Erection View Member Labels

The Erection View Member Labels allows you to set how various member labels and reaction nomenclature appear in Modeling and on detailed erection views.
  • General Overview
  • Examples
  • Tips and Tricks
  • Related Tools

Label Positioning

Property name: Piecemark or Section size or Camber or Left elevation or Right elevation or Shared elevation or Left reaction or Right reaction or Any custom property that is Added. In a Modeling erection view, values entered for these properties can be displayed as labels using controls that are found on the Display Options window. These same values can be displayed on erection drawings which are generated using Detail Erection Views and can be modified using Erection View Cleanup.

Tip: To clear a row, right-click it and select Erase row.

Piecemarks Section sizes Camber Elevations

Piecemarks on members that are shown from a Perspective of Lengthwise have traditionally been displayed with a Horizontal position on the Left of a member, and with a Vertical position of Above the member line. (click here)

Section sizes on members that are shown from a Perspective of Lengthwise have traditionally been displayed with a Horizontal position on the Center of a member, and with a Vertical position of Above the member line. (click here)

Camber annotations may be shown on beams. To get such an annotation, the beam's Rolling operation must be set to Camber annotation or to Camber (Both) and the Mid-ordinate must be a value other than 0 (zero). Camber annotation on the Display Options window for Modeling turns on/off the display of camber in Modeling erection views. To get a beam Camber annotation to show on an erection drawing, you must check the boxes for Show camber on member and Annotate erection views on the Detail Erection Views window.

Left elevation annotations write information per the choice made to Show elevation on member on the Detail Erection View Defaults window.

Right elevation annotations work the same way as Left elevation annotations but are displayed on the right end of the stick member line by default.

Shared elevation annotations are generated -- instead of left elevations and right elevations -- when the left and right elevations are the same. See Show elevation on member on the Detail Erection View Defaults window.

Left Reaction annotations can be generated for non-zero Auto and/or User-entered values stored on the member edit window > Left end settings > Loads leaf. The choice made on the Detail Erection View Defaults window > Annotations > End reactions > Both or User or Auto or None determines which annotations are shown. The default abbreviations for the various types of loads can be changed at Home > Project Settings > Fabricator > Detailing > Erection View Member Labels > Reaction Nomenclature.

Right Reaction annotations can be generated for non-zero Auto and/or User-entered values stored on the member edit window > Right end settings > Loads leaf. The choice made on the Detail Erection View Defaults window > Annotations > End reactions > Both or User or Auto or None determines which annotations are shown. The default abbreviations for the various types of loads can be changed at Home > Project Settings > Fabricator > Detailing > Erection View Member Labels > Reaction Nomenclature.

Any member custom property appears as a selectable option in the combo box only when the box for Add to Erection View Member Labels is checked for that particular member schema entry.

Perspective: Lengthwise or Cross section.

The member C_1 in this example is shown in a cross section perspective. The member B_3 is shown lengthwise.

Lengthwise is a perspective that shows both ends of the member. Lengthwise perspectives of members in stick form show the longitudinal axis (length) of an individual member.

Cross section is a perspective that shows, at most, only one end of the member. A cross section is a flat plane cut at right angles to the member axis and therefore shows the depth and width (or flange width) of the member.

Horizontal position: Left or Left center or Center or Right center or Right.

The camber annotation C=2 is shown at the center of the beam's member line in this example.
B_3 is shown on the left end of the member line. C_1 is shown to the right of the cross section.

Left places the item on the left end of the member line when the member's Perspective is Lengthwise.

Vertical position: Above or Below.

The vertical position of the camber annotation, C=2, is below the member line in this example.
Both of the piecemarks, C_1 and B_3, are shown above the member line in this example.

Above places the item above the member line when the member's Perspective is Lengthwise. For a Perspective of Cross section, it places the item above the center of the member.

Below places the item below the member line when the member's Perspective is Lengthwise. For a Perspective of Cross section, it places the item below the center of the member.

Priority: 1 or 2 or 3 or 4, etc. This controls a label's proximity to the member line when multiple labels are mapped to the same location. The label under the Property name whose Priority is numerically the smallest is placed closest to the member line.

The priorities set for these labels determine the location of the labels with respect to their proximity to the member line.

In the example above, all three labels have the same Horizontal position (Center) and the same Vertical position (Below). The label priority 1 has its Priority set to 1 and is placed closest to the member line. The label priority 2 has a priority of 2 and is placed under priority 1. The label priority 3 has a priority of 3.

Reaction Nomenclature

The default symbols and subscripts for each type of load found on a Structural Steel member edit window's Loads leaf are stored here and can be changed. They are applied to the following features in SDS2:

Symbols

Symbols represent a particular end reaction found on a member edit window's Loads leaf. The symbol's annotation can be combined with a subscript.

When changing a symbol, any string character (letters, numbers, symbols, and spaces) can be used (5 characters max.). When adding an underscore ( _ ) to the symbol, all characters to the right side of the first underscore are added as a secondary subscript to the symbol's annotation. Using a second underscore results in that underscore being added to the symbol's annotation. The secondary subscript is separated from the primary subscript with a comma.

Example 1: Typing Xy in one of the symbol fields results in an annotation of Xya.

X = symbol

y = secondary subscript added to the symbol

a = primary subscript for required loads

Example 2: Typing X_y in one of the symbol fields results in an annotation of Xa,y.

X = symbol

a = primary subscript for required loads

y = secondary subscript added to the symbol

Example 3: Typing X_y_z in one of the symbol fields results in an annotation of Xa,y_z.

X = symbol

a = primary subscript for required loads

y_z = secondary subscript added to the symbol

Vertical shear load: applies to the following structural steel member types for the corresponding Loads field:

Horizontal shear load: applies to the following structural steel member type for the corresponding Loads field:

Story shear load: applies to the following structural steel member type for the corresponding Loads field:

Moment load: applies to the following structural steel member types for the corresponding Loads field:

Panel zone moment load: applies to the following structural steel member type for the corresponding Loads field:

Axial loads: applies to the following structural steel member types for the corresponding Loads field:

Tie force: applies to the following structural steel member types for the corresponding Loads field:

Subscripts

Subscripts are used to indicate whether the symbol's annotation is reporting the required loads or the capacity loads.

When changing a subscript, any string character (letters, numbers, symbols, and spaces) can be used (3 characters max.).

Applied/design: This subscript indicates that the symbol is displaying the required load used by connection design. The required load is the automatically generated or user-entered value that populates any one of the fields found on the member edit window's Loads leaf.

Capacity: This subscript indicates that the symbol is displaying the capacity load generated by connection design. The capacity load is the allowable strength of a particular limit state.

  • The position of these form buttons on the screen tells you what settings they apply to. Click here for more information.
  • You can Copy ( ) the settings on this screen , then Paste ( ) those settings to a different screen of the same type.
  • Save ( ) saves a file to a global folder ( ) that is used by your current version of SDS2. Give the file a name that will help other users identify its purpose. Load ( ) replaces the settings on this screen with the settings that are stored in the file that you select.
  • When editing multiple screens at the same time, Paste and Load replace mixed entries to a single field with a single entry. Copy and Save ignore fields with mixed entries, treating them as if they have no entry or do not exist.

OK (or the Enter key) closes this screen and applies the settings.

Cancel (or the Esc key) closes this screen without saving any changes.

Reset undoes all changes made to this screen since you first opened it. The screen remains open.

Example 1

These member labels represent strings (text entries) made to three MEMBER custom property fields. The Erection View Member Labels setup is shown below:

How to reproduce the example shown above:

At Project-creation time: The Flavor that was selected to create the custom properties used in the example was a modular flavor. You could use a legacy flavor to get the same results that are shown above, but the intermediary steps in these instructions assume that you selected a modular flavor.

Creating the properties: UserComment1 and UserComment2 and UserComment3 are each the Name of a schema entry that was created by pressing the Add button on the Edit Schema window. The Type of each of these schema entries is String. A Prompt of User comment 1 or User comment 2 or User comment 3 was entered for each schema entry. Add to Erection View Member Labels was checked for each schema entry. Note : Checking the box for Add to Erection View Member Labels is not required for creating a member label since a user can simply type the Property name instead of selecting it as described in the next paragraph.

On this window: UserComment1 and UserComment2 and UserComment3 were each selected as a Property name and each were specified to be output at the same location (center of member line, below the member line). A different Priority was assigned to each of the property names. This setup is illustrated in the screen shot shown above.

After closing this window, the MEMBER Edit Properties window was opened (in Modeling), and the entries priority 1 and priority 2 and priority 3 were made to the fields User Comment 1 and User Comment 2 and User Comment 3 under the User Namespace leaf. Note: The MEMBER Edit Properties window is opened by pressing the Properties button that is found on a member edit window. As you can see in the screen capture shown above, the member was a beam in a plan view.

In Display Options, the box was checked for Custom properties. When OK was pressed to close that window, the property labels were displayed in the model as shown in the screen capture above.

For 2D drawings: The option Show custom properties on member instructs auto detailing to place custom property member labels onto an erection view drawing.

Example 2

This member label represents a string (text entry) made to one custom property field. The Erection View Member Labels setup is shown below:

Notes concerning the example 2:

Setup is exactly the same as for example 1: The difference is that a custom property value -- in this case, RFI #63a -- was entered to User Comment 1 under the User Namespace leaf in the MEMBER Edit Properties window. The custom property entry fields for the other two properties -- User Comment 2 and User Comment 3 -- were left blank. Consequently, RFI #63a is the only custom property label that is shown on the member in this example.

Example 3

Note that there is a Number of studs field on the Beam Edit window. You may prefer to use that option instead of creating a custom property.

The video makes use of the Bruce Vaughan parametric StudCount_Cust_Prop.py. That parametric lets you enter shear stud counts to members without your having to open a member edit window. For that parametric to be able to Run, you need to have added a member custom property whose Entry name is ShearStuds and whose Type is String.

  • To clear a row, right-click it and select Erase row.
  • To get a custom property to be selectable using the Property name combo box, you need to -- for the desired custom property -- check the box for Add to Erection View Member Labels on the Add/Edit Schema Entry window.
  • Changes made to a member label's location on this window are immediately applied to erection views in Modeling. In the Drawing Editor, however, changes are not applied to existing erection view drawings until you re-detail the erection view. To apply changes to member labels that have been moved in the Drawing Editor (e.g., by a user dragging them), Relocate piecemark and other member labels to default locations must be turned on. Also, Show custom properties on member needs to be turned on in Detail Erection Views for any changes to custom properties to be applied to erection view drawings.

  • Settings applied to the Erection View Member Labels screen are for your current Fabricator. A different set of settings will apply when you Change Fabricator.