General Arrangements drawings in Advance Steel use Cameras. These Cameras need to be created before you start producing the drawings. You can create the Cameras using two tools available in the Advance Steel Tool Palette. Below you will find all the information you need when creating Cameras in Advance Steel.
Table of Contents
Accessing the Cameras Tool in Advance Steel
To access the Cameras tool, first you need to open the Advance Steel Tool Palette. You can access the Tool Palette in the Home tab:
Once you have the Tool Palette opened, go to Tools, and the Cameras will be in the middle of the palette, as shown in the screenshot and circled in red:
The tool on the left is called Create Camera, UCS and the camera tool on the right is Create Camera(s) at Node. Let’s talk about creating cameras on the UCS (User Coordinate System) first.
Create Camera, UCS
You can create a Camera looking at the XY plane of the current UCS from the Z direction. It is necessary to align the X- and Y-axes of the UCS before you start the Camera on the UCS Tool.
The orientation of the drawing depends on the orientation of these axes, as shown in the picture below:
Using the Tool
When you activate the tool, you will be asked to locate the Point. This is the point on the X,Y plane of the current UCS where the camera shall be created. When you specify this point, the camera will be created, and the dialog box will open:
Properties Tab
You can define the camera type and description. When you do not specify the proper camera type, it will not be used to generate drawings using Drawing Processes.
- Type– Specify the type of camera, which, by default, is selected to None. You can specify it to be: Anchor Plan, Intersection, Node, Overview, or Roof Plan.
- Description– Add some description to your camera.
- Detail Styles Overrides– Override the style and scale that will be used when creating the drawings using this camera. If you are going to be using this camera to create the Drawing Processes, you shouldn’t change anything because the processes automatically define the style and scale used to generate the drawings.
Detail Box Tab
Define the scale of the camera and specify the clipping of the camera planes in various directions:
- z-Viewport– Define the front and back clipping of the camera in the Z
- xy-Viewport– Specify the clipping in the XY plane, which is, by default, selected to Automatic.
Display TypeTab
You can control the visibility of the camera in the graphic window here. When you select OFF, it will turn off the visibility of this camera. Standard is selected as the default option.
Create Camera(s) at Node
Create your camera at the selected node – a Connection Box:
Using the Tool
When you engage the tool, you will be asked to select the object. Once you select your connection box and press ENTER, several planes and arrows will show up, and Advance Steel will ask you to select Objects:
Now, it is your turn to select the arrow of the direction from which you want to view the joint in the camera. Once your selection is done, press ENTER. Your camera will be created.
The camera has the Node option selected in the Type list in the Camera dialog box:
The clipping of this camera type is defined automatically, based on the size of the selected Connection Box. If you want to modify the clipping of this camera, double-click on the camera to adjust the settings:
Creating Various Types of Cameras - The Procedures
Here is a cheat sheet of the exact procedures of how to create different types of Camera views:
Creating the Camera on the UCS Procedure:
- Align the UCS the way that the X,Y plane of the UCS matches the base plates of the anchor bolts
- Start the Create Camera, UCS tool from the Advance Steel Tool Palette> Tools tab
- You will be asked to locate a point
- Click on the end point of the bottom face of the anchor bolt base plate – the camera will be placed at this location
- The Advance Steel Camera dialog box will open
- From the Typelist, select the desired type, such as Anchor Plan or Intersection or other
- Close the dialog box
Creating the Camera on the Node Procedure:
- Turn on the visibility of the Connection Boxeslayer
- Start the Create Camera(s), Node tool from the Advance Steel Tool Palette > Tools tab
- You will be asked to select the object. Select the Connection Boxof the joint you want to detail and press ENTER
- From the various planes and arrows displayed, select the arrow of the view you want to detail and press ENTER
- The Camerawill be created with the Node type automatically selected
Conclusion
Generating camera views in Advance Steel is a pretty straightforward procedure and you will use them often in your work to better show all the necessary details of your model.
You might be also interested in how to create Drawings Based on the Cameras. You can access my tutorial here.