Prototyping and Tekla Structures
Let’s say you want to construct a car.  Now everybody has an idea as to what an automobile would look like in their mind.  The general thought balloon would be a metal box with at least 4 wheels, doors (2, 4 or 5) seats inside, and a steering wheel.  Add a few minor details to the same thought – trunk, hood, headlights etc.  Now even a 5 year old can put that on a piece of paper and come up with an object which would represent a car.  However, you can’t use that piece of paper and hand it over to the production line to come up with a real working vehicle, can you?

At this point, you realize that it would be easier for someone else to build your ‘customized’ car and you narrow down your choice to two manufacturers.  The first car maker you visit presents you their drawings to give you an idea of what your proposed automobile would look like.   The next car maker reveals to you an actual model, an archetype/prototype or an actual three dimensional image of how it would look like if it were built in real life.  And you can even see it running too!  Chances are you’d probably choose the second manufacturer, right?

The word ‘prototype’ is most commonly used in mechanical and electrical engineering  (e.g. production of domestic appliances, automobiles and consumer electronics).  Though prototyping has been a practice in several other trades such as software engineering, etc., Clive Robinson, Product/IT Manager for Tekla (UK) states that “the construction industry is one of the very few industries where actual prototypes are never created, and trial erections are also rarely completed”.  The reason for is the great uncertainty that designs will actually do what we want them to accomplish.  In the construction industry, an error in design equates to errors in fabrication and erection.  These are very costly and time-consuming. 

Prototyping is practical.  In designing structural steelwork, designers start from raw data and build their prototypes or ‘models’ based on these.  As more information is gathered, changes are applied to the model.  The advantage of Tekla Structures is that modifications in your Prototype cause all related building objects to adapt automatically, allowing ease and effective management of the entire building.  And being a Structural BIM software, information is shared from conceptualization to detailing, fabrication and erection.  Start to Finish. 

The sharing of building model data will continue to improve exponentially in the next few years.  Though *data exchange is achievable with Tekla and several key CAD, A&D, 3D modeling and BIM software, there is still room for improvement to avoid settling for some added software functionalities in lieu of accurate and timely data.  Robinson adds that “the straightforward solution is to integrate all existing tools”, which the Tekla portfolio of structural design has been able to establish, making the entire construction process ‘complete’.    

In addition, we’ve also recently seen the gap bridged between architecture and structural design with the announcement of the integration of Tekla Structures and **ArchiCAD®.  Importation is simple as structural building elements between these two platforms are interpreted in the same way.  This makes structures edited and detailed in Tekla Structures automatically available and updated when it’s introduced back in ArchiCAD.  Users of both programs are now able to minimize or eliminate work duplication, as rework need not happen separately (no geometrical adjustments necessary in keeping with the changes).  Ultimately, this results in tremendous productivity and savings.

The fundamental nature of the Prototype, the 3D model – is to make sure that data is current, available and reliable.  Fortunately, innovators who embraced this concept early on have seen significant increases in productivity, providing them with a mammoth edge over the ‘exchange of paper’ industry.  In a short few years we have noted the successes of firms who have embraced Tekla’s flagship product in the structural steelwork industry, and it is exciting to look forward to what the future has yet in store. 

* For a complete detailed list of available formats for data exchange and import/export formats, kindly send an email request to TeklaStructures.Support.CAN@dowco.com.

**For the full article on Tekla Structures and ArchiCAD®, visit www.tekla.com

Tekla Structures
*Training Schedule
2nd Quarter 2006

For reservations and inquiries kindly call 604.629.6087.  Advanced training can be customized depending on topics of preference.  Suggested training topics would be as follows:

• Auto-connection
• Stairs & Handrail modeling
• Custom components
• Sketch Editor
• Catalog modification
• Drawing Wizard
• Drawing Classifier
• Template Editor/ Reports/ Layouts
• Import Attributes
• Customization(batch files, objects.inp, privileges.inp)
• CNC files
• Symbol Editor
• Autosave & recovery
• Import/ Export