Automated Drawings and Project Explorer
The automated drawing features in Structural Modeler, PowerStructural Modeler and Structural DocumentationCenter create Framing Plans, Framing Elevations and Steel Column Schedules from RAM Structural System models. The drawings that are created are organized in Project Explorer to provide a convenient framework for reviewing and manipulating the drawings. This article provides an overview of some of these features to help you realize the full benefit of the Project Explorer integration.
Accessing Project Explorer
Project Explorer is a very powerful tool for organizing the resources (models, drawings, sheets, etc.) that make up your project. Project Explorer creates links to these resources (which may reside anywhere in the file system) in a linkset and arranges them in a hierarchical set of folders.
In the case of the automated drawing features, most of these links are created automatically when drawings are created or updated. When the RAM Structural System model is imported or updated these links will be added to the active linkset.
To open Project Explorer you can select the menu item File->Project Explorer or use the key-in:
Put the key-in on a function key for quick access or you can dock the Project Explorer dialog box with your workflow task panes so it will always be available.
By default the Project Explorer linkset is saved in the design library linksets\MasterProject.dgnlib in your project folder. When creating a new project make sure that the new project contains an unmodified version without any existing links. Typically, this is done by copying one of the example projects (e.g. Structural Imperial) to create the new project.
Project Explorer Structure
Let’s take a look at the Project Explorer structure that is created when the example RSS model Tutorial is imported into Structural Modeler.
When links are added to the active linkset, new folders are created and merged with the existing folders in the linkset. Below the new folders and links that have been added are highlighted in yellow. These folders have been added alongside the existing folders in the default Building linkset.
The drawing links (Framing Plans, Framing Elevations and Steel Column Schedules) are connected to the Saved View for the drawing. The Saved View may be used to compose drawing sheets (see the Composing Sheets section below). By double-clicking on a link, the Saved View will open in the drawing model.
Column Schedules
The Column Schedule folder contains links to the Steel Column Schedule drawing(s).
If the schedule is too large to fit within the designated paper size, the schedule will be automatically subdivided into as many sub-schedules as necessary. The paper size is controlled by the Paper setting in the Schedule Layout tab of the Drawing Settings dialog box.
Subdivided schedules will be numbered sequentially beginning with “Steel Column Schedule Report 1”. Each schedule will have a complete title block and location marks for those column configurations called out in the schedule.
Schedules may be sub-divided either horizontally or vertically to fit the designated paper size
Elevations
The Elevations folder contains links to the Framing Elevation drawings.
A Framing Elevation will be automatically created for each lateral frame present in the model that falls along a column grid line. The Framing Elevation drawings will show the steel columns and the shear walls that comprise the lateral frame.
Plans
The Plans folder contains links to the Framing Plan drawings.
A Framing Plan will be automatically created at each story elevation defined in the RAM Structural System model. Each RSS story becomes a Floor in the Building Floor Manager.
Column Grid Systems
The Column Grid Systems folder contains links to the column grid systems that are associated with each RSS story.
These models can be a useful viewing and modeling aid for working with the imported model. Project Explorer makes it easy to drag and drop a Column Grid System model onto the 3D Structural model, automatically attaching the model as a reference file.
The grid systems are shown at the elevation of the story so that they will be correctly aligned with the elements that reference them.
Default (Home Model)
This is a link that is created to the master 3D Structural model.
It makes it easy to navigate back to the master model no matter what drawing (or other model) may be open within your project. Depending on how the output models of your drawings are configured, the drawings may be in the same design file as the master model or the drawings may be in external design files.
Customization
The structure of the Project Explorer folders is very flexible. While the location and names of the folders is initially controlled by default values, you can customize Project Explorer to meet your needs.
Folder names are arbitrary. The particular folder associated with a drawing type (e.g. Framing Plans) is marked with special properties that are not visible. So, the name of the folder may be changed. Similarly, the location of a folder is not fixed. You may move a folder by dragging and dropping it to any location in the tree.
Composing Sheets
Project Explorer simplifies the process of composing drawing sheets because the reference file attachments are automatically handled when a drawing is dragged and dropped onto a sheet.
Sheet Node
Drawing sheets are found in the Sheets node under the Sheets folder. The sheets in your project are automatically located and displayed in this location. The automatic discovery of the sheets depends on properly setting the configuration variable used to define the search path. By default, the configuration variable is TF_SHEETS. Check to make sure that TF_SHEETS is set in your project configuration or use a different configuration variable to control the filter.
Creating a Sheet
Let’s go through the process of creating a sheet and then composing a simple drawing.
In the Structural Physical task pane use the New Sheet tool to create a new drawing sheet. The drawing sheet will be used as the basic foundation of the final drawing. After the drawing is attached to the sheet additional composition may be done by attaching borders and separate drawing annotation models (to separate annotation from the drawing output).
After the sheet has been created it should appear under the Sheets node. (You may need to right-click on Sheets and select Refresh.)
To attach a drawing to the sheet as a reference file simply drag and drop the drawing link from Project Explorer onto the sheet. MicroStation will open the Reference Attachment dialog box. The yellow fields below are critical to make sure that the drawing title is created (used for linking Framing Elevations and Framing Plans) and the annotation scale matches the scale used in the drawing definition template.
After completing the fields in the Reference Attachment dialog box you will be able to interactively place the drawing on the sheet. An outline of the extents of the drawing will be shown in dynamics. A data point will create the reference attachment in the desired position.