Creating structural members

The Structural Member tool has the capability to insert straight and polylinear structural members composed of a variety of common materials and shapes, and to build networks of associated members. If a material resource is used to define a part, the material typically provides the fill, texture, physical attributes, and construction information needed for drawings, renderings, and reports. Structural members can be aligned with the layer plane or a working plane, as needed.

Mode	Description
Column Insertion	Inserts a vertical member
Linear Insertion	Inserts a linear member
Poly Insertion	Draws a structural member using the selected polyline creation options
Polyline creation options	For Poly Insertion mode, selects the method for drawing the polyline upon which the object is based; see Creating polylines
Column Height	For columns with both the Start Bound and End Bound set to Layer Elevation in Structural member settings, enter the column height
Auto Join Members	When selected, automatically joins connected members and maintains the association between the member being moved and adjoining members; members can be joined to another member’s start or end point, centerline or edge. Associations are maintained for copied and duplicated objects, including objects moved to a different document.
Preferences	Opens the Structural Member Settings dialog box to set the default preferences for structural members

Creating vertical structural members

2.Click Preferences to open the Structural Member Settings dialog box and specify the tool’s default parameters (see Structural member settings). Most of the parameters can be edited later from the Object Info palette.

4.If Auto Join Members mode is enabled, as you move the cursor over an existing structural member, the object is highlighted, indicating that it can be associated. Click to place the structural member; it is inserted by its base.

Creating linear structural members

3.If Auto Join Members mode is enabled, as you move the cursor over an existing structural member, the object is highlighted, indicating that it can be associated. Click to place the structural member’s start point, and click again to place the end point.

Creating polylinear structural members

3.If Auto Join Members mode is enabled, as you move the cursor over an existing structural member, the object is highlighted, indicating that it can be associated. Click to set the starting point of the structural member, and then click to set each polyline vertex. Double-click to finish creating the structural member.