Our company has recently switched from Revit to Advance Steel to create structural design drawings . We have done this because our AS Steel models "talk" better to other disciplines and the software they use.
As a Revit user for many years it has been an adjustment to get AS to do what I want it to, especially because AS is geared toward fabrication drawings. For the most part I have got the drawings to look how I want. However there are several things that would make AS much easier to produce engineering design drawings. Here are just some ideas that would make our job as designers MUCH easier/faster.
- More concrete options- especially reinforcing
- as of now, I have to cut my foundation sections/details and draw the reinforcing in 2D. This is especially hard because all of the views are in paper space and scaled to whatever scale I need. Therefore, I have to draw reinforcing and scale it down to fit the view. I would LOVE to see reinforcing added to AS.
- More concrete- example slab turndown edge (right now I have to use a 3D solid to show the foundation geometry of my foundation)
- Section cuts and Sections names (basically I would like it to function like Revit)
- example- If I cut a section on a plan view. I would like to be able to take that section and put it on another drawing and still have the views "linked"
- I would like to have more control on the sections cut symbol. (Both the symbol and the Section title)
- NOTE: I have revised the AS section cut symbol to be more like our company CAD standard, however, I still can’t get the sheet reference to show up (and it doesn’t matter because the section view can only be on the sheet it was cut on)
- My work around is to use 2D AutoCAD attribute blocks and "fake" in my section cut bubble and section titles
- Building Grids
- I would like to only have to put in one set of grids and be able to see the same grids on every level
- For example: on a building, I have to copy those grids up to every level of the building. If I change the grid callout number on one level, I have to make sure I change it on every other level of the building.
- I would like to be able to put in one set of grids (say at ground level) and then be able to see them on every plan/elevation view I create.
- Parametric Dimensions
- I have given up on parametric dimensions. I have heard they are better with AS 2018, but I am still have TONS of issues with dimensions moving or disappearing after I have adjusted them to be where I want them.
- I have researched and tried everything I could online (many other users have this same issue) to make these dimensions work. I am STILL having issues!
In General, I think that this software is very powerful and has great Modeling tools. I would like to see AS start investing more into the drawing creation. After all, this is our deliverable. The drawing is what we are getting paid to produce. With the current AS software, we have to work really hard to produce a good, clean drawing.