What's new in the Advance Steel 2020 Fundamentals Guide

The Autodesk® Advance Steel Learning Guide received some necessary TLC for its latest 2020 release. This Fundamentals Learning Guide was meant to be an overview of basic Advance Steel tasks, but in order to give the user the experience of creating a project from start to finish, I needed to dive deeper by expanding on existing topics and adding new ones.

The overall goal was to give trainers more in-depth topics to stem as to how or why a project is setup. Here is a quick overview of what's been added to the Advance Steel 2020 Fundamentals Learning Guide:

Cage Ladders

Although there was already information on how to create a cage ladder I wanted to make sure the practice gave users more in-depth knowledge on how a ladder or cage is created. I expanded on adjusting a ladder's height, the distances and dimensions of braces and bands by showing the user how to add two ladders and adjust their properties to create two different cage ladders.

Stairs

Stairs were a part of the Learning Guide, but they always seem to be a nightmare to create correctly (no matter which Autodesk software you are working in), so I elaborated on creating stairs by adding more in the practice for stringers, tread type and landings, as well as adding how to add stairs from another project. 

Special Parts

Special Parts is a new addition to chapter 4. Adding special parts was a necessity as a lot of designers need to use parts created by other software or firms to keep optimal design communication. 

Model Verification

Model verification is an intricate part of designing in Advance Steel so a section covering all of the verification tools necessary to add to the book. 

Prototypes

Understanding and editing a prototype drawing is crucial for setup, so I created a new chapter in the Advance Steel book covering the creation of prototypes and how to define the  necessary settings and configuration.

Drawing Style Manager

Content about the Drawing Style Manager was added to give users a better understanding of what is being generated behind the scenes and how to take advantage of the various styles, like object presentation, view direction, advance options and much more.

BOM Template Editor User Interface

The Advance Steel Bill of Materials Template Editor section, which is a new addition to the appendix, teaches the users how to customize existing BOM template elements, including graphics, fonts, colors, token attributes, and list structure.

Management Tools

I've added a section in the appendix for an explanation on the Advance Steel Management Tools Defaults and how to navigate, filter, and save profiles.   

The changes and additions in this Learning Guide required new datasets to go with it. The changes and additions were made to enrich the book and learning experience. I welcome any suggestions or comments you may have regarding the new Advance Steel Learning Guide.

If you are interested in learning more about ASCENT’s offerings for the 2020 release, please watch our Webcast - https://youtu.be/yVEcM8ah-U8

About the Author

Learning Content Developer<br><br>Cherisse is an Autodesk Certified Professional for Revit as well as an Autodesk Certified Instructor. She brings over 19 years of industry, teaching, and technical support experience to her role as a Learning Content Developer with ASCENT. With a passion for design and architecture, she received her Associates of Applied Science in Architectural Drafting and Design with a four-year core curriculum in Interior Design and has worked in the industry assisting firms with their CAD management and software implementation needs as they modernize to a Building Information Modeling (BIM) design environment. Cherisse continues to expand her knowledge in the ever evolving AEC industry and the software used to support it.

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