My thoughts about Advance Steel

[MatthewAd]

Hello everybody,

I started using ADS in Jan this year so I am quite fresh, I do however worked with Tekla for over 9 years now,

It is hard to transition and the most frustrating thing for me is the speed, speed of generating drawings, sections, details, etc. plotting is another one, that takes a lot of time. I also feel that when modeling, it is like your model is so fragile, any wrong move and you are in trouble. I hope my experience will improve but so far I am disappointed.

Regards,

[bigcarl5000kg]

Hi @MatthewAd,

what was your reason for switching to Advance Steel?

Of course, it's a different world, but so are Tekla users very happy with Advance Steel too.

I would put it this way, give it not only time but also a chance.

If you lost a battle, you didn't lose the whole war.

You don't have the experience yet to make an conclusion.

Take it as a challenge and prove to yourself that you can do it.

We'd like to hear some news 🤜🤖🤛

[MatthewAd]

Hello,

Don't get me wrong, I am not giving up, I have a whole year to improve so this experience will only get better.

If I can get to 80% speed of Tekla in ADS then I will be happy and will switch completely to ADS.

Regards,

[EricOlson1973]

I know what you mean about the model being fragile.  There are many ways to inadvertently mess something up, so it's best to set up precautionary measures.  Lock objects onto levels, lock your grid layer, etc.  It's also best practice to keep node as your only running osnap.  It helps you to be sure you're not grabbing the wrong point without having to zoom all the way in every time you click.

[MatthewAd]

yes, that is true but what is going on with the gridlines? why the ADS crashes so often when you try to edit them?

[EricOlson1973]

I haven't had issues with the gridline crash, but that isn't to say I haven't had my fair share of crashes in general.  I have learned to save quite often when using AS.

[bigcarl5000kg]

Frequent crash can be connected with both SW and HW.

In my case it was e.g. user rights in Windows, GPU driver, ... Since then, it rarely happens to me.

[bigcarl5000kg]

what are your most common, worst, unacceptable problems?

[MatthewAd]

It definitely feels that it is easier to model in 3d view. 

[MatthewAd]

Modeling in 2d plane - very clunky. Drawing creation and section, detail creation in drawing mode - so slow, every time you create detail or section, it ends up flying off somewhere far away from the main view. Time it takes to create drawings and batch plot them, gridlines. Lastly, very often, when I am ready to plot the layout will change and mess my plot so I have to reset it by using window setting. Obviously this is just the stuff I can think of, while sitting in a pub and drinking beer.

Regards,

[EricOlson1973]

Modeling in 2D is much easier if you create and activate a level.  It ensures that everything will stick to the intended plane.

Also, if you aren't aware of the special gridline intersection osnap (it's in the right-click menu along with a couple other special AS osnaps), it is quite handy.

[bigcarl5000kg]

I haven't used 2D modeling since 1998, when I used "3D" in Autocad for a lawn-mower model... 3D modeling is the only solution for me 😁😉

[MatthewAd]

Levels, yes that will work but when you want to work on a section in 2d, the things get a little exciting for me.

[MatthewAd]

yes that will work but when you want to work on a section in 2d, the things get a little exciting for me.

Regards,

[MatthewAd]

I need to get used to it more, I struggle when I use reference models, PDF or DWG, I like to have plans I can work on and then check 3d if everything is ok, old school😀

[filip_denolf]

Hi,

for me its the other way around, i'm an AS user for 7 years now, before that i got 10 years of parabuild experience (an lesser expanded program but also on an autocad based program)

Now i need to expand my drawings with concrete reinforcements and started with tekla.

But i found it a very stupid program to work with.

very time consuming for steel.

they told me nobody can use the full potential of the program because its so big.

now i know better, nobody can because they make it so hard to understand it, i could be good but they need to rewrite the interface. (the same of 20 years ago)

i can draw a steel project 4x faster with AS

[bigcarl5000kg]

Hi @filip_denolf,

super experience 👍👍👍👍

[acbsdesign]

---

@filip_denolf wrote:

Hi,

for me its the other way around, i'm an AS user for 7 years now, before that i got 10 years of parabuild experience (an lesser expanded program but also on an autocad based program)

Now i need to expand my drawings with concrete reinforcements and started with tekla.

But i found it a very stupid program to work with.

very time consuming for steel.

they told me nobody can use the full potential of the program because its so big.

now i know better, nobody can because they make it so hard to understand it, i could be good but they need to rewrite the interface. (the same of 20 years ago)

i can draw a steel project 4x faster with AS

---

@filip_denolf 

Thank you for sharing. 

[pinnacledrafting]

@MatthewAd ,

Like you, I am also a previous users of other 3D systems. I have used StruCAD (bought by tekla recently), SDS/2, Prosteel, Asteel, and Tekla. All for several years each. While each system has something they do exceptionaly well, no one system is perfect and will give you 100% satisfaction. My reason for switching to Advance Steel was several reasons. 1. The price was hard to beat. 2. The drawings are more customizable and they look great (for the most part).

3. It does stairs and railing better than any system I have seen and I do a lot of stairs/railing.

4. The learning curve is small if you already know AutoCAD and if you come to this forum once in awhile you can pick up on tips and tricks along the way. (I've been using AS since 2007 and I'm still learning things)

I could go on but I won't

In short, give it a chance and you will see what a powerful system it is even though Autodesk hasn't been paying enough attention to development as of late.

Bill

[MatthewAd]

Hi Bill,

It is true that the price is hard to beat. I just wished the drawing creation was quicker and less clumsy. I am getting better at it day by day so all is good.

Regards,