AutoCAD Architecture

[#1 · Accepted solution]

All finished, took me most of day, found the typo, thanks. It does work great though, I'm going to guard this one with my life, put it in a bank vault and all that. I don't want to type all that again. -- Nick

[#2]

HI

I'm working on a way to calculate the bottom of the beam.

Using your idea of creating a custom property works to some extent.

When I create the beam style from the structural members wizard I put the depth in parenthesis.

For Example "W16x45 (16.13)"

See attached pic.

This way I don't have to look it up later.

I then need to manually enter the depth in the custom depth property for each beam

My thinking now, is there a way to strip out the depth from the beam style text?

This way it would be automatic for each style.

I see all those VBscripting codes that can be used in the formula definitions.

But have no idea where to start with it.

It doesn't have to be parenthesis, it could be what ever character is best for striping out certain text.

Could it be scripted to pull out the depth and the width?

Thanks so much..

Dallas

[#3]

Boy, this is old. WOW!!! I've already solved the problem and have created a module that take what ever beams you want an can put it any where or height that you specify. Th emodule is one of many in the works, it is called Steel Beams for AEC. It simplifies the process of creating and inserting steel beams into drawings. This module can also be use to creata steel structures. Dallas you can email me direct @ nick @ aecdesignsvcs.com and we can talk more in length if you want. -- Nick

[#4]

Wow!  Excellent work there Nick! You put alot of work into it.

So simple to use.

Since my use would be to make a structural background for use on MEP projects, I'm really looking for beam size and bottom of beam. Actually Bottom of Fire Insulation. So if you had an insulation thickness variable and allowed changing the tag's information to include/exclude the above, you'd have a HUGE winner in the MEP market.

That said, I'm far enough along in my understanding of property sets that I can create one for insulation and calculating the bottom from where you've gotten it all. 

But to be able to throw that information on as I'm drawing the beam as your tag works, would be awesome...

You found yourself a customer.

Thanks so much for the quick reply..

[#5]

Thank You Dallas, I greatly appreciate it. We should be able to add what you'd like, I'll look into it. I think you might be interested in this, we are getting ready to release WoodBeams for AEC. This started out as a sister to SteelBeams for AEC, but we found that it was going to take a lot more to accomplish what we wanted too provide. This module not only places wood structural elements,(I-Joist, LVL, LSL, Glulam, Paralam), but also all wood lumber, including plates. One of the new things we have done, is to be able to get rid of the old school way of doing things, i.e.. Using the tool palette to access a drawing that has all the members in them, we have developed a way to automate the member style wizard in a since, kind of. Now you pick out of a catalog and the engineering data that is in them is used to create the members as needed, this way you don't have a cluttered up drawing. WoodBeams allows you to not only specify the bearing point but it allows you to manipulate where the to of the member is if you need that. Another thing that is new is the fact that material is now applied to the members, so if you like to create renderings, well....Go for it. Have you ever wish that you could merge layer keys into and existing layer key, we had to developed a way to do just that. The list can go on and on, but I think you get the idea. Next after this will be coming wood roof trusses, that right, wood roof trusses. All kinds and shapes to design even the most stubborn roof. And they are structural members not just pieces. Things are really exciting with what Ken and I are developing, look at the teaser that I have attached, and Dallas, email me at nick@aecdesignsvcs.com so we can chat. Oh BTW, we are taking pre orders on WoodBeams, you will also have the 30 day trial.

[#6]

Glad to see that Nick was able to help you out.  While that was going on, I put together a quick demonstration file that shows that you could do what your earlier post requested - extract a string between two delimeter characters in the style name and use it to calculate a beam bottom value.  Perhaps this may be of help to others who happen to read this thread.

The attached ZIP file has a formula property that extracts the string, using the InStr and Mid VBScript functions, along with some tests to avoid having the formula blow up if the delimeter characters are not found, if the first ")" occurs before or immediately after the first "(" or if the text between the "(" and ")" does not evaluate to a number.  The formula returns 0 as the depth in these cases.

The formula property that calculates the bottom of the structural member also takes into account the justification.  Most beams would likely be Top Center justified, in which case, along with Top Left and Top Right, the entire depth is subtracted from the automatic LocationZ value.  For the Middle justifications, half the member depth is subtracted and for the Bottom justifications, the LocationZ value is passed through unmodified.  If the justification is Baseline, then I have no way to know what to subtract (for Structural Member Shapes generated from the steel part of the Structual Member Catalog, I believe that the shape insertion point is a the midpoint of the shape, but that may not be true of a user-defined shape, so I had the MemberBottom formula return a value of "BASELINE".  If the MemberDepth is 0, then the MemberBottom formula returns a value of "NO DEPTH", as a warning that the style name was not properly set up.

You could extend this to include a manually entered spray fireproofing thickness if desired.  You could also add the member width to the style name, either using different delimeters, such as "[" and "]" , or by truncating the string after the first ")" and then processing the result for the remaining "(" and ")".

[#7]

Another thought that occurred to me today:  the MemberBottom formula presumes that the Roll property of the Structural Member is 0, and that the bottom of the beam is in the negative Z direction.  A more sophisticated formula would require an additional Automatic property to make the Roll value available, and would check that and then adjust the calculations for the various justifications accordingly.  For example, for a beam with a Roll of 180 degrees and one of the Top justifications, the LocationZ property is the bottom of the beam, and you would not want to subtract the beam depth.  Rolls other than 0 or 180 degrees would also require knowing the member Width and, assuming the bottom occurs at the corner of a rectangle described by the Depth and Width, more sophisticated calculations to determine the lowest elevation of the beam.  (In those cases, the Left, Center and Right justifications would not have the same calculation, either.)

Or you could leave things as is, and mandate that all beams have a Roll of 0.

[#8]

Thanks so much David.

Your String extraction example really helps me understand it more.

I agree, to get a really foolproof bottom of beam, there would be a lot more coding.

But to grab the bottom of a beam in its normal orientation and not sloped, this works pretty good.

To be honest, Ive taken to using your 'Steal Beams for AEC'. It's sooo much easier to bring in beams and Im able to create a custom tag for the bottom of fireproofing from your object properties.

It's already saved me several hours.

Great Job guys.

Dallas