Material Copy ( Modeling )

Tool summary :

  • Can be used in Modeling to copy one or more materials, bolts or welds onto the same member or onto another or various other members.
  • The tool can generate multiple copies of materials, bolts or welds in a repeated grid pattern for which you designate X spacing and Y spacing, with options for rotation and mirroring.
  • Copied materials are identified as " User created material " on the General Information window.
  • An alternative to Material Copy is to use the Repeat mouse binding for Add Material . To copy one or several materials, you can use Save Assembly together with Add Assembly .
  • See the step-by-step instructions .

The Material Copy window :

Also see :

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Copy function: ' Single ' or ' Linear ' or ' Fill ' or ' Mirror image ' or ' Mirror about plane perpendicular to screen ' or ' Mirror about arbitrary plane '.

' Single ' generates a single copy of the materials, bolts or welds selected in step 1e or 3 with the option to set an " Angle of rotation ." You must locate a base point ( step 5 ), a member the material is to be attached to ( step 6 ), and a copy reference point ( step 7 ).

VIDEO A ' Single ' copy of material and bolts is canceled after the preview of the copied material reveals that the result is undesirable. You need to right-click then choose " Cancel " twice (or press the Esc key twice) in order to end the operation. Before beginning the operation, the selection filter is set to ' Legacy Default '. (Recorded in SDS2 Detailing , v2015.)

VIDEO A ' Single ' copy of a material is done multiple times to the same member, then to two other members. Construction Line Add Material is used at the beginning of the video to get an INCL point for locating a base point ( step 5 ). Pressing Esc must be done two times to end the operation because pressing Esc once is what gives you the option to change the member that the material is added to. (Recorded in SDS2 Detailing , v2015.)

" Z filtering " is turned on in this example of the copying of a shear stud (' Single ') on a rectangular plate. The work plane is the surface of the rectangular plate. Snap To Surface was used to go to that surface.
EXPT is used o locate a base point ( step 5 ). Since " Z filtering " is on, that exact point is translated to the work plane elevation (the plate surface). Tip : Instead of turning on " Z filtering ," " Z=0 " could have been set in the Offset Controls .
After selecting the member ( step 6 ), Offset Controls set the copy reference point ( step 7 ) to be ' 4 ' inches from the base point.
The results of the ' Single ' copy are shown. The newly copied shear stud is 4 inches away from the original shear stud it is a copy of. See step 8 .
Alternatives: INCL could have been used in the above example if construction lines were laid out. VTPT could have been used instead of EXPT and would have located a point at the correct work plane elevation (the top of the surface) without having to use " Z filtering ." Instead of turning on " Z filtering ," " Z=0 " could have been set in the Offset Controls .

 ' Linear ' generates multiple " Copies " of the selected materials, bolts or welds in the " Linear copy direction " that you specify.

VIDEO The material copy function ' Linear ' is used to copy shear studs onto different plates. Notice that one shear stud was copied over. The copy operation will not copy over the originally selected material, but it does not check for other materials. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not get clashes with materials other than the originally selected to-be-copied materials. (Recorded in SDS2 Detailing , v2015.)

Here are three examples of the copying of a shear stud (' Linear ') on a rectangular plate. For all three examples, the work plane is the surface of the rectangular plate. Snap To Surface was used to go to that surface. The " Linear copy direction " was set to ' Horizonta l' with " X-spacing " set to ' 3 ' and " Copies " set to ' 2 '.
Example 1:
VTPT is used to left-click ( Locate ) a base point at the elevation of the surface that the shear stud is on ( step 5 ).
After selecting the member ( step 6 ), Offset Controls set the copy reference point ( step 7 ) to be ' 3 ' inches from the base point.
The results of the ' Linear ' copy are shown. The leftmost of the two copied shear studs is 3 inches away from the original shear stud. See step 8 .
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Example 2:
The user makes the same choices on the edit window as in example 1 and also copies to the same member ( step 6 ), but locates the same point for both the base point ( step 5 ) and the copy reference point ( step 7 ).

The results of the ' Linear ' copy are shown. Even though " Copies " was set to ' 2 ', the tool does not copy a new shear stud over the original shear stud, and only one new shear stud is added -- a nice feature. See step 8 .
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Example 3:
The user made the same choices on the edit window as in example 1, but did a right-click ( Return ) in step 5 . Steps 6 and 7 are skipped.
The " X-spacing " of 3 inches is copied twice, as specified, resulting in a total of 2 shear stud copies.

 ' Fill ' generates multiple copies of the selected materials to fill the " X-spacing ," X number of " Copies " and " Y-spacing " and Y number of " Copies ."

VIDEO The material copy function ' Fill ' is used to copy shear studs onto different plates. (Recorded in SDS2 Detailing , v2015.)

For these three examples of copying a shear stud (' Fill ') on a rectangular plate, the work plane is the surface of the rectangular plate. Snap To Surface was used to go to that surface. The " X-spacing " is set to ' 3 ' and " Copies " set to ' 2 '. The " Y-spacing " is set to ' -2 ' with the " Copies " set to ' 2 '.
Example 1:
VTPT is used o locate a base point at the elevation the surface the shear stud is on ( step 5 ).
After selecting the member ( step 6 ), Offset Controls set the copy reference point ( step 7 ) to be 3 inches in a positive direction (right) from the base point.
The results of the ' Fill ' copy are shown. The upper, left shear stud of the four copied shear studs is 3 inches to the right of the original shear stud it is a copy of. See step 8 .
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Example 2:
The user makes the same choices on the edit window as in example 1 and also copies to the same member ( step 6 ), but locates the same point as the base point ( step 5 ) and the copy reference point ( step 7 ).

The results of the ' Fill ' copy are shown. Though the X " Copies " and Y " Copies " are both set to ' 2 ', the tool does not copy a new shear stud over the original shear stud. Only three new shear studs are added -- a nice feature. See step 8 .

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Example 3:
The user makes the same choices on the edit window as in example 1, but right-clicks ( Return ) in step 5 .
The results of the ' Fill ' copy are shown. The X " Copies " and Y " Copies " are both set to ' 2 '. In the results shown, 2 is the number of spaces in the X direction and 2 is the number of spaces in the Y direction. See step 8 .

' Mirror image ' creates a material, bolt or weld that is a mirror image of each originally selected material, bolt or weld. When the " Angle of rotation " is ' 0 ', the copy is mirrored across a vertical plane that is perpendicular to the work plane of your view. The operation works just like a ' Single ' copy, except that each selected material, bolt or weld is mirrored.

VIDEO The material copy function is set to ' Mirror Image ' then a gusset plate, gusset clip angles and bolts are copied horizontally to the opposite end of a member and then onto other members. A vertical mirror copy from the bottom flange of one beam to the top flange of a different beam is achieved by using ' Mirror Image ' along with an " Angle of rotation " of ' 180 ' degrees. (Recorded in SDS2 Detailing , v2015.)

When the " Angle of rotation " is ' 0 ' degrees, ' Mirror image ' mirrors each copy of the material horizontally.

When the " Angle of rotation " is ' 180 ' degrees, ' Mirror image ' mirrors each copy of the material vertically.

' Mirror about plane perpendicular to screen ' creates a material, bolt or weld that is mirrored across any horizontal, vertical or diagonal plane that is perpendicular to the work plane of your view. The operation is similar to a ' Single ' copy, except that instead of locating a base point and a copy reference point, you locate two points to establish a mirror that is half way between the original material and the location where you want the mirrored copy to be placed.

VIDEO The material copy function ' Mirror about plane perpendicular to screen ' is used to copy material selected on the top flange of a beam to its bottom flange. Model > Construction Lines > Add Material is used to add a construction line at the half-depth of the beam. That construction line is then used to locate two points to establish the plane across which the material is mirrored. (Recorded in SDS2 Detailing , v2015.)

Since the mirror plane in this example is vertical, the copy of the angle section is mirrored to the same orientation it would be mirrored to if ' Mirror image ' were the " Copy function ." Note that d1 and d2 are equal.

The mirror plane in this example is horizontal. Since d1 and d2 are measured perpendicular to that mirror plane, they are vertical dimensions. The distances d1 and d2 are equal. You can get this same result with ' Mirror image ' and an " Angle of rotation " of ' 180 ' degrees

The mirror plane in this example is diagonal. The distance from an arbitrary point on the original angle to the mirror plane is exactly the same as the distance from that same point on the mirror plane to the equivalent point on the copied angle.

' Mirror about arbitrary plane ' is similar to ' Mirror about plane perpendicular to screen ', but can be done in an isometric view .

VIDEO The material copy function ' Mirror about arbitrary plane ' is used to copy clip angles to the opposite side of the web on a beam. The arbitrary plane is established by selecting the end point of the work line of the beam ( EXPT ) and a line perpendicular to the plane and in the direction of the copy ( VTPT at the corner of the beam's top flange). (Recorded in SDS2 Detailing , v2015.)

Steps 1 through 5 of the step-by-step instructions tell you how to get to step 5, below. The example is probably not something you would want to do in a real Job, but it nonetheless neatly illustrates how this function works.
5 . After ' Mirror around arbitrary plane ' is selected as the " Copy function " and " OK " is pressed to close the Copy ... window, the status line prompts, " Select a member to copy to, " and the column is selected as the member to mirror copy the selected material to. The to-be-copied material in this example is the column's base plate.
6 . The status line prompts, " Locate point 1 on mirror plane " and the user locates a point that is on the plane across which the selected material will be mirrored when it is copied. The beam's exact point that the user locates in this example happens to be half-way up the column.

7 . The status line prompts, " Locate direction perpendicular to mirror plane " and the user locates the exact point that is the top of the column.

8 . The status line prompts, "Confirm copy ...." The computer screen redraws to show the placement of the copied material. Yes - No mouse bindings become active. See step 8 .

Linear copy direction: Horizontal or Vertical or Both . This applies when ' Linear ' is the " Copy function ." The specified direction is with respect to screen axes .

 ' Horizontal ' copies horizontally based on the choices made to " X-spacing " and " Copies ." The following examples show the same result achieved in three different ways. Example 3 is the easiest way (right-click in step 5 then skip steps 6 and 7). Note that ' 2 ' is entered to " Copies " for examples 1 and 3, whereas ' 3 ' is entered for " Copies " in example 2.

Example 1: No construction lines were used for this example. Offset Controls were used to set the copy reference point ( step 7 ). An " X+ " value of ' 4 ' (inches) was entered to the Offset Controls in step 7.

Example 2: The user located the base point and copy reference point at exactly the same point. Since the original shear stud is not copied over, only two copies are made, even though ' 3 ' is the value entered to " Copies ."


Example 3: The user right-clicked ( Return ) in step 5 . The " X-spacing " is copied twice.

' Vertical ' copies vertically based on the choices made to " Y-spacing " and " Copies ." The following examples show the same result achieved in three different ways. Example 3 is the easier way (right-click in step 5 , skip steps 6 and 7). Note that ' 2 ' is entered to " Copies " for examples 1 and 3, whereas ' 3 ' is entered for " Copies " in example 2.

Example 1: No construction lines were used for this example. Offset Controls were used to set the copy reference point ( step 7 ). A " Y+ " value of ' -3 ' (negative inches) was entered to the Offset Controls in step 7.

Example 2: The user located the base point and copy reference point at exactly the same point. Since Material Copy does not copy over the original shear stud, only two copies result, even though ' 3 ' is the value entered to " Copies ."

Example 3: The user right-clicked ( Return ) in step 5 . The " Y-spacing " is copied twice.

' Both '  copies diagonally based on the choices made to " X-spacing ," " Y-spacing " and " Copies ." The following examples show the same result achieved in three different ways. Example 3 is the easier way (right-click in step 5 , skip steps 6 and 7). Note that ' 2 ' is entered to " Copies " in examples 1 and 3, whereas ' 3 ' is entered for " Copies " in example 2.

Example 1: No construction lines were used for this example. Offset Controls were used to set the copy reference point ( step 7 ). An " X+ " value of ' 3 ' (inches) and a " Y+ " value of ' -2 ' (negative inches) was entered to the Offset Controls in step 7.

Example 2: The user located the base point and copy reference point at exactly the same point. Since Material Copy does not generate a copy over the original shear stud, only two copies result, even though ' 3 ' is the value entered to " Copies ."

Example 3: The user right-clicked ( Return ) in step 5 . The " X-spacing " and " Y-spacing " are each copied twice.

Angle of rotation: Any positive or negative (-) angle from 360 to -360 degrees. This applies when ' Single ' or ' Mirror image ' is the " Copy function ."

VIDEO An " Angle of rotation " is applied to a single copy of a material. An alternative way to get a similar result is then demonstrated. The alternative is to rotate the view instead of the material. Mode Configuration is used to add a mouse binding for the command Navigate > Rotate View , which is then used to rotate the view. (Recorded in SDS2 Detailing , v2015.)

' Single ' copies of an angle material rotated 90 , 180 and 270 degrees. Each single copy was located with INCL .

' Mirror image ' copies of an angle material rotated 90 , 180 and 270 degrees. Each mirror copy was located with INCL .

' 0 ' does not rotate the copied materials.

A  ' positive number ' rotates the copied materials counterclockwise.

A ' negative number ' rotates the copied materials clockwise.

X-spacing: A positive or negative (-) distance that defines the spacing along the X screen axis . This applies only when ' Fill ' is the " Copy function " or ' Both ' or ' Horizontal ' are the " Linear copy direction .

A ' positive distance ' adds copies to the right of the base point. 

A ' negative (-) distance ' adds copies to the left of the base point.

Copies: The number of copies ( 1 or 2 or ...) or the number of spaces ( 1 or 2 or ...) that you want in the horizontal ( " X-Spacing ") direction. Material Copy will not copy over the original material that is being copied, which may result in one fewer copy than you might expect.

The number of copies that you might expect to be generated in this example is four since 2 x 2 = 4. However, only three copies are generated because the same point was located in both step 5 and step 7 . Material Copy will not copy over the original, selected-to-be-copied material (shear stud in this example).


" Copies " controls the number of spaces when your right-click in step 5 . For this example , ' Fill ' is the " Copy function ," and the user did a right-click in step 5 . The " Copies " are the number of spaces, not the number of items.

For additional examples, see ' Horizontal ' under " Linear copy direction " and ' Fill ' under " Copy function ."

Y-spacing: A positive or negative (-) distance that defines the spacing along the Y screen axis . This applies only when ' Fill ' is the " Copy function " or ' Both ' or ' Vertical ' is the " Linear copy direction ."

A ' positive distance ' adds copies above the base point.

A ' negative (-) distance ' adds copies below the base point.

Copies: The number of copies ( 1 or 2 or ...) or the number of spaces ( 1 or 2 or ...) that you want to be made in the horizontal (" Y-spacing ") direction or in the diagonal direction (" X-spacing " + " Y-spacing ").

The number of copies that you might expect to be generated in this example is three since the number of " Copies " specified is ' 3 '. Only two copies are generated because the same point was located in both step 5 and step 7 . Since Material Copy will not copy over the original material that was selected to be copied, that copy is discarded and the final result is two copies instead of three.


" Copies " controls the number of spaces when your right-click in step 5 . Since the number of " Copies " is ' 2 ', the " X-spacing " and " Y-spacing " are each copied twice.

Copy custom properties: or .

 If this box is checked ( ), the custom properties that have been applied to materials that you are copying will be copied to each copy of those materials. This can be verified by doing a multi-edit of all of the materials and confirming that there are no mixed entries on the Edit Properties window that opens.

If the box is not checked ( ), the custom prperties of the new materials that are created as a result of this Copy operation will be default settings.

Add to all like members with same mark: or . This might be used, for example, if you are copying a material on one member and want the copied material to be added to other members with the same member piecemark .

If this box is checked ( ), the material you copy to the one member will be copied to all members with the same member piecemark as the member you copied to.

If the box is not checked ( ), the material you copy to the one member will be copied to that member only, unless you chose to " Add to like members (any mark) ."

Add to all like members (any mark): or .

If this box is checked ( ), this accomplishes the same results as " Add to all members with the same mark " but may also, in addition, add the material to members that are the same except for their member piecemarks . For example, members that are otherwise identical may have different marks if one or more of those members have been assigned a " User piecemark ."

If the box is not checked ( ), the copied material will not be added to any additional members, unless you chose to " Add to all like members with same mark ."

"OK" (or the Enter key) closes the window and applies the settings on it to the to-be-performed copy operation. Go to step 5 .

"Cancel" (or the Esc key or the button) closes this window and ends the Material Copy operation. .

"Reset" undoes all changes made to this window since you first opened it. The window remains open. See step 4 .

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   Step-by-step instructions

The following instructions assume that you are using a 3-button mouse. They apply when the " Copy function " is ' Single ' or ' Linear ' or ' Fill '. Steps 1 through 5 also apply to the ' Mirror image ' or ' Mirror about plane perpendicular to screen ' or ' Mirror about arbitrary plane ' functions. After step 5, those mirror copy functions are similar to, though not the same as, a ' Single ' copy. You must do either step 1e (preselection) or step 3 (in-tool selection) to perform a Material Copy operation.

1 . Before using this tool:

1a : Make sure that the to-be-copied materials and the member(s) you are copying those materials to are displayed one of the three solid forms .

1b : Under User and Site Options > Site > the " Custom property items to copy " header, check the box for " Material " if you want to copy the custom property settings of the materials you are copying.

1c : For a typical Material Copy operation, you will want the base point ( step 5 ) and copy reference point ( step 7 ) to be in the same work plane . Snap To Surface is a good tool to use to go to a desired work plane. To place materials at copy reference points in a plane other than the work plane, you need to turn off " Z filtering " and use an appropriate Locate option or use the Offset Controls .

1d (tips) : You may want to place construction lines so that there are INCL points where you want to copy the materials to. If you are going to preselect material (step 1e), you may want to set the selection filter to ' Material ' or, if you also plan to select welds and bolts, to ' Legacy Default '.

Select Items bindings (step 1e)

1e (optional) : In Select Items mode with the appropriate selection filter selected, use Select or Select + (or draw an area box ) to preselect the materials that you want to copy. The materials do not necessarily have to be from the same member. When selected, the materials will be displayed in the User and Site Options > Modeling > " Primary selection color ," which by default is green. Select- can be used to deselect materials.

2 . Invoke Material Copy using any one (1) of the following methods:

Methods 1, 2 & 3 : A Material Copy icon can be added to your toolbar (classic) or ribbon (lightning). The icon, keyboard shortcut or context menu command can be found in the group named ' Model -- Material '. For lightning, Customize Interface is used to configure ribbons, keyboards, the context menu and modes.

Method 4 : If " Modeling layout style " is ' Classic ', you can use the menu system to choose Model > Material > Copy .

Method 5: If you preselected material (in step 1e ), you can right-click and choose " Material Copy " on the context menu .

3 . Skip this step if you already selected material(s) in step 1e .

Select Item(s) bindings

3a (if you didn't do 1e) : Material Copy gives you Select Item(s) mouse bindings and prompts you to select the one or more materials that you want to copy. The materials can be from different members. This prompting also occurs if a member (rather than submaterials) was selected in step 1e. Press the Enter key or right-click ( Menu ) and choose " OK " on the menu to signal that you are done selecting materials. Go to step 4.

4 . The window for Material Copy window opens. The name of this window tells you how many materials you selected in step 3 (or step 1e) and the number of members those materials were selected from. For example, the window's title might be " Copy 1 materials on 1 members ."

4a: Choose the " Copy function ," etc. that you want, then press the " OK " button to continue.

5 . The status line prompts, " Locate base point. " Locate- Pan -Return mouse bindings become active along with various Locate options. The choices you have in this step depend on the type of " Copy function " you selected in the previous step.

bindings

( Tip: Alternative 3 ( Return ) is often the best choice for a linear or fill copy)

Alternative 1 (for a ' Single ' or ' Linear ' or ' Fill ' copy) : Select the appropriate Locate icon (if it's not selected already), place the mouse pointer ( ) so the point location target ( ) snaps to where you want the base point, then left-click ( Locate ). The materials will be copied relative to the distance and direction designated by the base point located in this step and the copy reference point you locate in step 7 . Go to step 6.

Alternative 2 (for a ' Single ' copy) : Right-click ( Return ) to cancel the Material Copy operation and keep everything as it was before step 1. Do not continue.

Alternative 3 (for a ' Linear ' of ' Fill ' copy) : Right-click ( Return ) to cause the " X-spacing " and " Y-spacing " to be copied the designated number of times. Also, the member that is associated with the material(s) being copied will automatically be selected as the member that the copied materials will attach to. Skip steps 6 and 7. Go directly to step 8 .

6 . The status line prompts, "Locate member to attach material to." Select - Pan - Menu mouse bindings become active. Note that this step is skipped for a linear of fill operation if you right-clicked ( Return ) in step 5.

bindings

Alternative 1 : Place the mouse pointer ( ) on the member you want the copied materials to be a submaterial of, then left-click ( Select ).

Alternative 2 : Right-click ( Menu ) and choose either " OK " or " Cancel " (or press the Enter or Esc key). Pressing Enter or doing a right-click and choosing " OK " keeps the original member that the material being copied belongs to as the member that the copies of the material will be copied to. Pressing Esc or doing a right-click and choosing " Cancel " ends the Material Copy operation and keep everything as it was before step 2. Do not continue if you pressed Esc or chose " Cancel ."

Note: For alternative 2, the member the material being copied belongs to will be listed on the context menu . Choosing " OK " on the menu does the same thing as selecting that member.

7 . The status line prompts, "Locate copy reference point." Locate- Pan -Return mouse bindings become active along with various Locate options. Note that this step is skipped for a linear of fill operation if you right-clicked ( Return ) in step 5.

bindings

Alternative 1 : Select the appropriate Locate icon , then place the mouse pointer ( ) so that the point location target ( ) snaps the exact distance and direction from the base point designated in step 5 that the selected material(s) are to be copied, then left-click ( Locate ). Go to step 8.

Alternative 2 : Right-click ( Return ) to quit the Material Copy operation without performing this copy. Do not continue.

8 . The status line prompts, "Confirm copy ...." Your computer screen redraws to show the placement of the copied material(s). Yes - No mouse bindings become active.

bindings

Alternative 1 : Left-click ( Yes ) to accept the copy. Go to step 9.

Alternative 2 : Right-click ( No ) to make the copied materials disappear. For most copy operations, go back to step 6. If your right-clicked in step 5, the operation ends.

9 . The copied materials are now a part of the member selected in step 6 (or the member of the original, copied-from material if you right-clicked ( Return ) in step 5). Locate- Pan -Return mouse bindings become active.

bindings

Alternative 1 : Repeat step 5 or steps 5 through 7 to select the same member or a different member and copy the selected material(s) to that member. You may repeat steps 5 through 7 to add copies of the materials to as many members as you like.

Alternative 2 : If you are done making copies, right-click ( Return ). The mouse bindings that were active before you invoked Material Copy become active again. Any members that were changed by this operation are marked for automatic detailing.

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