The only managed service globally that extracts piping material take-off from scanned, PDF, and hand-drawn isometric drawings. No 3D model required. No template configuration. 48-hour turnaround with 99.5% contractual accuracy. Built for brownfield EPC projects, revamps, and legacy plant digitisation where 3D-model-based tools like AVEVA ERM and Hexagon Smart Materials cannot operate.
In short
Pathnovo's Piping MTO from Isometric Drawings is the only managed service globally that extracts material take-off from scanned hand-drawn isometrics, CAD PDFs, AutoCAD DWG / DXF, ISOGEN PCF / IDF outputs, and PDS isometrics without requiring a 3D plant model, returning structured MTO at 99.5% contractual accuracy on pipe lengths, fitting counts, flange ratings, and material callouts within a 48-hour SLA (97-98% on very poor-quality scans). Complete line-item coverage: pipe cut lengths per line number, every elbow, tee, reducer, and cap, every flange with face rating and bolting, gaskets, studs and nuts, insulation lengths, supports, and field weld joints, each validated against the project Piping Material Specification (PMS). Brownfield revamp scope tagging marks each MTO line as existing, modified, new-installed, or demolish so procurement orders only new material and fabrication knows what is field-welded to existing pipework. Codes supported: ASME B31.3 / B31.1 / B31.4 / B31.8, EN 13480, PD 5500. Output configurable to AVEVA E3D MTO tables, Hexagon Smart Materials BOM, SAP MM purchase requisition CSV, Oracle iProcurement JSON, JDE BOM schema, or raw Excel / CSV / XML at no extra fee. AVEVA ERM, Hexagon Smart Materials, and Bentley OpenPlant Isometrics Manager cannot read drawings they did not author; Pathnovo solves the gap. 8 credits per isometric sheet across paid tiers; scoped paid pilot on the Starter tier before scale-up.
Scanned hand-drawn isometrics, CAD PDF exports, AutoCAD DWG, ISOGEN outputs, and legacy drawings from the 1980s onward. Faded scans, rotation, handwritten annotations, and non-standard drawing conventions handled without pre-processing.
Pipe cut lengths per line number, every fitting (elbow, tee, reducer, cap), every flange with face rating and bolting, gaskets, studs and nuts, insulation lengths, supports, and field weld joints. Output maps directly to client's MR/BOM template.
Every MTO line validated against the project piping material class (PMS). Material grade, pressure class, schedule, end preparation, and fitting type cross-checked automatically. Specification break transitions flagged.
Cut-to-length pipe schedules, spool identification, field-vs-shop weld split, weld joint IDs, and isometric-level BOM rollup delivered in fabrication shop formats (PDS, PCF, IDF, Excel).
Drawings uploaded by 9am are returned as structured MTO within 48 hours with a contractual SLA. Volume pricing scales to 5,000+ isometric sheets per project.
AI extraction followed by piping engineer review. Published contractual accuracy of 99.5% on pipe lengths, fitting counts, and specification callouts. Independent audit trail provided per sheet.
Output format configurable to client's Piping Material Specification (PMS), Material Requisition (MR), or ERP purchase order schema (SAP MM, Oracle iProcurement, JDE). CSV / Excel / JSON / XML delivery.
Handle isometrics from revamp scope where some lines are new, some are existing, and some are being modified. Changed-line callouts and as-built deltas supported.
Brownfield refinery revamp: extract MTO from 800 legacy isometrics archived as scanned PDFs
Greenfield EPC without full 3D model: isometrics issued for construction need MTO for procurement
Fabrication shop pre-ordering: isometrics arrive on-site, MTO needed in 48 hours before material cut-off
Legacy plant digitisation: ONGC / IOCL / HPCL / BPCL scan-room drawings converted into structured asset registers
As-built MTO from field redline markups on issued-for-construction isometrics
MTO QA: validate incumbent EPC's manual MTO against the actual isometric for cost recovery
Insurance / valuation audits needing a current MTO against a plant's legacy drawing set
Change order MTO: Rev B isometric issued, delta MTO needed against Rev A for cost impact
AVEVA ERM and Hexagon Smart Materials extract MTO from 3D digital models (E3D / Smart 3D). For brownfield plants, revamps, and most Indian / Gulf mid-EPC projects, no 3D model exists. The isometric PDF or the scanned hand-drawing is the only source of truth. Pathnovo is the only vendor globally with a production managed service that solves this.
Scanned PDFs (any DPI from 150 up), native AutoCAD DWG / DXF, ISOGEN PCF / IDF outputs, PDS isometrics, hand-drawn legacy drawings scanned as TIFF or JPEG, and photographed drawings from mobile cameras. No pre-processing required. We handle skew, rotation, and stitched multi-page drawings.
Manual MTO by an experienced piping engineer runs 90–95% accuracy at a rate of 2–4 hours per isometric. Pathnovo delivers 99.5% contractual accuracy on pipe lengths, fitting counts, flange ratings, and material callouts, typically under 15 minutes per isometric once drawings are in queue. The difference at scale is enormous: on a 1,000-isometric project, a 5% manual error is thousands of incorrect line items affecting every downstream PO and shop ticket.
Any batch of isometrics uploaded before 9am is returned as structured MTO within 48 business hours. The SLA is contractual; penalty clauses apply. For ongoing projects we configure dedicated capacity so sustained daily volume is handled at a fixed delivery slot.
Yes. Revamp isometrics typically carry markup showing existing / demolish / new scope. Pathnovo tags each MTO line item to scope (existing, modified, new-installed, demolish) so procurement teams order only new material and fabrication teams know what is field-welded to existing pipework.
Output formats are configurable. We deliver in any format your downstream system needs: AVEVA E3D MTO tables, Hexagon Smart Materials BOM format, SAP MM purchase-requisition CSV, Oracle iProcurement JSON, JDE BOM schema, or raw Excel / CSV / XML. Custom formats are configured per client at no extra fee.
ASME B31.3 (process piping), ASME B31.1 (power piping), B31.4 / B31.8 (pipelines), EN 13480, PD 5500. Project-specific piping material classes (PMS) are loaded at project kick-off. The system validates every MTO line against the applicable PMS automatically.
IPS iDrawings handles P&IDs, not isometric MTO. PlantFCE does cost estimation on P&ID annotation. Neither extracts isometric MTO. Pathnovo is the only vendor with a production managed service for scanned-isometric piping MTO globally.
Credit-based: each isometric sheet consumes 8 credits. The full platform is included on every paid tier, so revision-set workflows draw from the same credit pool as P&ID extraction, MTO, and reconciliation. Starter (1,000 credits/month), Professional (5,000 credits), Scale (25,000+ credits), Enterprise custom for Indian PSU, Gulf EPC, and global O&G operators with dedicated capacity. Book a demo to see extraction on your documents. See our pricing page for full plan details.
Yes. Pathnovo's MTO output is designed to feed directly into MR package assembly, which we also offer as a managed service. End-to-end workflow: scanned isometrics → MTO → MR package → BOM → PO-ready data, all delivered in the same 48-hour slot.
Yes, but Pathnovo is not the software that generates them. Isometric drawings are generated automatically from 3D plant models by AVEVA E3D (via the AVEVA Diagrams + ISOGEN module), Hexagon SmartPlant 3D, Bentley OpenPlant Isometrics Manager, and Autodesk AutoCAD Plant 3D. Each of these tools authors the 3D piping model first, then derives the isometric drawing as an output deliverable. The standalone Alias ISOGEN engine (now part of AVEVA) is the underlying generator most of them call. For greenfield projects with a fully authored 3D model, these tools generate the isometric drawing automatically with full piping spec compliance, bill-of-material rollup, and weld-joint identification. For brownfield projects, revamps, and mid-EPC scope where no 3D model exists, generation does not apply: the isometric drawing already exists as a scanned PDF or hand-drawn drawing, and the requirement is extraction (which is what Pathnovo does), not generation.
Generation: a 3D plant authoring tool (AVEVA E3D, Hexagon SmartPlant 3D, Bentley OpenPlant, AutoCAD Plant 3D) produces the isometric drawing as an output deliverable from the 3D model the engineer has already authored. Used on greenfield projects with a complete 3D model. The drawing is the output, the structured MTO data is a byproduct of the generation. Extraction: an existing 2D isometric drawing (PDF, scanned, hand-drawn) is read to recover the structured MTO data (pipe segments, fittings, flanges, valves, gaskets, supports). Used on brownfield projects, revamps, M&A integration, and any project where a 3D model does not exist. The drawing is the input, the structured MTO data is the output. Pathnovo handles the extraction case; the 3D authoring tools handle the generation case. Most owner-operators end up using both: one tool for new design, Pathnovo for legacy drawings and brownfield content.
Choice depends on the broader ecosystem the organisation has committed to. AVEVA E3D plus AVEVA Diagrams plus ISOGEN dominates global tier-1 EPC for greenfield projects within the AVEVA Engineering ecosystem. Hexagon SmartPlant 3D dominates the Hexagon SmartPlant ecosystem (Aramco, ADNOC, Reliance Jamnagar scope). Bentley OpenPlant Isometrics Manager fits Bentley iTwin and ProjectWise customers with civil infrastructure scope alongside plant. Autodesk AutoCAD Plant 3D fits mid-market EPCs and smaller owner-operators preferring an AutoCAD-native workflow at materially lower licence cost. All four generate isometric drawings from a 3D model; none of them extract from existing 2D drawings. For the extraction workflow, Pathnovo is non-overlapping with these tools and complements whichever 3D authoring tool is in use. See the AVEVA E3D alternative and the Bentley OpenPlant alternative for the per-tool comparisons.
Pricing
Credit-based, 8 credits per isometric sheet. Full platform included on every paid tier. Transparent published tiers.
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Comparison
Pathnovo vs Hexagon Smart Materials, AVEVA ERM, Bentley OpenPlant Isometrics Manager, IPS iDrawings.
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Alternative
Extract MTO from existing isometrics without an OpenPlant 3D model. Brownfield-ready.
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Alternative
Pathnovo handles isometric MTO end-to-end; iDrawings does not. Plus contractual SLA.
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Cluster
Auto-generate weld schedules, WPS assignment, NDE plan, PWHT requirements from any isometric.
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Industry
Surat-Mumbai-Vadodara fabrication corridor workflows.
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Industry
Piping MTO for brownfield refinery turnarounds and revamps.
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Compliance
IBR-scoped piping with weld schedule and PWHT tracking.
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Pathnovo's computer-vision models read isometric drawing geometry to identify pipe runs, every fitting (elbow, tee, reducer, cap), every flange with face and rating, valves with tag, weld joints, and supports. Text and numeric annotations (pipe spec, dimensions, line number, material grade) are parsed alongside. The extracted graph is reconciled against the project's piping material class (PMS) to validate every line item. Output is a fully quantified MTO in client-native format. The end-to-end process runs in minutes per drawing, versus 2–4 hours manually.
99.5% contractual accuracy on pipe lengths, fitting counts, flange ratings, and material callouts. Manual MTO by senior piping engineers achieves 90–95%. On a 1,000-isometric revision set, that 5-percentage-point gap is thousands of incorrect line items affecting every downstream purchase order, every fabrication shop ticket, and every field measurement. Pathnovo's accuracy claim is backed by a per-sheet audit trail and a contractual SLA with penalty clauses.
Indian and Gulf EPC contractors working on refinery revamps, petrochemical plant expansions, fertiliser upgrades, LNG projects, and greenfield builds where a full 3D model is not feasible. Typical buyers: VP Engineering, Piping Lead, Materials Engineer, Procurement Manager. Named customers include McDermott, GCKC (in build), Zetwerk (in build). Target project size: $60M to $6B capex.
AVEVA ERM and Hexagon Smart Materials extract MTO from their own 3D models (AVEVA E3D, Hexagon Smart 3D); they cannot read any drawing that was not authored in the native tool. Pathnovo extracts from any isometric format (scanned, PDF, hand-drawn, third-party CAD) with no authoring tool dependency. For brownfield and mid-size EPC work (the bulk of Indian and Gulf projects), Pathnovo is the only option.
Yes. Our training set includes scanned hand-drawn isometrics from the 1980s onward, faded blueprints, photographed drawings, and isometrics with handwritten revision markups. Accuracy is slightly lower on very poor-quality scans (typically 97–98% vs 99.5% on clean PDFs), but even low-quality scans are processable. We provide accuracy estimates per batch at sample review before committing to a project SLA.
Yes, plant engineering software generates isometric drawings automatically from 3D plant models. AVEVA E3D plus AVEVA Diagrams plus ISOGEN, Hexagon SmartPlant 3D, Bentley OpenPlant Isometrics Manager, and Autodesk AutoCAD Plant 3D are the four global incumbents. Each authors a 3D piping model first, then derives the isometric drawing as an output deliverable with piping spec compliance and bill-of-material rollup. Pathnovo does not generate isometric drawings: we extract structured data from existing 2D isometric drawings (PDF, scanned, hand-drawn). The two workflows are complementary, not competing. On a greenfield project where the 3D plant model is authored end-to-end in AVEVA E3D or Bentley OpenPlant, the 3D tool generates the isometric and Pathnovo is not needed. On a brownfield project, revamp, or any project working from existing 2D drawings, the 3D tool does not apply because no 3D model exists; the drawing is already in 2D form, and the workflow is extracting structured MTO and weld data from it. That is the Pathnovo workflow. Many tier-1 owner-operators run both: the 3D authoring tool for greenfield design and Pathnovo for the legacy 2D drawings the 3D tool cannot read.
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