Advance Steel Tips & Tricks

How to Space Beams and Columns Evenly in Advance Steel

By ArturUpdated 2 min read

To space beams exactly in Advance Steel, draw plain AutoCAD lines where the members go, at the spacing you want, then turn them into beams with Beam from Line. Use OFFSET for a fixed spacing and DIVIDE to split a span into equal spaces.

In Revit you have quite a few ways to space members exactly. In Advance Steel there are fewer built-in options, but there’s a simple trick that works every time: draw plain lines at the spacing you want, then turn them into beams with Beam from Line. Below are three ways to get the lines where you want them.

Method 1: Draw the spacing with lines

  1. Type L and press Enter to start the LINE command.
LINE command typed in Advance Steel
  1. For the first point, type 0,0,0 (with the commas) and press Enter.
  2. Type the line length. In the US, that’s in inches.
Entering the line length in Advance Steel
  1. Keep drawing at a right angle. This short line is your spacing.
Perpendicular line representing the beam spacing
  1. Press Enter, then draw the line for the second beam parallel to the first one.
Line for the second beam drawn parallel to the first

The drawing should look like this:

Finished line drawing for two beams

How does Beam from Line work?

  1. Select the lines that represent beams, and click Beam from Line in the Objects panel on the ribbon.
Beam from Line command on the ribbon
  1. Advance Steel asks whether to delete the selected lines or keep them along with the new beams.
Prompt asking whether to delete the selected lines

If you click No, you can delete the lines later.

  1. The two beams are created and the dialog box opens. Pick the section you want.
Beam properties dialog box for choosing the section
  1. Close the dialog. The beams are spaced exactly by the length of the short line. You can check it with a dimension (DIM):
Dimension confirming the beam spacing

Method 2: Use OFFSET for a fixed spacing

  1. Draw a line with LINE.
Line drawn with the LINE command
  1. Type O for OFFSET.
OFFSET command typed
  1. Enter the offset distance, then click the side where the new line should go.
Specifying the offset distance
  1. Press Enter. The new line is drawn at that distance.
New line drawn at the offset distance
  1. Turn the lines into beams with Beam from Line, as above.
Beam from Line command used on the offset lines

The beams come out at the spacing you entered:

Beams created at the offset spacing

Method 3: Use DIVIDE for equal spaces

When you need a bunch of beams at equal spacing, dividing a line is the fastest way.

  1. Draw a line across the bay, select it, and type DIV (DIVIDE). Enter the number of segments.
Entering the number of segments for DIVIDE
  1. The line gets point marks at each division.
Line divided with point marks at each division

If you can’t see the marks, change the point style with PTYPE. Use the Node object snap to snap to them.

  1. Draw new lines from the marked points, or copy the beam line to each point.
Lines drawn from the marked points
  1. Select the lines and run Beam from Line.
Beam from Line on the equally spaced lines

The beams are drawn at equal spacing:

Beams spaced equally in Advance Steel

Which method should I use?

You know… Use
The exact spacing (like 6′-0″ o.c.) OFFSET
The span and how many spaces DIVIDE
Odd spacings from the drawings Lines drawn with typed lengths

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