UNITAR STRUCT / DOCUMENTATION
Working with elements
The same tools serve columns, beams, walls, slabs and foundations. Read this page once, then the guide of the element you need.
Element menus
The 3D Modeling toolbar has one button for each family: Column, Beam, Wall, Basement wall, Slab, Raft, Stair, Foundation, Parapet. The button opens the family menu, with all its commands in columns: Create, Geometry, Openings, Rebar, Sync & repair, Plans & schedules, Info & view.
ELEMENT_MENU (the Element menu button) opens the menu of the element you click in the drawing.
Starting reinforcement
At the end of every create command, the element gets reinforcement by itself, from a template that fits its type and dimensions. The command line names the template applied.
Starting reinforcement is a starting point, not a design result. If the command line says the element stays unreinforced, its dimensions fit no template.
Edit the reinforcement
REBAR_EDIT (the Edit rebar button, on the Rebar tab and in every element menu) opens the window with the reinforcement of the element.
- Each changed value gets a green mark, and the window counts the changed fields.
- A field left empty goes back to its default. Cancel writes nothing.
- You can select several elements. The first reinforced element in the selection is the one you edit, and the values are then applied to the other elements of the same type.
- If you also changed the section, the software asks whether to apply it to the other elements; the 3D solids are rebuilt.
Copy the reinforcement
| Command | Button | What it does |
|---|---|---|
REBAR_COPY_ASSIGN | Copy rebar to element | Copies the reinforcement of one element to other elements of the same type. It asks Select source model element:, Select target model elements: and whether to copy the section dimensions too. |
REBAR_COPY_STORY | Copy rebar to level | Copies the reinforcement from one level to another, element by element. |
Check what you reinforced
REBAR_COLORS_ON(Rebar status ON) colours the model: red means no reinforcement, yellow template reinforcement only, green reinforcement you edited. Enter works on the active level,ALLon the whole model.REBAR_COLORS_OFF(Rebar status OFF) restores the original colours.REBAR_REPORT(Rebar coverage report) lists the reinforcement status per element.
Before you generate the sheets, every element should be green.
Change the geometry
| Command | Button | What it does |
|---|---|---|
MODEL_EXTEND_END | Extend end | Moves one end of the element: the end of a beam or a wall, the top or bottom face of a column. |
MODEL_MOVE_TO_STORY | Move to level | Moves the selected elements to another level. |
MODEL_COPY_TO_STORY | Copy to level | Copies the selected elements to another level. Elements with the height of the source level take the height of the target level. |
MODEL_PROPS | Properties | Lists the properties of the element and opens its reinforcement page. |
MODEL_SCAN | Scan model | Reads the model again: puts each element on its level by its real elevation and repairs duplicate identifiers. |
The MOVE command of the CAD software is followed by the model. After a COPY to another level run MODEL_SCAN; PLANS also does this check before generating.
See only what you need
MODEL_VIS_TYPE(Type visibility) shows or hides element types, for the whole model or for one level.STORY_ISOLATE(Isolate level) leaves a single level visible.
Concrete classes
CONCRETE_CLASSES (Concrete classes, on the Levels & Grid tab) sets the concrete class for each level, separately for vertical and horizontal elements, plus foundations, raft and blinding concrete. The class goes into the anchorage and lap lengths, the quantities and the note on the sheets.
After you change the classes, run PLANS again.