Tekla Crane Version 1.0

1. Purpose

This application allows an Erector or Project Manager to easily setup CranePositions and Reach in the Model using Reference objects of those cranes such as *dwg,*dxf, *dgn, or any other acceptable reference object format for Tekla Strucutres. Theapplication allows the user to add their own cranes, and store some properties about thosecranes. This tool also features allowing the Erector or Project Manager to Animate thetravel path and basic swing pattern of the crane for presentation purposes to a customer aswell as internal Erection planning.

2. Installation

This macro uses the Tekla Structures .NET Application Programming interfaceand is built to work with Tekla Structures version 13.1 only. To install the macro do thefollowing steps.

1. Rename the TeklaCrane.e_e to TeklaCrane.exe (unless already named properly)2. Double Click on the TeklaCrane.exe (It is a Winzip Self Extractor)3. unzip the files to your environment folder (ie.C:\TeklaStructures\13.1\environments\usimp)

Files will be unzipped into your system, macros, and macros\modeling folder.4. Restart Tekla Structures version 13.1

3. .NET Framework 2.0

To run this macro you will need to have .NET framework 2.0 on your computer.The .NET framework is a software update to windows that allows these Tekla macros torun. Your computer may already have this framework installed, but some may not. Ifafter you follow the instructions in section 4 of this document, you see a message sayingyou need .NET framework version 2.0, go to the following website and download andinstall it for free.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856EACB-4362-4B0D-8EDD-AAB15C5E04F5&displaylang=en

4. Launch the macro

To run the macro, follow these steps

1. Open a Tekla Structures model.2. Go to the Tools>Macros menu3. Select the TeklaCrane macro in the dialog box.4. Click the Run button5. The Tekla base plate applicator dialog box will then appear.(First time launched make take a few moments to load)

5. Suggested Use of the macro

1. When you first launch the macro a dialog similar to below should appear.

The first thing to explain is the Crane Name and Crane w/Beam Name fields. These are alist of the reference models of cranes that are read from theC:\TeklaStructures\13.1\environments\usimp\macros\Cranes directory.

Notice in this Windows Explorer window you will see the Crawler.dwg file. Along withthat are similarly named files like Crawler.jpg, and Crawler.txt. The *.jpg file is a bitmapsnap shot that is loaded in the Crane Name Preview pane on the dialog box. You canadd your own cranes in this folder and your own *jpg images to show as a preview in thedialog. The acceptable crane file types are *.dwg, *.dxf, *.dgn, *.ifc, and *.xml (TeklaStructures Webviewer XML format). The *.txt file is a file that stores dialog box settingsfor that particular crane, and the files are created by pressing the SAVEINFORMATION button on the dialog box.

2. the difference between the Crane Name and Crane w/Beam Name is the Cranew/Beam Name is the reference object that will be used during the swing process when thecrane is picking up steel from the pile and moving it to the building, and Crane Beam isthe reference model used when the crane is moving along its travel path, or when it iscoming back from the building to pick up another beam from the stack. Any Cranes youmake should have the origin of the Crane at the bottom center of the main body of thecrane, and the arm of the crane should be pointed in the positive X direction as shown inthe diagram below.

3. If you have built your own Cranes and you now need to get and fill in the Height andReach radius of those cranes, I would suggest initially using the INSERT CRANE buttonat this point. When you press this button you will be prompted to pick two points todefine the direction and insertion elevation. This also allows you to strategically placeyour cranes in the model even without animation.

4. You may notice the grey Erection Clearance Cylinder around your crane might not beat the correct Dimensions. To fix this you will use the PICK buttons next to Height andRadius to capture that information. When you press PICK for Radius it will only capturethe distance between your two picked points in the X and Y direction (so you don't haveto worry about picking two points at different Z elevations). When you press PICK forHeight, it only records the z distance between your two picked points so it doesn't matterwhere you pick in the X and Y for your two points, the main thing is you are defining thevertical Z. You can also type these fields in manually. If you have the IMPERIALcheckbox checked, the values are expected to be Inches. If you have it unchecked thevalues are expected to be mm.

5. Depending on if you pick your points in a 3D or 2D views you may want to explorechanging settings on the following toolbars. Say you are working in a 3D view, where thebase grid or viewplane of that view is at Elevation 0'-0. Which the default 3D view in themodel is. You can switch your snap settings all off and to FreePlace, set your 'Snap toGeometry Lines and points' to be pressed down (so you can select corners and edges ofyour reference object cranes), as well as changing the plane selection to View Plane.When you switch it to View Plane, it means the points you pick in the model will only bedown on the 0'-0 elevation or whatever plane that 3D view was cut from. If you switch itback to Auto (which is where it should be at most times), in the 3D views it will allowyou to snap anywhere in the model, and in 2D views only snap to points in that viewplane. Again you can adjust your snap settings as needed to properly pick your cranepath, insertion points, and Height, elevation, or Radius dimensions for your Crane.

6. The Elevation field is so you can set the Elevation where the Crane will be insertedwhen you run the animation. It is so in case you accidentally pick a travel path or theSwing Angle points at different Z angles, the application will still put the crane at thisspecified elevation.

7. The Angle field is disabled because the application calculates the Swing Rotation bythe points you pick when you are using the ANIMATE CRANE feature.

8. The Number of Picks option is the amount of times the Crane will Swing back andforth to animate Swing path of Erecting Steel from a Pile to the Building.

9. The Speed option is how fast you want the animation to be displayed. The animationmay very depending on the distance between your travel path points or points picked todefine the angle of Swing. Also varying computer Speeds and RAM can speed up or slowdown the Crane animation.

10. The Leave Crane checkbox is there so after animation is complete you may want thecrane and the Erection Clearance to stay in the model.

11. Once you have all of your settings filled out, delete the first crane you INSERTEDinto the model (and the Erection Clearance cylinder), then press the INSERT CRANEbutton again to test your new settings for Crane placement and Erection clearance. Onceyou like the settings you have, press the Save Information button. This will create a textfile in the C:\TeklaStructures\13.1\environments\usimp\macros\Cranes folder. Every timeyou change the crane name at the top of the file the settings will be loaded if it finds asettings file. It is not suggested to manually edit those files.

12. Now at this point as you are planning your Crane Placement, you will have differentCranes saves away that are at different Angles for the arm and this display differentreaches so you can evaluate the different possibilities for Crane placement and capacity.If you know the capacities for each of those cranes at different arm angles you couldselect Assemblies that appear in the Erection Clearance Cylinder, right click, and selectthe Center of Gravity option. A red point will then appear in the model, and also a reportwill appear telling you the Weight of that Assembly. To Select Assemblies have theSelect Assemblies icon depressed on your Select Switches toolbar.

Once done selecting Assemblies, you can change the selection switch back to 'SelectComponents', or 'Select Objects in Components' buttons just to the left of the SelectAssemblies button.

13. Now you can go ahead and choose to also use the Animation option. I suggest firstlaying out some construction lines to outline where you will pick in the model for yourCrane paths before it actually does the swings. You also will want to layout some graphicobjects representing your lay down/ staging areas for the steel that the crane will pick up.At this point the application doesn't animate depletion of your pile, or the actualAssembly being put in place, or having multiple pieces in a pick, but it does show themain crane placement and Swing animation on the project.

You can activate the Construction line command on the Points Toolbar or menu

Center of Gravity Sample

Sample Crane Path layout with Construction lines.

14. Now pick the ANIMATE CRANE button. You will then pick the travel path points ofyour crane (the Final Crane Position point should be picked by pressing the MIDDLEMOUSE BUTTON).

Once you have picked the Crane Travel path, you will then be prompted to pick two morepoints to define the Start Swing Position of the Arm at the Pile, and the final SwingPosition at the Building. The program will calculate the angle formed between those twopoints and your Final Crane path picking point to determine the Swing.

After that watch you Crane added to the model and become animated. Repeat this processas needed. I might suggest leaving your Crane path construction lines, and also using thesingle construction point command to place points where you selected to define yourangle so you can use later for presentation purposes.