Copyright 2013 Tekla Corporation January 2013

Truss Cambering Diagram

1. Purpose and description
The Truss Cambering Diagram drawing plugin works in conjunction with the Truss
Cambering Tool model component. For any assembly containing trusses cambered with that
model component, it adds a cambering diagram to the drawing.

The plugin adds a boxed camber diagram to any appropriate assembly drawing. The
diagram includes a stick diagram showing the members of the truss. The shortening of each
lacing is shown, and each boom is drawn with an exaggerated camber.

For each boom, dimension lines showing the maximum camber and the placed camber are
shown below and, where necessary, above the diagram. The camber drop distances at each
lacing end are shown. An optional title and note can be displayed below the diagram.

A properties dialog allows the user to set many configurable options. The appearance of all
dimension labels can be taken from a named dimension style. Each part of the diagram can
be switched off if desired. All title, note and other text content can be specified together with
its font and color. It also gives control over the vertical placement of each part of the diagram
to assist readability.

2. System requirements
Tekla Structures
.NET Framework version: 4.0
Environments: Default

3. Installation
To install the extension:
1. Close Tekla Structures.
2. Install the extension using the appropriate 32bit (x86) or 64bit Truss Cambering
Tool installation package.

4. Usage
To use the Truss Cambering Diagram plugin:
1. Open an assembly drawing that includes beams which, in the model, have had
camber attributes applied by the Truss Cambering Tool.
2. Double-click the Create Truss Cambering Diagram toolbar button.
3. Modify the options in the dialog as required (each option is described in the next
section).


Copyright 2013 Tekla Corporation January 2013
4. Pick a point in an existing drawing view which has the same orientation as the
camber diagram you wish to generate.
5. Pick two points on the drawing sheet to define the extents of the diagram.

The truss cambering diagram will then be added to the sheet.

The diagram can then be adjusted as necessary:

1. If the corners of the diagram are dragged, the diagram is redrawn according to the
new extents.
2. Diagram options can be changed via the properties dialog in the usual way.Plugin
properties
The following tables describe each option the user can set using the properties dialog.

4.1. Diagram options tab
This tab page contains options that affect the whole diagram, together with switches that turn
various parts of the diagram on or off.
Property Description
Dimension attributes Name of the dimension style for the diagram. All
dimension label font, size and color, together with
dimension line color, will be taken from this style.
Include shortens Whether to provide shorten distance labels
adjacent to the lacing sticks.
Include note Whether to include an explanatory note below the
caption.
Include caption Whether to include the Caption below the
diagram.
Include camber dims Whether to include dimensions showing the
cambers and each lacings end drop distance.
Include separate boom dims Whether to include full boom dimensions for each
boom in the case that there is a significant
overhang between the booms.
Include half boom dims Whether to include dimensions indicating the
location of the maximum camber.
Include dims to camber set points Whether to include dimensions indicating the
location of both cambers originally defined when
first applying the Truss Cambering Tool, if they
are a significant distance away from the midpoints
of their respective booms.
Include maximum cambers on half boom
dims
In the case that half boom dimensions are drawn,
whether to put labels specifying the maximum
camber along them.


Copyright 2013 Tekla Corporation January 2013
Border color The color of the diagram border.
Stick color The color of the main stick representation of the
boom and lacing beams making up the truss.
Camber exaggeration factor The amount by which the cambers are to be
multiplied when drawing the stick representation.
4.2. Title and note options
The options on the title and note tab may be used to define the caption text shown below the
bottom boom dimensions and a note that is normally below the caption.
Property Description
Diagram caption The text of the diagram caption. Multiple lines
may be used, but the total number of characters
is limited to 80.
Caption font The font of the diagram caption text.
Caption height The height of the caption text.
Caption color The color of the caption text.
Diagram note The text of the diagram note. Multiple lines may
be used, but the total snumber of characters is
limited to 80.
Note font The font of the diagram note text.
Note text height The height of the diagram note text.
Note color The color of the diagram note text.
Include note box If a note is included, whether a box should be put
around the note.
Note box color The color of the box around the note.
4.3. Vertical placement tab options
The camber diagram is divided into three distinct areas: the stick representation, the details
above, and the details below. The values on this tab page control the relative positions of
these features in relation to the stick representation.

All values are expressed as a ratio of a vertical distance divided by the height of the core
stick representation (noted as Y unit in the image below). This allows the entire camber
diagram to scale automatically as the diagram is resized. Note that the entered values are
checked and sometimes adjusted to maintain a rational layout.



Copyright 2013 Tekla Corporation January 2013


4.4. Camber dimension text options
The values of camber distances are noted along dimension lines. The descriptive text used
on those dimension lines may be configured on this tab.

Property Description
Dimension text for maximum camber on
top boom
Descriptive text used along the half-boom
dimension to indicate the maximum camber on
the top boom.
Dimension text for maximum camber on
bottom boom
Descriptive text used along the half-boom
dimension to indicate the maximum camber on
the bottom boom.
Dimension text for placed camber on top
boom
Descriptive text used along the camber location
dimension to indicate the originally-placed camber
on the top boom.
Dimension text for placed camber on
bottom boom
Descriptive text used along the camber location
dimension to indicate the originally-placed camber
on the bottom boom.


Copyright 2013 Tekla Corporation January 2013

4.5. Tolerances
If the maximum cambers are very close and the boom plan extents are nearly identical, the
plugin will automatically decide to omit the top boom dimensions and incorporate the top
boom lacing drop dimensions under the bottom boom. If a camber is defined very near the
midpoint of a boom, the placed point dimensions for that boom would interfere with other
dimensions and would be redundant, so is not drawn.
The test for these conditions relies upon comparing certain distances against small values.
The user may set these values here in order to fine-tune this behaviour.

Property Description
Camber difference tolerance for
activating top boom dimensions
This is a distance. If the two maximum cambers
differ by at least this value, the top boom
dimensions are drawn.
Booms extents tolerance for activating
top boom dimensions
This is a distance. If the two booms overhang at
least this value, the top boom dimensions are
drawn.
Camber location difference for activating
user specified camber location
dimensions
This is a distance. For each boom, take its
midpoint and the point originally picked at which
to define the camber: the placed point dimension
for that boom is never drawn if the horizontal
distance between these points is less than this
value.


5. Additional information
The Truss Cambering Diagram plugin relies on at least one model instance of the
assembly to have exactly one Truss Cambering Tool model component active on the
assembly's beams. The diagram will disappear if the model component is deleted or
one if its tolerance condition fails.