Detail Item Manager

Detail Item Manager



The Detail Item Manager creates and manages detail items such as the connections. We need this function to create exploded drawings of the connection with different viewing direction & detail information such as dimensions, location of bolts, welds, etc. Placing the mouse cursor over the Detail Item Manager will reveal the tooltip describing the scope and steps of this macro.


These are the steps to create a connection detail item :

  1. Click & drag a window, then press CTRL + M to select all components of the connections, including all the plate, bolts & welds

  2. Pick Detail Item Manager icon which located under Steel tab.

  3. In the Detail Item Manager :

    1. Type the name, e.g.  “Con1” at the bottom
    2. Pick  Add >  Con 1 will be added
    3. Pick Select Objects
    4. Select the main elements of this connection, i.e. beam, the column & the 2 braces
    5. Right-click


  4. A “detail box” appears around the connection in the 3D view (as shown above)
    This box controls the various directional views that we want to show in the drawings. The views are shown in 3 colors, red, blue and green. Each color has a front & back view. Hence, there are total of 6 possible views.  The view names can be changed by double-clicking on the View name – so if the top of the connection is not the actual top, change the name. 
  5. Pick the Views by checking it, e.g. pick Front & Right only
  6. Pick Filter Box to show only the connection elements (Restore Filter will restore all elements)
  7.  Click on the “+” icon to add a 3D view of the connection (if desired)
  8. Close to save & exit the dialog

We can then proceed to generate the connection drawings.



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