re pipe making i have no where near the experience of some on here but i find i use cad only to draw a straight pipe with all its dimensions and maybe the centreline of a bending header with angles.
once ive got the angle of change of each section i then use a fantastic free program called cone v1.3
later versions v2.0 have a time limit and are not free.
you can input start and end angles and diameters and lengths for your cones and even adjust where the seam is using a box labelled Phi.
you do have to add on the thickness of your material to the diameters.
it outputs to its own .con files and also exports the flat pattern projection as a .dxf file which autocad reads and my local laser cutters have no problems with.
i sound like a salesman.
i know programs like torqsoft output all the dxf files for you (dunno about other progs like mota or engmod?) but ive got used to this and can output say 15 dxf files for a pipe in half an hour.
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