Q: Can you merge or split collections?

A: Currently, it is not possible to merge or split collections. Splitting and merging functionalities are only available for libraries within collections.

Q: What happens if a drawing that has already been uploaded is modified in the Tekla Structures model?

A: Nothing will happen. The drawing in the collection will not be updated automatically. Drawings can only exist once inside a collection. However, if a drawing is changed (either because the assembly or cast unit has changed, or the drawing has been edited and saved), then the new drawing version is considered a new drawing and can be uploaded. If Tekla Structures detects an older version of the drawing is in the collection, a message will be displayed.

Q: I can’t add a drawing to a collection. What is the problem?

A: Whether you can upload a drawing depends on the type of the drawing and the status of the drawing.

Drawing type

The AI Cloud Fabrication drawings feature only supports adding certain types of drawings:

• Assembly drawings (A)
• Cast unit drawings (C)

It does not support the following drawing types:

• Single-part drawings (W)
• Rebar assembly drawings
• Multidrawings (M)
• General arrangement drawings (GA)

Drawing status

Only drawings that are up to date can be uploaded. Drawings that require an update:

• Any drawing without numbering up to date.
• Any drawing in the Out of date drawings category in Document manager. These drawings usually have text such as Parts modified in the Changes column in Document manager.

Q: Can I create a library with both concrete and steel assemblies?

A: No, you cannot. With this restriction we try to avoid the creation of libraries that contain very different object types.

Q: Can I add very different object types to a library?

A: Yes, except that adding drawings from cast units (concrete) and assemblies (typically steel) to the same library is not allowed. However, we do not recommend adding very different object types to the same library. During the creation review, when we look for a best match library for the selected object, all libraries are competing to come closest in similarity to it. If we have a library that has very varied objects, such as a “miscellaneous items” library, it might distort the search and be selected too often, leading to errors in selecting an appropriate drawing template.

Q: Is it recommended to keep libraries for "miscellaneous" items?

A: We recommend that you try to reduce the number of libraries that contain very diverse assemblies or cast units. If libraries have diverse content, AI might struggle with finding the libraries whenever a new drawing is created for these types of objects. If you have diverse libraries, and you want to use these to assign drawing templates for your next drawing creation, we recommend that you disable the library in normal selection and select the library manually or from the Create from list in the Creation review dialog.

Q: What does the “-” button do?

A: The button removes from the active collection the drawings that you have selected from Document manager. Note that it will only remove the latest version of the drawing and not all versions of it.

Q: Is it possible to remove a drawing from all collections where it is visible?

A: No, this is not possible.

Q: Can you have several versions of a drawing in a collection?

A: Yes, you can. Every time a drawing is updated or modified (either due to changes in the model or changes to the drawing itself), a new version of the drawing is created. Every version corresponds to a .dg file in the \drawings folder under the model folder. Each of these versions can be uploaded, once per each collection. Collections cannot contain more than one version of the same exact drawing, but several revisions of the same drawing can exist inside a collection.

Q: Is there a limit to the number of drawings that can be added to a collection?

A: No, there is not. We encourage you to add many drawings. When you have a lot of drawings in the collection, the best matches will be more similar to the target assembly or cast unit, leading to better cloning results.

Q: What can I do to make sure that my drawings make good drawing templates?

A: You can do the following:

• Check the annotation associativity. Always check that annotations (dimensions especially) are correctly associated before adding the drawings to collections. It is especially important that there are no ghost associativity symbols and question mark symbols in the drawing.
• Refresh associativity. This command can be found in Quick Launch. It tries to associate dimensions to objects by running the latest associativity fixes in the current Tekla Structures version. We recommended this if the drawings uploaded are from older versions.
• Fix annotations with change cloud marks as the change cloud marks will not be automatically removed from the cloned drawings.
• Ensure that every file you use is available to the user. When you upload a drawing, files that the drawing uses are not uploaded. Ensure that you only use files in the environment that the users of the collection will use, otherwise the templates and layouts might be missing from the created drawings.
• Only include one drawing for each exact same assembly or cast unit. For instance, if the same cast unit has one drawing showing formwork and another showing rebars, it will be impossible for the system to distinguish between the two when creating a new drawing for a new cast unit, so either will be chosen arbitrarily as a possible drawing template.

Q: Which drawing’s snapshot is used for the library?

A: The snapshot that represents the library in the Collections dialog is the snapshot of the first drawing added to the library. This cannot be changed.

Q: What makes a drawing “incompatible”?

A: Incompatible drawings are drawings that have been uploaded with a Tekla Structures version that is newer than the one that you are currently using. When creating drawings, all drawings that are marked as incompatible will not be used. Libraries that contain incompatible drawings appear with a yellow “!” exclamation mark.

Q: Inside a collection, can I directly choose the drawing that I want to use for creating a new drawing?

A: Yes, you can select a drawing directly. You first need to select a library to which you want to limit the selection of the template/settings and then you can select the template or its settings. All this can be done in the Creation review dialog. Only active libraries are listed, as well as those corresponding to the material of the assembly (steel or concrete).

Q: What happens if I create one more copy of an assembly drawing by copying to a new sheet and upload both of these drawings to a collection. If I then create a drawing and it finds the best match to be one of these drawings, will the result be two drawings or one?

A: Only one. Even though both drawings refer to the same assembly, only one drawing is selected as the best match, so only one drawing will be created.

Q: Can I use my own drawing layout and paper size to create a drawing from a collection?

A: Yes, you can override the layout and size in the drawing library properties.

Q: I try to create a drawing, but I get an error message in the processing queue: "No suitable template found in the collection for the selected assembly objects." What's the problem?

A: This message indicates that no drawing inside the collection could be found that would be considered “close enough” to the assembly for which you are trying to create a drawing. To find a match, we compare the assembly properties of the drawings (extracted at the drawing upload) and the properties of the assembly for which we want to create a drawing. Apart from these properties, we also have some other rules that exclude a drawing from being selected as a template:

• Concrete cast units are not considered as possible templates for steel assemblies (or vice versa).
• Incompatible drawings (those drawings uploaded using a newer version than the one currently being used) are not considered.
• It is not allowed to select as templates drawings with a different main part than the target drawing (for example, column to beam, column to plate or vice versa).
• Drawings with different values for the following properties will not be considered:
  • main part material type (PART_MATERIAL_TYPE)
  • main part profile type (PART_PROFILE_TYPE)
  • main part object type (OBJECT_TYPE)
  • main part subtype (PART_SUBTYPE)
  • main part form type (PART_FORM_TYPE)
  • whether the main part has radius (PART_HAS_RADIUS)
  • whether the fixed main view of the main part (FIXED_MAIN_VIEW)

Q: What happens to a drawing created by the service if I recreate the drawing?

A: We use the original settings of the template drawing. We don’t re-clone, we create the drawing from scratch. If you want to re-create a drawing using AI Cloud Fabrication drawings, we recommend deleting the drawing and creating the drawing using the feature again.

Q: I cannot use the AI Cloud Fabrication drawings service. The ribbon button is missing/ dimmed. What could be the problem?

A: There might be several reasons for why the service might not be available to you:

• You are not running a valid Tekla Structures configuration. For details about licenses that have the AI Cloud Fabrication drawings feature enabled, see Supported Preview features by license.
• The service might be down. You can check the service availability here: https://status.tekla.com/
• Your Trimble Identity does not have a registered company account. All collections are owned by a company account, so users that do not have one cannot use the service.
• You might not have a connection to the internet.

Q: Can I use the AI Cloud Fabrication drawings feature if I do not have access to the internet?

A: No, you will not be able to use the feature without an internet connection.

Q: Is it possible to see all the collections I have access to?

A: Yes, in the Management Console: https://console.permissions.tekla.com/

Q: If the access to the collection is set to a company account, can I still invite individual users?

A: Yes, you can.

Q: If I set the access to the collection to my company's account, do the users in my company account get editor or viewer rights?

A: They get viewer rights by default. But you can still add individual users, and the role you give to the individual users overwrites the company account's default viewer rights.

Q: How can I make sure other users do not edit my collection?

A: There are two levels of rights for a collection: viewer and editor. In this case, select viewer rights for other users.

Q: How can I make a collection available to anybody in my company account?

A: Go to the Management Console (https://console.permissions.tekla.com/) and give access to your company account.

Q: Can I invite another company account than my own to a collection?

A: No, you can only invite everyone in the company account that owns the collection. A collection is owned by the company account that the collection creator belongs to. To invite external users to your company account, add them by email.