Nested structural framing constraints in family

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I'm trying to nested structure framing family or beam into a new family. I would like to control the distance of 2 columns and the C channel will stretched with between them. I made it work when the nested beam is the family is not shared. but once I checked shared and load into a project, the cross beam member will lost its constraints. Any suggestion? Thanks 

[RDAOU]

@Anonymous

Depending on how you modeled the cross beam and the type of parameters you used therein;

1. In the Host Family, you need to associate the length parameter of the nested cross beam with the parameter for the distance between the two columns
2. OR nested cross beam uses instance parameters, you need to lock constrain the shape handles of the cross beam to the reference plane constraining the colimns

If you load the family I could put both options for you in a screencast

[Rab_i]

@Anonymous  Any information on this issue? I ran into same situation and would like to know what Autodesk has to say or some kind of documentation clarifying the behavior and what we need to avoid doing would be super helpful.

[ToanDN]

Nested and shared structural framing families will return to their original dimensions once loaded in project.

Documentation clarifying:  DNK (Do Not Know).    The conclusion comes from testing and reporting by multiple users on this forum.

How to avoid:

- Model directly in project and create groups

- Or, do not use OOTB structural framing as nested/shared families.  Create your own families from generic/generic line based with the same section profiles used by the structural families, then change the category to structural framing.

[Rab_i]

Thank you ToanDN!

It seems like it is undocumented limitation. I have the Generic Model saved
as Structural Framing family and its working. But then when I export these
families into Advance Steel, they are unrecognized as standard steel
profiles which doesn't help in Auto Documentation in Advance Steel. We are
a metal stud and track panel company who are trying to use panel families
with nested studs and tracks. Modeling individual studs and tracks are out
of question.

Thank you!

[ToanDN]

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@Rab_i wrote:
Thank you ToanDN!

It seems like it is undocumented limitation. I have the Generic Model saved
as Structural Framing family and its working. But then when I export these
families into Advance Steel, they are unrecognized as standard steel
profiles which doesn't help in Auto Documentation in Advance Steel. We are
a metal stud and track panel company who are trying to use panel families
with nested studs and tracks. Modeling individual studs and tracks are out
of question.

Thank you!

---

My guess is that you may need to transfer the structural data from the true structural family to the (generic) structural family.  But I neither use Advance Steel nor work in structural engineering field so take my words with 2 grains of salt.

Attached is an example.