You can add, delete, activate, and deactivate shapes in the Tekla PowerFab material database . In addition, you can add grades, dimensions, and abbreviations for shapes.

If you want to, you can use separate shapes for materials that may have the same or similar shape but have different grades. You can use the Tekla PowerFab system shapes for this purpose: just add the necessary dimensions or grades for these system shapes.

The shape list in the dialog box in Maintenance > Shapes/Grades/Sizes lists all existing shapes in alphabetical order. You can see different details of shapes:

• The Shape column lists the abbreviations for the material shape.

  Abbreviations are common references that Tekla PowerFab uses to recognize a particular shape. For example, when you import a bill of materials, Tekla PowerFab searches for a match in the shape list. If no match is found, Tekla PowerFab asks you to select one. For example, this could happen if flat bars were referenced as FL instead of FB.

  The material database also contains shapes that are identical but can be found under two abbreviations, such as HSS and TS. Both abbreviations are available in the database to meet the needs of companies that use different terminology. Note that even though the two options are available, you should select one of them and use it consistently. This way, you can avoid problems when combining materials.

  The abbreviation is defined when adding a new shape. New abbreviations can also be added to enable cross-referencing in Tekla PowerFab.

• The Description column shows the name of the shape.
• The Grades column shows the number of grades included for the shape.
• The Dimensions column shows the number of dimensions, or material sizes, included for the shape.

• The Activated column shows whether a shape is active within Tekla PowerFab.

  Deactivated shapes, marked with No, are not available for combining or pricing.