Advance Steel custom commands-share your ideas

[acbsdesign]

Hello,

It will be nice to learn more about custom commands / combination of Autocad and Advance Steel commands improving productivity. 

To colleagues willing to share-Thank you.

Here is a tiny example:

"Hide parts with identical numbers"-used when parts are detailed using drawings styles.

^C^C_AstM5equalpartsMarkSame \;AstM4CommSelectMarkedObjects ;_AstM4SwitchReprMode off

And another one:

"Hide Similar Advance Steel Objects":

^C^C_SelectSimilar \;_AstM4SwitchReprMode off

Regards, 

Ilko Dimitrov

ACBS

[acbsdesign]

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@markhubrich wrote:

It only has decimal inches.

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@markhubrich  yes, just switch to Decimal-Inches, it will show decimal feet. Just tested.

[Adrian.Mangan]

@vuk.vukanic created my first custom shortcut from action recorder, video attached, again thank you, can now attsync my title block easily.

https://autode.sk/2TCqnMk

[acbsdesign]

@vuk.vukanic 

Can you record an Action of the following:

Clips selected detail green frame and opens the detail dialog window, goes to clipping and modifies the clipping.

So my idea is:

TYPE                   Execute:

CL18                  Clip to 1/8" remaining

CL14                  Clip to 1/4" remaining

CL12                  Clip to 1/2" remaining

CL34                Clip to 3/4" remaining etc.

[vuk.vukanic]

@acbsdesign 

Not so optimistic about editing eny AS dialog (or any dialog boxes) with Action Recorder. I could only figgure out how to record actions (commands) and values that are alsow availabe via the command line.

Would be nice though....

[Masibanda-CE]

Does anyone know the commands to "swap sides" for AS dimension text?

AstM4CommMultiEdit??????????

[acbsdesign]

@Masibanda-CE 

Copied two dimension chains with text one on top and one on bottom with different dimension style for running dims to all prototypes and match properties, two clicks per execution. Good for beam and column dwg style.

It would be great though to know the command Swipe side.

[Masibanda-CE]

I'm also trying to figure out how to change dimension styles with a shortcut, something like this ...

_astm4commdetailing;user;22002;18;astm4commdetbystyle_

So far I haven't cracked it 😞 

[Anonymous]

Made one of these for us as well, fantastic time saver!

Many thanks! Just curious as to whether you had created a hotkey for this function as well??

We seem to have issues on making it work as perfectly as our icon does.

[Anonymous]

Regarding your Advance Trim/Extend to system Ilko

[acbsdesign]

@Anonymous 

Tried with action recorder and with a keyboard shortcut, did not work for some reason. I use it from the ACAD palette, and from the default menu.

[Anonymous]

I have created a tab on the Advance Tool Palette called "Custom Commands" with most of the ones I've adopted.

Some others are in my right click menu (Rotate Align, Bring Similar to Front and Fillet0), and some have even made it onto my ribbon (Fillet0 onto the fillet/chamfer flyout in Vanilla AutoCAD).

Screenshot of palette attached

[acbsdesign]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have created a tab on the Advance Tool Palette called "Custom Commands" with most of the ones I've adopted.

Some others are in my right click menu (Rotate Align, Bring Similar to Front and Fillet0), and some have even made it onto my ribbon (Fillet0 onto the fillet/chamfer flyout in Vanilla AutoCAD).

Screenshot of palette attached

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@Anonymous -looks good, you have a good feeling about colors and graphics overall.

What I have done is placing the "Corner cut-continuous" and "Bevel cut-continuous" in the "Features" Category-just an idea to place a custom command next to the out of the box command.  Fillet with R=0 may be next to the Fillet command, etc. 

I started to prefer now the Autocad Palettes-many, many blocks, bolts, notes, symbols etc. are placed there, the only con I see is the size of the tabs on 2K or on 4k monitor.

Played with scales for apps, the entire interface looks good, except for the tabs for the ACAD palettes.

On another note:

I have a tiny one - can be used when all dimensions on erection plans are adjusted-to be exploded with one click (we still have some minor issues with dimensions, despite what sales guys are saying, nevermind how highly rated sales guy is-they are all the same).

Explode Similar Objects:

^C^C_SelectSimilar \;_x

I will attach my humble icon too.

Regards.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Ilko,

I may have to rework the icons to suit the palette. All my icons at the moment are in the Ribbon button format of 16x16 pixels. Much nicer images can be used on the pallettes!

I was thinking the same over the commands, some of them would be better suited on different tabs alongside the standard ones. I just have all the new ones in one place until they become second nature, then I'll spread them around.

Sometimes I learn a new command but then don't need it for months and forget it.

I like the select similar and explode.

[acbsdesign · Accepted solution]

Ok, this is what I have-when a beam front view is getting overcrowded, the default dwg style creates multiple ordinate dimensions for holes in web and both flanges, causing front+top+bottom view to take more space than they would take if we do the dims manually.  It is time-consuming to move and clean, and it is a common practice hole pattern to be dimensioned to the first hole only. 

What I did is I made the marked dimension definition Absolute, assigned Co-directional, left, and after that I made it again ordinate. This way it will allow us to leave it co-directional.

The result is a cleaner front view, and taking less space.

Any other suggestions are very welcome.

Dwg styles comparison

Modified dimension chain

[acbsdesign]

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@AleckGiles wrote:

Hi,

It is not quite a combined command string but a great tip I use:-

Get a 4 button mouse (or any mouse with thumb buttons) and then use the mouse driver to set one of the thumb buttons to SHIFT. That allows you to use SHIFT+MMB to rotate the model and SHIFT+RMB for temporary snaps menu with one hand.

Windows standard tools don't let you assign Shift to a mouse button, and not all drivers do, or a generic mouse does not have its own driver. I use "X Mouse Button Control"; it is free and it works great. (Set the button to "Simulated Key {SHIFT}"). I am sure other similar tools are out there.

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@AleckGiles 

This works great!

It takes time to get used to, but it is great.

Fwd side button assigned as Shift button on the 3D Connexion mouse.

Backw. side -zoom to extends.

Thank you very much.

[acbsdesign]

@Anonymous 

@vuk.vukanic 

Can you figure out a command "Mark connected objects"-by clicking on a bolt-all connected objects to be highlighted (marked).

Thank you.

Mark connected objects

[Masibanda-CE · Accepted solution]

@acbsdesign 

This will mark an entire assembly when you select an object:

^C^C_AstM4CommUnmarkObjects;_AstM4SwitchReprMode MAINSTRUCTURE;_AstM4CommSelectMarkedObjects;_AstM4CommMarkConnMeans;ai_deselect

I reckon we'd have to find a replacement for MAINSTRUCTURE that would qualify connected objects (shop or site)

Cheers,

Gary

[acbsdesign]

@Masibanda-CE 

Thanks, Gary,

I was looking for a way to click on a bolt pattern and all connected plies to be marked / selected.

In bridge work this can be huge pain in the neck, sometimes 5-7 plies connected by 1-2 bolts, and another 8 adjacent bolts connecting only part of the plies.

Kind regards,

Ilko Dimitrov

ACBS

[Anonymous]

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@Masibanda-CE wrote:

I reckon we'd have to find a replacement for MAINSTRUCTURE that would qualify connected objects (shop or site)

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It would be good if you could extract the commands on the palette. Once you've created the button you can't get back to the contents.

[iwafb · Accepted solution]

"It would be good if you could extract the commands on the palette. Once you've created the button you can't get back to the contents."

The palette contents are stored in the AstPaletteData_User.xml file in the following folder (substitute AUS for localised country):

C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Advance Steel 2019\AUS\Steel\Support\Toolbars

You can edit this with Notepad (although a bit harsh) or use an editor like Notepad++ which is a bit easier visually...