In addition to taking over flow direction from P&ID when assigning pipelines, Smap3D Piping provides the ability to set (and control) flow direction for individual pipelines (pipeline paths) manually.
The flow direction of the pipeline paths can be used especially within the subsequently used applications Smap3D Isometric, Smap3D PCFExport and Smap3D Pipefab Connector.
In terms of Smap3D Piping, flow direction defines the order of components within the tree view. When a flow direction is set, the components are always sorted from the pipeline input to pipeline end.
The flow direction control commands are available under Flow Direction within the context menu displayed for a pipeline path (in the Smap3D Piping tree view) and are following.
If a pipeline path has not specified any flow direction, this command is available.
When it is started, a red sphere appears on one of the pipeline ends. This indicates the start point (input) of the pipeline.
The start point can be swapped from one pipeline end to the other using Swap Flow Direction available in the Set Flow Direction dialog.
When the flow direction is confirmed (OK),
the pipeline within the Piping tree view gets new symbol 
indicating directed pipelines.
Remove Flow Direction allows the user to remove flow direction of a directed pipeline.
When it is processed the pipeline gets the symbol 
indicating undirected pipelines.
Swap Flow Direction serves to flip the flow direction (it swaps the pipeline's input and output).
When Show Flow Direction is used, a 3D arrow pointing in the flow direction is displayed at the pipeline input.
Hide Flow Direction hides the 3D arrow displayed by Show Flow Direction.