Professional Documents
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AS Training Folder PDF
AS Training Folder PDF
12.
14.
STANDARD
CREATE OBJECTS
JOINTS
NUMBERING, DRAWING
USERS SECTIONS
DESIGN ASSISTANCE
STANDARD
UCS at object..
Move UCS...
Rotate UCS around X
Rotate UCS around Y
Rotate UCS around Z
View on UCS..
2D/3D Snaps..
Advance Steel View..
Define Model View.
Standard layer
Create Camera
Change presentation type
Standard Presentation..
Selected object on/off
Filter selected objects
Sub Selection..
Filter database
Select Advance Steel-objects..
Reverse selection..
Clear marked objects
Select all marked objects.
Sub - Marking content..
Search filter
Search marked object..
Advance Steel properties..
Model browser
Document manager...
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Help to command
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CREATE OBJECTS
Sub Axis Grid
Sub Structural element
Insert beam cross section..
Sub Section classes
Sub Compound Section..
Sub Welded Beams.
Sub Cold Rolled Profile
Sub beam..
Sub Process Section
Sub Section Contour
Sub Plate
Sub Create folded plate
Sub Plate Cuts..
Sub Plate Contour
Sub Plate Contour UCS..
Sub Plate Chamfer..
Sub Plate Corner.
Exact cross section.
Switch bolts/holes/studs.
Sub Bolt Hole Patterns
Sub Weld Patterns
Sub Connections..
Sub Check Connection
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JOINTS
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Straight stair..
Hand-railing..
Saddled stair.
Spiral stair.
Vertical Ladder.
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Update bolts.
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Update defaults
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NUMBERING, DRAWING
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USERS SECTIONS
Number of classifications
Change current layer...
Tools..
Add coordinates
Add Reference axes
Generation
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ADDITIONAL TOOL
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DESIGN ASSISTANCE
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GRAITEC INC.
49 Rue de la Pointe-Langlois
Laval, Quebec, Canada
H7L 3J4
www.graitec.com
support.americas@graitec.com
Table of Content
Grid lines.........................................................................................................................3
Creating a rectangular building grid ................................................................. 3
Changing the building grid ............................................................................... 5
Moving grid lines .............................................................................................. 6
Cutting grid lines............................................................................................... 7
Deleting and inserting grid lines from a group ................................................. 8
Creating an individual building grid .................................................................. 9
Labeling grid lines individually........................................................................ 11
Grid lines example.......................................................................................... 12
Grid lines
Select a grid line parallel to the X-direction (left mouse button) and select Advance Properties on the
right-mouse click context menu, or double-click the grid line.
The Axes, Parallel dialog box appears. Change the Label type to Capital letters. Enter A for Label
start and 2 for Label prefix.
The labels are changed to capital letters and a prefix is added to the labels.
Select a grid line parallel to the Y-direction and select Advance Properties on the context menu.
The Axes, Parallel dialog box appears. Select the Group tab and change Number to 3. The number
of grid lines parallel to the Y-direction is changed to 3 and the distance between them is automatically
changed from 10-0 to 15-0.
Select a grid line parallel to the X-direction and select Advance Properties on the context menu.
The Axes, Parallel dialog box appears. Select the Group tab and change Number to 5. The
number of grid lines parallel to the X-direction is changed to 5 and the distance between them is
automatically changed from 10-0 to 7-6.
Select a grid line parallel to the X-direction and select Advance Properties on the context menu.
The Axes, Parallel dialog box appears. Click the Representation type tab, and select Single axes.
Select the grip in the middle of the grid line 2B and enter the value @0,2 on the command line. The
grid line is moved by 2 in the Y-direction.
Move the grid line 2C by 1-0 and the grid line 2E by 2-6 in the Y-direction.
Verify the new distances in the Axes, Parallel dialog box using the Group index.
Click Trim Axes, then select grid line 2E as the boundary object and confirm (right-click).
To cut the grid lines, select grid line 1 and confirm, then repeat for grid line 2 and 3 (it is similar to the
AutoCAD Trim command).
Click Add Axes. Select grid line 2 (grid line after which to insert the new one) and confirm.
Enter 1 for the number of inserted grid lines (axes) and 4-0 for the distance. The building grid is
enlarged by 4-0. To keep the original width of the building grid, select grid line 4. Select the grip in
the middle of grid line 4 and drag it to the end point of grid line 2D.
Enter the coordinates 0,0,0 to define the start point and, with the Polar on, select a point in the X or Y
direction. If a point in the X direction is selected, a grid parallel with the X direction is created. If a point
in the Y direction is selected, a grid parallel with the Y direction is created. For the purpose of this
tutorial X is selected for the end point.
Select a point between the X and Y direction of the current UCS to define the group direction.
Enter the first distance 16-0and confirm (Enter). Next, enter the distances 10-0(Enter), 16-0(Enter)
and 13-0(Enter). Since 13-0 is the last value, press Enter.
Next, create a sequence in the Y direction. Since the X direction is created, it can be used for the
start and end points. Snap the end point of grid line 1 (0,0) for the start point and the end point of
grid line 5 (0,55) for the end point.
Select a point between the X and Y direction of the current UCS to define the group direction.
Enter the first distance 10-0and confirm (Enter). Next, enter the distances 12-0, 8-0 and 10-0.
Select a grid line in the Y-direction and select Advance Properties on the context menu.
Uncheck the box Automatic label.
Click on the Single axis tab. The first grid line is marked in red as the current line. Change the name
to 1a and press the up arrow. The next grid line is red. Enter the name 1b for this line. Label the rest
of the grid lines with 3, 3a and 104.
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Advance Tutorial: Grid lines
Tutorial 2 page 13
GRAITEC INC.
49 Rue de la Pointe-Langlois
Laval, Quebec, Canada
H7L 3J4
www.graitec.com
support.americas@graitec.com
Table of Contents
Modifications ........................................................................................................... 11
Displaying beam features (processing).......................................................... 11
Modifying / deleting beam processing............................................................ 12
Shortening / stretching a beam ...................................................................... 12
Changing / rotating beams ............................................................................. 14
Moving a circular contour ............................................................................... 15
Creating an additional cope ........................................................................... 16
Creating a beam
Select the Advance Create objects toolbar on the Advance Steel suite toolbar.
Shortening a beam
Shorten the beam (reference, angle).
Select a point near the beam end to process. The green contour of the shortening feature is displayed
and the Shorten beam dialog box appears.
Insert a cope at the other beam end, length of the cope: 8 , depth of the cope: 3.
Select a point near the beam end to modify. The green contour of the shortening feature is displayed
and the Cope dialog box appears.
Circular contour
Create an inner contour in the middle of the section with a 4 " radius. The contour is placed using the
XY-Plane of the current UCS.
Select the beam. Six coordinate system lines appear. Each of them represents a possible positive Zdirection of the UCS.
Select the green horizontal coordinate system line (e.g., the left line). The corresponding coordinate
system appears.
To split the beam, click Split beams on the Create objects toolbar.
Select the beam and right-click to confirm. Enter 1/16" on the command line for the gap between the
split beams. Select a split point and confirm.
The beam is split. Both of the beams keep their processings.
To merge the beams, click Merge beams on the Create objects toolbar.
Modifications
Select the beam and select Advance properties on the context menu. Click the Representation
type tab.
Select Features.
Use the grips to shorten the beam by 4". Activate the (AutoCAD) Ortho setting.
Move the UCS at object.
Select the shortening. The grips are shown in blue.
Select the grip point close to the feature center and it will turn red.
Set the move direction by dragging the red grip with the left mouse button. Then enter 4 on the
command line.
Next, copy the beam by 30" (in Y-direction).
To delete the shortening of the original beam, select the green processing contour and press Delete.
On the second beam, select the green processing contour and select Advance Properties on the
context menu.
Shorten the second beam without rotation by entering 0 on the Angle tab of the Shorten beam dialog
box.
To stretch the section by 2 ", enter a Reference value of 2 " on the System tab.
Change the beam to a W16x40. Select the beam and select Advance properties on the context
menu . The dialog box Beam appears.
Create an additional cope at the same end of the beam as before but on the other flange.
Click Cope on the Create objects toolbar.
GRAITEC INC.
49 Rue de la Pointe-Langlois
Laval, Quebec, Canada
H7L 3J4
www.graitec.com
support.americas@graitec.com
Table of Contents
Modifications ................................................................................................................10
Splitting / merging plates................................................................................ 10
Shrinking / extending a polygon plate ............................................................ 11
Create a plate at 0,0 of the user coordinate system (UCS), length: 10, width: 8 .
Click Rectangular plate, center on the Create Objects toolbar and enter 0,0 as center point of the
plate.
Click on the Shape tab and enter 10" for the width X and 8 " for the length Y.
Next, change the plate thickness from " (default setting) to " on the Plate thickness tab. If
necessary, select the plate and open the dialog box by selecting Advance properties on the context
menu.
Create a chamfer of 3 by 2 .
Rectangular contour
Create a plate contour at 0,0 of the current UCS by clicking Rectangular contour, center on the
Create objects toolbar.
Select the plate and enter the starting point of the plate (0,0,0).
Enter a Width X of 3 " and a Length Y of 2 " in the Contour processing dialog box.
Modifications
To show the plate features, select the plate and open the Plate dialog box by selecting Advance
properties on the context menu.
The plate can be enlarged by 1 in +X-direction and in +Y-direction using its grips.
Second plate
Make the second plate smaller by 3" on the right side (in X-direction). Verify that the (AutoCAD)
Ortho setting is activate.
Select the plate, activate one of the blue grips, drag it in X-direction and enter 3" on the command
line.
Delete the chamfer of the second plate. Select the Features Representation type in the Plate dialog
box. Next, select the chamfer and delete it.
Polygon plate
Click UCS at object. Select the top of a plate to change the coordinate system to this plane.
Create a polygonal plate between the two existing plates. Click Polygon plate on the Create Objects
toolbar.
Set the corner points of the polygon. The plate is created and the Plate dialog box appears. Set the
justification to 0.00 and increase the thickness to " on the Plate thickness tab.
The plate thickness is changed to " and the plates are perfectly aligned.
Vertical plate
Rotate and move the current UCS so that the X axis of the coordinate system is parallel to the
longitudinal edge of the first plate and the Y axis points upwards.
Create a plate by clicking Rectangular plate, two points on the Create Objects toolbar.
Enter the first of two diagonal corner points at the lower edge of the plate at the chamfer. The length
of the plate is 2'-0" and the width is 6". The plate thickness is 5/8" and the justification is 0.00.
Modifications
Enlarge the chamfer of the first plate by 2 in both directions using its grips.
Move the rectangle contour of the copied plate into the plate center. Activate the coordinate system in
the middle of the plate using the command UCS at object. Move the cut with the grip point.
To split a plate by two points, click Split plates by 2 points on the flyout SUB Plate of the Create
Objects toolbar.
Set the plate and the two split points, which form the split line. Enter 0 on the command line for the
gap between the two split plates.
To merge two or more plates, click Merge plates on the flyout SUB Plate of the Create Objects
toolbar.
To shrink / extend a polygon plate, click Shrink/extend polygon plate on the Create Objects toolbar.
Select the plate(s) and confirm. Enter a factor: a negative value shrinks the plate whereas a positive
value increases the plate.
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5. Advance Tutorial:
Connection elements
GRAITEC INC.
49 Rue de la Pointe-Langlois
Laval, Quebec, Canada
H7L 3J4
www.graitec.com
support.americas@graitec.com
Table of Contents
Plate 1
Plate 2
Plate 3
Steps:
Steps:
Within Advance there are a range of options to create and modify bolts. The bolts automatically create
holes, which are visible by default. The holes can be changed on the Bolts dialog box.
Place the UCS on the plate with the command UCS at object. Bolts and holes can be created in any
plane.
Create a bolt pattern with 6 bolts 3/4 on plate 1 by clicking Rectangular, 2 points on the Create
Objects toolbar. The edge distance from the side is 1 " and the edge distance from the end is 2".
Identify the connected elements beam and plate. Then define the rectangular area for the bolt pattern
by selecting two diagonal points.
The bolts and holes will be created and the Bolts dialog box appears.
Change the diameter to " on the Definition tab, the amount X to 3 on the Size tab, and change the
edge distances for X and Y on the Distance tab.
Steps:
Connect the beam and plate 2 (at top and bottom) with a weld point by clicking Weld point on the
Create Objects toolbar.
Identify the connected elements and select the middle point for the weld.
The weld point is created and the Weld dialog box appears where additional settings can be specified
(e.g., set type to Fillet weld and thickness to ").
Next, weld plate 2 and plate 3 with a fillet weld and a thickness of 3/8". Repeat the same steps and
set the weld thickness to 3/8".
Verifying connections
Display the connected objects by clicking Display connected elements on the Create Objects
toolbar.
Clear the markings by clicking Clear marked objects on the Advance Standard toolbar.
Display the objects that are connected in shop by clicking Display objects connected in shop.
Clear the markings by clicking Clear marked objects on the Advance Standard toolbar.
Modifications
Create an additional bolt pattern
Delete the weld between plate 2 and plate 3 and insert a bolt connection. Do not forget to set the UCS
with the command UCS at object to the plate plane.
Delete the bolts on plate 1 and insert a new bolt pattern on the gauge line of the beam.
First, change the presentation of the beam to Exact on the Representation type tab in the beam
properties.
Set the UCS to the plate plane and select, for example, the red top coordinate line.
Next, create a bolt pattern with one point and, after selection of the elements, select the start point at
the intersection of the gauge line with the flange.
GRAITEC INC.
49 Rue de la Pointe-Langlois
Laval, Quebec, Canada
H7L 3J4
www.graitec.com
support.americas@graitec.com
7. Advance Tutorial:
Intelligent Connections
GRAITEC INC.
49 Rue de la Pointe-Langlois
Laval, Quebec, Canada
H7L 3J4
www.graitec.com
support.americas@graitec.com
Table of Contents
Checking Tools........................................................................................................10
Clash checking ............................................................................................... 10
Finishing connections in the model ................................................................ 11
Intelligent connections
A base plate connection to a column will be created. The column will automatically be shortened by
the thickness of the base plate and the option not to shorten or to shorten by a certain value will be
available.
SUB
Select the column and right mouse click to confirm the selection.
A message box appears, which states that no predefined joint for the selected profile has been found
in the connection table. Click OK.
The base plate is inserted at the end of the column and both the column and plate are welded. The
Corner Base Plate dialog box appears.
Enter the correct value for the rotation angle on the Plate Alignment tab.
Enter 1" for Plate Thickness.
Select the layout (Column, Middle or Edge) on the Bolt distance leg 1 and Bolt distance leg 2 tabs.
Select the layout (projections or distances) on the Plate layout tab. .
Copying a connection
The current corner base plate will be used as a template. It will be copied with all its properties and
adjusted to the new situation.
Click Create by Template on the Joints toolbar.
JOINT UTILITIES
CREATE BY TEMPLATE
To copy a base plate, select one element of the base plate (Plate, weld, bolt, grey box). The chosen
connection object is used as a template.
Next, select the column on which it shall be copied. Select column C1 and right mouse click.
The corner base plate is created on the specified column and modified to the new geometric situation.
If, for example, the next column has a different size then the used plate dimensions from the edge are
automatically modified accordingly. When a joint is copied, all the properties and logic relations are
copied. Thus the values for joints are only entered once. The rotation of the connection or the distance
of the bolt may need to be adjusted depending on how the connection was created (e.g., if the bolt
layout is from the center of the column it might need to be readjusted for a bigger/smaller column).
A base plate connection was copied with the Create by template function in Advance. Another way of
reusing a specific joint is saving its parameters in a library. When creating a joint with identical
sections, the values are automatically loaded from this library.
First create a base plate connection on Column A2 by clicking Base plate with shear section and
stiffener.
SUB
To store the base plate parameters in the library, select the Library tab in the Base Plate Extend
dialog box and click Save values.
A new line is created in the library.
Click the Comment field of the last line and enter any pertinent text for this connection.
Click the Section field and select HSS 6x6x5/16.
Click Base plate with shear section and stiffener to create a second base plate.
This time the Attention message box does not appear and the base plate is automatically created
with the same settings as the first column.
Exit the dialog box.
Tip: With many connections, a connection template can be saved in the library with the name Default
in the Comment field. This connection will be used if no other connection applies.
The joint properties are accessed by selecting an object on the joint and selecting Advance Joint
Properties on the context menu.
Alternatively, double click the GRAY BOX around the intelligent connection.
The connection object properties can be modified, at any time, using Advance Properties or
Advance Joint Properties. When a column section is changed, all other elements related to the
modification are automatically changed.
Select the column A2 and right click to select Advance Properties.
The Beam dialog box appears. Select the Sections tab and change the column section to HSS
7x7x5/16.
The beam changes and the base plate is automatically modified to the new configuration.
Exit the dialog box.
Look at the result of the base plate connection by selecting the base plate and selecting Advance
Joint Properties. The projection on the Base plate tab is still the same. It can be seen that the
projection is good by verifying the distance. (A list of the plate can be done.)
The same applies if the profile is moved or stretched; for example, the column is shortened with the
grip point of 2 feet and the connection readjusts to the new column location.
Undoing a Command
A shear plate connection on the first floor between the beam and column at A1 will be created. Click
Shear Plate on the Canada/USA flyout of the Joints toolbar.
Select the column A1 and right click. Select the beam on the first floor between A1 and B1 and right
click.
The Shear Plate dialog box appears. Select the Horizontal bolts and the Vertical bolts tabs and set
the preferred edge distances.
Set the vertical bolt distance to 3 and change the quantity to 3 bolts.
After all the settings are done, save the connection in the library and exit the dialog box
Creating a Collision
Open the connection properties and change the number of vertical bolts to 4 in order to create a
collision between the shear plate and the K distance of the beam.
Checking Tools
Clash checking
The clash check verifies model interferences. Object interferences may be caused by various
modifications made to plates, bolts, members and their connections. This tool finds all interference
cases so that the model can be fixed before drawing creation.
The Advance Clash Check function checks selected elements or the entire model. Any interference
will be displayed as a red collision solid and listed in a text window. In this example, the shear plate
connection will be checked for interferences and if bolts can be inserted and removed.
Select the shear plate connection with the connected elements (column and beam) by crossing a
window in AutoCAD.
Select the Listing & Checking toolbar from Advance - Steel Suite toolbar.
To start the clash check, click Clash Check on the Sub Checking flyout of the Listing & Checking
toolbar.
CLASH CHECK
DISPLAY CLASH
CHECKING RESULTS
Notice that the pointer will not be visible with some AutoCAD shade representations.
For all connections not specified in the isometric view, use the clip angle or any other useful
connection.
Also try Splice connections, clip angle skewed or any other useful connection after modifications are
made to the model (beam in skew, in slope, spliced, and more).
-Clip angle
-Clip angle skewed
-Double side clip angle
-Seated beam shear connection
-Joist Seat
-Endplate
-Double side endplate with safety bolts
-Shear plate
-Through plate
-Splice connection
-Moment connections
-Gabble wall
-Cap plate
-Stiffener UCS
-Stiffener perpendicular
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Advance Tutorial: Intelligent Connections
Tutorial 7 page 14
GRAITEC INC.
49 Rue de la Pointe-Langlois
Laval, Quebec, Canada
H7L 3J4
www.graitec.com
support.americas@graitec.com
Table of Contents
Open a new DWG file and set the Top view from the AutoCAD View toolbar.
Click on the Users sections icon on the Advance Steel suite toolbar.
On the Users section toolbar, the following different Flyouts are used to create user sections:
Change current layer Flyout:
This Flyout is for selecting the appropriate layer to assist through the different steps.
Tools Flyout:
This Flyout contains helpful AutoCAD tools.
Click the Rectangle icon on the Tools Flyout and specify the start and end points for the rectangle to
define the frame. This is the working space in which all information is created.
Click the Outer contour icon to activate the section Outer contour layer:
Use the icons on the Tools Flyout to draw the contour. It must be a closed polyline.
The outer contour defines the standard representation of the section in the model, and should not include
too many details to avoid a complex representation in the model.
Click the Exact outer contour icon to activate the Exact outer contour layer:
The exact outer contour defines the exact outline of the section that is used for clash checking, drawings
and weight calculation.
If the exact outer contour is different from the outer contour, you can draw it using a closed polyline or
copy the Outer Contour, and make the required modifications.
You can use the AutoCAD toolbars to modify the exact contour, e.g., create a chamfer or fillet.
Then move the Exact Outer Contour so that it is aligned with the outer contour.
Click the Inner contour icon to activate the Inner contour layer:
Click the Exact Inner contour icon to activate the Exact Inner contour layer:
The exact outer Inner defines the exact presentation of the hollow section used for clash checking,
drawings and weight calculation.
If the exact Inner contour is different from the Inner contour, you can draw it using a closed polyline or
copy the Inner Contour, and make the required modifications.
You can use the AutoCAD toolbars to modify the exact contour, e.g., create a chamfer or fillet.
Then move the Exact Inner Contour so that it is aligned with the outer contour
Use the one-line Text icon from the Tools Flyout to define the section class name that will appear on the
section Tab in the Advance properties of the object (see Using the new section in the model, p.8).
Some special characters such as period, coma, and exclamation mark should not be used.
You can define many section names in the same section class.
For example, if the section class is named Bent Plate, you can define the section names as BP
4x6x1/4; BP 4x8x1/4, etc.
The coordinate system is inserted when selecting one face from the outer contour; the z-axis will be
placed along that face.
Add the reference axis to the Outer contour.
Click the Reference axis left-top icon, snap to the left-top corner of the outer contour using the grip point
to insert the left-top reference axis. Repeat for all points.
The reference axis position is used to move the section around the reference line on the Position Tab in
Advance objects properties.
Generating a section
Generating a section:
Now the section is ready to be generated, see below an example of the section used in this tutorial.
Make sure that the section contours, class and name are drawn inside the section frame before using the
generating tool.
The section is then saved in a new table called USR_sectionclass in the AstorProfiles database.
Now the section is ready for use in the model. Close the file after saving it.
Advance Tutorial: User Section
Tutorial 8 page 7
In the model file, click other sections on the sub Section classes toolbar.
Click AdvanceSteel properties and select the beam. On the Section Tab, select the Section
class and the Section for the user section previously added. In the display, you can see the exact
outer contour of the section.
9. Advance Tutorial:
Numbering and Drawings
GRAITEC INC.
49 Rue de la Pointe-Langlois
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Table of Contents
Prefix settings
Prefixes can be defined in the user tree based on the model roles (e.g., beam).
They can be set by single part (attached part) or by assembly (main part of this assembly).
Numbering methods
The first two numbering methods assign fixed numbers to objects. There will not be a link between the
assigned element number and the drawing the piece is detailed on.
The numbering method With drawing number assigns an internal number to each object. During the
detail creation the internal number will be changed to the drawing number the piece is detailed on.
Important: Detail the single parts first and the assembly parts afterwards.
Each object in Advance Steel has two part marks, a Single Part number and an Assembly Part number.
The numbering will detect identical pieces and will assign the same piece mark to them.
The numbering can be done for both, single part and assembly numbering, in one step by selecting two
check boxes.
Advance links standard pieces to the current project. Parts from the current project get the same piece
mark as defined in the standard part template if the properties are matched.
Creating a standard part template
Simply copy the elements from the project into a new dwg file. Set the model role of the pieces to none
and define the required piece mark.
Select the Standard part template tab in the Numbering dialog box and check Single Part.
This standard part template will then be used during the numbering in the project.
The standard part template can be reused for any other project or new standard part templates can be
created if necessary.
Numbering by phase
Part marks will be created for the first phase starting at 1000 (single parts) and 100 (main parts) and
for the second phase starting at 2000 (single parts) and 200 (main parts).
After creating the phases in the object properties, select the first phase using the Search Filter.
Search filter
1. Select the complete model on the General tab.
2. Select Section on the Object tab.
3. Select Lot/phase on the Property tab.
4. Enter the sequence name.
The requested phase is highlighted in red. To select it, click Select marked objects on the Standard
toolbar.
This tool can be used to change all the properties at the same time by right clicking anywhere on the
screen and selecting Advance Properties.
After creating phases in the object properties, select the first phase using the Search Filter.
Do the numbering. Make sure to select proper start values for single part marks (1000) and
main part marks (100).
Create the first phase drawings.
Next, select the second phase and do the numbering. Do not forget to change the start values
for the single part marks (2000) and main part marks (200).
Create the second phase drawings.
Follow the same procedure for all subsequent phases.
Drawing creation
If the Assembly Group method was selected, detail the main part first.
If the With drawings numbers method was selected, detail the single parts first.
To detail the parts, use one of the automatic processes offered on the Drawings User toolbar.
On the Drawings User toolbar, select the sheet format on which to create the drawing. (The sheet
size can be changed from the drawing.)
For this example, select the single part on a 24x36 Gather sheet (ANSI D).
The drawing can be created using a selection (for a lot/phase) or for all single parts.
The icons on the left side of the separator are for all and the ones on the right side are for selected. To
work with a lot/phase, the selected icons should be used.
This example illustrates the difference between a main part and a single part: for a Column, the base
plate, the welded angle, the cap plate, the column itself are single parts; but all of them together are
considered as a main part or an assembly.
The first 4 icons are different single part (SP) processes: All SP plate processes, for example, would detail
only plates which are considered as SP.
Then, when the process is done, all the single part drawings will also be done.
The next 4 icons are main part (MP) processes: All MP plate processes, for example, would detail only
plates which are considered as MP.
Then, when the process is done, all the main part drawings will also be done.
The built-in Document Manager controls all created drawings and their status.
Open the Document Manager by clicking Document Manager on the Advance Numbering,
drawing toolbar.
Browse the created drawings by selecting a detail in the tree on the left side. The tabs on the right
provide the drawing properties or a preview.
In addition, the Document Manager updates drawings, assigns revisions, creates a batch plot, etc.
To open a drawing, close the Document Manager and click Open in AutoCAD. All the drawings are
located in a subfolder "Details" in a folder with the exact same name as the model.
It may look like an AutoCAD drawing but it is still part of Advance. The 2D drawing is related to the
model such that modifications in the model update the drawing, but not the other way around.
There are two green frames around the detail. Double clicking on the smaller frame will display available
options. Double clicking a dimension or a label will also display available options. A dimension or label
can be moved by selecting the grip points and moving them to the new location.
A new dimension point or dimension chain can be created or removed using the Sub label and
dimensioning flyout of the Numbering and drawing toolbar. Additional functions include inserting new
labels, inserting weld symbols, etc.
To update Details:
Click on the tree Update required. All included drawings are selected.
Click Update BOM tables.
The drawing and the list on the drawing are updated and become current. The details once again
correspond to the model.
View
Advance provides different styles for isometric views that differ in the labeling. A style without any label
will be used.
The viewpoint depends on the active user coordinate system (UCS). The view direction is against the Zdirection of the UCS.
To create an isometric view, place the UCS in the plane of the screen. Click View UCS on the
AutoCAD Standard toolbar.
Next, click 3D-VIEW 1 on the Sub-Drawing User flyout of the Advance Drawing User toolbar.
The Drawing type dialog box appears where changes can be made to the scale, title, etc.
Click OK.
The drawings are quickly created and saved as DWG.
The Document Manager controls all dependent details and lists all information. More than one detail can
be stored in a single DWG file and the Document Manager's tree structure displays the details that are in
each DWG file.
The link between the model and the drawings is managed automatically. Advance detects the details that
are changed due to model modifications.
Elevation
In this step a model elevation is created. The elevation plane corresponds to the XY-plane of the current
user coordinate system. Depth limits can be defined for the dependent drawings.
There are different styles for elevations that differ in labeling and dimensioning.
The viewpoint for elevations depends on the user coordinate system. The view direction is against the Zdirection.
Set the coordinate system and thus the elevation plane at the column axis A1. Click World UCS
on the AutoCAD UCS toolbar.
To set the coordinate system in the same direction as shown in the figure, click Rotate UCS by X on
the Advance Standard toolbar.
Next, click Elevation 4 on the Sub-Drawing Elevation flyout of the Advance Drawing User toolbar.
The Drawing type dialog box appears where changes can be made to the scale, title, etc.
To look at the views, open the Document Manager (Sub-Document Manager flyout of the Advance
Numbering, drawing toolbar or from the Standard toolbar). The view can be checked, updated and, if
necessary, deleted.
GRAITEC INC.
49 Rue de la Pointe-Langlois
Laval, Quebec, Canada
H7L 3J4
www.graitec.com
support.americas@graitec.com
Table of Contents
External Lists.............................................................................................................6
External lists ..................................................................................................... 6
Creating an extract ........................................................................................... 7
Creating a list ................................................................................................... 9
Saving a list .................................................................................................... 11
Reusing an extract ......................................................................................... 12
In Advance, external lists and lists on drawings can be created in several different formats. Several lists
on the same drawing can also be created, e.g., a bolt list and a material list.
Click Insert a list on the Sub-Finishing flyout of the Advance Numbering, drawing toolbar.
SUB - FINISHING
Flyout
INSERT A LIST
For the first point, select the top right corner point of the page frame. For the second point, select
any lower left point to define a window.
The List dialog box appears. Define two fixed points of the list. This will specify the required
width. Points for the height should not be selected since it would block the list from extending as
more material is added.
Click the Template tab and select the list layout. This example will use the Drawing - Structural
List layout in the User template tree.
Updating a list
To update the field content of the list, click Update lists on the Sub-Finishing flyout of the Numbering,
drawing toolbar.
UPDATE LISTS
The list is automatically updated with the information from the model.
Many different lists can be inserted in the same drawing by repeating this operation.
External Lists
External lists
In this step, an extract of the model will be created and used to create different kinds of external lists
such as a material list, saw list, shipping list, and more.
Creating an extract
Create an extract by selecting the Listing & checking toolbar from the Advance Steel suite toolbar.
SUB-BOM
LISTS
The Selection of model objects for the list dialog box appears.
Select the information to be reflected in the lists.
For this example, the list will be created using the complete model.
Based on Assembly provides complete information for the secondary pieces
(E.g., this secondary piece is part of that assembly)
Include created project documents provides information concerning the sheets (dwg files).
Click Apply.
Click Next.
The Select destination file dialog box appears. Enter the name of the extract such as the name of
the selected item (e.g., sequence 1) or the date it was created (default).
Creating a list
The BOM Editor tree is split between user (customizable lists) and Advance (default lists).
The tree is divided into three groups:
o Part lists: lists based on single parts
o Assembly lists: lists based on assemblies
o Derived documents: lists based on created drawings and their status
Select from the User tree the list to use. The Material List Summary from the Part list sub group is
used in this example.
In the BOM Editor, information can be changed and saved to the lists. The left toolbar is used to save,
copy and delete templates. All the settings for units and printing preferences are accessible on this
screen. The attributes can be changed or added. Their properties (i.e., size, color, etc.) can be
modified. Images can also be added.
After saving the lists, they will be available in the future with all the modifications.
Click Use to select the extract to use for the list creation.
The tree on the left hand side is sorted by material size and the top bar provides page navigation.
Saving a list
The Save function saves the list as a RDF file (BOM viewer). It automatically selects the BOM
subfolder in the model folder.
The Export function saves the list as a desired format (e.g., Excel, PDF, Word, etc.).
Reusing an extract
To reuse the same extract to create multiple lists, close the material list summary and repeat the same
operation starting from the selection of the template list and the extract.
To reuse an extract after the BOM Editor has been closed, select the Listing and checking toolbar and
click the BOM editor Icon.
GRAITEC INC.
49 Rue de la Pointe-Langlois
Laval, Quebec, Canada
H7L 3J4
www.graitec.com
support.americas@graitec.com
Table of Contents
BOM Editor......................................................................................................................3
Introduction....................................................................................................... 3
BOM Editor Components ................................................................................. 3
Template customization.................................................................................................9
Template preview components ........................................................................ 9
Template editing............................................................................................. 11
BOM Editor
Introduction
Advance Steel has a powerful module for reports: material lists, plate lists, cut lists, assembly lists, bolt
lists etc. The preset templates for these reports are available in the BOM Editor.
In this tutorial, we will describe the BOM Editor components and we will explain how to customize your
templates for content and format.
The preset templates tree for material reports is in the left panel of the BOM Editor window. The tree is
divided into three groups of templates:
-
Advance Template: includes all BOM templates available in Advance, their properties cannot
be modified.
User Template: includes a copy of all the BOM templates from Advance that can be modified.
Project Template: can be used to copy templates for project specific modifications.
Drawing Index: these lists are related to the created drawings and their status. The following lists
are available:
Drawing index list
List of drawings with sections
List of objects by drawings
Structured lists of drawings
External lists: These lists are for quantity take-off, material loading or shipping. Divided between
Metric and Imperial lists, they are based on single parts for Part lists or on assemblies for
Assembly lists.
The available lists for the External lists group are:
Assembly Lists (Metric or Imperial):
Assemblies with parts reference list
Compound section list
Shipping list
Structured list
Structured list bolts
Structured list exploded bolts
Lists on drawings: these reports are the BOMs inserted in the drawings.
The extracted reports can be printed or exported in different file formats such as PDF, XLS and
others.
The right panel of the BOM Editor window displays the selected components in the template tree.
When you select, for example, Material list, the template preview of this list is displayed.
The toolbar on the left side of the BOM editor contains different functions for template management:
For example, for Plate list, only the Plates option is selected as only
information regarding plates are used in this list.
The three buttons at the bottom of the BOM Editor window have the following functions.
Use the selected template, the BOM Editor closes, and the list creation begins.
Save any modifications and exit the BOM Editor.
Exit the BOM Editor without saving any modifications.
The BOM Editor window contains other toolbars for template customization:
Most of the icons are for text formatting and alignment, and for insertion of:
Label
Textbox
Pictures for the company logo
Lines
Barcode for report identification
The field content can be a user text or an attribute from the list whose values are taken from the model.
Template customization
Template customization can be easily done by modifying an existing template. We will explain the
template preview components, how to edit the template for format and content modifications, and as an
example, how to insert a new logo in the report header.
1. ReportHeader and ReportFooter: the ReportHeader displays the company and project
information, while the ReportFooter summarizes some of the data included in the report such as
the total weight.
2. PageHeader and PageFooter: the PageHeader represents the header line that is displayed at
the beginning of each page. It contains User text describing the data listed in the report. The
PageFooter displays the page number.
3. GroupHeader1 and GroupFooter1: the GroupHeader1 displays the title of the group data that
are described in the next level.
For example, for Structured list, the GroupHeader1 displays the Assembly main part name for the
single parts that are listed in the next level.
4. Detail: the Detail contains the attributes for the data that is listed in the report according to the
header line of the PageHeader block.
Advance Tutorial: BOM Editor
Tutorial 11 page 9
The data inside the Detail block can be listed based on selected criteria, which means, for
example, if sorting is based on Weight, the heaviest piece is listed first in the report.
To establish your own criteria, right click over the Detail block and select Sorting from the list to
display the Template sorting window:
You can select the sorting criteria from the Source panel and move them to the Result panel with the
arrow icons. You can also modify the sorting order with these icons.
Advance Tutorial: BOM Editor
Tutorial 11 page 10
Template editing
Template blocks contain fields that can be edited for content and format. A field is an area inside the block
that can have a user text or attribute tag. When you click a field, its properties are displayed in the bottom
left panel of the BOM window. Select the Categorized presentation as shown below.
Categorized presentation
Contextual description
Appearance: this property is used to edit the field content for alignment, font, color and style.
Click, for example, the Font property Icon as shown below to display the Font dialog box:
Behavior: this property is used to adjust the field content regarding the field dimension.
For example, the MultiLine variable shown below can have one of two values:
True: if the field content is longer than the field dimension, then the content in the
report is shown in multi-lines to fit inside the field.
False: only part of the content is shown if it is longer than the field dimension.
Data: this property describes the content and the text format.
Layout: this property identifies the field location and size in the report.
If two fields have to be aligned horizontally, for example, their X coordinates should be equal.
Therefore, the field location is very important to have a correct presentation of the report.
Summary: this property sets function type and parameters for the selected field.
After editing the field content and format, you can edit the borders by right clicking a field, and selecting
Borders from the list:
To add or edit a field border, select a line style from the Line Styles list or use the available Presets.
Click the Picture icon in the toolbar on the left side of the
BOM Editor window.
Picture field
Select the picture field and go to the field properties. First, adjust the field location and layout
to have the same size as the logo, and then click the Open icon in the Image field in Data.
Select the image file and click Open to insert the image.
GRAITEC INC.
49 Rue de la Pointe-Langlois
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H7L 3J4
www.graitec.com
support.americas@graitec.com
Table of Contents
Advance Steel prototypes are template files already set up for drawing creation. As with AutoCAD
templates, they have standards drawing formats: ANSI, ISO. They also include title blocks, material lists,
revision table and any additional information. Also, they can be created for a particular style: dimension,
textsupon clients requirements.
In this tutorial, we introduce Advance prototypes files already set up, explain where to find them and how
to customize them to your specific needs.
Prototypes
Advance Steel can uses two types of prototypes for drawing creation:
Metric: prototypes file names start with mm_ ASDETPROTO
Imperial: prototypes file names start with ASDETPROTO
Then, the file name is followed by the sheet format for General Arrangement drawings. For fabrication
drawings, it is followed by:
Single-sheet format for single part drawings
Assembly-sheet format for main part drawings.
The following is the list of the prototypes already set up in Advance:
Important:
The prototypes file names should be kept so that they are recognized by Advance.
Metric prototypes should be renamed to the typical name (i.e., without mm_).
Sub-folders can be created for imperial and metric prototypes for easy access.
Advance Tutorial: Prototypes
Tutorial 12 page 4
Modifying Prototypes
There is also a revision table, and two material lists: structured and bolt lists, see figure below:
In this tutorial, we start by modifying the header block by following theses steps:
Modify the header, as required, by adding and moving around the different attribute tokens
available for the title block. See the table below for the available tokens. The values are
taken from the model.
Attribute
Description
Attribute
Description
PROJECT
Project Name
SCALE
PROJECT_NO
Project No.
MATERIAL
CLIENT
Client Name
REVISION_INDEX
Revision index
BUILDING
Building Name
REVISION_AUTHOR
Revision created by
BUILDING_LOCATION
REVISION_DATE
Revision date
CONTRACTOR
Contractor Name
REV_COMMENT
Revision description
DATE_ORDER
Date of Order
COATING
DATE_CONSTR
Date of construction
PHASE
DESIGNER
Checked by
USERPROJATTR1
DETAILER
Detailed by
USERPROJATTR2
MODEL_DWG
Name of model.dwg
USERPROJATTR3
DRAWING_NO
Drawing number
USERPROJATTR4
POS_NUM
USERPROJATTR5
DATE_DRAW
In addition to the attributes used by Advance, text and AutoCAD attributes can be used inside the title
block.
HYPERSTEELPAGEHEADER
Make sure that everything is fully included in the selection.
To modify the border, follow the same steps with the HYPERSTEELPAGEFRAME block; make sure that
the frame is inside the dashed line. Perform the following steps:
Click New to define a new page setup, or click Modify to modify the existing one.
In this dialog box, select the name of the printer/plotter, and then select the paper size for your drawings.
You can also set up the plot style for better appearance of your drawings.
After closing the page setup manager, check if the border is inside the plotting area defined by the
dashed line.
For the revision table, you can edit the existing one or insert a new one from:
When double clicking the revision list, the following dialog box appears:
On the Columns Tab, you can add/remove and change the position of the column
with the Arrow Icons.
In the Column format and Heading, you can set up the text format for the heading
and for the text that is displayed in the revision table.
The Layout Tab is used to define the number of rows and the heading position in the
table.
You can also set up a dimension style for the prototypes. Open the Dimension Style Manager, Advance
is using per default the DSC_DIM_STYLE1 dimension style. This style is applied to the dimensions and
labels included in your drawing. To create your own style, make sure to keep the same name used by
Advance.
Rename it to ASDETPROTO-Single-ANSI-B.dwg.
Apply the changes (e.g., change the structured list for a material list).
Repeat for ASDETPROTO-ANSI-B.dwg, and remove the material lists, as GA drawings do not
contain material lists. Maybe some special notes are inserted as well.
Using Prototypes
The dialog box below appears when creating drawings (see tutorial 8). In this dialog box, you can select
the appropriate prototypes from the model folder or the default location.
Notice that all the steps shown in this tutorial consider that you modified the already existing prototypes
files from Advance.
You can also start with your own AutoCAD file that you were using. You have to make sure that all the
steps explained above are used in your files (e.g., the names used for the file, the block and the
dimension style).
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Description
Project Name
Project No.
Client Name
Building Name
Location of the Building
Contractor Name
Date of Order
Date of construction
Checked by
Detailed by
Name of model.dwg
Drawing number
Piece mark of object
Date of created drawing
Scale used for detail
Material of the object
Revision index
Revision created by
Revision date
Revision description
Coating of the object
Phase / Lot of the object
Project user attribute 1
Project user attribute 2
Project user attribute 3
Project user attribute 4
Project user attribute 5
Note
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GRAITEC INC.
49 Rue de la Pointe-Langlois
Laval, Quebec, Canada
H7L 3J4
www.graitec.com
support.americas@graitec.com
Table of Contents
Management Tool
Management Tool (also referred as MT) is the configuration tool used by Advance to modify default
information for modeling, drawing creation, database management as well as many other
management settings.
To open the Management Tool, click the MT icon on the Advance Steel standard toolbar.
In this chapter, we provide information on how the default values can be customized.
Units
Convert database
Author
Preferred size
Table editor
Defaults
Defaults
In Defaults, information is available for modeling and drawing creation. The most important values
are presented in this document. The values can be found using several methods.
Search in one of the groups, for example, Beam, Default sections, General, etc.
Using the filter, select the Use filter option and enter a keyword.
Using the filter is faster because it displays only the defaults that include the keyword.
A brief explanation is displayed in the description field explaining the use of the default.
To modify a default, change the value in the Value field and press Enter. This changes the
Current field value.
Once a value is modified, it can be changed back to the default value by copying the value from the
Original in Advance field and pressing Enter.
Once a modification is made in the Management Tool, it must be loaded to be available in Advance
Steel. To load modifications, click the Load settings in Advance icon on the top toolbar.
Group
Beam
Default
Explanation
Beam Coating
Beam Material
Collision Control
Compass
Connecting elements
Bolt assembly
Bolt/Anchor name
High strength bolt diameter
High strength bolt type
Drawing-Dimensioning
Drawing-Dimensioning
Drawing-Labeling
Drawing-Presentation
General
Layer assignment
Plate
Hole tolerance
Representation type of the
bolts
Treat special parts as normal
objects
Dimension style in details.
Ordinate dimensions show
negative values
Ordinate dimensions:
Replacement for the <Name>
symbol
Dimension style in details
Cut View Name
Default diameter for the
standard holes
Do not display labels for
standard holes
Reference length for the slope
triangle
Color of visible lines
Color of hidden lines
Color of system lines
Color for marked objects
Beam layer
Plate layer
Mapping
Plate name
Author
The author is a signature applied to all databases when changes are saved. It is used to differentiate
the user modification from the original settings.
Most of the changes that are done in Advance Steel have a signature.
The signature is used when the user updates to newer releases of Advance Steel. The signature is
recognized and transferred to the new installation. Having an author currently in use simplifies the
update process in the future.
To create an Author, select an existing author from the list and rename the Name and Text with your
information.
For example, select the My Company author and rename it to your name and company
You should then see your new created Author available in the list. You can select it and click the Set
selected author as current icon.
To verify that your new created author is current, it is listed at the bottom left corner of the MT.
Preferred size
The preferred size is a customizing tool used in the selection of favorite values.
Once the values are selected, throughout the modeling process some of the options or values are
hidden for an easier selection. This is a more productive modeling process.
Based on the installation, a different country group might be used (with the English America
installation the group is: USA > Canada). In each group, the same sub-groups are available as
shown above (e.g., Beam, Bolt, Plate, Shear Studs and Weld).
In the model, click the Rolled I Section icon and create a beam. The available choices for the section
class are exactly the same as shown in the preferred size
Once the sub-group in the preferred size tool is located, the preferences can be viewed and
changed.
Only the selected values are shown in the section class in the model.
The other values are still available, if necessary (e.g., China I). To access them, select the All option
at the end of the section class:
Many preferences can be changed. Go through all the different types and make sure your preferences
are selected.
To save use the following icon:
Convert database
Convert database is a tool that merges the user modifications from a previous version of Advance
Steel to the current version.
All settings are kept from version to version without redoing the same customization.
For in depth information about converting databases, refer to page 23 of the Users guide on the
Documentation CD.
Units
All the units from the Management tool are defined using the Units tool.
Note that modifying the units do not affect your work in Advance Steel but only affect the units in the
MT.
Precision should be selected to at least two decimals for metric and to 1/32 for imperial.
Table editor
Table editor is a tool that opens and edits the Advance Steel databases.
Microsoft Access can also be used.
To open a database, click the MDB icon and browse for the database to open. Select a database
and click Open. All the tables included in the database are displayed. To open a table, double click it.
You can also refer to the second part of the Open AS Database.avi FAQ video. (Provided by your
technical support department)
Database contents
In Advance Steel, the databases are Microsoft Access files (.mdb files). Some of the most important
databases are presented and their location and content is described.
Some of the values included in the databases can be manually edited to better suit your needs.
The database content is important to know to standardize databases used between colleagues. You
will know which database was affected by someones changes and be able to use that same database
including the new changes on everyones computer.
It is also very useful when assistance is needed from the technical support team. You will know what
the technical support team needs to help you and thus save time to get a quicker answer.
Authors: The author is a signature applied to all databases when changes are saved. It is used
to differentiate the user modifications from the original settings. More information is
available in the Author section of this tutorial.
Bolts, Stud, Anchor and plate: Modifications to an existing bolt, stud, anchor or plate or
creation of new ones are saved (e.g., creation of a new plate thickness preference in
the Plate tool from the MT).
Scale (currently in use) includes all imperial standard scale values. A new entry can be
created if required.
Scale All (not used) includes all imperial and metric scale values. To activate the table, it
must be renamed to Scale. All imperial and metric scale values are then available in
your detail drawing. A new entry can also be created if required.
Welds: Symbols are saved in the installation and they correspond to the different weld types in
this table. Modification to the symbol drawing or creation of a new weld can be done using
this table.
User Section: All created user section profiles are saved in AstorProfiles.
AstorAddIn.mdb is located in
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Graitec\AdvanceSteel\8.1\User2\Data
All user customizable information is located in AstorAddIn. Everywhere the Advance, User and
Project options are available, the values in the User groups are saved in AstorAddIn.
In AstorAddin, the following information is available:
Quick Connections: All saved information in the Configure Quick Connection tool
Drawing style: All saved information in the Drawing style and process manager tool
Explode settings: All saved information in the Detail exploded settings tool
Necessary view: All saved information in the Necessary view wizard tool
Conclusion
Many tables are not explained in this document, as well as other databases and files that are
important for Advance Steel. If in depth explanation is needed, the technical support team can assist you
in your proprietary customization.
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