Metric Tutorials - Autodesk

Settings Menu
Command
Structural Settings
Associated Tutorial
This command is covered in an exercise
later in this lesson. See Modifying
Structural Settings on page 108.
Considerations
If necessary, you can set the symbolic representation
settings for cutback distance, brace symbols,
and column symbols.
78 Proceed to the next exercise, Loading and Modifying Families and Groups on page 103.
Loading and Modifying Families and Groups
In this exercise, you load and modify families or groups into the template started in the previous exercise.
If you have not completed the previous exercise, do so before starting this exercise. Depending on the
intended use of this template, you may want to load families into the template to save time later or ensure
consistency throughout the office. You can load any family or group into a template. Obviously, you should
only load components that tend to be used in every project and are not likely to change. For example, you
could load detail components, titleblocks, and beams. You may want to modify slab types to add a more
diverse selection within the template. Although the options are endless, there are some important thoughts
to consider.
It is important to understand that you should not load every conceivable family into a template file. Although
this is possible, it is not recommended because it would increase the file size significantly before the first
component was added to the project. In addition, each component loaded will add to the length of the
relative Type Selector list. For example, if you loaded every beam type you could find, you would have to
scroll through a lengthy list of beams every time you changed a beam within a project. This would be
cumbersome and counterproductive. You should think very carefully about what families or groups to load
and modify within a template.
Load and modify families
1 Use the project started in the previous exercise, and on the Modelling tab of the Design Bar,
click Beam.
2 In the Type Selector, notice the list of beams is already loaded.
If this selection is satisfactory, you can move onto the next component type. However, you may
want to delete, modify, or add to this selection. You can do this in several ways: select a
component type and click Properties to modify or add a new type, or use the Project Browser
to delete an existing type. In the steps that follow, you do both.
3 To modify, create, or load a new beam type, click on the Options Bar.
Use the instructions in the table below to perform these steps.
Goal:
Load new beam type
Modify beam type
Create new beam type
Steps:
In the Element Properties dialog, select Load. Navigate to the directory
containing the beam type, select it, and click Open.
In the Element Properties dialog, select Edit/New. Make modifications, and
click OK.
In the Element Properties dialog, select Edit/New. Click Duplicate, enter a
name, and click OK. Modify type properties, and click OK.
Loading and Modifying Families and Groups | 103