SDS2 Piecemarking (topic)

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Basic concepts :

  • All members with the same piecemark are automatically detailed together on one member detail . Associated with the member detail is its bill of material . The member bill of material lists, among other information, the total quantity of members with that member piecemark.
  • If you do not want members that are exactly the same to be detailed together (and therefore, presumably, fabricated together), you have to assign those members different piecemarks.
  • Dividing the model into sequences and setting " Break major marks apart by " to ' Sequence ' or ' Zone ' causes SDS2 piecemarking to automatically assign different piecemarks to members that are exactly the same except for their sequences or zones.
  • You can assign different piecemarks to members that are otherwise exactly the same by assigning those members user piecemarks or frozen piecemarks .
  • Materials that are physically identical, but are in different sequences, are assigned different submaterial marks if " Break submaterial marks apart by sequence " is turned on. Breaking submaterial marks apart by sequence also causes members to be broken apart by sequence since each member with unique submaterial marks is assigned a unique member piecemark.

Definitions :

System piecemarks are major marks or minor marks that are assigned/reassigned during the Create Solids phases of Process and Create Solids .

  • Physically identical members receive the same member piecemark ( major mark ). Members that are physically distinct from one another (because they are made up of different materials) receive different piecemarks. Each time the solids model of a member is generated, system member piecemarks may be combined/broken apart so that only like members receive the same piecemark.
  • Material piecemarks ( minor marks ) are assigned to materials when materials are added or edited or generated by the solids creation of members. If the user has entered a piecemark for a particular material being added or edited or automatically generated, then matching materials in the current Job are reassigned that same user-entered piecemark. If no piecemark has been assigned to the material being added or edited or generated, SDS2 piecemarking assigns to that material the piecemark of matching materials. If no matching materials are found, piecemarking assigns the material a piecemark using submaterial mark " Prefixes " from setup.

User piecemarks are major marks that the user has assigned to members by typing in any string of up to 61 characters characters to the " Piecemark " (or " System piecemark ") field on a beam, column, brace or joist edit window. Note: The next time you open that window, the " Piecemark " field will be re-named " User piecemark ."

  • Another way to get a user piecemark is to " Change System Piecemark To User ".
  • User piecemarks can also be assigned to members that are added using Run Parametric . If a line such as mem.Piecemark = "xxx" is in the script, then that script assigns a user piecemark named xxx to the member being added (mem in this example).
  • If you edit a member with a user piecemark and, for example, change its " Steel grade ," the user piecemark will be changed to system , thus allowing it to change. However, if you frame another member into a member with a user piecemark or add material to that member, the piecemark will remain user. Generally speaking, once a user piecemark has been assigned to a member, SDS2 piecemarking will not assign new members that mark, nor will piecemarking remove that mark from members to which it has been assigned.
  • SDS2 piecemarking does not combine or break apart user marks so long as that mark remains user. A user piecemark can only be altered by the user, not by SDS2 software. You can even assign two members that are physically different the same piecemark.
  • You are responsible for ensuring that members that have been assigned the same user piecemark are physically the same. SDS2 piecemarking does not assume that responsibility for you.

Status: Detailing and processing > User assigned piecemarks
Hide Items: User assigned piecemarks
Modeling and Drawing Editor: Change User Piecemarks to System
Modeling and Drawing Editor: Change System Piecemarks to User

Frozen piecemarks are major marks that the user has frozen, in Modeling , by using Freeze Piecemark to select members. You can thaw them (unfreeze them) by using Thaw Piecemark . Piecemarks can also be frozen or thawed using the " Piecemark status " option in Update Attributes .

  • A reason to Freeze piecemarks is to, for example, separate members that are going to be galvanized or painted from other members that are, in all other ways, exactly like those members.
  • As is the case with a user piecemark, SDS2 programs will not assign new members a piecemark that has been frozen.
  • Unlike members under a user piecemark , all members under a frozen piecemark are always exactly the same. If a member under a frozen system piecemark physically changes in any way -- for example, if you Stretch Members or Stretch Members, Include Material or edit or delete the member's submaterial or bolts -- it will be broken apart from that piecemark and given a new piecemark. This ensures that all members under the frozen piecemark are physically the same.
  • Frozen piecemarks remain system piecemarks if they were system piecemarks when they were frozen. They have all the characteristics of other system piecemarks except, as mentioned above, new members cannot be combined under them.
  • You cannot use do a Change User Piecemarks to System or Change from System Piecemarks to User operation on a piecemark that has been frozen.
  • Model > Status Display > Approval and modeling > Member piecemark frozen can be used to track members in the model that have frozen piecemarks.

Member piecemarks (major marks) are piecemarks that identify members.

  • A member is a group of materials that are fastened together in the shop and then shipped together as a single shipping piece. Marks that identify members are called major marks or member piecemarks.
  • Member piecemarks can be system piecemarks or user piecemarks or frozen piecemarks .
  • The prefixes for member piecemarks are set up under Fabricator > Piecemarking > Member Descriptions > the " Piecemark Prefixes " tab.
  • SDS2 programs automatically assign member piecemarks in the last phase of Create Solids , or you can assign user piecemarks yourself. You can also rename piecemarks and keep them system piecemarks using any of the following options:
  • To ensure that member piecemarks do not change, you can change the piecemark to a user piecemark or set the " Model complete date " with the model-complete type set to ' Restrictive '.
  • Members that are composed of the same submaterials are assigned the same member piecemark only if the materials with the same marks also have the same index numbers and the members are not broken apart by some external setting such as a " Use to split piecemarks " custom property or the setup option to " Break major marks apart by ."
  • SDS2 programs automatically track all member piecemarks and list the total quantity of all members that receive the same mark on a single member detail representing those members (see basic concepts ).
  • Ways to tell what group of materials make up a member are to view that member in isolation (in Modeling ), or to look at its member detail (in the Drawing Editor ), or to view the member is solids form while other members around it are in stick form.

Status: Member status > Member piecemark

Submaterial marks (minor marks) are system piecemarks that identify pieces of material.

  • Physically identical materials receive the same submaterial piecemark, even if they are used on different members, unless the submaterial piecemarks are broken apart by sequence or zone, or unless the material is member main material and the option to " Use member mark for member main material in model " is turned on.
  • If members are in different sequences, their submaterial marks can optionally be broken apart by sequence .
  • Submaterial marks are system piecemarks . You can control the naming of these marks using options such as submaterial mark " Prefixes " and " Include sequence in submaterial mark ."
  • Even member main materials that are exactly the same but on different members are assigned the same submaterial mark except when Home > Project Settings > Fabricator > Member and Material Piecemarking > the " Main Material " tab > " Use member mark for member main material in model " is checked.
  • Standard piecemarks can be assigned to clip angles ( Clip Angle Piecemarks ) and to user/base cap plates and to end plates and shear plates .
  • SDS2 programs automatically track all materials and optionally list their total quantity on submaterial details .
  • The piecemarks of materials whose quantities go to zero are not reused for materials with different physical characteristics, unless those piecemarks are released using the Release Submaterial Marks utility , or unless the " Reuse piecemarks " setup option is turned on.
  • If a new material is added that exactly matches a material whose quantity has gone to zero, that new material is given the existing mark, and the quantity of that mark is incriminated accordingly.
  • Submaterial marks can be assigned to parametrically added materials, including rolled section materials. In older versions of SDS2 programs, mtrl.MinorMark was read-only.
  • Index numbers are added to the submaterial marks of materials that, in pre-v7.2xx versions of SDS2 programs, would have been assigned different submaterial marks. For example, one angle with the mark a55 might have an index number #204 while a different a55 has the index number #205 . Since their index numbers are different, you can assume that a setting on their material edit window is different. These index numbers are displayed in the Model Tree and in various other Modeling windows. Members that are composed of the same submaterials will be assigned different member piecemarks if the index numbers of those submaterials are different.
  • Find Material can be used in Modeling to highlight all instances of a particular material in the 3D model. The members on which the material appears are displayed in isolation. That is, members that do not contain the material are hidden.
  • Existing member materials are assigned a prefix of e in their submaterial marks. An existing member material is any material that is a submaterial of a member that is " Existing ." Existing member materials are not included in piecemark counts or in reports on materials, nor can submaterials of existing members be detailed.
  • See ways to assign submaterial marks

Renaming without making a mark user :

  • You can rename a system piecemark and still keep it a system piecemark by using the Drawing Editor's option Change Marks (after the detail has been placed on a sheet) or Detail Sheet Autoloading (as member details are placed onto sheets) or using the Utilities option " Rename Job Items ."
  • On individual material edit windows, you can make an entry to the " Piecemark " field then press the " OK " button. SDS2 piecemarking will assign that same piecemark to materials that are identical to that material.
  • Selecting only some members under a piecemark and doing a Freeze Piecemark causes the other, non-selected members under that piecemark to change to a different piecemark.
  • Tip: If you want members to be named a particular way as you Add them, you can set the prefixes for major marks under Home > Project Settings > Fabricator > Piecemarking > Member Descriptions > the " Piecemark Prefixes " tab. For materials, you can make entries to Home > Project Settings > Fabricator > Member and Material Piecemarking > the " Prefixes " tab.

Using Combine/Break Apart :

  • Suppose that you originally used Combine/Break Apart Piecemarks to assign the piecemark X_1 to twelve columns. Since then you have altered six of those columns by framing a vertical brace of the same length and section size into each of them at the same angle. You would now want to use Combine/Break Apart Piecemarks to assign the user piecemark X_2 to those six columns. Note: This would not be necessary if the columns had originally been assigned system piecemarks , since SDS2 piecemarking would automatically break the piecemarks apart for you during Create Solids .
  • Suppose that you have input your 3D model in sequences and set " Break major marks apart by " to ' Sequence '. You know that certain columns from three different sequences are all exactly alike, and you want them to be assigned the same piecemark and to be detailed together. You could accomplish your goals by using Combine/Break Apart Piecemarks to assign the same user piecemark to those columns.

Applications of Remove Piecemarks :

Example of user marks to system marks :

Example of system marks to user :

Suppose you have sent member details to the shop and that those members have been fabricated, but you are not yet finished with the Job. You do not want to assign the same major marks of members that have been fabricated to members that have not yet been fabricated. You could do the following:

1 . Remove Piecemarks from all members that have been added to the model since the first member details were sent to the shop.

2 . Then you Change from System Piecemarks to User for all members that remain. These are the members that have already been fabricated.

3 . After you Process and Create Solids , no members that have not yet been fabricated will be assigned the same piecemarks as those members that have already been fabricated, even if they are otherwise exactly alike.

Note 1: If you had planned for this, you could have divided the model into sequences before you added members. Dividing by sequence is done by selecting ' Sequence ' for " Break major marks apart by " or checking the box for " Break submaterial marks apart by sequence ."

Note 2: Freeze Piecemark is an excellent alternative to doing the above.

Preventing member marks from being changed :

  • Changing a member piecemark from system to user prevents new members from being combined under that mark, and it also prevents that piecemark from being removed from members to which it has been assigned. If you edit a member with a user piecemark and, for example, change its " Steel grade ," the user piecemark will be changed to system . However, if you frame another member into that member that has the user piecemark or add material to that member, the piecemark will remain user.
  • Freeze Piecemark prevents new members from being combined under the mark. However, SDS2 piecemarking will automatically break members out from under that piecemark if they are physically changed in any way.
  • Setting a " Model complete date " prevents a member's physical characteristics from being changed, and thus also prevents its major mark from being changed.
  • Setting a " Model complete date " or a " Detail frozen " date prevents a piecemark from being renamed using Rename Project Items or Change Marks or Save Change Piecemarks or using Detail Sheet Autoloading .

Ways to assign submaterial marks :

Standard piecemarks may be assigned to clip angles with various GOLs and rows of bolts in specific clip angle configurations by entering piecemarks to the Clip Angle Piecemark table for that configuration, as in the example below. They can also be assigned to end plates and shear plates and to user base/cap plates . The Master Fabricator needs to be your current Fabricator in order for you to be able to edit the setup for these marks.

Clip Angle Piecemarks (with Gage Outstanding Leg)

Tip: You can select a standard piecemark when you add an existing material , even if the material with the standard piecemark has not yet been placed in the 3D model.

Also see: The Standard Piecemarking Conflict window
Report Writer: MemberMaterial.Material.SubMaterial.UsedInAStandardMark
Parametric module: UsedInAStandardMark
Advanced Selection: UsedInAStandardMark

# Selects materials with standard marks.
mt.UsedInAStandardMark == True

Use auto-naming setup options: Enter the submaterial mark " Prefixes " that you want SDS2 piecemarking to assign to specific material types. The box for " Include sequence in submaterial mark " can be checked if the box for " Break submaterial marks apart by sequence " is checked. Piecemarking will then append "_" to the piecemark and add the string of characters entered on the Sequence Definitions table (e.g., a2_main where " main " is the sequence definition).

Enter submaterial marks for specific materials: You can Edit Material (double-click the material), enter a new mark to " Piecemark " on the material edit window, then press the " OK " button. SDS2 piecemarking automatically assigns that piecemark to all materials with the same settings. If you Add Material or Add Miscellaneous Member , piecemarking applies the " Piecemark " you enter only if you are creating the first unique material of that type.

Use re-name functions: You can use the Rename Job Items utility to change the name (piecemark) of any material that has been created in your current Job. Or you can use the Change Marks tool to change the marks of materials on a gather sheet in the Drawing Editor .