To open an Advance Steel DWG model in pure AutoCAD®, you need to explode the model to ACIS. Prior to this, all the elements that cannot be exploded need to be manually deleted using the "Quick Select" function.
- Open the "Quick Select" dialog box (Tools > Quick Select...).
- From the "Object type" drop-down list you must select the type of elements you want to delete.
All the types with names containing the "AST" prefix are Advance Steel objects.
You need to keep the following types: ASTGRID, ASTBEAM, ASTBEAMFEATURE, ASTPLATE, ASTSCREWBOLTPATTERN, ASTPLATEFEATURE, ASTBEAMHOLEPATTERN, ASTPLATEHOLEPATTER.
All the other Advance Steel object types must be deleted manually.
- From the "Operator" drop-down list, choose "Select All"
- Click "OK" to select the corresponding elements in the model.
- Press the "Delete" key to delete the selected objects from the model.
- Once you have deleted all elements that cannot be exploded, select the remaining elements in the model, right click and use the "Explode to ACIS" command.
- Save the dwg and close it.
- In a new dwg file, use the function: "Delete all AS objects from external dwg".
- Select the dwg you want to explode and click "Open".
- Close Advance Steel and open AutoCAD®.
- Enter "demandload" on the command line and set the value to 2.
- Open the exploded DWG file.
- Save it, then re-use "demandload" and set the value to 3.
The file can now be opened in pure AutoCAD® on any computer and it cannot be rolled back to the Advance Steel model.
