To send Advance Steel drawings to someone with plain AutoCAD, explode them first: open the Document Manager, select the up-to-date drawings, click Add to Explode and OK. Advance Steel saves static copies in a Details Exploded folder. Send those files, and keep working in the originals.
Sooner or later an architect, GC or engineer asks for your shop drawings as DWG files, and they only have plain AutoCAD. Advance Steel drawings stay linked to the 3D model. That’s great while you’re detailing, because the drawings update with the model, but it means someone without Advance Steel may not see them properly. Exploding makes a plain AutoCAD copy.
Can AutoCAD open Advance Steel drawings?
They’re DWG files, so AutoCAD can open them, but the linked drawing objects may not display or behave properly without Advance Steel. AutoCAD users can install the free Advance Steel Object Enabler to view Advance Steel objects, but an exploded copy is the safest thing to send, because it’s just lines, text and dimensions.
How do I export Advance Steel drawings to AutoCAD?
- Go to Home tab > Documents panel > Document Manager.
- In the Document Manager, expand Details and select Up to Date to work with all current drawings.
- If you only want some of them, select those drawings while holding Shift or Ctrl.
- On the right side of the Document Manager, click Add to Explode.
- A new Batch Explode category appears in the left pane with the drawings you picked. The originals stay where they were.
- Click OK in the Document Manager.
- Advance Steel asks you to confirm. Click OK.
The exploded drawings are saved separately in a folder called Details Exploded:
Send the files from that folder, not the originals.
What to check before sending drawings
- Explode only drawings that are up to date. If the model has changed, update the drawings first, or you’ll send out old information.
- The exploded files are static. They won’t update if you change the model later, so after a revision, explode and send them again.
- Keep working in the original drawings. Never edit the exploded copies and expect the changes to come back into Advance Steel.
What about the 3D model?
The exploded files are 2D drawings. If someone needs the 3D model, there are better formats: IFC for most BIM programs, a Navisworks export for coordination (see export Advance Steel to Navisworks), or the Revit link if they use Revit. PDFs are often all a GC needs for review.
More on the relationship between the two programs: Advance Steel vs. AutoCAD.
Before you send drawings out, make sure your custom title block is set. The full drawing workflow is in creating drawings in Advance Steel.
