Custom Connection Templates have been a useful part of our workflow. However, we have found many situations where they are limited. Additional enhancements to the custom connection options in Advance Steel would open up many possibilities for users.
The biggest issue is the lack of parametric custom connection options that reference another object. Currently there are only two options for this: “beam on object reference to object” and “plate on object reference to object”. These options only allow the added beam/plate to be on the flanges of the members. The following options would go a long way towards opening up possible custom connections:
- Beam/plate on object reference to object along the web (parallel and perpendicular options)
- Bolt/anchor/hole/shearstud on object reference to object (with option to attach other objects)
- Ability to use use a command similar to arraypath along an advance steel beam, plate, etc. (perhaps this should be a separate feature request...)
It should be possible to replicate any standard connection by putting a couple of custom connections together to make a Custom Connection Template. Currently this is not possible due to limited custom connection options. If this were possible, we would be able to make almost any connection we can dream up.