'Path Lines' are lines that represent the insertion point of an extruded steel profile.
For a symmetrical column profile, the path line is typically at the center of the profile. However, the path line may be defined at any position using the following settings in the Builder dialog:
- Placement Point
- Rotation
- X Offset
- Y Offset
- Mirrored
For symmetrical I-shaped beams, the path line is often positioned at the top-center or bottom-center of the profile.
When creating a structural model, accurate position and control of the member path-lines is usually of utmost importance. By using the Path Line Snapping feature, you can have precise control of where path-lines are positioned and where they intersect with other member's path-lines.
Toggle Path Line Snapping
This feature can be toggled by clicking the button on the DECAsteel main toolbar:
If the button shows an 'active' state, it means snapping is currently enabled. Click the button again to disable it.
Path Line Snapping is used by the Beam and Bracing build tools. When snapping is enabled and these tools are active, the path line will be displayed when you hover the mouse over a structural member in your model.
In the image below, the Build Beam tool is active. As the mouse is moved over an existing beam, it's Top-Middle Path Line is displayed and the cursor point snaps to the Path Line.
This snapping feature allows the designer to accurately position a new beam that starts precisely at the top-center of another beam.
Use Path Line Snapping in combination with SketchUp inferencing for maximum modeling efficiency! For example, create a temporary guide across the top of the beam to force snapping to occur at the intersection point between the Path Line and the guide.
Or, hold SHIFT to lock inferencing in combination with Path Line Snapping:
The most obvious use of this feature is for snapping to center-lines of columns and hollow sections.
When snapping is enabled, tools will snap to the Path Line and also the End Points of the Path Line.
Comments
4 comments
Is there any way to have DECAsteel generate the path lines as interconnected line entities (maybe on a separate tag)? That would allow the user to export a stick-frame version of the model as a 3D DXF for importing into frame analysis software.
With Profile Builder 4, you can convert DECAsteel members to line entities. Then, you could export them to DXF. See this video: https://youtu.be/CjJqOmrVBwg?si=eZ7QZpm55nNw-bks&t=542 Would that work for you?
Dale, thanks for your response. I had commented on that video and received a reply but you'll note from my follow-up that I was still in the dark. But I just now figured out a way to do it as follows: Select the whole structure and use the PB4 tool to convert to path mode, turn off the PB-PathModeWidgets tag, copy and paste-in-place the whole structure, tag the copied structure with a separate tag ("Path lines" or something) and then explode the whole structure (the copied structure only - not the original!). This generates a nice stick-frame assembly for export, while maintaining the original DECAsteel structure intact. Maybe this workflow was obvious to others, but it wasn't to me. Or maybe you've got a better suggestion. But I think it might be worthwhile to automate this as a feature in a future release. I don't know your familiarity with structural engineering frame analysis software, but they can all import a 3D DXF of the basic geometry and just having that as a starting point is a huge time saver.
Edit: I just read your very first blog post introducing DECAsteel and it seems you're VERY familiar with structural engineering and frame analysis software!
Thanks for sharing this workflow, David! It is definitely on our roadmap to automate this.
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