What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Table of contents
WELCOME TO ADVANCE STEEL 2013, PART OF THE GRAITEC BIM SOLUTION ........................................... 5
ADVANCE CAD 64-BIT PLATFORM AVAILABLE .......................................................................................... 6
ADVANCE CAD 2013 PLATFORM ENHANCEMENTS .................................................................................... 7
NEW TOOL PALETTE ................................................................................................................................ 8
MODELING............................................................................................................................................... 9
Modeling 1: Custom connections ........................................................................................................................9
Modeling 2: Create polygonal cut from a polyline .............................................................................................12
Modeling 3: System lines and welds visible in shade mode..............................................................................12
Modeling 4: Defining specific holes for anchors ................................................................................................13
Modeling 5: New anchor options .......................................................................................................................13
Modeling 6: New available bolts and anchors ...................................................................................................14
Modeling 7: New available cladding sections....................................................................................................14
Modeling 8: New available Australian sections .................................................................................................14
Modeling 9: New available gratings...................................................................................................................14
Modeling 10: New bar grating............................................................................................................................15

JOINTS .................................................................................................................................................. 16
Joint 1: New single & double eaves connections ..............................................................................................16
Joint 2: New anti-sag and tie rod systems.........................................................................................................17
Joint 3: New trimmer base connections.............................................................................................................19
Joint 4: New purlin joints....................................................................................................................................19
Joint 5: Lap purlin joint enhancements ..............................................................................................................20
Joint 6: Tube bracing joints enhancements .......................................................................................................20
Joint 7: More options for the Base plate joints ................................................................................................20
Joint 8: Joint naming & grouping .......................................................................................................................21
Joint 8: Joint design result display.....................................................................................................................21

NUMBERING .......................................................................................................................................... 22
Numb 1: Prefix kept for former standalone parts in a newer assembly.............................................................22
Numb 2: Edit preliminary numbers ....................................................................................................................22

DRAWINGS ............................................................................................................................................ 23
Draw 1: Intelligent manual dimension improvements........................................................................................23
Draw 2: New available tokens for title blocks ....................................................................................................24
Draw 3: Welding lines in details.........................................................................................................................25
Draw 4: Custom node details lines ....................................................................................................................26
Draw 5: Opening the workshop drawing with the context menu .......................................................................28
Draw 6: Localization enhancements for drawing styles delivered by default ....................................................28

MISCELLANEOUS ................................................................................................................................... 29
Misc 1: AutoCAD 2013 compliancy ...................................................................................................................29
Misc 2: Compliance with Microsoft Windows 8 .................................................................................................29
Misc 3: API.........................................................................................................................................................30

What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Misc 4: Easy & quick download of the new release with a new online setup................................................... 30
Misc 5: New Australian setup ........................................................................................................................... 31
Misc 6: New Brazilian (Portuguese) setup........................................................................................................ 31
Misc 7: New project conversion tool ................................................................................................................. 31
Misc 8: Possibility to exclude certain characters from the grid label ................................................................ 31
Misc 9: Possibility to change the hole reference plane for angles.................................................................... 32
Misc 10: Icon for creating a 3D DWF file .......................................................................................................... 32

What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Welcome to Advance Steel 2013, part of the Graitec BIM solution

Advance Steel 2013 is fully part of the Graitec Advance suite, consisting of Advance Steel, Advance Concrete,
and Advance Design.
GRAITEC Advance is a Building Information Modeling (BIM) system that automates the entire structural design
and construction documentation process from engineering design and structural analysis to member
optimization, detailing and fabrication.

Advance Steel 2013 has a full set of great new features and customer enhancements in several areas:

AutoCAD 2013 compliancy.

Advance Steel Standalone 64-bit platform.
Custom connections.
Complete set of new cold rolled joints.
Enhancements in existing joints.
New option to create a polygonal cut from a polyline.
System lines and welds displayed in shade mode.
New option to define specific holes for anchors.
Numbering keeps prefix for former standalone parts.
New grating type with bar grating.
Intelligent manual dimension improvements.
New available tokens for title blocks within drawings.
Possibility to define different types of node detail lines.
Tool to draw intelligent welding lines in details.
Open the workshop drawing of the selected part with the context menu.

What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Advance CAD 64-bit platform available

To speed up performances and to allow more response for handling big projects, Advance Steel 2013 can be
used on its own Advance CAD platform available in 32-bit and also in 64-bit.
Thanks to its new 64-bit platform, Advance Steel 2013 comes with significant performances improvements:

Faster drawing creation: the workshop drawings are created

up to 25% faster with Advance Steel 2013 compared to
previous Advance Steel releases
Better model view management: using the Project explorer to
create, manage and display your model views is much faster
with Advance Steel 2013

Model courtesy of XTEC AG

What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Advance CAD 2013 platform enhancements

Advance Steel 2013 can be used on its own platform, which has been enhanced with the following options.

Object snap tracking

Snap performance improvements
True color and Color books can be used for the background and within the object properties

Render upgrade: the render component has been upgraded to a new one in order to get better render
results.

What is new in Advance Steel 2013

New tool palette

Advance Steel 2013 has a new tool palette including animations and showing the behavior of the functionality
without requiring additional help.

Animated buttons to show the command in a short animation

Switch buttons: change the icon according to the command status
New ergonomic design

What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Modeling
Advance Steel 2013 provides a complete range of new functionalities and different enhancements to speed up
the modeling phase, such as the possibility to define and reuse custom connections.

Modeling 1: Custom connections

Advance Steel 2013 provides all necessary tools to create, save and reuse custom connections.

Custom connections can be created:

From all basic entities such as beams, plate, bolts, welds, cuts, copes, weld preparation,
With standard joints
By using new intelligent bricks

All basic entities are available from the new tool palette.
The standard joints are accessible from the Connection vault.
The different bricks can be found in the new tool palette.

What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Once the custom connection is defined, the user can save it with the Create custom connection icon on the
tool palette. In the dialog box which appears, the user can write the text (which will pop up during the insertion of
the custom connection) where the user will be prompted to select the member(s) to connect.

The DWG file(s) containing the custom connection(s) must be placed in the Connection Templates subfolder
located at C:\ProgramData\Graitec\Advance Steel\2013\Shared\ConnectionTemplates.

To reuse a custom connection, the user must use the Import custom connection icon on the tool palette and
select the object(s) to connect.

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

The custom connection is then inserted in the 3D model, and the blue cuboid helps to select the joint in order to
delete it, copy it, etc.

Once the custom connection is inserted in a model, the user can activate an option to modify the elements
(which have been created by the insertion of the custom connection) without exploding the custom connection
intelligence.

It is also possible to use the Joint grouping behavior by inserting a custom connection as a master joint and
then all related joints will be updated automatically with modifications of the master joint.

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Modeling 2: Create polygonal cut from a polyline
To provide more choices and more flexibility for the creation of complex cuts, Advance Steel 2013 provides the
option to create a polygonal cut by selecting a polyline. This works both on beams and plates.
The Polygonal contour command offers the possibility to select a Polyline as the definition of the polygonal
contour:

Modeling 3: System lines and welds visible in shade mode

Advance Steel 2013 now displays the beam system lines and the weld symbols also in shade mode.
This can be controlled by a new default Show welds and system lines in shade mode available in the
GRAITEC Advance Manager 2013.

The benefits are the visualization of all parts of the 3D models in shade mode and users do not have to switch
to a wireframe display mode to have access to welds and systems lines in the model.

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Modeling 4: Defining specific holes for anchors
When defining new anchors (or when modifying existing anchors) with the GRAITEC Advance Manager 2013,
the user has now the possibility to set the hole type (e.g. countersunk holes) and the hole tolerance (e.g ., +
3mm for diameters over 24mm) for anchors.

Modeling 5: New anchor options

Advance Steel 2013 provides the option to define anchors with an inserted plate washer within the anchor
assembly in order to get a 3rd assembly for headed anchors and therefore to get Holding down bolts.

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Modeling 6: New available bolts and anchors
The Advance Steel library has been extended for bolts:

DIN 912 (hexagonal socket screw)

DIN 14399-3 (hexagonal bolts)
DIN 7992 (hammer screw anchor)
UNI 5712 (bolts)
UNI 5737 (bolts)
UNI 5739 (bolts)
French straight anchors with a flat
Russian GOST anchors type 2-1, 2-2, 2-3

Modeling 7: New available cladding sections

The Advance Steel library has been extended for cladding sections:

Joris IDE
MONTANA (sandwich, trapez, wand, wellbandaed, montanaform, montanaline, )
HOECH (isodach, isowand, thermodach)
BACACIER

Modeling 8: New available Australian sections

The Advance Steel library has been extended for Australian cold rolled sections:

Australian Z-sections
Australian C-sections
Stramit C
Stramit Zeds

Modeling 9: New available gratings

The Advance Steel library has been extended with gratings:

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LYSAGHT gratings
BALDASSAR gratings
GRIDIRON gratings
INTERLOCK II gratings
Webforge gratings

What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Modeling 10: New bar grating
Advance Steel 2013 provides the option to create bar grating.
Different width values are available and the grating length is defined by the amount and diameters of the bars.
The hatches reflect the bearing and the cross bars.
The bar grating has additional information about the ED (end dimension) point that defines the distance from the
edge of the grating to the first bar.

Some new tokens are also available (e.g. for labels on drawings or within BOMs) such as bar thickness, bar
spacing and bar quantity.

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Joints
Advance Steel 2013 provides an enormous library of new automatic connections and various enhancements in
existing joints in order to respond to local requirements.

Joint 1: New single & double eaves connections

Advance Steel 2013 provides new connections for single eave beam and for double eaves beams:

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Bracket from plate with endplate

Bracket from section with endplate
Bracket from plate with angle cleat
Bracket from section with angle cleat
Bracket from plate with folded cleat
Bracket from section with folded cleat

What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Joint 2: New anti-sag and tie rod systems
Advance Steel 2013 provides new anti-sag and tie rod systems:

Side rail anti-sag and tie rod systems.

Roof anti-sag and tie rod systems.
Apex anti-sag and tie rod systems.

Advance Steel 2013 provides two new macros for the side rail:

Side rail Anti sag macro: a series of struts and wires with connection cleats are inserted between
side rails and eaves beams in a building bay to form a generic restraint system.
Side rail Sag rod and tube macro: a side rail anti-sag system (including eaves hangers and/or
diagonal braces) is inserted between existing side rails (and eaves beam) in a building bay.

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Advance Steel 2013 provides two new macros for the roof:

Roof Anti sag macro: a Roof Purlin/Rail anti-sag system (including eaves Braces, Sag rods, Full
Strut system and/or diagonal braces) is inserted between existing purlin/rails (and eaves beam) in a
building bay.
Roof Sag rod and tube macro: a Roof Purlin/Rail anti-sag system (including eaves Braces, Sag
rods, Full Strut system and/or diagonal braces) is inserted between existing purlin/rails (and eaves
beam) in a building bay.

Advance Steel 2013 provides two new macros for the apex tie:

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Apex tie Anti sag macro: a series of Straight/Bent Tie Bars, Struts type with connections via bolted
connections form a Generic roof restraint system. An Apex Tie that connects to the Roof Purlin/Rail
anti-sag systems at the apex of a roof is automatically created.
Apex tie Sag rod macro: a series of Straight/Bent Tie Bars with connections form a Generic roof
restraint system. An Apex Tie that connects to the Roof Purlin/Rail anti-sag systems at the apex of a
roof is automatically created.

What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Joint 3: New trimmer base connections
Advance Steel 2013 provides new trimmer base connections.
One trimmer base connection creates angle profiles, while the other one creates folded plates.

Joint 4: New purlin joints

Advance Steel 2013 provides two new automatic purlin joints:

Single purlin custom cleat connection

Double purlin custom cleat connection

The joints for purlins offer more possibilities (e.g. Change sleeve side, Rotate sleeve and Center sleeve) to
define the placement of the optional sleeve.

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Joint 5: Lap purlin joint enhancements

The lap purlin joint has been extended with a new option to create stays.

The lap purlin joint offers the possibility to also bolt beam flanges.

Joint 6: Tube bracing joints enhancements

Advance Steel 2013 offers the possibility to define rectangular shapes for the created gusset by entering
the total gusset dimensions in the properties dialog box.

Joint 7: More options for the Base plate joints

Advance Steel 2013 provides new options for the different Base plate joints.

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Creation of middle stiffeners

Creation of galvanizing holes
More settings available for the definition of shear anchors

What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Joint 8: Joint naming & grouping

Advance Steel 2013 extends the joint naming and grouping behavior by providing new tools:

Create joint in a joint group, multiple

Add joint to a joint group
Possibility to redefine the master in a joint group

The user can also decide if a joint in a group needs to be automatically updated in case the master joint
changes with the new option Upgrade to master available in the joint dialog box:

The benefits are a more automated and productive task when making a modification which affects many similar
connections.

Joint 8: Joint design result display

The joint design is now displayed by default in the first tab of the joint properties dialog box which helps the
user to know immediately if the joint passed or failed the joint design checking.

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Numbering
Advance Steel 2013 extends the numbering with new possibilities for standalone parts and for bolts.

Numb 1: Prefix kept for former standalone parts in a newer assembly

If the user previously assigned some prefix to individual standalone parts, these prefixes are kept if the
user decides to create shop-welded between these parts.

Numb 2: Edit preliminary numbers

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For safety reasons, it was not possible until now to edit (and modify) preliminary numbers. But Advance
Steel 2013 provides this option by changing a (new) default called Allow editing of preliminary numbers
and which can be accessed in the in the GRAITEC Advance Manager.

What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Drawings
Advance Steel 2013 provides several major enhancements for automatic drawing creation

Draw 1: Intelligent manual dimension improvements

The user can create manual dimensions within workshop and general drawings and Advance Steel 2013 offers
the possibility to snap only to points which will be kept as intelligent points in case of an update of the drawings.
This object snap point is named Preferred for Manual dimensions and can be activated in the Object snap
settings dialog box.

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

By using the Preferred for Manual Dimensions steel object snap, the user can be sure that the manual
dimensions that are added to the Advance Steel drawings will get updated in an intelligent way, which means
that:

Manual dimensions do not get deleted

Manual dimensions get updated in case of:
o Some elements from the dimension chain get deleted
o

Some elements from the dimension chain get moved

The benefits are less rework for users when drawings must be updated due to modifications in the 3D model
and drawing dimensions which always reflect the reality of the 3D model.

Draw 2: New available tokens for title blocks

Advance Steel 2013 provides a set of additional tokens which can be used within title blocks of the drawings.
The new available tokens for the title blocks are:

User attributes (USERATTR1 --> USERATTR10)

File name (FILENAME)
Model role (ROLE)
Name (NAME)
Object type (OBJECTTYPE)
Quantity (QUANTITY)
Example of a title block (on a A4 prototype) configured with the new tokens QUANTITY (to get the total
quantity of the parts), ROLE (to get displayed the model role given to the parts) and USERATTR1 (to get the
User attribute 1):

Result once the single part drawing has been created automatically using the customized prototype:

This gives the possibility to users to display more information directly in the title blocks which can avoid too long
titles especially on single sheet workshop drawings.

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Draw 3: Welding lines in details
Advance Steel 2013 provides a new option to create welding lines in details with many different possibilities of
presentation.

The user can define the weld properties in the dialog box which opens during the insertion of welding lines in
details:

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

The display of these welding lines can be controlled by default using the new defaults which are available in the
GRAITEC Advance Manager 2013:

Draw 4: Custom node details lines

Advance Steel 2013 provides the option to choose custom clipping shapes for node details lines.

The user can choose the Clip line color in the GRAITEC Advance Manager 2013:

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

The user can choose the Clip line type in the GRAITEC Advance Manager 2013:

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Draw 5: Opening the workshop drawing with the context menu
Advance Steel 2013 provides the possibility to open the single part drawing or the assembly drawing of the
selected part using the context menu.

In case the drawing is not up-to-date (because the user did a modification on this part since its workshop
drawing had been created), the message clearly indicates that the drawing/detail is not up-to-date:

Draw 6: Localization enhancements for drawing styles delivered by default

Advance Steel 2013 comes with enhanced localized drawing styles delivered by default.
Please contact your local partner to know what is has been enhanced for your local market.

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Miscellaneous
Advance Steel 2013 provides other great enhancements.

Misc 1: AutoCAD 2013 compliancy

Advance Steel 2013 can be used with or without AutoCAD.
Advance Steel 2013 is compliant with AutoCAD 2010-2013 (i.e., the latest 2013 release of AutoCAD).
Advance Steel users will benefit from the enhancements of AutoCAD 2013 for higher productivity and any other
AutoCAD 2013 related improvements.

Misc 2: Compliance with Microsoft Windows 8

The Graitec Advance 2013 suite is compliant with the new OS Microsoft Windows 8 :

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Misc 3: API
Advance Steel 2013 allows users with software programming skills to implement new connections, custom
calculation modules for connections or custom NC add-ins.
This new option is available with Advance Steel 2013 Professional and Premium packages.
Advance Steel objects (beams, plates, bolts, etc.) and features (cuts, openings, chamfers, etc.), as well as a set
of functionalities, are exposed through an API (Application Programming Interface) based on Microsoft COM
(Component Object Model) technology and accessible through programming languages such as C++ and .NET.

This functionality requires advanced programming skills and basic knowledge of Advance Steel: general
behavior of the product, philosophy of its 3D design and knowledge of the available Advance Steel objects.
Note:

Graitec Advantage support and standard Advance Steel trainings do not cover this functionality.
Please contact your reseller or your local Graitec office for more information.

Misc 4: Easy & quick download of the new release with a new online setup

Installing GRAITEC Advance 2013 is more efficient than ever! Advance Steel 2013 can be installed with
the DVD GRAITEC Advance 2013, but it can also be installed with a new light setup available on the
GRAITEC website and which speeds up the installation process!
The main steps of the new online setup are the followings:

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Launching the setup:

o detects your settings (32 / 64-bit)
o asks your preferred language
o and then it downloads only what is required

The download is:

o using several threads (acting like a download accelerator)
o able to restart from where it was stopped in case of connection failure

The installation is done at the same time as downloading the next components.

What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Misc 5: New Australian setup

Advance Steel 2013 can be installed with a dedicated Australian setup which installs the software with a
configuration delivered by default (preferred sizes, drawing styles, etc.) which answers the global
requirements from the Australian market.

Misc 6: New Brazilian (Portuguese) setup

Advance Steel 2013 can be installed with a dedicated Portuguese setup

Misc 7: New project conversion tool

Advance Steel 2013 provides a new project conversion tool to quickly convert all your files from a previous
Advance Steel release to the new release.

Misc 8: Possibility to exclude certain characters from the grid label

Advance Steel 2013 provides the option to exclude certain characters used in the grid labels (this setting is only
available in a table from the AstorBase.mdb database please contact your local reseller to have more details).

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What is new in Advance Steel 2013

Misc 9: Possibility to change the hole reference plane for angles

Advance Steel 2013 provides the option to change the hole reference plane for angles, thanks to the new default
Switch holes reference plane from H to V for angle profiles available in the GRAITEC Advance Manager 2013.

Misc 10: Icon for creating a 3D DWF file

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The Advance Steel 2013 BIM center ribbon contains the icon to create a 3D DWF from the 3D model.