Drawings in Tekla Structures
Tekla Structures drawings contain a large variety of features and tools that help you to create and manage your drawings efficiently.
Main drawing features
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The model is the single source of information for drawings. The drawing is just another view to the model, usually a 2D view.
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Creating drawings is fast, efficient and controlled.
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Automatic workshop single-part and assembly drawings, and cast unit drawings of selected parts with predefined settings for layout, views, dimensions, marks, and building objects. View properties are defined separately for each view before a drawing is created.
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Automatic general arrangement drawings and anchor bolt plans of selected views.
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Drawing objects are associated with model objects, and updated when the model changes.
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Changing some of the properties requires the recreation of the drawings.
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If there are several identical parts, cast units or assemblies in the model, Tekla Structures creates only one drawing for each of them.
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You can modify drawing properties on three levels; drawing, view and object level, depending on the drawing type and the desired results.
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The drawings consist of three main types of elements: drawing layout, drawing views, and drawing objects. You can select what to include in the drawing before you create it, and also add, modify and delete objects in an existing drawing.
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You can check previews of the drawings, and print your drawings to pdf, printer or plot files.
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You can control drawing revisions, and issue, lock, and freeze drawings.
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You can use interactive editing tools for adding dimensions, various sketch objects, marks, notes, texts, symbols, images and links in the drawings.
Drawings are integrated with models
Tekla Structures integrates the drawings with the model. A drawing is a window to the model presenting 3D structures in 2D. The building objects shown in the drawing are model objects you create in the model. You can change their representation in the drawing but you cannot change the geometry or the location of the building object, or delete building objects; all changes to building objects are made in the model. That is why the drawings are always up to date, and dimensions and marks in drawings are always correct, for example. You can filter out parts and bolts in drawings using the filtering tools, or make them invisible by hiding them.
You can create drawings at any stage of the project. Creating single-part, assembly and cast unit drawings requires that the model is numbered, so you need to plan and perform the numbering before creating drawings. For more information about numbering, see Number the model.
If the model changes, Tekla Structures notifies in Document manager that you need to update the related drawings. You cannot open a drawing that is not up to date. For more information about updating the model, see Update drawings when the model changes.
Drawings are associative
Tekla Structures drawings are associative. The objects in the drawing are linked to model objects, which means that most objects in the drawing are automatically updated when the corresponding model objects change. For example, if a model object is resized, the dimension points move with the corresponding object in the drawing, and the dimensions are recalculated. Still you do not lose any manual changes that you have made in the drawing. This applies to all drawing types.
Tekla Structures updates the following drawing objects to reflect the changes in the model:
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Parts
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Marks
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Dimensions
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Welds
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Views
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Section marks
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Detail marks
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Associative notes
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Lines and other shapes
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Tables
Tekla Structures retains the following manual changes made to drawings:
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Base points of objects; for example, if you drag an object to a new location
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Object properties; for example, color, font, and line type
Advanced options related to associativity:
XS_ASSOCIATIVE_CHANGE_HIGHLIGHT_SIZE
XS_ASSOCIATIVE_CHANGE_HIGHLIGHT_SYMBOL
XS_HIGHLIGHT_ASSOCIATIVE_DIMENSION_CHANGES
Associativity symbol
In drawings, the associativity symbol indicates which drawing objects are associative and automatically updated. Associativity symbols are shown only when you select a drawing object, for example, a dimension.
Objects that do not have valid association get a ghost associativity symbol and a question mark. These symbols are shown constantly, even though the drawing object is not selected. This makes it easier to find objects that need attention.
The associativity symbols are not shown in printed drawings.
To hide associativity symbols in drawing views, on the File menu, click Settings and select the Associativity symbol check box, or press Shift+A on the keyboard.
Find out more about drawings
To | Click the links below to find out more |
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Learn what is specific to Tekla Structures drawings, what to do before creating any drawings, how to create drawings in your first project using the predefined settings in your environment, and how to modify the created drawings manually in the drawing mode |
Quick start to Tekla Structures drawings |
Check the controls available in the drawing mode, see how you can use snapping, zooming and panning in drawings, and get familiar with colors available in drawings | |
Learn what drawings consist of | Drawing objects, views and layouts |
Find out what happens when a drawing needs to be updated | |
Learn where you can change the drawing properties and in which order |
Different levels of setting up and modifying drawing properties |
Find out the cases when a drawing needs to be updated | |
Check the different drawing types available and learn how to create them using different methods | |
Create drawings by cloning, and find out the situations when cloning is the best choice | |
Find the drawings that you need using searching and filtering in Document manager, select drawings, and open drawings | |
Edit your drawings manually: add objects, modify properties, etc. | |
Update drawings when the model changes, lock drawings, freeze drawings, issue drawings, revise drawings, and delete drawings | |
Print drawings as PDF files, save them as plot files (.plt) for printing with printer/plotter, or print them on a selected printer | |
Set up and modify automatic drawing settings | |
Check the available drawing properties and setting |