In order to create drawings using Autodesk Advance Steel, user-defined or predefined drawing styles are used. The name of a drawing style consists of abbreviations. It is useful to know what the abbreviation means, in order to use the correct drawing style and to obtain the desired result.
All drawing styles are stored in the Drawing Style Manager, and the most frequently used can be found in the Quick Documents.
The drawing styles are displayed in two main categories: Advance (they cannot be modified) and User (they can be modified, deleted and new ones can be added).
Depending on the Autodesk Advance Steel installation language, the drawing styles are organized in specific categories. For example, on the English International version there are seven categories, of which three contain drawing styles for general arrangement (GA), one for single parts (Sp) and the other three for main parts (Mp).
A drawing style contains one or more views.
- The drawing styles used to create a general arrangement (GA) contain only one view, because they depend on the UCS orientation in the model or on the "camera" object which needs to be selected.
- The drawing styles used to create the single part drawings or the main part drawings contain one or more views, cut sections, endplate views and welding preparation sections. Also, the displayed views depend on the "Necessary View Wizard".
In order to understand where the abbreviations come from, we will further analyze a few drawing styles as samples:
⇒ The views from the "1 - GA 3D View" category:
• "View" is a word used for the detail style that depends on the UCS orientation (view in XY plan), without limits in the front/rear direction (+Z/-Z axis). The detail styles from this category are especially used to obtain 3D views if the model is isometrically-oriented and the UCS is set on "View".
• "Camera" is a word used for the detail style that requires selecting a "camera" object from the model in order to obtain a view in a drawing. For those drawing styles, specific drawing processes, which depend on the camera type, are created.
• "Sel.Parts" means that only the selected parts are displayed in the view.
• "V" means Visible. The detailed elements (beams, plates, bolts, etc.) are displayed only with visible lines.
• "NoDim" is a specific word for the views without dimensions.
• "Mp" means that only the main parts are labeled.
• "PosSmGuid" informs about the label content, which consists only in the resulted position after numbering the assemblies. "PosSm" refers to the text height for the position number label, which in this case is small, and "Guid" means that a leader line is created for marking the labeled element. In other drawing styles, the abbreviations "NoLab" (which means without labels), or "Name PosSmGuid" appear, to display the section/plate name (for example HEA 100/PL 10), too.
⇒ The node details from the "2 - GA Detail View" category
• "Detail" is a word used for drawing styles that are used to create node details. To apply this drawing style, two diagonal points need to be selected in order to obtain a view. Also, the drawing styles from this category are UCS orientation dependent.
• "VH" means Visible Hidden. The detailed elements (beams, plates, bolts, etc.) are displayed with visible and hidden lines, if necessary.
• "MpSp" means that the main parts and the single parts are labeled.
⇒ The plan views/elevations from the "3 - GA Elevation View" category
• "Intersection" is a word used for the drawing styles which depend on the UCS orientation (view in XY plan) and have limits in the front/rear direction (+Z/-Z axis)
• "F8R0" refers to the display elements placed in Front (+Z) and Rear (-Z). Particularly, F8 refers to a Front infinite view, meaning that all elements from +Z axis direction are displayed in the resulted view, and R0 means that the elements from the -Z axis are not displayed. "FR500" means that the elements which are 500 mm in front and 500 mm behind in relation to the XY plan are displayed in the view.
• "VHA" means Visible Hidden Axis. The beams are displayed with visible lines, hidden lines and profile axis. The other elements which don't have axes (such as plates) are displayed with visible and hidden lines.
• "GrSy" means Grid System. If the building grid is displayed in the drawing, then the dimension lines between axes are created. Also, if the beam system lines are displayed in the drawing, then specific dimension lines are created. "Bo" means Bolts. If bolts are displayed in the drawing, then specific dimension lines are created.
⇒ The single parts details from the "4 – Singlepart" category
• The drawing styles from this category can be used only for the elements which are numbered with single parts positions. In this category there are specific drawing styles for various model objects like beams, cambered beams, curved beams, folded beams, purlins, plates and gratings.
• "Sp" means Single part
• "Beam front, top, bottom" means that for a beam, three views (front, top to bottom if necessary, bottom to top also if necessary) and a detail for weld preparations are created. All the drawing styles from this category that are not UCS dependent create front views. The resulted views are according with the internal UCS of the element.
• "1:1" and "1:10" are the default scales used to display the views for some of the drawing styles from this category
• "CX" means Clipping in X-direction and "CO" means Clipping Off.
⇒ The assembly details from the "5 - Assembly" category
• The drawing styles from this category can be used only for the elements which are numbered with assembly positions.
• The drawing styles from this category are specific for some model objects like Columns, Tie Beams, Cambered Beams, Curved Beams, gratings and plates, which are main parts in an assembly.
• It is very important to know which the main part is in an assembly, because the resulted views are dependent on the main part's internal UCS.
• Also, in this category, there are drawing styles that can be used for any model object which is a main part and depends on the model's UCS orientation (for example: "Mainpart – UCS").
⇒ The stair and railing details from the "6 - Stairs and Railings" category.
• The drawing styles from this category are specially created for stair and railing assembly details.
• The drawing styles that contain additional views (Front, Top, AutoIntersections) are dependent on the main part's internal UCS, and the drawing styles named with "at UCS" are dependent on the UCS orientation in the model.
⇒ The special assembly details from the "7 - Special Structural Parts" category.
• The assembly details from this category are created for special model objects (compression pipes, cross bracings, picket railings, railings and stringers).
• The development views at the tube ends can be displayed if the drawing styles that contain "Templates" are used.
