I would like to use ISM files as a viewer file for a structural model either for a client to see his project or when the Ram or STAAD program is not available to open the analysis file. The ability to determine the member sizes and materials and measure distances and lengths is important.
For wood, I can't seem to find the material properties such as Douglas-Fir Larch #1 or S-P-F #1/#2. The shapes are ok if it is a solid rectangular piece of lumber.
If the lumber species/grade is not available in the ISM file, why not?
ISM supports wood materials in general, but the Ram Elements ISM link is not exporting that information, just section size. This is primarily because the underlying Structural Property Catalog that applications use for mapping sections and materials is limited to steel and concrete. So applications would have to provide the material names and details manually. I'll pass along the request, but it's one of the first times it's come up.
Besides printed output or reports, I suppose you could send a DXF file from Ram Elements which has the material as part of the layer name, but still not the properties.
Answer Verified By: SVGregory
Seth,
The DXF export is a good tip. Each member section/material combination goes into a separate layer. If your tool tips are turned on, AutoCad will display that information if you hover over a member.
Unfortunately, the RAM Export fails miserably by scaling the model down by a factor of 12. So if your length units are set to feet or inches, the DXF file will have a Unitless setting with length setting for Decimal when it goes into AutoCad. It turns out that the measurements work out to be in feet and decimal feet. This might be wonderful for surveying or civil site work, but not so great for structural people.
It does not matter if your length units in Ram are set to feet or inches, the result is the same.
I added an enhancement for that. Switching from civil/decimal units to architectural has always driven me nuts. Of course you can scale the whole thing x12 in CAD in the meantime.
Enhancement 1116058:Ram Elements DXF Configurations - Drawing Scale