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Import a model from a Semantic TrimBIM file

Tekla Structural Designer
Modified: 12 Mar 2025
2025
Tekla Structural Designer

Import a model from a Semantic TrimBIM file

The ‘Import Semantic Model’ workflow is intended for Engineers who use Tekla Structures for analysis and design during early stage design.

This workflow is initially for steel members only, and allows you to automatically generate a connected, solvable model in Tekla Structural Designer directly from a Tekla Structures model.

Benefits of Semantic TrimBIM Import:
  • When modeling in Tekla Structures, analytical model connectivity is typically not a major consideration. Consequently when a model is imported to Tekla Structural Designer using a Structural BIM Import file there are often a number of connectivity issues for the Engineer to resolve.
  • By importing the semantic model instead, analytical model connectivity is resolved automatically (as much as possible) during the import, saving a significant amount of time.
  • Structural member profiles and grades are mapped automatically.
  • The Tekla Structures model is visible within Tekla Structural Designer as a reference model.
  • Tekla Structural Designer and Tekla Structures do not need to be on the same PC
  • Analysis & design can be performed in Tekla Structural Designer, or the generated analytical model can be exported using existing native links.

Workflow Overview

The semantic model import can be broken down into 3 steps:

  • Step 1 - in Tekla Structures: run the Publish to Tekla Structural Designer extension in order to create a TrimBIM (.trb) file and a .seb file.

    For details, see: Publish to Tekla Structural Designer

  • Step 2 - in Tekla Structural Designer: import the reference model from the TrimBIM (.trb) file.

    For details, see: Import a Reference Model

  • Step 3 - in Tekla Structural Designer: import the semantic model, which uses the .seb file.

    For details, see: Import a Semantic Model

Publish to Tekla Structural Designer

Note:

As a prerequisite, the Tekla Structures user has to install the Publish to Tekla Structural Designer extension which is available in the Tekla Warehouse.

Once the above extension is installed, the process in Tekla Structures is as follows:

  1. Run the Publish to Tekla Structural Designer extension for the model you want to import to Tekla Structural Designer.

  2. In the Publish to Tekla Structural Designer dialog, specify a File name and Folder for the export. You can choose to export all objects, or selected objects only.

  3. Click Publish in order to create a <File name>.trb and a <File name>.seb file in a TeklaStructuralDesigner subfolder within the specified folder.

  4. You then need to supply both the <File name>.trb and the <File name>.seb file to the Tekla Structural Designer user.

Note:

You cannot use the File>Export>TrimBIM command in Tekla Structures as an alternative to the above process because it only creates the .trb, but not the .seb file. Both files are required to perform a Semantic TrimBIM Import.

Import the reference model

The following instructions assume the .trb and .seb files provided by the Tekla Structures user have been copied to a local folder.

  1. Start a new model in Tekla Structural Designer.

  2. Open the Reference Models pane and click the Import button.

  3. An Import Reference Model dialog is displayed. Use this to select the reference model to import by selecting the .trb file, then click OK.

  4. An Edit Reference Model dialog is displayed. Use this specify the imported model location, and layers to be imported, then click OK

  5. The reference model should now be visible in the Structure View. This will look exactly the same as the Tekla Structures model, (and will therefore allow you to see all the physical objects).

Import the semantic model

  1. Right click on the model name in the Reference Models pane and select Import Semantic Model from the context menu.

  2. The Import Semantic Model dialog is displayed.

  3. Make selections from the four pages of this dialog as required, then click OK

  4. The model is imported in the same location as the reference model. To confirm this you can use the ‘Display’ button in the Reference Models pane to hide the reference model.

  5. Once the model has been imported, you can switch to a Solver View in order to review the model connectivity.

  6. Lastly, validate the model to check for any connectivity issues.

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