Is there a quick wizard for placing purlins on a sloped roof in Tekla Structural Designer?

Question

Is there a quick wizard for placing purlins on a sloped roof like in Fastrak Building Designer? I can find ways to place purlins and copy and paste them round, but the old way was great for filling in a big span without much hassle.

Answer

Edit Menu > Create Infills

The Edit menu contains a very useful command called Create Infills that can be used to place multiple layouts (by number, by spacing, by max spacing) of elements in single or multiple bays.
   

To open a plan or slope view, locate the required level or slope in the Project Workspace > Structure tree and double left click or right click and choose Open view from the context menu

 

Single Bays

By Number

1. Define the properties of the elements
2. In the General area define the beam layout as By Number, set the number of beams to place within the bay and the direction
3. Hover over the bay you wish to place the infill beams into. The beams are placed from the beam closest to the mouse location when you left click.

 

By Spacing

1. Define the properties of the elements
2. In the General area define the beam layout as By Spacing, set the user defined layout required i.e.1.8,1.8,1.5,1.2 or 7x1.8 etc. to place within the bay and the direction.
3. Hover over the bay you wish to place the infill beams into. The beams are placed from the beam closest to the mouse location when you left click.

 

By Max Spacing

1. Define the properties of the elements
2. In the General area define the beam layout as By max spacing, set the max spacing not to be exceeded within the bay and the direction.
3. Hover over the bay you wish to place the infill beams into. The beams are placed from the beam closest to the mouse location when you left click.

 
 

Multiple Bays

Drag a window to select the bays you wish to place all infill beams into at the same time.

You drag a box by holding the left mouse button in one corner (1) and dragging to the opposite corner before letting go of the mouse (2).

 


The placement method adopted is dependant upon the Define Beams area of the Properties window (1).

Move the mouse into any bay. Dependant upon the location of the mouse the beams will be drawn from the beam closest to the mouse and repeated in all selected bays (2).