AECOsim Building Designer Help

Introduction to Components Center

Components Center is a platform for publishing component catalog or component part libraries and using them in your projects. The catalogs can be published by manufacturers, Standard bodies, and content aggregators. For example, 3D models of Industrial or Architectural components, 2D electrical symbols or databases containing dimensional and electrical properties from a manufacturer's catalog. Components Center provides a platform to consolidate all these disparate catalogs in a single location.

The Components Center uses the Bentley Cloud Service to store catalogs. In the Project Portal, you can use the Components Center to add components required for your project. These components can be leveraged by any members of your ProjectWise Project using the Components Center Explorer. You can also create content, as a cell, in AECOsim Building Designer, attach component type data to it and then publish along with the attachments to the Components Center.
The following diagram provides an overview of the Components Center.

Advantages of Components Center

  • Shorter project startup time
  • Ability for organizations to manage component catalogs for their projects
  • Support complete project lifecycle and delivery of asset

Accessing Components

All components for a project need to be stored on the respective ProjectWise Project on the Bentley Cloud Service. You can access the components in AECOsim Building Designer only when you sign in as a CONNECTED user and assign a project to a WorkSet. For information on assigning a project to a WorkSet, refer to the topic To Assign a CONNECTED Project to a WorkSet.

Enabling Components Center for Technology Preview

When you open a file from a WorkSet that is assigned a ProjectWise Project, AECOsim Building Designer connects to the Catalog Live Service and starts downloading the components. During this time, the Message center reads "Downloading Components Center". Once the download is complete, you get the message "Components Center is ready for use" in the Message center. The tools in the Components Center ribbon group are now available for use.

Parent topic: [Technology Preview] Components Center
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