Example: Organize the model into location and custom categories, and view quantities

Tekla Structures
2021
Tekla Structures

Example: Organize the model into location and custom categories, and view quantities

This example will go through the basic workflow of setting up Organizer, and creating concrete and reinforcing bar take-offs.

You will use Organizer to organize your model into buildings, sections and floors based on the locations in the model. You will create a category tree structure and custom categories. When you have created the locations and custom categories, it is fast and easy to view and report quantities in Object Browser.

In the example, the set-up is done using the Cast in Place Sample model that is available in the Default environment as a model template. You can delete the existing set-up or just create a new project and start setting that up.

Example: Organize the model to buildings, sections and floors

You will now organize your model to location categories.

  1. To open Organizer, click Manage on the ribbon and then click Organizer.
  2. Select the Building category under Project, right-click and select Define boundary boxes for locations.
  3. Adjust the boundary box for the building by selecting or entering coordinates.

  4. Go to the Sections tab and add two sections to your building using the values shown in the image below.

    You can click the blue box in front of the section name to visualize the section in the model. The image below shows the Frame section.

  5. Go to the Floors tab and create a floor system for the Frame section based on the grid lines.

  6. Click Modify and Close.

    You have now organized the model to sections and floors based on locations.

  7. There are three ramp objects that are located in the Basement of the Frame section. You have to move these manually to the Ramp section:
    1. Select the Basement category, right-click and select Select in the model to view the objects in the model.

    2. Select the three ramp objects in the model.
    3. Right-click the Ramp category and select Move the selected objects.

Example: Create a custom category with automated subcategories based on object names in Organizer

You will now create a custom category for assemblies, and divide the category to subcategories based on the assembly name.

  1. Click to create a new custom category.
  2. Right-click the Custom Category and select Properties. Rename the category as Object.
  3. Under Automated object content, add the material filters Material - Concrete and Material - Steel to the rules. You can also select the Tekla Structures model to include the Tekla Structures objects in the category content.

  4. Click Modify to add the objects to the category.
  5. Next, group the objects in Object Browser. Click and select Group to create a grouping based on the Name column. The grouping you see in Object Browser is a preview of the automated subcategories.

  6. Now create automated subcategories for the category based on object names. Right-click the new category, select Properties and under Automated subcategories, click Grouping in Object Browser. This adds the object properties that are used in the grouping to the category properties.
  7. Select the Include the highest assembly level in the model check box.

    Selecting Include the highest assembly level in the model ensures that only assemblies and cast units are included in the category. Otherwise, the category will include both parts and assemblies. Using assemblies in categories is important because later you will select and view multiple different categories, and this will require using hierarchical dependencies for objects. Also, Organizer is built to work with assemblies.

  8. Select the Default property template for Object Browser.
  9. Click Modify.

The subcategories are created under the Object category. If you now make changes to the model, the category and the subcategories will be updated. For example, new subcategories are created and old ones deleted based on the names found in the model.

Next, you will create a custom category for reinforcing bars.

Example: Create a custom category for reinforcing bars in Organizer

You will now create a custom category for reinforcing bars.

  1. Create a new category and name it Reinforcement. Select to use the Object type - Reinforcement filter in the category property rules.

    If you do not have a filter for reinforcement, click Object group and create a filter as shown in the image below.

  2. Select a property template for Object Browser. In this example, you select the Rebar template. For this category, do not select the Include the highest assembly level in the model check box. If you select to include only assemblies, you will get all assemblies that contain reinforcing bars. The highest assembly level for reinforcing bars is cast unit. Create subcategories based on the nominal diameter.
  3. Click Modify to create the category.

You have now created the categories you need and you can start creating reports.

Next, you will create a concrete quantity take-off and a reinforcing bar quantity take-off for specific objects in a specific location.

Note:

You can customize Categories to open with a set of default categories to avoid creating frequently used categories for each project. Export the desired categories in the xml format as a .category file. Save the file to your firm folder under \ProjectOrganizerData.

Example: Create a concrete quantity take-off using Organizer

You will now get the quantities and formwork areas for the columns on the first floor. You need accurate quantities to order materials (formwork plywood and concrete), or just to plan your work.

  1. Select the Floor 1 and Column categories in the category tree.
  2. Select a property template for quantity take-offs. Object Browser now shows the quantities of the columns on the first floor.

    In this example, you have 19 columns with a total volume of 8.7 m3. You can now create a report by exporting, or you can just check the objects individually. Or, you can just use the total volume and call the concrete supplier to order the needed concrete to the site.

  3. Select a property template for formwork. Using a different property template allows you to get different information on your selection.

    You now get the total formwork area for columns. The formwork area is calculated using a formula. You can also see the individual formwork area of each column.

  4. To check for discrepancies, you can select columns and locate them in the model for visual checking:
    1. Select the columns in Objects Browser.
    2. Right-click on the selected rows and select Select in the model.
    3. Press Ctrl+5 to show only the selected columns. Other objects are almost completely transparent.
    4. Press Ctrl+4 to show the object surfaces again.

Next, you will create a quantity take-off for the reinforcing bars in the first floor columns.

Example: Create a reinforcing bar quantity take-off using Organizer

You will now get the quantities of the reinforcing bars of the columns on the first floor.

  1. Select the Floor 1 and Reinforcement categories, and the Column subcategory.
  2. Click to view the categories as unions and intersections in the selection pane, as shown in the image below. In this example, you need the intersections of the categories.

    Object Browser shows the reinforcing bars that belong to the columns on Floor 1 using a combination of the property templates of all the selected categories. You can select a different property template to view other properties, and change the grouping and sorting of the properties.

    You can change your category selection for different union and intersection combinations. For example, you can add more than one floor category to get a union of the categories.

  3. Click Export to create an Excel file of your selection.

If you need the same report often, you can save your selection as a new category and set the desired template as the default property template. You can use categories in the rules to define the content of the new category. This is useful especially when you are building your model, and want to automatically include model changes in the category.

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