some other tools.

Part 2 — Move Segments and Vertices

You can move straight segments and bend points directly on the sheet.

Note: While you drag, help lines appear and snap the run to a 90° angle to keep it square.

Part 3 — Add Bend Points Around Obstructions

Add bend points when a run needs to go around furniture or another obstruction on the floor plan.

If you add too many points, select Remove Points in the bottom toolbar and click the extras to remove them.

Best practice: Add enough bends to make the route clear. At typical drawing scale, small adjustments may not change the quantity because MC cable length is rounded up to the next 5 feet.

Part 4 — Replace a Point with a Pull Box or Junction Box

Replace a point along a home run with a pull box or junction box.

Part 5 — Save and Recalculate Cable Lengths

Note: Saving applies the new routes and automatically recalculates the length of each edited cable route. You do not need to reset anything.

Toolbar Modes at a Glance

Quick Reference

Troubleshooting