Design Master Wish List
The current releases are DM Electrical RT 1.1, DM Electrical 8.4, DM HVAC 7.3, and DM Plumbing 4.1. We are not adding new features to these releases.
The next releases will be DM Electrical RT 1.2, DM Electrical 8.5, DM HVAC 7.4, and DM Plumbing 4.2 We are actively working on these release and using this wishlist to guide which features we implement. Some features you see marked as “complete” will not be available until these releases are finished.
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3 votes
Implemented for DM HVAC 7.2.8. This will be included in the next patch that is sent out to everyone.
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Reverse Tick Marks
Add a button to the "Insert Tick Marks" command to reverse the order of the tick marks in the dialog box.
3 votesCompleted for DM Electrical 8.2.
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Conduit size at end of wire callout
Add an option to display the conduit size at the end of the wire callout instead of at the beginning.
3 votesThis will be added in DM Electrical 8.4.
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Allow equipment callouts to be specified per equipment group, instead of globally
It would be a great help to be able to choose an equipment callout to be tied to each equipment group instead of a single global selection. We use a different equipment tag for Kitchen equipment, Mechanical equipment, Shop equipment, etc.
3 votesThis is completed for DM Electrical 8.3.
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Provide 'hot keys' for pop up dialog box.
Provide 'hot keys' for pop up dialog box.
Example: On the Duct Calculations box you could use the following.
C for Calculate CFM
D for Calculate CFM and Size Ducts
P for Calculate CFM, Size Ducts, and Calculate Pressure3 votesCompleted and will be included in DM HVAC 7.3.21.
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UPS option for different in and out voltages - 460 delta in/120-208 out, 208 in / 120-240 out
UPS voltage choices
3 votesThis feature is completed for DM Electrical 8.2.
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Maintain Tick Marks
After circuits are inserted or circuit is modified in some way, the tick marks that were placed on multipole homerun circuits disappear and have to be re-inserted. It would be helpful for those tick marks to remain upon completion of circuit changes.
3 votesThis was a bug. We’ve fixed it in DM Electrical 8.1. I sent Aaron a patch directly. This fix will be included for everyone else when we release 8.1.1.
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Add Aluminum Wire Option
With the price of copper so high we use aluminum wire for feeders on jobs that are over budget.
3 votesThis is currently possible in DM Electrical 7.3.5, it is just a matter of having the right wire sizing options defined in your customization. See this support blog post for more info on loading the aluminum table we entered if you don’t have it:
http://www.designmaster.biz/blog/2010/02/kitchen-equipment-and-aluminum-wires/ -
Tick marks for #12, Tick marks AND wire callouts if >#12
Tick marks for all homeruns. Insert tick marks on all homeruns regardless of the wire size. Wire callouts for wires sizes greater than #12.
3 votesThis should have been added in the last release. In Options, go to “Homeruns and Loops→Homerun wire callouts and tick marks” and the “Tick marks for #12, tick marks and wire callouts if > #12” option should do what you want.
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Remove electrical equipment tag.
I would like to be able to remove electrical equipment tags. Sometimes the plan is too crowded for the tags. In that case, a person could follow the circuit number to the panelboard schedule to see what something is.
3 votesThis was added in DM Electrical 8.2.
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Use actual room CFM from diffusers rather than calculated for ventilation calculation
We are having issues with permits using the ASHRAE Ventilation calculation because DM is using the calculated CFMs instead of actual CFMs on plans. We are having to tweak all the load inputs and use minimum air flows to spit out correct CFMs in ventilation calculation. The loads have actual loads print out, so maybe this is an easy fix.
2 votesThis will be included in DM HVAC 7.2.
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Show tick marks on single pole circuits only
Show tick marks on 20A single pole circuits. All other circuits, including 20A two and three pole circuits, show the full wire callout.
2 votesThis was added in the last release. In Options, go to “Homeruns and Loops→Homerun wire callouts and tick marks” and set it to “Tick marks for #12 1-pole, wire callouts for all others”.
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Different Connection Options for Different Types of Diffusers
Have the "Diffuser Connection Settings" be able to be set based upon airflow type. For example, supply ducts always connect with flexible and return ducts connect with hard.
2 votesThis is completed for DM HVAC 7.3.
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Representing Different Floors on Parallel Backgrounds
A common practice, at least within my own company, is to represent different floors in parallel background drawings separated by an arbitrary and regular distance. It would be helpful for creating drawings if Design Master automatically added to these parallel drawings when a pipe would transfer from one floor to another. For example when a pipe from the first floor goes to the second floor in a vertical pipe it would be useful if Design Master showed the pipe going up on the first floor and coming up on the second floor automatically. These two entities would have to be…
2 votesThis feature already exists in DM Plumbing.
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Highlight Locked Duct Sizes
We often need to lock a duct size or sizes for various reasons. After creating large sprawling duct systems, it is difficult to track these locked ducts so that we can check them when airflows change and resize them if necessary.
2 votesCompleted for DM HVAC 7.2.
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Smarter feeder lengths from plan view blocks
Currently, when two plan view blocks, for example a panel and subpanel, are very close (say 1 foot apart), the feeder length may be as much as 16 feet. Electricians often ask if they need to add extra length to meet short ckt calc. Of course, one can manually adjust the length in the panel definition, but one should not have to. It should be assumed that this will be a nipple 1 foot long - not run under ground and back up. DM adds 10 feet to each feeder.
2 votesWe added an option to DM Electrical 8.2 for feeders shorter than a certain length to not add the additional feeder length.
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Separate level for motors and equipment rather than the same as receptacles
At times there is not enough room on the particular view to have both receptacles and the AC equipment. I have started changing the equipment to new "Equip" layer.
1 voteIn the “Layers” command, use the different layer keys to move the devices to separate layers.
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IECC Calculation
It would be nice to be able to incorporate the IECC forms for the lighting in DM
1 voteThis is part of the COMCheck export that is included in DM Electrical 8.3. Instructions for how to make this work are available here:
http://www.designmaster.biz/support/blog/2013/11/comcheck-lighting-export/ -
Choosing VA instead of KVA (Panelboard Schedules)
You've seen our panelboard schedules and it would be great to have the same options we show on ours to be able to show on the customized blocks in DM. Being able to display total VA of Left & Right phase and then total (Sum of both Left and Right in VA). Connected load total in VA. Being able to display Project name on Panel schedule. I love some of the options we don't show that I can include. So please keep what you have to add some more attributes.
1 voteAdded for DM Electrical 8.2. Includes options for kVA, VA, or amps.
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Support Revit and Navisworks
Provide a way to export the 3D model from Design Master for collision detection with architects using Revit or Navisworks.
1 voteThis feature is included in the next release of Design Master.
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