Adding Custom Sections to the

Advance Steel Library

We are getting quite a few questions about adding custom profiles into the Advance
Steel library. The process of doing it is actually quite simple. You just need to create
2D profile of your sections. In most cases, you might already have the 2D shape that
you have drawn in AutoCAD LT or something that you can use.

The only catch is to make sure the profile shape is on the right layer. Also, you need to
make sure you create a frame around the shape as well on the right layer.

To make it easy for you, Advance Steel has placed the tool buttons in the right
sequence for you to follow.

I am explaining below the steps to add custom profiles and then to use them.

Adding Custom Profiles

1. Start a new Advance Steel file.

As I mentioned earlier, the process is to start with a frame inside which you will draw
the 2D profile of your custom section. This needs to be done on the layer specifically
designated by Advance Steel for creating frame.

2. From the Extended Modeling ribbon tab > User Section ribbon panel > click
the Frame tool, as shown below; this makes the Hype_Frame layer current.
Tip: The sequence in which the buttons appear in the flyout above is the sequence
you need to follow. Good on Advance Steel programmers for doing it like this.

3. Using the Polyline tool available below the Frame flyout, draw a polyline frame that
defines the area inside which you will draw the 2D profile of your section. In my case,
I drew the rectangle of 300x300 size, as shown below.

Next, you
need to draw the 2D shape of your profile inside this frame. The shape could include
an outer profile and an inner profile (for hollow sections) or just the outer profile (for
C, I, or similar sections). Also, Advance Steel allows you to create a normal shape and
an exact shape, if you want. The exact shape could include fillets or chamfers at the
corners. The important thing to remember is that the shape needs to be a closed object.

But before that, you need to make sure you change the layer.

4. From the Frame flyout shown in the first figure above, click the Outer
contour button; the Hype_OuterSection layer is made current.

5. Using the Rectangle, Polygon, Polyline, or Circle tool, draw the shape of your custom
profile. In my case, I copied an existing shape from a drawing, converted into a
polyline, closed it, moved it to the Hyper_OuterSection layer, and then placed it inside
the frame I drew in step 3. So the shape looks like the one shown below:

I also have an
exact shape of this profile that has fillets on all the inside corners. So to draw that
profile, I will first change the layer.
6. From the Outer contour flyout (which was originally the Frame flyout), click
the Exact outer contour button; the Hype_ExactOuterSection layer is made current.

7. Draw the exact shape of the profile. I copied the outer shape, added the fillets on the
inside, changed it to the Hype_ExactOuterSection layer and then placed it on top of the
original shape, as shown below. Note that because of the shapes being the same, you
only see the fillets of the exact shape.

Similarly,
if the section you want to add has inner contour as well, you can draw it by first
making the relevant layer current using the flyout I mentioned in step 2.

Next, you need to add Section Class and Section Name. These are important as these
will be displayed in the list while inserting the sections.

8. From the Exact outer contour flyout (originally Frame flyout), click the Section
class button; the Hype_TypeName layer is made current.
9. Using the Single Line Text tool, type the section class. This tool is available in
the Rectangle flyout below the Section class button. The following image shows the
section class I added. To define the text height, I just used two points.

10. From
the Section class flyout > click the Section name button; Hype_SectionName layer is
made current.

11. Using the Single Line Text tool, enter the section name, as shown below.
The next step in the process is to add the reference axes at various corners of the
section profile.

12. Using various tools in the Reference axis left-top flyout shown below, place the
reference axes at various corners and midpoints of the section. It is a good idea to turn
on selection cycling for this purpose so you are selecting the right profile for placing
the axes.
My section, after placing the reference axes, is shown below.
13. Repeat steps 2 through to 12 to create additional sizes of this section. In my case, I
created (or actually stretched the original section to save time) two more profile sizes,
as shown below.
If you want, you can also use the Add coordinates button in the same ribbon panel to
add coordinate system to the profiles. I am going to skip this step here as for my
sections, I don't really need it.

Next, you need to generate all these sections.

14. Click the Generate all sections tools shown below.

If there are no dramas in the sections, the following message will be displayed for
every section you created, suggesting that you did a great job!!!
Inserting Custom Sections

The custom sections you added are listed under the Other profiles category. So you
need to make sure you select that category while placing the sections. The following
are the steps:

1. Place a section using one of the Advance Steel tools.

2. In the dialog box, from the first flyout in the Section list, select Other
profiles and then select the name and size of your custom section you
want to place, as shown below:

Didn't I say it was really easy to add your custom profiles :)

 LikeAdding Cus tom Section s to the Advance Steel Library

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FollowDeepak Maini

Deepak Maini
Product Manager - BIM/MFG Solutions at Cadgroup Australia
37 articles
7 comments

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1y

Nicolas Gonzalez
BIM Manager en MWH Global
Thanks Deepak, very usefull, I am trying to incorporate AS to our company, but there is something I cannot
figure out yet. Im from Chile and here we use very similar beams and columns (ICHA standard) to, for
example, W-Wide Flange Column, and I am trying to add those new section profiles through AS database,
because they are tens of different sizes for shapes H, T, L, C et See more
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1y

Rodrigo Ledezma
Structural's Steel Engineer
Its usefull when you have to create one profile, but when I want to create several more than 100 profiles,
drawing each one is to much work. Are there some procedure to make it directly in the Data Base? to make
profiles that already exist in the Data Base, but with differents dimensions.