ChoiceSteel - Add on

ChoiceSteel is a 3rd party add-on for AllyCAD that automates steel drawing functions. If you have installed AllyCAD then why not try ChoiceSteel free for a limited time. ChoiceSteel will work for 45 days in demo mode. In this state it is fully functional except that you cannot right click on the UB icon (first icon) and create a complete library of steel sections in the current table. You will need to have AllyCAD installed in order to use ChoiceSteel.

Please contact the developer directly should you wish to download the ChoiceSteel Demo or purchase the add-on.

Developer's Email:

ChoiceSteel Website:

www.choicesteel.co.uk

CHOICESTEEL FUNCTIONS:
ChoiceSteel automates the following functions to speed up your design time:

Steel sections, British, European, American, Japanese

Beams with or without end plates

Base plate generator

Columns with base plates and HD bolts

End plate generator

Hole group generator

Grid layout generator

Portal frame generator. See example

Tab box for material lists on your drawing

CHS cutting template creator

Holes, slots, ellipse

Libraries for purlins and eave beams

Library of bolts

Sundry macros

CHOICESTEEL FAQ

The following questions come up time and time again regards ChoiceSteel. Simply click on a question for an instant answer.

Number Question ChoiceSteel FAQs: 1 Will ChoiceSteel work with another CAD system? ChoiceSteel is only designed to work with AllyCAD. If you do not yet own AllyCAD you can download AllyCAD Freeware which is a full working version with the advanced functionality and toolkits of AllyCAD Pro. 2 I have loaded ChoiceSteel but it wont work? ChoiceSteel is an add-on, thus a working version of AllyCAD must be currently installed on your system before you install ChoiceSteel. ChoiceSteel must be installed to a directory within AllyCAD. Generally if you accepted the defaults when installing AllyCAD then you should accept the defaults when installing ChoiceSteel. The directory structure should be AllyCAD\Steel If you cannot see a Steel directory inside the AllyCAD directory then you have installed it to the wrong place. Uninstall ChoiceSteel then re-install to the correct directory. If you installed to the correct place then you should run ChoiceSteel by using the Load New Menu command from the AllyCAD file menu and load the Steel32D.Men file. Once you have done this select Steel Tools from the Steel menu that should now have appeared. To have the Steel menu loaded each time you start AllyCAD see the ChoiceSteel readme file. 3 Can I add or modify the cladding colours for portal frames? Yes, load the file called SheetCol.Txt which is in your steel directory into NotePad and making sure you copy the format just make changes or add your own colours. Once you have created a colour using a AllyCAD solid hatch you can get the red green and blue colour numbers from the hatch by editing the hatch and clicking on the Define Custom Colour button and noting down the colour numbers. It is a good idea to keep a drawing with the blocks of custom colours for future reference or modification. 4 Can I modify the symbols supplied with ChoiceSteel? Yes, you will find the drawing files in the Steel directory. If you modify the Purlins, Eave beams or Holding down bolts then you should create a new text file containing the symbol names. Please see the help file for information on how to use the AllyCAD function do this. The reason being that these symbol libraries are used by the portal frame generator and it needs to know what symbols are available when drawing the frame. You should also make sure the hook points are in the right place otherwise they will be wrongly placed on portal frames. If you create new libraries why not have them load automatically from the Steel menu Libraries option? To do this, edit the Library.Mac file in the Steel directory.