TS v11.3 Release Notes Enu

Tekla Structures 11.
3
Release Notes
Product version 11.3

May 2006
Copyright © 2006 Tekla Corporation

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Contents
1 Tekla Structures 11.3 Steel Detailing ..................................................... 5

1.1 General .................................................................................................. 6
Summing of rows in templates......................................................... 6
New Template editor - version 3.30 ................................................. 8
Improvements in View properties dialog box..................................... 9
Release notes.............................................................................. 11
Log file ........................................................................................ 12
Inquire dialog box......................................................................... 12
Locking objects............................................................................ 13
Using the Advanced options dialog box.......................................... 13
Performance improvements .......................................................... 14
1.2 Modeling............................................................................................... 14
Part reference line........................................................................ 14
Moving and selecting objects ........................................................ 15
Running and recording macros...................................................... 16
Part visibility ................................................................................ 16
Miscellaneous.............................................................................. 17
1.3 Drawings .............................................................................................. 20
Hide and show objects in drawings ................................................ 20
Automatic view name labels in drawings ........................................ 22
View direction marks .................................................................... 24
Add prefix and postfix text to dimensions........................................ 26
Hide dimension values.................................................................. 27
3D views in drawings.................................................................... 29
Edit the properties of automatically created section view hatches ..... 31
Templates and reports.................................................................. 32
Release Notes 1
Contents
Miscellaneous .............................................................................. 35
1.4 Import and export.................................................................................. 39
New NC pop-marks dialog box ...................................................... 40
Produce DSTV files for CHS profiles .............................................. 41
CHS profiles with cuts................................................................... 42
Improvements in IFC import and export .......................................... 44
Miscellaneous .............................................................................. 45
1.5 Custom components .............................................................................. 49
Importing and exporting custom components .................................. 49
Performing actions on custom components..................................... 50
Fixes ........................................................................................... 50
1.6 Components.......................................................................................... 52
Connections................................................................................. 52
Miscellaneous connection fixes...................................................... 58
Details......................................................................................... 60
Modeling tools.............................................................................. 61
Cold rolled ................................................................................... 63
2 Release Notes
Contents
2 Tekla Structures 11.3 Precast Concrete Detailing ............................. 65
2.1 General ................................................................................................ 66
Summing of rows in templates....................................................... 66
New Template editor - version 3.30 ............................................... 68
Improvements in View properties dialog box................................... 69
Release notes.............................................................................. 71
Log file ........................................................................................ 72
Inquire dialog box......................................................................... 72
Locking objects............................................................................ 73
Using the Advanced options dialog box.......................................... 73
Performance improvements .......................................................... 74
2.2 Modeling............................................................................................... 74
Create concrete beam by two points .............................................. 74
Cast-in-place cast units ................................................................ 75
Improvements in copying and moving of cast-in embeds ................. 76
Part reference line........................................................................ 77
Moving and selecting objects ........................................................ 78
Running and recording macros...................................................... 78
Part visibility ................................................................................ 78
Miscellaneous.............................................................................. 79
2.3 Drawings .............................................................................................. 83
Hide and show objects in drawings ................................................ 83
Automatic view name labels in drawings ........................................ 85
View direction marks .................................................................... 87
Add prefix and postfix text to dimensions........................................ 89
Hide dimension values.................................................................. 91
3D views in drawings.................................................................... 92
Edit the properties of automatically created section view hatches ..... 94
Reinforcing bar bend and end marks ............................................. 95
Templates and reports.................................................................. 99
Miscellaneous............................................................................ 101
2.4 Import and export ................................................................................ 106
Improvements in IFC import and export........................................ 107
Miscellaneous............................................................................ 108
Release Notes 3
Contents
2.5 Custom components ............................................................................ 111
Importing and exporting custom components ................................ 111
Plane naming in custom components ........................................... 112
Performing actions on custom components................................... 112
Fixes ......................................................................................... 113
2.6 Components........................................................................................ 115
Use custom components as lifting anchors in Lifting anchor (80) .... 115
Modeling tools............................................................................ 116
2.7 Reinforcement ..................................................................................... 117
Improvements in reinforcement components................................. 117
Miscellaneous ............................................................................ 120
3 Tekla Structures 11.3 Analysis and Design ...................................... 121

Visualization of analysis model .................................................... 121
Improvements in beam restraints ................................................. 123
Miscellaneous ............................................................................ 124
4 Tekla Structures 11.3 Project Management ...................................... 129

Miscellaneous ............................................................................ 129
4 Release Notes
Contents
1 Tekla Structures 11.3
Steel Detailing
Tekla Structures version 11.3 is a sub release and contains many new features
and fixes.
Compatibility Tekla Structures 11.3 is compatible with all previous versions. You can open and
work with existing models using Tekla Structures 11.3., except for the following
features:
• Multiple lines of text. The drawing texts are stored as XML strings
into database, also the one line texts. If you open a model, saved with
Tekla Structures 11.2 or 11.3 in version 11.1 or 11.0, the XML texts
are shown as they are.
• Surface treatment. Surface treatments made with Tekla Structures
11.2 or 11.3 are not editable with previous versions of Tekla Struc-
tures.
We suggest that you complete any models you have started using your current
version.
Once you save a model in Tekla Structures 11.3, you can open it
in Tekla Structures 11.0, 11.1 and 11.2 but not in older versions,
in Xsteel, or in Xengineer.
Installing Tekla Structures setup creates a new subfolder for Tekla Structures 11.3.
You need Windows Administrator rights to install Tekla Structures 11.3. This
ensures that all Windows system folder *.dll files are updated.
Release Notes 5
Tekla Structures 11.3 Steel Detailing
Topics This chapter is divided into following sections:
• General (p. 6)
• Modeling (p. 14)
• Drawings (p. 20)
• Import and export (p. 39)
• Custom components (p. 49)
• Components (p. 52)
1.1 General
Topics Summing of rows in templates (p. 6)
New Template editor - version 3.30 (p. 8)
Improvements in View properties dialog box (p. 9)
Release notes (p. 11)
Log file (p. 12)
Inquire dialog box (p. 12)
Locking objects (p. 13)
Using the Advanced options dialog box (p. 13)
Performance improvements (p. 14)
Summing of rows in templates
The summing of rows in templates has changed so that the sum-

ming is now always based only on the values which are out-
put in the template.
The change makes the functionality more logical and allows certain other func-
tionalities to work.
Previously, the Total function calculated all objects in the sum, even when you
had not selected the option Sum values across all rows. The following example
shows how the change affects templates:
• An additional value field has been added to the row in the template,
which is used to sum the weight values across all rows.
6 Release Notes
• This value field is then used, when the total sum is calculated.
The value field

WEIGHT_field has been
added to the row. It sums
the weight values across all
rows. The values will not be
visible in the report pro-
duced with the template.
When the total weight sum
is calculated using the value
field WEIGHT_TOT, we refer
to the WEIGHT_field value
field.
Release Notes 7
The report templates which are included in Tekla Structures have been updated
to sum the rows in templates correctly.
If you have any existing templates that use summing of rows, do

the following for the summing to work correctly:
• Add a value field in the row, which sums the objects
included in that row.
• Change the field that calculates the total sum to refer
to this value field.
New Template editor - version 3.30

Tekla Structures 11.3 includes a new version of the Template Editor, version
3.30.
Compatibility with previous versions of Template Editor

When you open a version 2.2 template in Template Editor 3.30, it prompts you to
either convert the template, or click Retain and open the template in the old edi-
tor. Click Convert to convert the template and open it in Template Editor 3.30.
You have to manually edit the template before you can use it. Click Retain if you
do not want to convert the template.
Starting Template Editor

To start Template Editor 3.30:
In Tekla Structures, click Tools > Templates...
OR
From the Windows Start menu, select All Programs > Tekla Structures 11.3 > Tools
> Template Editor 3.30.
What’s new in Template Editor 3.30

The following new features and improvements have been included in the new
version of Template Editor:
• Save rules for later use
• Change component type and retain the information in the component
• Additional output options for page headers and page footers
• Specify line length and angle with the number pad when inserting
• Preview an object position before you accept the new settings in the
Move dialog box
8 Release Notes
• Select multiple template components and objects by holding down
the Ctrl key when selecting in the Content Browser
• Additional information on what components and objects have been
selected in the status bar
• Check whether a value has been set for a product-specific free
attribute by using the new IsSet function
• Select fonts effortlessly in the Select font dialog box. If you type the
name of the font in the Font field, Template Editor auto-selects the
font according to the letters you type.
See also
Template Editor help
Lesson 9: New Template Editor in the Template Editor training manual on the
Tekla extranet at https://extranet.tekla.com
Templates and reports (p. 32)
Improvements in View properties dialog box

The View properties dialog box has been improved in different ways to make the
controls more understandable and the dialog box more efficient to use.
Fields on the View properties dialog box have been reorganized and related items
have been grouped together.
Release Notes 9
Display dialog The View setup dialog box is now named Display. To open the dialog box, click
box Display in the View properties dialog box.
You can now select all the checkboxes at the same time on the Display dialog box
by selecting All (In model and/or In components). The uppermost checkboxes are
also automatically cleared if you clear any of the checkboxes under them.
10 Release Notes
Release notes
• You can now access the Release notes from the Help menu by select-
ing Help > Release notes when the Tekla Structures online help is
installed. When you click the Release notes option, the start page of
the Release notes opens in the online help.
Release Notes 11
Log file
• When the warning message ’Cannot find center point for chamfer’ is
shown, the log file now includes also the object ID. If the object has cir-
cular chamfers with 0.0 radius, the warning message is not shown in
the log file.
• The log file no longer displays unrequired warning messages about
template attributes that were unrelated to the profile in use. To see the
warning messages, set the variable
XS_SHOW_TEMPLATE_LOG_MESSAGES to TRUE in Tools > Advanced
options > Templates and symbols. The variable is set to FALSE by
default.
• Tekla Structures displayed unrequired warning messages in the log
file about duplicate attribute names in custom components in situa-
tions where the custom components did not have variables. This has
been fixed.
Inquire dialog box

• Now the Inquire object dialog box shows the NAME field. This is use-
ful, for example, when you filter objects in the Drawing Editor or
examine custom components.
12 Release Notes
• The Inquire object dialog box shows the connection position type.
Locking objects
If you try to modify a locked object, Tekla Structures shows the message "There
are locked objects, see report. The operation could not be performed." and a
report on access rights.
Previously, this report was created using a template called ownership_report.rpt.
Now the report template is called locked_objects_report.rpt.
Using the Advanced options dialog box

• In Tekla Structures 11.3 descriptions have been added to several vari-
ables that previously were lacking a description in the Advanced
options dialog box.
• When you open the Advanced options dialog box, it will now open at
the same location as the last time you used the dialog box.
• The variable XS_FIRM works now correctly even when you have
defined it both in the Advanced options dialog box and in the batch
file.
Release Notes 13
You can set variables by using the Advanced options dialog box
or by editing the user.bat file.We recommend that you only use
one of these methods to set variables. The variable settings in
the Advanced options dialog box override those in the batch
files.
Performance improvements
• Opening views that contain parts with surface treatments is now
much faster.
1.2 Modeling
Topics Part reference line (p. 14)
Moving and selecting objects (p. 15)
Running and recording macros (p. 16)
Part visibility (p. 16)
Miscellaneous (p. 17)
Part reference line

If you pick two points to position a part, these points form the part reference line,
and handles appear at the line ends. You can use part reference lines as a help in
for example snapping to the middle points of parts.
14 Release Notes
You can define the visibility of the part reference line in the Display dialog box.
To display the part reference line:
1. Go to Properties > View...
2. Click the Display... button to open the Display dialog box.
3. On the Advanced tab, select Part reference line.
4. Click Modify and OK.
Moving and selecting objects

• Tekla Structures warns you when you are placing objects outside the
view depth or work area to prevent the objects from being hidden. The
warning is now given only when the object is completely outside the
view depth or work area.
Release Notes 15
• It is now possible to move and select weld preparation chamfers.
Running and recording macros

• When you scrolled down to select an appropriate macro in the Macros
dialog box, Tekla Structures no longer moves to a different location
in the scrollbar after you make the selection.
• The import of custom components is now recorded correctly.
• When you record macros, Tekla Structures adds a timestamp for every
action if you have set the variable XS_MACRO_ENABLE_TIMESTAMP
to TRUE.
The timestamps are in the .cs file of the macro in question, which is located
in ../environments/country-independent/macros folder. The macro is saved
in the drawing or modeling folders, depending on in which mode the macro
was recorded.
Part visibility
Previously, view depths with skewed view planes were not taken into account cor-
rectly in part visibility. Now the part visibility works as follows:
Part bounding box is transformed to view plane, if the section view is skewed.
The part will not be visible in the view if the part bounding box does not intersect
with the view plane bounding box in the view coordinates.
16 Release Notes
Part visibility works in the same manner as it did previously if the section view is
not skewed.
Miscellaneous
Welds
• When you welded a haunch profile to a beam, Tekla Structures
placed the weld incorrectly in model and in the drawings. Now the
weld is placed correctly.
Release Notes 17
Rotating the model
• When using Ctrl + p to rotate a plane view to a 3D view manually,
Tekla Structures did not change to 3D snapping mode automatically.
Now Tekla Structures recognizes always whether the view is a plane
view or a 3D view.
Numbering
• The variable XS_USE_MULTI_NUMBERING_FOR in Tools > Advanced
options > Numbering works now correctly when used in the Advanced
options dialog box. The variable is also effective when you open an
another model in the same session.
• When you moved parts created by connections for example by mov-
ing the secondary part of the connection, the parts were not able to
keep the old part position number in multinumbering. This has been
fixed.
• You can now use the variable
XS_VALID_CHARS_FOR_ASSEMBLY_FAMILY_QUALIFIER in Tools
> Advanced options > Numbering to set valid letters for assembly fam-
ily numbers. Enter the letters you want to use, for example, ABEG. By
default letters A-Z are used.
Part labels
• When you add a user-defined attribute to a part label in model views,
the Display dialog box now shows which user-defined attribute you
selected.
• Entering a user-defined attribute part label longer than 255 characters
in the Part label dialog box generated an application error. This has
been fixed.
Surface treatment
• Now when you use the default value (1.00) for Thickness in the Sur-
face treatment dialog box, the value takes effect when you click Apply
or OK button.
• When defining tile patterns for tiled surface treatment, entering very
large values as tile offsets resulted in large thumbnail images, which
caused Tekla Structures to stall.
The size of repeated tile pattern is now restricted to 2000 x 2000

mm. If you enter larger values the tile surface will not be
formed.
18 Release Notes
Reference models
• DGN reference models were always displayed as transparent.
Copying and moving objects

• On some occasions the Copy > Rotate command did not copy cuts.
This has been fixed.
Chamfer
• When you opened the Chamfer properties dialog box by pressing Alt +
Enter keys and you had reference objects included in the area selec-
tion, Tekla Structures stalled. This has been fixed.
Sketching
• When you use the sketching tools to create cross sections, it is no
longer possible to save the sketches with prefixes similar to those
available in the library profile catalog. This has been done to avoid
confusion between library profiles and sketched profiles.
• When you used a sketched profile as a library profile the part was not
created correctly in all cases.
Polybeams
• For 3D polybeams, the length calculation based for unfolding gave
incorrect results. This has been fixed.
Release Notes 19
Options dialog box
• In the US Imperial environment when you were modifying the Bolt
size option in Setup > Options dialog box, you had to save and load
the defaults after modifying the bolt size value on the dialog for the
changes to take affect. This has been fixed: now pressing the OK but-
ton is enough.
1.3 Drawings
Topics Hide and show objects in drawings (p. 20)
Automatic view name labels in drawings (p. 22)
View direction marks (p. 24)
Add prefix and postfix text to dimensions (p. 26)
Hide dimension values (p. 27)
3D views in drawings (p. 29)
Edit the properties of automatically created section view hatches (p. 31)
Hide and show objects in drawings

You can now show and hide objects in drawings and drawing views. With this
feature the editing of drawings is easier and faster. When you hide a part, all the
objects related to that part will be hidden as well.
If a model object is hidden in drawing views it will not be

printed either.
You can display the ghost outline of hidden objects in drawing views by using
the Ghost outline command in Setup menu in the Drawing Editor. In the follow-
ing example the horizontal dimension line has been hidden and the ghost outline
of the dimension is visible.
20 Release Notes
When you hide drawing objects, check that:
• Black and white drawing is not selected on the Setup menu. Use white
background with colored lines to show the ghost outlines of the hid-
den object.
• Ghost outline is selected on the Setup menu to have the ghost outlines
of objects appear visible.
To hide an object in a drawing view:
1. Select the object you wish to hide from a drawing view.
2. Right-click and select Hide/Unhide > Hide from view from the pop-up menu.
Release Notes 21
To show an object in a drawing view:
1. Select the hidden object in the drawing view.
2. Right-click and select Hide/Unhide > Unhide in view from the pop-up menu.
If you want to hide or show an object in the drawing, follow the same instruc-
tions and select Hide in drawing or Unhide in drawing from the pop-up menu.
You can define whether to list the hidden objects in reports. To do this:
1. Go to Properties > Drawing...
2. Click Layout.
3. On the Drawing size tab, select the appropriate option in the List hidden
objects in reports list box.
Automatic view name labels in drawings

You can define the view names for front, top, back and bottom views in the draw-
ing properties dialog box. The automatic view name labels feature inserts labels
into drawing views without you having to do it manually.
To define view names for front, top, back and bottom views:
2. In the drawing properties dialog box, click the View... button to open the
drawing view properties dialog box.
3. On the Views tab, check that the On option is selected for the views, whose
name label you want displayed.
4. On the Labels tab, define the names for the labels in the Front view, Top view,
Back view, and Bottom view fields.
22 Release Notes
5. Modify the other properties if needed:
• Position: Define the location of the name label.
• Color: Define the color of the font in the name label.
• Height: Define the height of the font in the name label.
Release Notes 23
View direction marks
You can now display view direction marks in section views and end views. The
view direction marks clarify the orientation of the views.
Use the Section view properties dialog box to display the view direction marks for
the end and section views. This saves you time and manual editing work: you can
have the marks inserted automatically in drawings.
The view direction is shown with a small symbol (optionally with a text label)
around the end or section view. You can define the symbol in Tools > Advanced
options > Drawing properties by using the variables:
• XS_DRAWING_VIEW_DIRECTION_MARK_BACK
• XS_DRAWING_VIEW_DIRECTION_MARK_BOTTOM
• XS_DRAWING_VIEW_DIRECTION_MARK_FRONT
• XS_DRAWING_VIEW_DIRECTION_MARK_TOP
The default is xsteel@66, which corresponds to the following symbol:
To display view direction marks for the end and section views:
1. In the drawing, right-click and select Properties... from the pop-up menu.
2. Click the View... button.
3. On the Views tab of the View properties dialog box, check that the option On
has been selected for section views and/or end views.
5. In the drawing properties dialog box, click the Section view... button.
6. On the Label tab, select the appropriate options in the Section views and End
views. The options are None, Symbol only, Label only, and Symbol and Label.
7. Define the height of the symbol and text label in Height.

24 Release Notes
Release Notes 25
Add prefix and postfix text to dimensions
Adding prefix and/or postfix text to dimensions is easy with Tekla Structures.
Also modifying to such dimension lines at a later time is faster.
To add prefix and/or postfix text to a dimension:
1. In a drawing view, double-click the dimension line to show the Dimension
properties dialog box.
2. On the General tab, enter the text in the Prefix and/or Postfix fields.
3. Click Modify.
The prefix and postfix values cannot be plain numbers. Also,

the prefix value cannot end with a number and the postfix value
cannot start with a number when the numeric value of the
dimension is visible.
26 Release Notes
Press Alt and type 0177 on the numeric keypad to display the
plus-minus (±) sign.
Hide dimension values

To hide the dimension line numeric value:
1. Double-click a dimension line to show the Dimension properties dialog box.
2. On the General tab, select Hidden in the Visibility of numeric value list box.
Release Notes 27
3. Click Modify.
If you hide the numeric value of the dimension, the prefix and
postfix texts that you may have added will still be shown.
28 Release Notes
3D views in drawings
You can create 3D views in assembly and single part drawings. You can create
3D views interactively after the drawing has been created. This feature inserts 3D
views into fabrication drawings without you having to do it.
3D view
Include a 3D view To include a 3D view before creating a drawing:

before creating a
drawing 1. In the Model Editor, select Properties > Single part drawing or Assembly draw-
ing .
2. In the drawing properties dialog box, click the View button.
3. In the 3D view list box, select On.
4. To define the 3D view properties, select one of the options in 3D view
attributes. There are ready-made properties for assembly, cast-unit and sin-
gle part drawings, which you can use when creating the corresponding draw-
ing. The automatically created 3D views have the same filtering type as the
other drawing views.
The Current attributes option creates the 3D view based on the values you
last entered in the Rotation around (in 3D views) fields in the View properties
dialog box.
Release Notes 29
Create a 3D view To create a 3D view in an existing drawing, click Create > View > Basic > 3D.
in drawing
Set or modify the You can set or modify the view angles with the options in the View properties dia-
view angles log box of the drawing. The angle settings apply only for the 3D view. To set or
modify the view angles:
1. Select the drawing view for the view angles you want to set or modify.
2. Right-click and select Properties... from the pop-up menu.
30 Release Notes
3. Type in the values for the angles in y and x directions in the Rotation around
(in 3D views) fields. Rotation on a model view is around global axis, but rota-
tion on a drawing view is around local axis (rotation values 0.0 and 0.0 equal
Front view).
Edit the properties of automatically created section view hatches

You can edit the different properties of automatically created section view
hatches in Drawing part properties dialog box by using the options on the Fill tab.
You can now modify the properties of multiple section view hatches at once.
To edit the properties of automatically created section view hatches:
1. Double-click the drawing part in the section view to display the Drawing part
2. On the Fill tab, define the type for the hatch by selecting the appropriate
option in the Type list box. You can preview and select the options also by
clicking Select.
3. Modify the other properties if needed and click Apply or OK.. You can mod-
ify the following properties:
• Color: defines the color of the hatch
• Angle: defines the angle in which the pattern is represented
• Scale by: defines the size of the pattern
If you are using a hatch, whose type is hardware_SOLID,

hardware_BRICKS, hardware_CHESS or hardware_LINES you can
only modify the color of the hatch.
Release Notes 31
The Type option is set to Automatic by default. You can switch off the hatching by
selecting None.
See also Hatching in section views in the online help.
Templates and reports

Fixes available in the new Template Editor 3.30
• Aligning text with value fields now works correctly.
• You can now use parentheses inside rules with string parameters.
• You can now undo a template type change, for example, from graphi-
cal template to textual template.
32 Release Notes
• The function GetValue("BOLT.SITE_WORKSHOP")did not return
the values to NUT and WASHER rows. This has been fixed.
• Aligning template fields with using the Align command now works
correctly.
• If you resized a filled polyline by streching it, the fill inside the
polyline did not scale correctly together with other objects in the
group. This has been fixed in the new Template Editor 3.30.
• Angle is displayed in the status bar for value fields.
• Formula IsSet("USERDEFINED.comment") now returns true if
the requested attribute’s value has been set, or false if the value has
not been set.
• The number of holes per part is now displayed correctly in reports.
• When you were writing a formula, which included an equation with a
condition clause in the following form:
if(A) then
...
else
...
endif ...
You were required to type a space character between the parenthesis and the
word "then" in order for the formula to work correctly. This is now fixed and
there is no need for typing in the space.
• In templates created with Template Editor version 3.20 the inch mark
is now placed correctly at the end of the length string (such as 11'-11
1/2") in the US Imperial environment.
• The attributes CONNECTION_CODE and
CONNECTION_RUNNING_NUMBER were missing from the list of avail-
able attributes in Select attribute dialog box. This has been fixed.
• The following attributes have been added for PART content type for
railings:
• PRODUCT_NAME
• RAIL_OFFSET
• RAIL_RADIUS
• RAIL_ANGLE
• DIMENSION_A
• DIMENSION_B
Release Notes 33
• Sometimes when you were creating a polyline, the preview line,
which Template Editor draws before you click to define the next ver-
tex point, did not work correctly if the vertex point you clicked was
just outside the edge of the row. This has been fixed.
• The attribute MATERIAL_TYPE is now available also for CAST_UNIT
content type.
• When you opened a template with Template Editor 3.20 in US impe-
rial environment, you could not change the horizontal grid spacing.
This has been fixed in the new Template Editor 3.30.
• Now when you import files, you are asked to define the import
method in the Select Import Method dialog box as you place the
imported file in the template.
You can switch off this functionality by clearing the checkbox in the Always
ask for import method option in Options > Preferences dialog box.
• The default units are now read from the current environment you are
using.
• The DWG import now supports holes and islands in hatches.
• The template attribute WEIGHT_M now returns correct values for
parametric profiles.
• New attributes CAST_UNIT_PREFIX and
CAST_UNIT_SERIAL_NUMBER are now available in the new Tem-
plate Editor 3.30.
• You can now create PART content type rows underneath
SIMILAR_ASSEMBLY content type rows.
• The z coordinate was not included in assembly position codes in
Template Editor 3.2 even if you had set the variable
XS_ASSEMBLY_POSITION_CODE_3D to TRUE. This has been fixed.
• You can now use the text field NUMBER_IN_PHASE also in the new
template editor. It now works in the following manner: if you ask for
the number in phase for assemblies, parts or bolts, it returns the num-
ber of assemblies with the same position number belonging to the
given phase.
Now if you ask for NUMBER_IN_PHASE for for example a bolt,

it returns the number of times the bolts assembly exists in the
desired phase - not the number of times the bolt itself exists in
the phase.
34 Release Notes
• Lengths contained in the Profile field now have the inch mark in the
correct location in the US Imperial environment. For example, length
for plates is now displayed as PL1"X18 1/2".
If you want to display the inch mark before the fractions, such as
PL1"X18"1/2, set the variable
XS_PROFILE_DISPLAY_INCH_MARK_AFTER_FRACTIONS_IN_REPORTS
to FALSE in Tools > Advanced options > Templates and symbols. The
default is TRUE.
• When you use the Weld content type, you now have correctly only
one row for PRIMARY and SECONDARY attributes.
Miscellaneous
Drawing wizard
• When you used the Save as command in the drawing wizard to save a
drawing wizard with an another name, the default file type was incor-
rect due to a change in Windows XP SP2. This has been fixed.
Release Notes 35
Orientation mark in single-part views
Now orientation marks are created for included single-part views in assembly
drawings. The visibility of the orientation mark is set as follows:
• Use variable XS_SINGLE_ORIENTATION_MARK, if the Single-part
attributes option is set to Current attributes (on the Assembly - layout
properties dialog box).
To modify the variable, click Tools > Advanced options... > Single part view in
assembly drawing. To set the variable, type in TRUE in the Value field.
• If the Single-part attributes option is set to something else than Cur-

rent attributes, the visibility of the orientation mark is according to
the selected attribute file.
Freeplace
• Text objects no longer move to a new location when the current loca-
tion is free.
• Text along line no longer overlaps other objects.
• The Freeplace command now appears in the associative notes pop-up
menu.
• Text objects no longer overlap associative notes when you use the
Freeplace command.
• The Restart freeplace command was missing from the Edit menu in
the French environment. This has been fixed.
36 Release Notes
Drawing views
• Sometimes Tekla Structures created empty section views in addition
to the existing section views. If you deleted such a section view, the
actual section view with the same label was deleted. This has been
fixed.
• Creating undeformed drawings of parts that were not deformed could
have resulted in incorrect drawing views. This has been fixed.
• If the main part of an assembly was rising exactly in a 45 degree
angle, using the model coordinate system turned the drawing view
upside down. This has been fixed.
• Sometimes when the work plane was moved from the global origin,
included single part views had a very large drawing view frame around
them. This has now been fixed, and the work plane does not affect the
result.
• When you place a section view, detail view or a view that you have
created using the Create view from view command, you can now see
clearly where you are about to place the view. A symbol representing
the view that you are about to place now follows the mouse pointer
and shows the location where the view will be placed.
Dimensions
• Now the dimension line circular arrows are drawn with the same color
as the dimension line.
• It is again possible to display decimal values for inches in dimensions.
Release Notes 37
Selecting drawing objects
• If you added drawing objects to an empty general arrangement draw-
ing, they disappeared and reappeared if only if you added a view in
the drawing. This has been fixed.
• Tekla Structures now displays the pop-up menu when you select two
welds and one additional drawing object in the Drawing Editor of an
assembly drawing.
Drawing part properties

• Changing the Type on the Fill tab in Drawing part properties dialog box
from Automatic to some other fill type gave incorrect results for pro-
files with holes (for example RHS profiles). This has been fixed.
Drawing layout
• Now when you double-click a drawing title block, Tekla Structures
displays a message to make sure that you want to start editing the
information with Template Editor.
• In general arrangement drawings, when you pressed the Modify but-

ton after you had selected ga as the Layout option and Specified size
as the Size definition mode in the General - layout properties dialog
box, the title block was no longer visible in the drawing. This has
been fixed.
38 Release Notes
Placing text in drawings
• When you created text with the Text along line command with an
arrow at the start point, the arrow would point the wrong way if you
picked the points from right to left. This has been fixed.
Text along line when Text along line when
picked from right to left, picked from right to left,
created with Tekla Struc- created with Tekla
tures 11.2: Structures 11.3:
Multi-drawings
• New parts that you added to a model were not always added to an
existing multi-drawing even if you updated the drawing. This has
been fixed.
• On rare occasions linking drawings that contained single part views
to a multi-drawing generated an application error. This has been
fixed.
Associative notes
• When you create associative notes, the temporary snap override no
longer stays activated after you have picked the first position of the
leader line.
• On some occasions the box around an associative note was overlap-
ping the part. This has been fixed.
Drawing Classifier
• The Drawing Classifier did not create part marks for secondary parts
when you had set the visibility of the mark in all views to always.
1.4 Import and export

Topics New NC pop-marks dialog box (p. 40)
Release Notes 39
Produce DSTV files for CHS profiles (p. 41)
CHS profiles with cuts (p. 42)
Improvements in IFC import and export (p. 44)
New NC pop-marks dialog box

Editing the NC file settings is now easier with the new NC pop-marks dialog box.
In the new dialog box there is a control for each item of the pop_mark_parts.inp
file (except for Position case). The pop-marks work in the same manner as
they worked when used from the pop_mark_parts.inp file. Using the new NC pop-
marks dialog box replaces having to edit the pop_mark_parts.inp file.
Use only the new dialog box for defining values for pop-marks.
Do not use the pop_mark_parts.inp file for defining the values
for pop-marks anymore.
You can access the Pop-mark settings dialog box by clicking the Pop-Marks... but-
ton in the NC files dialog box. If the Pop-marks check box is selected, the pop-
mark settings are used when you create NC files. The Help… button displays an
online help page where NC file creation is explained.
In the Pop-mark settings dialog box you can define the following values for the
pop-marks:
• Main part profile type
• Main part name (you can enter several part names separated by commas)
• Secondary part profile type
• Secondary part name (you can enter several part names separated by com-
mas)
• Pop-mark location
• Move to flange
• Edge distance (distance from main part edge, decimal number)
Use Save to save your settings as the standard ones. The standard settings are
loaded automatically when you open the dialog box. If you need to vary your
standard settings for a particular project, make the changes and use Save as. Use
a unique name for these settings.
The order of the lines in the dialog box is important. Tekla

Structures uses the match it finds, so you should put the most
limiting definition first, and the most generic one last.
40 Release Notes
The Pop-marking options tab corresponds to the Pop-marks tab in the previous NC
file settings dialog box.
Produce DSTV files for CHS profiles

In Tekla Structures 11.3 you can produce DSTV files for CHS (Circular Hollow
Section or round tube) profiles and fabricate the CHS profiles directly with NC
machines. Automatic fabrication for CHS profiles speeds up your work because
you are provided a direct link with the NC machines.
Release Notes 41
CHS profiles with cuts
You can now unwrap CHS profile parts and include cut holes in the unwrapped
solid.
CHS profiles with cuts are unwrapped into plate form for drawings. To do this,
set the part representation to workshop form in the drawing.
To set the part representation to workshop form:
2. Click Part...
3. In the Part properties dialog box, go to the Content tab.
4. Select Workshop form from the options in Part representation.
Tekla Structures unwraps CHS profiles with cuts into plate form for NC DSTV
files automatically.
42 Release Notes
Release Notes 43
Use the variable XS_TUBE_UNWRAP_WITH_CUT_HOLES in Tools > Advanced
options > Drawing properties to enable the unwrapping of CHS profile parts and
include cut holes into the unwrapped solid.
This variable is set to TRUE by default. If you set it to FALSE, then the previously
applied unwrapping method is applied when producing CHS/PD profile parts
workshop form into drawings or NC files. With the previously applied method
cut holes cannot be included into the unwrapped solid.
If the value of the variable

XS_TUBE_UNWRAP_WITH_CUT_HOLES is TRUE, the variables
XS_TUBE_UNWRAP_LIMIT_THICKNESS and
XS_TUBE_UNWRAP_PAPER_THICKNESS have no effect.
You can now select whether to print RO (round tube) or B (plate) profile type in
the NC file header by using the variable
XS_TUBE_UNWRAP_USE_PLATE_PROFILE_TYPE_IN_NC in Tools > Advanced
options > CNC. The variable is set to TRUE by default to print B in the NC file
header. To print RO and to avoid affecting the profile type in DSTV, set the vari-
able to FALSE.
Use this variable only when you have set the variable
XS_TUBE_UNWRAP_WITH_CUT_HOLES to TRUE.
Improvements in IFC import and export

IFC import and export includes the following improvements:
• Tekla Structures 11.3 supports the official 2X2 final (2X2
Addendum1) IFC version. Also IFC Schema 2X3 support has been
included for reference import and 2X3 for IFC export.
• You can export all objects (for example slabs, panels etc.) using Ifc-
Member entity.
44 Release Notes
• The IFC file header now includes more useful information, such as
the macro version and date, and the product and version the file was
made with.
Fixes
• Now when you import an IFC file with mapped presentations used
for flow segments, the flow segments (length, diameter and position)
are imported correctly to Tekla Structures.
• When you imported IFC files generated in Tekla Structures into other
software and your model contained walls with holes, there could have
been problems where walls with holes might not have been imported
or the holes might have been placed incorrectly. This has been fixed.
• The length of the file path is limited to 256 characters in IFC export.
Now when you enter too long a file path in the IFC export dialog box,
Tekla Structures displays a warning message in the application win-
dow.
Miscellaneous
NC files
• Slot options are now available for Peddimat file format in NC file set-
tings dialog box.
Release Notes 45
KISS export
• When the variable XS_USE_NEW_PLATE_DESIGNATION was set to
TRUE, KISS export of plates modeled as beams was not correct. This
has been fixed.
• The length and width of plates were not switched correctly in KISS
or Steel2000 export when you had set the variable
XS_NEW_PLATE_DESIGNATION and
XS_CHECK_FLAT_LENGTH_ALSO to TRUE. This has been fixed.
• KISS import was not correct when the bolt diameter was 1", 2" or 3".
DWG/DFX export
• Now when you export files in DWG or DXF format, the ID of each
part is exported as an attribute and written into the export file for each
part.
• Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters are now plotted correctly
when you plot a drawing into DWG format.
Tekla Structures sets the codepage automatically so that the exported files
are displayed correctly. If the proper codepage cannot be found, the codep-
age is set to ansi_1252 by default. You can set the codepage manually by
using the variable XS_EXPORT_CODEPAGE, which overrides automatic
selection of codepage in export. If you set the variable to undefined, Tekla
Structures reverts to the way which was used in Tekla Structures 11.1 in
exporting files.
• 3D DWG and 3D DXF export contains a new option called Center
lines. The option uses lines located in the center of the profile cross
section in the export.
46 Release Notes
Importing models
• In some occasions, SDNF import revision control considered that parts
were modified even when you had made no modifications due to part
end point positions being compared with too strict a tolerance. The
part end point tolerance has now been changed from 0.1 mm to 0.5
mm.
• You can now use Fit work area and Fit by parts > All views or Selected
views commands with import models. The Fit by parts command is
available in the pop-up menu when you have selected parts and right-
click. The Fit work area command is available when you have
selected a view. This makes it easier to distinguish which parts will
be imported.
CIS export
• CIS/2 export now works correctly for parametric profiles in the US
imperial environment.
Release Notes 47
DSTV files
• When you created DSTV files for plates and you used all of the fol-
lowing settings:
• XS_USE_NEW_PLATE_DESIGNATION=TRUE
• XS_USE_FLAT_DESIGNATION=TRUE
• XS_CHECK_FLAT_LENGTH_ALSO=TRUE
and the plates had slot holes, the location of the holes might have been incor-
rect in the DSTV files. This has been fixed.
Below is a picture of the DSTV file from Tekla Structures 11.0-11.2:
Below is a picture of the correct DSTV file:
48 Release Notes
Web Viewer
• A new version of Web Viewer has been included in Tekla Structures
11.3. Web Viewer 1.26.10 offers for example:
• Smoother representation of pipes
• Increased size of clipboard buffer
• Faster downloading of models
• Occasional runtime errors could have occurred when you were viewing a
Web Viewer XML model in Internet Explorer. This has been fixed.
1.5 Custom components

Topics Importing and exporting custom components (p. 49)
Performing actions on custom components (p. 50)
Fixes (p. 50)
Importing and exporting custom components

• In Tekla Structures 11.3 all attribute files and thumbnails of the com-
ponent are copied automatically to the correct folder: all attribute
files of custom components and nested custom components from
model, project, firm, and system folders are automatically added to
uel file.
• Importing and exporting custom components is now faster.
• When you import custom components, you can now see from Tekla-
Structures.log log file how many sketches and components were suc-
cessfully imported.
• Now a progress bar shows how the import or export is proceeding.

• You can now cancel importing or exporting of a custom component
by pressing the Cancel button in the Import components or Export
components dialog box.
Release Notes 49
Performing actions on custom components
Information regarding custom components is stored in the ComponentCatalog.txt
file, located in the model folder. If the properties of the file are set to read-only,
the following actions are not possible:
• adding to favorites
• adding to search results
• changing picture
• deleting the custom component
• editing keywords
• importing the custom component
• removing from search results
In these cases Tekla Structures displays a warning dialog box and the action is
cancelled.
Fixes
• You can now create a Yes/No value type variable to a fitting or a line
cut.
• A new Reinforcement mesh value type option has been added to the
Variables dialog box in the Custom component editor.
• New value type options Stud size and Stud standard have been added
to the Variables dialog box in the Custom component editor.
The new value types have fixed naming format: Px_size and Px_standard,
where the x is a number. Do not change the fixed name. To automatically
show values for these in the component's dialog box, x must be the same for
both, for example, P1_size and P1_standard.
50 Release Notes
• Occasionally when you had exported a custom component and then
tried to import it into an another model, Tekla Structures could not
find the exported file of the custom component because it was miss-
ing the .uel file extension. This has been fixed.
• When you copied a part which included a custom detail that had a
Yes/No option to create parts in the detail, the parts were created to
the copied detail even if you had set the option to No in the properties
dialog box of the custom detail. This has been fixed.
• When you were editing a custom component and set the Yes/No value
type option of an object to No, saved the custom component and then
opened the Custom component editor again, the object was no longer
displayed in the editor. This has been fixed.
• When you used a reference function with user-defined attributes in
the Custom component editor, the function did not return the value of
the user-defined attributes correctly. This has been fixed.
User-defined attribute names must be written inside double quo-

tation marks (such as fP("comment", 741)) and the object's gen-
eral properties must be written without double quotation marks
(such as fP(Profile, 741)) in the Formula field of the Variables
dialog box in the Custom component editor for the reference
function to work properly.
• Nested custom components created with Tekla Structures version

11.1 or earlier may have the same component defined both as the
child and the parent component.
For these components to work correctly, save the parent compo-

nent with a different name and update the model.
Release Notes 51
1.6 Components
Topics Connections (p. 52)
Miscellaneous connection fixes (p. 58)
Details (p. 60)
Modeling tools (p. 61)
Cold rolled (p. 63)
Connections
JP Full depth Special (185)
You can now create a connection similar to Beam with stiffener (129) with Full
depth Special (185) in the Japanese environment. Fixes have been made to allow
the connection to handle normal, skewed, sloped, and canted cases even with
tapering flanged channel primary profiles.
Bolted gusset (196)

This new connection is a combination of Bolted gusset (11) and Tube crossing
(22). The connection first makes a bolted gusset connection and then checks the
profile types of the secondary parts. If the secondary parts are of RHS or CHS
profiles, the connection deletes the connection parts and forms a tube gusset con-
nection between the connection plate and the secondary parts.
52 Release Notes
Central gusset (169)
The new Central gusset (169) connects four bracings without using a main beam
by creating a gusset plate that can be bolted or welded to the brace. Bracings can
have different profile types or have twin profiles.
Release Notes 53
.
To use the connection:
1. Click Ctrl + F to open the Component catalog, and search for the Central gus-
set (169) connection.
2. Double-click the component icon to open the Central gusset (169) dialog box.
3. Modify the properties, and click Apply or OK.
4. Pick the main part (brace).
5. Pick the secondary parts (three other braces).
6. Click the middle mouse button to create the connection.
54 Release Notes
Comb filler plates for Two sided end plate (142) and End plate (144)
Comb filler plates are filler plates in the shape of a comb. You can now create a
connection with a comb filler plate using the Two sided end plate (142) and End
plate (144) connections. To create a connection with a comb filler plate:
1. Click Ctrl + F to open the Component catalog, and search for the Two sided
end plate (142) or End plate (144) connection.
2. Double-click the component icon to open dialog box of the connection.

3. On the Plates tab, select a comb filler plate (either with horizontal or vertical
slots).
4. Modify the other properties on the Plates tab if needed, and click Apply or
OK. Other properties available for comb filler plates are:
• Tolerance to define a separate tolerance for the comb filler plate.
• Fitting plate and Number of fitting pl. to define the number of
comb filler plates.
Release Notes 55
5. Pick the main part.
6. Pick the secondary part.
Portal Bracing (105)

Improvements have been made to the Bolts tabs of Portal Bracing (105) connec-
tion: unnecessary options have been removed and the picture has been updated.
Tapered column 2 (S44) and Tapered beam 2 (S45)

You can now define the assembly prefix and start number using the new fields in
the Parts tab. If you leave these fields empty, Tekla Structures retrieves the num-
bering series information from the Setup > Options dialog box.
56 Release Notes
Two-sided clip angle (143)
In the Bolts tab, you can now define different horizontal bolt distances on differ-
ent sides of the connection.
Release Notes 57
Miscellaneous connection fixes
• A new option Erection clearance is available for Boomerang bracing
cross (60), Boomerang tube diagonal (59) and Boomerang wrapped
diagonal (58) on the Gusset tab of the dialog box of the component.
• The option for web cut back distance on the Beam cut tab on Welded
to top flange (147) connection now works for beam-to-beam framing
condition.
• Doubler plates were chamfered on all four sides when you selected a
bevel. Now only the vertical edges of the doubler plate are beveled.
58 Release Notes
• Notch size rounding is now working correctly in the horizontal direc-
tion in US Imperial environment.
• When you rotated the gusset plate perpendicularly to the primary in

Tube gusset (20), Tekla Structures gave an unrequired warning. This
has been fixed.
• When you used the Full depth (184) connection, the shear plate gap
value affected not only the shear plate height, but also the shear plate
length and bolt edge distance. Now the shear plate gap now only
affects the shear plate height.
• Using the option First batten plate did not have an effect in the model
in Batten plates (S85). This has been fixed.
• If the connection plate was too small in the Seating (30) connection,
the plate was no longer included as one of the bolt parts in the con-
nection, which could have resulted in incorrect NC files and draw-
ings. This has been fixed.
• You can now control the width of the end plate in the Tube gusset (20)
and Tube crossing (22) connections with the new option, which is
available on the Brace conn tab.
Release Notes 59
• When you used a gusset connection with a tube brace and you fitted
the gusset through the middle of the brace and added an extra gap
between the brace and the gusset, the end plate did not consider the
gap. This has been fixed.
• Settings for profile name, material, and prefixes were not considered
when you used the Windbracing (1) connection. This has been fixed.
• The value you had selected in the External design list box on the
Design type tab was not always used in AutoDefaults. This has been
fixed.
• Anchor rods take the numbering series now from Setup > Options dia-
log box.
• If the primary part was sloped, the shear plate clashed with the main
part flange in Full depth (184). This has been fixed.
• In the Endplate (29) connection, you can now define the distance
between the beam and seat on the Parameters tab.
• The Tube gusset (20) connection was not able to connect the gusset
plate to the base plate if the angle of the secondary was too large.
• The Stanchion side plate (83) connection now uses the correct welding
order to weld the plate to the stanchion.
• Shear plate simple (146) connection is now created in correct straight
vertical direction also for built-up sections.
• In Haunch (40) connection if the beam was situated asymmetrically to
the column, the stiffeners in the column were created to incorrect
position. This has been fixed.
Details
Base plate details
In base plate details, such as Base plate (1004) and Stiffened base plate (1014), the
option Leveling plate hole diameter works now also with anchor rods.
Handrailing (1024)
Adding a handrail to a part which was cut was not successful. In these cases
Tekla Structures displayed a warning message.
Stair Base Detail (1039)

When you used the Stair Base Detail (1039) component, the cut was on the wrong
side of the plate. This has been fixed.
60 Release Notes
Multiple stiffeners (1064)
• It is now easier to create standard size stiffener plates as you can use
the variable XS_STANDARD_STIFFENER_WIDTH_TOLERANCE also
with Multiple stiffeners (1064).
• This detail searches the standard stiffener widths now from flt-
props.inp file.
• The detail did not work with C (Channel) profiles. This has been
fixed.
• You can now define also the exact stiffener width for the detail.
Circular base plates (1052)

• The base plate was not welded to the column if stiffeners were not
used. This has been fixed.
Modeling tools
Bridging (S80) improvements
In Tekla Structures 11.3 the following improvements have been included in
Bridging (80):
• When two rafters are not perpendicular, the bridging spacings are
now calculated based on the longest purlin.
• The component always starts and ends a bridging run with a bolted
connection. If the first or last purlin is a FP* profile (Fascia Purlin),
you will get a fascia purlin connection.
• The ordering length of a bridging member is just as it is modeled.
The ordering code (for example H2C20PL20) is saved in the Profile
property of the part. The bridging type (for example BHP-HOOK-
LOKII) is saved in the Name property of the part.
• A Speedy Spacer profile type has been added.
• The Parameters tab has been improved so that you can access the
options you need to use more easily, as unnecessary options have
been removed.
Release Notes 61
Miscellaneous
• In Zinc coating hole (S61) the default cut length of the bolt has been
changed: it is now twice as long as the plate thickness so that the hole
penetrates the plate completely.
• In Tapered Beam (S98) improvements have been made on the Parame-
ters tab in the French environment where options are now translated
correctlyand the length of list boxes has been extended.
• Due to overlapping connection numbers, you could not use some pur-
lin connections with Building (S91).
You can now use the purlin connections with Building (S91), but
in order for them to work correctly:
1. Set Connection type to Standard.
2. Use the internal connection number of the connection as
the Connection name. You can find out the internal connec-
tion number by inquiring an existing connection.
62 Release Notes
Cold rolled
Ayrshire
• Modifications have been made to CAM files to include the following
fields: SectionType, SectionSize, ProductName, ProductType,
SleeveLength.
• AyrshireTrans.dat has been changed to include two new columns: DB
Product Name and Section Size.
Fixes
• The purlin cleat weld is now placed correctly in the Cold rolled over-
lap and Cold rolled sleeved connections.
• When you set the option Type of anti-sag to Default in Albion Std. Anti-
Sag Bay (62), Tekla Structures did not create the connection and gave
out an unrequired warning message.
• In Cold Rolled Overlap (1) Tekla Structures now creates all the bolts
based on the lap offset value and connects a stay to the heel of a chan-
nel rafter correctly.
Release Notes 63
64 Release Notes
Precast Concrete
Detailing
Tekla Structures version 11.3 is a sub release and contains many new features
and fixes.
Compatibility Tekla Structures 11.3 is compatible with all previous versions. You can open and
work with existing models using Tekla Structures 11.3., except for the following
features:
• Multiple lines of text. The drawing texts are stored as XML strings
into database, also the one line texts. If you open a model, saved with
Tekla Structures 11.2 or 11.3 in version 11.1 or 11.0, the XML texts
are shown as they are.
• Surface treatment. Surface treatments made with Tekla Structures
11.2 or 11.3 are not editable with previous versions of Tekla Struc-
tures.
We suggest that you complete any models you have started using your current
version.
Once you save a model in Tekla Structures 11.3, you can open it
in Tekla Structures 11.0, 11.1 and 11.2 but not in older versions,
in Xsteel, or in Xengineer.
Installing Tekla Structures setup creates a new subfolder for Tekla Structures 11.3.
You need Windows Administrator rights to install Tekla Structures 11.3. This
ensures that all Windows system folder *.dll files are updated.
Release Notes 65
Tekla Structures 11.3 Precast Concrete Detailing
Topics This chapter is divided into following sections:
• General (p. 66)
• Modeling (p. 74)
• Drawings (p. 83)
• Import and export (p. 106)
• Custom components (p. 111)
• Components (p. 115)
• Reinforcement (p. 117)
2.1 General
This section describes the following new features and fixes:
Topics Summing of rows in templates (p. 66)
New Template editor - version 3.30 (p. 68)
Improvements in View properties dialog box (p. 69)
Release notes (p. 71)
Log file (p. 72)
Inquire dialog box (p. 72)
Locking objects (p. 73)
Using the Advanced options dialog box (p. 73)
Performance improvements (p. 74)
Summing of rows in templates
The summing of rows in templates has changed so that the sum-

ming is now always based only on the values which are out-
put in the template.
The change makes the functionality more logical and allows certain other func-
tionalities to work.
Previously, the Total function calculated all objects in the sum, even when you
had not selected the option Sum values across all rows. The following example
shows how the change affects templates:
• An additional value field has been added to the row in the template,
which is used to sum the weight values across all rows.
66 Release Notes
• This value field is then used, when the total sum is calculated.
The value field

WEIGHT_field has been
added to the row. It sums
the weight values across all
rows. The values will not be
visible in the report pro-
duced with the template.
When the total weight sum
is calculated using the value
field WEIGHT_TOT, we refer
to the WEIGHT_field value
field.
Release Notes 67
The report templates which are included in Tekla Structures have been updated
to sum the rows in templates correctly.
If you have any existing templates that use summing of rows, do

the following for the summing to work correctly:
• Add a value field in the row, which sums the objects
included in that row.
• Change the field that calculates the total sum to refer
to this value field.
New Template editor - version 3.30

Tekla Structures 11.3 includes a new version of the Template Editor, version
3.30.
Compatibility with previous versions of Template Editor

When you open a version 2.2 template in Template Editor 3.30, it prompts you to
either convert the template, or click Retain and open the template in the old edi-
tor. Click Convert to convert the template and open it in Template Editor 3.30.
You have to manually edit the template before you can use it. Click Retain if you
do not want to convert the template.
Starting Template Editor

To start Template Editor 3.30:
In Tekla Structures, click Tools > Templates...
OR
From the Windows Start menu, select All Programs > Tekla Structures 11.3 > Tools
> Template Editor 3.30.
What’s new in Template Editor 3.30

The following new features and improvements have been included in the new
version of Template Editor:
• Save rules for later use
• Change component type and retain the information in the component
• Additional output options for page headers and page footers
• Specify line length and angle with the number pad when inserting
• Preview an object position before you accept the new settings in the
Move dialog box
68 Release Notes
• Select multiple template components and objects by holding down
the Ctrl key when selecting in the Content Browser
• Additional information on what components and objects have been
selected in the status bar
• Check whether a value has been set for a product-specific free
attribute by using the new IsSet function
• Select fonts effortlessly in the Select font dialog box. If you type the
name of the font in the Font field, Template Editor auto-selects the
font according to the letters you type.
See also
Template Editor help
Lesson 9: New Template Editor in the Template Editor training manual on the
Tekla extranet at https://extranet.tekla.com
Improvements in View properties dialog box

The View properties dialog box has been improved in different ways to make the
controls more understandable and the dialog box more efficient to use.
Fields on the View properties dialog box have been reorganized and related items
have been grouped together.
Release Notes 69
Display dialog The View setup dialog box is now named Display. To open the dialog box, click
box Display in the View properties dialog box.
You can now select all the checkboxes at the same time on the Display dialog box
by selecting All (In model and/or In components). The uppermost checkboxes are
also automatically cleared if you clear any of the checkboxes under them.
70 Release Notes
Release notes
• You can now access the Release notes from the Help menu by select-
ing Help > Release notes when the Tekla Structures online help is
installed. When you click the Release notes option, the start page of
the Release notes opens in the online help.
Release Notes 71
Log file
• When the warning message ’Cannot find center point for chamfer’ is
shown, the log file now includes also the object ID. If the object has cir-
cular chamfers with 0.0 radius, the warning message is not shown in
the log file.
• The log file no longer displays unrequired warning messages about
template attributes that were unrelated to the profile in use. To see the
warning messages, set the variable
XS_SHOW_TEMPLATE_LOG_MESSAGES to TRUE in Tools > Advanced
options > Templates and symbols. The variable is set to FALSE by
default.
• Tekla Structures displayed unrequired warning messages in the log
file about duplicate attribute names in custom components in situa-
tions where the custom components did not have variables. This has
been fixed.
Inquire dialog box

• Now the Inquire object dialog box shows the NAME field. This is use-
ful, for example, when you filter objects in the Drawing Editor or
examine custom components.
72 Release Notes
• The Inquire object dialog box shows the connection position type.
Locking objects
If you try to modify a locked object, Tekla Structures shows the message "There
are locked objects, see report. The operation could not be performed." and a
report on access rights.
Previously, this report was created using a template called ownership_report.rpt.
Now the report template is called locked_objects_report.rpt.
Using the Advanced options dialog box

• In Tekla Structures 11.3 descriptions have been added to several vari-
ables that previously were lacking a description in the Advanced
options dialog box.
• When you open the Advanced options dialog box, it will now open at
the same location as the last time you used the dialog box.
• The variable XS_FIRM works now correctly even when you have
defined it both in the Advanced options dialog box and in the batch
file.
Release Notes 73
You can set variables by using the Advanced options dialog box
or by editing the user.bat file.We recommend that you only use
one of these methods to set variables. The variable settings in
the Advanced options dialog box override those in the batch
files.
Performance improvements
• Opening views that contain parts with surface treatments is now
much faster.
2.2 Modeling
Topics Create concrete beam by two points (p. 74)
Cast-in-place cast units (p. 75)
Improvements in copying and moving of cast-in embeds (p. 76)
Part reference line (p. 77)
Moving and selecting objects (p. 78)
Running and recording macros (p. 78)
Part visibility (p. 78)
Create concrete beam by two points

You can now create a concrete beam by picking two positions.
A new icon Create concrete Polybeam has been added to the concrete toolbar.
You can use this command and button to easily create concrete polybeams.
To create a concrete beam or polybeam by two points:
74 Release Notes
1. Double-click the Create concrete beam or Create concrete polybeam
icon to open the Concrete beam properties dialog box.

2. Enter or modify the beam properties.
3. Click Apply or OK to save the current concrete beam properties.
4. Pick the start point for the beam.
5. Pick the end point for the beam.
Cast-in-place cast units

You can create cast-in-place cast units from modeled concrete parts with rein-
forcement. It is also possible to create reports of cast units, whose cast unit type
is cast-in-place.
Release Notes 75
To define a concrete part’s cast unit type as Cast in place:
1. Right-click and select Properties...
2. Go to the Cast unit tab.
3. Select Cast in place as the Cast unit type.
You can define Cast in place as the cast unit type for the following kind of con-
crete parts:
• Pad footings
• Strip footings
• Concrete columns
• Concrete beams and polybeams
• Concrete slabs
• Concrete panels
The cast unit type of concrete main part is always checked when a cast unit is
created or modified in order to prevent mixing up pre-cast and cast-in-place parts
inside a cast unit. This feature is included in Precast Detailing (PCD) or Full
detailing (FD) configurations.
Improvements in copying and moving of cast-in embeds

Tekla Structures encountered problems occasionally when you copied or moved
cast-in embeds (non-concrete assemblies added to cast units) to new parts: some-
times the cast-in embed was detached from the cast-unit or it could not find the
new cast-unit to attach itself to.
The following improvements have been made in order to avoid the problem:
• There is a new search mechanism based on the bounding box, which
searches for the new part when the cast-in embed is moved or copied.
76 Release Notes
• If the cast-unit embed is copied inside the bounding box of the whole
cast unit, the previous main part is accepted as the cast-unit to belong
to and the copied part stays in that cast unit.
Part reference line

If you pick two points to position a part, these points form the part reference line,
and handles appear at the line ends. You can use part reference lines as a help in
for example snapping to the middle points of parts.
You can define the visibility of the part reference line in the Display dialog box.
To display the part reference line:
1. Go to Properties > View...
2. Click the Display... button to open the Display dialog box.
3. On the Advanced tab, select Part reference line.
Release Notes 77
Moving and selecting objects
• Tekla Structures warns you when you are placing objects outside the
view depth or work area to prevent the objects from being hidden. The
warning is now given only when the object is completely outside the
view depth or work area.
• It is now possible to move and select weld preparation chamfers.
Running and recording macros

• When you scrolled down to select an appropriate macro in the Macros
dialog box, Tekla Structures no longer moves to a different location
in the scrollbar after you make the selection.
• The import of custom components is now recorded correctly.
• When you record macros, Tekla Structures adds a timestamp for every
action if you have set the variable XS_MACRO_ENABLE_TIMESTAMP
to TRUE.
The timestamps are in the .cs file of the macro in question, which is located
in ../environments/country-independent/macros folder. The macro is saved
in the drawing or modeling folders, depending on in which mode the macro
was recorded.
Part visibility
Previously, view depths with skewed view planes were not taken into account cor-
rectly in part visibility. Now the part visibility works as follows:
Part bounding box is transformed to view plane, if the section view is skewed.
The part will not be visible in the view if the part bounding box does not intersect
with the view plane bounding box in the view coordinates.
78 Release Notes
Part visibility works in the same manner as it did previously if the section view is
not skewed.
Miscellaneous
Welds
• When you welded a haunch profile to a beam, Tekla Structures
placed the weld incorrectly in model and in the drawings. Now the
weld is placed correctly.
Release Notes 79
Rotating the model
• When using Ctrl + p to rotate a plane view to a 3D view manually,
Tekla Structures did not change to 3D snapping mode automatically.
Now Tekla Structures recognizes always whether the view is a plane
view or a 3D view.
Numbering
• When you had set the Part number type as Combined assembly / part
number in the Options dialog box, family numbering did not work
correctly. This has been fixed.
• The variable XS_USE_MULTI_NUMBERING_FOR in Tools > Advanced
options > Numbering works now correctly when used in the Advanced
options dialog box. The variable is also effective when you open an
another model in the same session.
• When you moved parts created by connections for example by mov-
ing the secondary part of the connection, the parts were not able to
keep the old part position number in multinumbering. This has been
fixed.
• You can now use the variable
XS_VALID_CHARS_FOR_ASSEMBLY_FAMILY_QUALIFIER in Tools
> Advanced options > Numbering to set valid letters for assembly fam-
ily numbers. Enter the letters you want to use, for example, ABEG. By
default letters A-Z are used.
Part labels
• When you add a user-defined attribute to a part label in model views,
the Display dialog box now shows which user-defined attribute you
selected.
• Entering a user-defined attribute part label longer than 255 characters
in the Part label dialog box generated an application error. This has
been fixed.
Surface treatment
• Now when you use the default value (1.00) for Thickness in the Sur-
face treatment dialog box, the value takes effect when you click Apply
or OK button.
• When defining tile patterns for tiled surface treatment, entering very
large values as tile offsets resulted in large thumbnail images, which
caused Tekla Structures to stall.
80 Release Notes
The size of repeated tile pattern is now restricted to 2000 x 2000
mm. If you enter larger values the tile surface will not be
formed.
Parametric modeling
• Seam parts were in some cases positioned incorrectly when the seam
input parts were warped and the main or secondary parts contained
asymmetric sketched profiles with connection planes.
Inquire
• The highlight color of the primary part of a cast unit has been changed
to magenta.
Reference models
• DGN reference models were always displayed as transparent.
Copying and moving objects

• On some occasions the Copy > Rotate command did not copy cuts.
Chamfer
• When you opened the Chamfer properties dialog box by pressing Alt +
Enter keys and you had reference objects included in the area selec-
tion, Tekla Structures stalled. This has been fixed.
Release Notes 81
Sketching
• When you use the sketching tools to create cross sections, it is no
longer possible to save the sketches with prefixes similar to those
available in the library profile catalog. This has been done to avoid
confusion between library profiles and sketched profiles.
• When you used a sketched profile as a library profile the part was not
created correctly in all cases.
Polybeams
• For 3D polybeams, the length calculation based for unfolding gave
incorrect results. This has been fixed.
Options dialog box

• In the US Imperial environment when you were modifying the Bolt
size option in Setup > Options dialog box, you had to save and load
the defaults after modifying the bolt size value on the dialog for the
changes to take affect. This has been fixed: now pressing the OK but-
ton is enough.
82 Release Notes
2.3 Drawings
Topics Hide and show objects in drawings (p. 83)
Automatic view name labels in drawings (p. 85)
View direction marks (p. 87)
Add prefix and postfix text to dimensions (p. 89)
3D views in drawings (p. 92)
Hide dimension values (p. 91)
Edit the properties of automatically created section view hatches (p. 94)
Reinforcing bar bend and end marks (p. 95)
Hide and show objects in drawings

You can now show and hide objects in drawings and drawing views. With this
feature the editing of drawings is easier and faster. When you hide a part, all the
objects related to that part will be hidden as well.
If a model object is hidden in drawing views it will not be

printed either.
You can display the ghost outline of hidden objects in drawing views by using
the Ghost outline command in Setup menu in the Drawing Editor. In the follow-
ing example the reinforcement pull-outs have been hidden and the ghost outlines
of the pull-outs are visible.
When you hide drawing objects, check that:

• Black and white drawing is not selected on the Setup menu. Use white
background with colored lines to show the ghost outlines of the hid-
den object.
Release Notes 83
• Ghost outline is selected on the Setup menu to have the ghost outlines
of objects appear visible.
To hide an object in a drawing view:
1. Select the object you wish to hide from a drawing view.
2. Right-click and select Hide/Unhide > Hide from view from the pop-up menu.
To show an object in a drawing view:

1. Select the hidden object in the drawing view.
2. Right-click and select Hide/Unhide > Unhide in view from the pop-up menu.
If you want to hide or show an object in the drawing, follow the same instruc-
tions and select Hide in drawing or Unhide in drawing from the pop-up menu.
You can define whether to list the hidden objects in reports. To do this:
2. Click Layout.
3. On the Drawing size tab, select the appropriate option in the List hidden
objects in reports list box.
84 Release Notes
Automatic view name labels in drawings
You can define the view names for front, top, back and bottom views in the draw-
ing properties dialog box. The automatic view name labels feature inserts labels
into drawing views without you having to do it manually.
To define view names for front, top, back and bottom views:
2. In the drawing properties dialog box, click the View... button to open the
drawing view properties dialog box.
3. On the Views tab, check that the On option is selected for the views, whose
name label you want displayed.
4. On the Labels tab, define the names for the labels in the Front view, Top view,
Back view, and Bottom view fields.
5. Modify the other properties if needed:
• Position: Define the location of the name label.
• Color: Define the color of the font in the name label.
• Height: Define the height of the font in the name label.
Release Notes 85
86 Release Notes
View direction marks
You can now display view direction marks in section views and end views. The
view direction marks clarify the orientation of the views.
Use the Section view properties dialog box to display the view direction marks for
the end and section views. This saves you time and manual editing work: you can
have the marks inserted automatically in drawings.
The view direction is shown with a small symbol (optionally with a text label)
around the end or section view. You can define the symbol in Tools > Advanced
options > Drawing properties by using the variables:
• XS_DRAWING_VIEW_DIRECTION_MARK_BACK
• XS_DRAWING_VIEW_DIRECTION_MARK_BOTTOM
• XS_DRAWING_VIEW_DIRECTION_MARK_FRONT
• XS_DRAWING_VIEW_DIRECTION_MARK_TOP
The default is xsteel@66, which corresponds to the following symbol:
To display view direction marks for the end and section views:
1. In the drawing, right-click and select Properties... from the pop-up menu.
2. Click the View... button.
3. On the Views tab of the View properties dialog box, check that the option On
has been selected for section views and/or end views.
5. In the drawing properties dialog box, click the Section view... button.
6. On the Label tab, select the appropriate options in the Section views and End
views. The options are None, Symbol only, Label only, and Symbol and Label.
7. Define the height of the symbol and text label in Height.

Release Notes 87
88 Release Notes
Add prefix and postfix text to dimensions
Adding prefix and/or postfix text to dimensions is easy with Tekla Structures.
Also modifying to such dimension lines at a later time is faster.
To add prefix and/or postfix text to a dimension:
1. In a drawing view, double-click the dimension line to show the Dimension
2. On the General tab, enter the text in the Prefix and/or Postfix fields.
3. Click Modify.
Release Notes 89
The prefix and postfix values cannot be plain numbers. Also,
the prefix value cannot end with a number and the postfix value
cannot start with a number when the numeric value of the
dimension is visible.
Press Alt and type 0177 on the numeric keypad to display the
plus-minus (±) sign.
90 Release Notes
Hide dimension values
To hide the dimension line numeric value:
1. Double-click a dimension line to show the Dimension properties dialog box.
2. On the General tab, select Hidden in the Visibility of numeric value list box.
3. Click Modify.
If you hide the numeric value of the dimension, the prefix and
postfix texts that you may have added will still be shown.
Release Notes 91
3D views in drawings
You can create 3D views in cast-unit drawings. You can create 3D views interac-
tively after the drawing has been created. This feature inserts 3D views into fab-
rication drawings without you having to do it.
3D view
Include a 3D view To include a 3D view before creating a drawing:

before creating a
drawing 1. In the Model Editor, select Properties > Cast-unit drawing.
2. In the drawing properties dialog box, click the View button.
3. In the 3D view list box, select On.
4. To define the 3D view properties, select one of the options in 3D view
attributes. There are ready-made properties for assembly, cast-unit and sin-
gle part drawings, which you can use when creating the corresponding draw-
ing. The automatically created 3D views have the same filtering type as the
other drawing views.
The Current attributes option creates the 3D view based on the values you
last entered in the Rotation around (in 3D views) fields in the View properties
dialog box.
92 Release Notes
Create a 3D view To create a 3D view in an existing drawing, click Create > View > Basic > 3D.
in drawing
Release Notes 93
Set or modify the You can set or modify the view angles with the options in the View properties dia-
view angles log box of the drawing. The angle settings apply only for the 3D view. To set or
modify the view angles:
1. Select the drawing view for the view angles you want to set or modify.
2. Right-click and select Properties... from the pop-up menu.
3. Type in the values for the angles in y and x directions in the Rotation around
(in 3D views) fields. Rotation on a model view is around global axis, but rota-
tion on a drawing view is around local axis (rotation values 0.0 and 0.0 equal
Front view).
Edit the properties of automatically created section view hatches

You can edit the different properties of automatically created section view
hatches in Drawing part properties dialog box by using the options on the Fill tab.
You can now modify the properties of multiple section view hatches at once.
To edit the properties of automatically created section view hatches:
1. Double-click the drawing part in the section view to display the Drawing part
2. On the Fill tab, define the type for the hatch by selecting the appropriate
option in the Type list box. You can preview and select the options also by
clicking Select.
3. Modify the other properties if needed and click Apply or OK.. You can mod-
ify the following properties:
• Color: defines the color of the hatch
• Angle: defines the angle in which the pattern is represented
• Scale by: defines the size of the pattern
If you are using a hatch, whose type is hardware_SOLID,

hardware_BRICKS, hardware_CHESS or hardware_LINES you can
only modify the color of the hatch.
94 Release Notes
The Type option is set to Automatic by default. You can switch off the hatching by
selecting None.
See also Hatching in section views in the online help.
Reinforcing bar bend and end marks

Tekla Structures 11.3 provides the following improvements concerning drawing
reinforcing bar bend and end marks:
Reinforcing bar There are new reinforcing bar end symbol options on the Content tab in Drawing
end symbol reinforcing bar properties dialog box.
options
Release Notes 95
Variables The following new variables have been added to Tools > Advanced options > Con-
crete Detailing:
• XS_REBAR_BEND_MARK_SYMBOL_MIN_SIZE and
XS_REBAR_END_SYMBOL_MIN_SIZE
• You can use these variables to increase the size of the bend and
end symbols (in drawing units) in order to see them more clearly.
• By default not set.
96 Release Notes
Release Notes 97
• XS_REBAR_REVERSE_END_SYMBOLS
• You can use this variable to change the end symbols to a differ-
ent direction.
• By setting this variable to true the end symbol is drawn at 135
degree angle (used commonly in Norway).
98 Release Notes
Templates and reports
Fixes available in the new Template Editor 3.30
• Aligning text with value fields now works correctly.
• You can now use parentheses inside rules with string parameters.
• You can now undo a template type change, for example, from graphi-
cal template to textual template.
• The function GetValue("BOLT.SITE_WORKSHOP")did not return
the values to NUT and WASHER rows. This has been fixed.
• Aligning template fields with using the Align command now works
correctly.
• If you resized a filled polyline by streching it, the fill inside the
polyline did not scale correctly together with other objects in the
group. This has been fixed in the new Template Editor 3.30.
• Angle is displayed in the status bar for value fields.
• Formula IsSet("USERDEFINED.comment") now returns true if
the requested attribute’s value has been set, or false if the value has
not been set.
• The number of holes per part is now displayed correctly in reports.
• When you were writing a formula, which included an equation with a
condition clause in the following form:
if(A) then
...
else
...
endif ...
You were required to type a space character between the parenthesis and the
word "then" in order for the formula to work correctly. This is now fixed and
there is no need for typing in the space.
• In templates created with Template Editor version 3.20 the inch mark
is now placed correctly at the end of the length string (such as 11'-11
1/2") in the US Imperial environment.
• The attributes CONNECTION_CODE and
CONNECTION_RUNNING_NUMBER were missing from the list of avail-
able attributes in Select attribute dialog box. This has been fixed.
Release Notes 99
• The following attributes have been added for PART content type for
railings:
• PRODUCT_NAME
• RAIL_OFFSET
• RAIL_RADIUS
• RAIL_ANGLE
• DIMENSION_A
• DIMENSION_B
• Sometimes when you were creating a polyline, the preview line,

which Template Editor draws before you click to define the next ver-
tex point, did not work correctly if the vertex point you clicked was
just outside the edge of the row. This has been fixed.
• The attribute MATERIAL_TYPE is now available also for CAST_UNIT
content type.
• When you opened a template with Template Editor 3.20 in US impe-
rial environment, you could not change the horizontal grid spacing.
This has been fixed in the new Template Editor 3.30.
• Now when you import files, you are asked to define the import
method in the Select Import Method dialog box as you place the
imported file in the template.
You can switch off this functionality by clearing the checkbox in the Always
ask for import method option in Options > Preferences dialog box.
• The default units are now read from the current environment you are
using.
• The DWG import now supports holes and islands in hatches.
• The template attribute WEIGHT_M now returns correct values for
parametric profiles.
• New attributes CAST_UNIT_PREFIX and
CAST_UNIT_SERIAL_NUMBER are now available in the new Tem-
plate Editor 3.30.
• You can now create PART content type rows underneath
SIMILAR_ASSEMBLY content type rows.
• The z coordinate was not included in assembly position codes in
Template Editor 3.2 even if you had set the variable
XS_ASSEMBLY_POSITION_CODE_3D to TRUE. This has been fixed.
100 Release Notes

• You can now use the text field NUMBER_IN_PHASE also in the new
template editor. It now works in the following manner: if you ask for
the number in phase for assemblies, parts or bolts, it returns the num-
ber of assemblies with the same position number belonging to the
given phase.
Now if you ask for NUMBER_IN_PHASE for for example a bolt,

it returns the number of times the bolts assembly exists in the
desired phase - not the number of times the bolt itself exists in
the phase.
• Lengths contained in the Profile field now have the inch mark in the
correct location in the US Imperial environment. For example, length
for plates is now displayed as PL1"X18 1/2".
If you want to display the inch mark before the fractions, such as
PL1"X18"1/2, set the variable
XS_PROFILE_DISPLAY_INCH_MARK_AFTER_FRACTIONS_IN_REPORTS
to FALSE in Tools > Advanced options > Templates and symbols. The
default is TRUE.
• When you use the Weld content type, you now have correctly only
one row for PRIMARY and SECONDARY attributes.
Miscellaneous
Drawing wizard
• You can now create cast-unit drawings with the help of the drawing
wizard. This saves time while you create cast unit drawings in a more
automated way for all or several precast part types.
Release Notes 101

• When you used the Save as command in the drawing wizard to save a
drawing wizard with an another name, the default file type was incor-
rect due to a change in Windows XP SP2. This has been fixed.
102 Release Notes

Orientation mark in single-part views
Now orientation marks are created for included single-part views in assembly
drawings. The visibility of the orientation mark is set as follows:
• Use variable XS_SINGLE_ORIENTATION_MARK, if the Single-part
attributes option is set to Current attributes (on the Assembly - layout
properties dialog box).
To modify the variable, click Tools > Advanced options... > Single part view in
assembly drawing. To set the variable, type in TRUE in the Value field.
• If the Single-part attributes option is set to something else than Cur-

rent attributes, the visibility of the orientation mark is according to
the selected attribute file.
Freeplace
• Text objects no longer move to a new location when the current loca-
tion is free.
• Text along line no longer overlaps other objects.
• The Freeplace command now appears in the associative notes pop-up
menu.
• Text objects no longer overlap associative notes when you use the
Freeplace command.
• The Restart freeplace command was missing from the Edit menu in
the French environment. This has been fixed.
Release Notes 103

Drawing views
• Sometimes Tekla Structures created empty section views in addition
to the existing section views. If you deleted such a section view, the
actual section view with the same label was deleted. This has been
fixed.
• Tekla Structures created overly large section, detail, 3D and drawing
views in situations where a reinforcing bar was partially visible.
• Creating undeformed drawings of parts that were not deformed could
have resulted in incorrect drawing views. This has been fixed.
• If the main part of an assembly was rising exactly in a 45 degree
angle, using the model coordinate system turned the drawing view
upside down. This has been fixed.
• Sometimes when the work plane was moved from the global origin,
included single part views had a very large drawing view frame around
them. This has now been fixed, and the work plane does not affect the
result.
• When you place a section view, detail view or a view that you have
created using the Create view from view command, you can now see
clearly where you are about to place the view. A symbol representing
the view that you are about to place now follows the mouse pointer
and shows the location where the view will be placed.
Dimensions
• Now the dimension line circular arrows are drawn with the same color
as the dimension line.
104 Release Notes

• It is again possible to display decimal values for inches in dimensions.
• Reinforcing bar marks now follow the reinforcing bar dimension line
correctly when you change the dimension line location.
• Creating dimension marks for reinforcing bars did not work correctly
in Tekla Structures 11.2. This has been fixed.
Selecting drawing objects

• If you added drawing objects to an empty general arrangement draw-
ing, they disappeared and reappeared if only if you added a view in
the drawing. This has been fixed.
• Tekla Structures now displays the pop-up menu when you select two
welds and one additional drawing object in the Drawing Editor of an
assembly drawing.
Drawing part properties

• Changing the Type on the Fill tab in Drawing part properties dialog box
from Automatic to some other fill type gave incorrect results for pro-
files with holes (for example RHS profiles). This has been fixed.
Drawing layout
• Now when you double-click a drawing title block, Tekla Structures
displays a message to make sure that you want to start editing the
information with Template Editor.
• In general arrangement drawings, when you pressed the Modify but-

ton after you had selected ga as the Layout option and Specified size
as the Size definition mode in the General - layout properties dialog
box, the title block was no longer visible in the drawing. This has
been fixed.
Release Notes 105

Placing text in drawings
• When you created text with the Text along line command with an
arrow at the start point, the arrow would point the wrong way if you
picked the points from right to left. This has been fixed.
Text along line when Text along line when
picked from right to left, picked from right to left,
created with Tekla Struc- created with Tekla
tures 11.2: Structures 11.3:
Multi-drawings
• New parts that you added to a model were not always added to an
existing multi-drawing even if you updated the drawing. This has
been fixed.
• On rare occasions linking drawings that contained single part views
to a multi-drawing generated an application error. This has been
fixed.
Associative notes
• When you create associative notes, the temporary snap override no
longer stays activated after you have picked the first position of the
leader line.
• On some occasions the box around an associative note was overlap-
ping the part. This has been fixed.
Drawing Classifier
• The Drawing Classifier did not create part marks for secondary parts
when you had set the visibility of the mark in all views to always.
2.4 Import and export

Topics Improvements in IFC import and export (p. 107)
106 Release Notes
Improvements in IFC import and export

IFC import and export includes the following improvements:
• Tekla Structures 11.3 supports the official 2X2 final (2X2
Addendum1) IFC version. Also IFC Schema 2X3 support has been
included for reference import and 2X3 for IFC export.
• You can export all objects (for example slabs, panels etc.) using Ifc-
Member entity.
• The IFC file header now includes more useful information, such as
the macro version and date, and the product and version the file was
made with.
Fixes
• Now when you import an IFC file with mapped presentations used
for flow segments, the flow segments (length, diameter and position)
are imported correctly to Tekla Structures.
• When you imported IFC files generated in Tekla Structures into other
software and your model contained walls with holes, there could have
been problems where walls with holes might not have been imported
or the holes might have been placed incorrectly. This has been fixed.
Release Notes 107

• The length of the file path is limited to 256 characters in IFC export.
Now when you enter too long a file path in the IFC export dialog box,
Tekla Structures displays a warning message in the application win-
dow.
Miscellaneous
DWG/DFX export
• Now when you export files in DWG or DXF format, the ID of each
part is exported as an attribute and written into the export file for each
part.
• Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters are now plotted correctly
when you plot a drawing into DWG format.
Tekla Structures sets the codepage automatically so that the exported files
are displayed correctly. If the proper codepage cannot be found, the codep-
age is set to ansi_1252 by default. You can set the codepage manually by
using the variable XS_EXPORT_CODEPAGE, which overrides automatic
selection of codepage in export. If you set the variable to undefined, Tekla
Structures reverts to the way which was used in Tekla Structures 11.1 in
exporting files.
• 3D DWG and 3D DXF export contains a new option called Center
lines. The option uses lines located in the center of the profile cross
section in the export.
Importing models
• In some occasions, SDNF import revision control considered that parts
were modified even when you had made no modifications due to part
end point positions being compared with too strict a tolerance. The
part end point tolerance has now been changed from 0.1 mm to 0.5
mm.
108 Release Notes

• You can now use Fit work area and Fit by parts > All views or Selected
views commands with import models. The Fit by parts command is
available in the pop-up menu when you have selected parts and right-
click. The Fit work area command is available when you have
selected a view. This makes it easier to distinguish which parts will
be imported.
CIS export
• CIS/2 export now works correctly for parametric profiles in the US
imperial environment.
Release Notes 109

DSTV files
• When you created DSTV files for plates and you used all of the fol-
lowing settings:
• XS_USE_NEW_PLATE_DESIGNATION=TRUE
• XS_USE_FLAT_DESIGNATION=TRUE
• XS_CHECK_FLAT_LENGTH_ALSO=TRUE
and the plates had slot holes, the location of the holes might have been incor-
rect in the DSTV files. This has been fixed.
Below is a picture of the DSTV file from Tekla Structures 11.0-11.2:
Below is a picture of the correct DSTV file:
110 Release Notes

Web Viewer
• A new version of Web Viewer has been included in Tekla Structures
11.3. Web Viewer 1.26.10 offers for example:
• Smoother representation of pipes
• Increased size of clipboard buffer
• Faster downloading of models
• Occasional runtime errors could have occurred when you were viewing a
Web Viewer XML model in Internet Explorer. This has been fixed.
2.5 Custom components

Topics Importing and exporting custom components (p. 111)
Plane naming in custom components (p. 112)
Performing actions on custom components (p. 112)
Fixes (p. 113)
Importing and exporting custom components

• In Tekla Structures 11.3 all attribute files and thumbnails of the com-
ponent are copied automatically to the correct folder: all attribute
files of custom components and nested custom components from
model, project, firm, and system folders are automatically added to
uel file.
• Importing and exporting custom components is now faster.
• When you import custom components, you can now see from Tekla-
Structures.log log file how many sketches and components were suc-
cessfully imported.
• Now a progress bar shows how the import or export is proceeding.

• You can now cancel importing or exporting of a custom component
by pressing the Cancel button in the Import components or Export
components dialog box.
Release Notes 111

Plane naming in custom components
When you used a custom component to add seams or details (e.g. reinforcing
bars) to parts and you used the boundary plane in bindings, the way the seam or
detail was positioned depended on how the part had been created: in which order
the points had been picked for the part. This could have resulted in the seams or
details being positioned incorrectly.
Now the planes are named in the component coordinate system for seams and
details and the seams and details are positioned correctly. You can control the
naming by picking seam points in different order or by modifying the options in
the Up direction listbox on the General tab of the custom component dialog box.
When you edit a seam or a detail made with an earlier version of Tekla Struc-
tures, Tekla Structures asks you whether to use the new naming system. If you
decide to use the new system, you have to delete all distances and re-create them
again.
Performing actions on custom components

Information regarding custom components is stored in the ComponentCatalog.txt
file, located in the model folder. If the properties of the file are set to read-only,
the following actions are not possible:
• adding to favorites
• adding to search results
• changing picture
• deleting the custom component
• editing keywords
• importing the custom component
• removing from search results
112 Release Notes
In these cases Tekla Structures displays a warning dialog box and the action is
cancelled.
Fixes
• You can now create a Yes/No value type variable to a fitting or a line
cut.
• Tekla Structures did not display handles for custom parts that con-
tained only reinforcing bars. This has been fixed.
• A new Reinforcement mesh value type option has been added to the
Variables dialog box in the Custom component editor.
• New value type options Stud size and Stud standard have been added
to the Variables dialog box in the Custom component editor.
The new value types have fixed naming format: Px_size and Px_standard,
where the x is a number. Do not change the fixed name. To automatically
show values for these in the component's dialog box, x must be the same for
both, for example, P1_size and P1_standard.
• Occasionally when you had exported a custom component and then

tried to import it into an another model, Tekla Structures could not
find the exported file of the custom component because it was miss-
ing the .uel file extension. This has been fixed.
Release Notes 113

• When you copied a part which included a custom detail that had a
Yes/No option to create parts in the detail, the parts were created to
the copied detail even if you had set the option to No in the properties
dialog box of the custom detail. This has been fixed.
• When you were editing a custom component and set the Yes/No value
type option of an object to No, saved the custom component and then
opened the Custom component editor again, the object was no longer
displayed in the editor. This has been fixed.
• Adding a custom seam between two warped floor slabs caused an
application error. This has been fixed.
• When you used a reference function with user-defined attributes in
the Custom component editor, the function did not return the value of
the user-defined attributes correctly. This has been fixed.
User-defined attribute names must be written inside double quo-

tation marks (such as fP("comment", 741)) and the object's gen-
eral properties must be written without double quotation marks
(such as fP(Profile, 741)) in the Formula field of the Variables
dialog box in the Custom component editor for the reference
function to work properly.
• Sometimes, parts of nested custom components were incorrectly

omitted from a cast unit. This has been fixed.
• Nested custom components created with Tekla Structures version
11.1 or earlier may have the same component defined both as the
child and the parent component.
For these components to work correctly, save the parent compo-

nent with a different name and update the model.
See also Use custom components as lifting anchors in Lifting anchor (80) (p. 115)
114 Release Notes

2.6 Components
Topics Use custom components as lifting anchors in Lifting anchor (80) (p. 115)
Modeling tools (p. 116)
Use custom components as lifting anchors in Lifting anchor (80)

You can use custom components as lifting anchors in Lifting anchor (80). Also,
you can now create a recess for the lifting anchor and define the shape and size of
the recess. The changes make it possible to easily place lifting devices from fab-
ricators’ catalogs.
To use a custom component as lifting anchor:
1. Open the component catalog (for example by using the keyboard shortcut
Crtl + F) and search for the Lifting anchor (80).
2. Select the custom component option in Anchor dimensions.
3. Click the browse button (...) next to the Custom field to find the correct cus-
tom component in the component catalog.
Release Notes 115

4. Define the custom settings for the custom component.
5. Click Apply or OK.

To define the recess for the Lifting anchor (80), add the values for the recess to the
fields in Custom settings.
Modeling tools
Miscellaneous
• Deleting a cut caused Slab bars (18) modeling tool to stall. This has
been fixed.
• In Zinc coating hole (S61) the default cut length of the bolt has been
changed: it is now twice as long as the plate thickness so that the hole
penetrates the plate completely.
116 Release Notes
• In Tapered Beam (S98) improvements have been made on the Parame-
ters tab in the French environment where options are now translated
correctlyand the length of list boxes has been extended.
• Due to overlapping connection numbers, you could not use some pur-
lin connections with Building (S91).
You can now use the purlin connections with Building (S91), but
in order for them to work correctly:
1. Set Connection type to Standard.
2. Use the internal connection number of the connection as
the Connection name. You can find out the internal connec-
tion number by inquiring an existing connection.
2.7 Reinforcement
Topics Improvements in reinforcement components (p. 117)
Improvements in reinforcement components

Using the concrete cover parameter
Some of the reinforcement components now use the concrete cover parameter for
the concrete cover thickness. In relation to this, the reference points of the rein-
forcement bars are located in the corner points of the element. This makes it eas-
ier to modify reinforcing bars, which are created with a reinforcement
component and then exploded.
This improvement applies to the following reinforcement components:
Beams • Beam reinforcement (63)
Columns • Corbel reinforcement (81)

• Rectangular column reinforcement (83)
• Round column reinforcement (82)
Release Notes 117

Footings • Strip footing (75)
• Pilecap reinforcement (76 )
Stem stirrup sizes

You can now use a different stirrup size in each stirrup zone for stem stirrups by
using the option Rebar size in the Stem stirrups tab in Inverted-tee beam (52),
Ledge beam (53) and Rectangular beam (54).
• If you do not give a specific input for zones 1, 2, 4 and/or 5, Tekla

Structures uses the size given for zone 3.
• In case you use different stirrup sizes, Tekla Structures creates sepa-
rate reinforcement groups.
• In case you use the size of the stirrups for calculation of dimensions
of any other reinforcement bars, Tekla Structures uses the maximum
size of all zones.
Automated reinforcement layout - columns (57)

• Some of the strands were not always generated. This has been fixed.
• Secondary reinforcement was not created in some secondary regions.
118 Release Notes

• Primary section is was not always recognized correctly. This has
been fixed by adding a new option on the Primary ties tab: the first
option will always select the rectangle that has the biggest area. With
the other two options you can select the primary section to have the
maximum size either in local y or local z directions.
• You can now control the end distances (top and bottom) and the spac-
ing separately for top and bottom with the options on the Primary ties
tab.
Release Notes 119

Similarly, you can control the end distances and the spacing separately for
secondary ties with the options on the Secondary reinforcement tab.
Automated reinforcement layout - ledge beam (53) and Automated

reinforcement layout - inverted tee beam (52)
On the End rebar tab, you have the new option Horizontal bar inside stem, which
makes it possible to have end bars inside the main body of the cross section.
Miscellaneous
• Part of the reinforcing bars in a reinforcement mesh were occasionally
not displayed when you zoomed closer in a view. This has been fixed.
• Parts without any reinforcing bars were affected by the numbering
setting Compare Reinforcing bars. This has been fixed.
120 Release Notes

Analysis and Design
Tekla Structures 11.3 Analysis and Design module contains the following new
features and fixes:
Visualization of analysis model (p. 121)
Improvements in beam restraints (p. 123)
Visualization of analysis model

The following improvements have been included in Tekla Structures 11.3:
Show support conditions in analysis model

The support conditions of analysis model are visualized for nodes and members.
You can have Tekla Structures show the support conditions of each node and
member with DWG symbols.
Release Notes 121

Tekla Structures 11.3 Analysis and Design
Connected
Connected
Connected
Supported
Supported
Supported
The Select objects button in the Analysis & Design models dialog box has been
divided into Select objects and Draw buttons. Before you can use these buttons,
you need to run the analysis. If the analysis is not yet run, click the Create model
button to create the analysis model.
122 Release Notes

Member types represented by colors
Different member types are represented with colors when an analysis model is
displayed in Tekla Structures 11.3. The colors for different member types are:
Color Member
Dark blue rigid link
Grey composite beam
Green truss member
Light blue slab or panel edge
Red normal member
Violet truss member, tension
only
Yellow truss member, compres-
sion only
When you set the variable

XS_AD_MEMBER_TYPE_VISUALIZATION to FALSE in Tools >
Advanced options > Analysis & Design, all member types are dis-
played only in red. The default is TRUE.
Improvements in beam restraints

• Previously you could access the design parameters only after you had
defined and selected the analysis model. Now common design
parameters (for example buckling and unsupported beam length) are
visible even if no analysis model is selected.
• On the Design tab in the Beam properties dialog box, you can now
define the Unsupported length as a fraction of member length using the
options in the Unf dialog box.
Release Notes 123

• The Inquire command now shows the calculated Unl for each ele-
ment.
• The options Save, Load, standard file functionality and current values
functionality have been fixed for the Design tab of the Beam proper-
ties dialog box.
Miscellaneous
STAAD.Pro help files
• You can access the STAAD.Pro help files now from the STAAD.Pro
Help menu or by pressing the F1 key in STAAD.Pro.
124 Release Notes

Fixes
• You can use the variable XS_AD_TWIN_PROFILES_ENABLED in
Tools > Advanced options > Analysis & Design to enable the support
of twin profiles.
• The analysis and design properties were not set according to standard
settings for inserted parts, if an Analysis and Design license was not
available. This has been fixed.
• The difference between total load and applied load occasionally grew
large due to a problem in the load distribution of single spanning
load. This has been fixed.
• In Analysis model attributes dialog box, the default value of the option
Member axis location is now Model default, that is the axis setting you
have defined for individual parts.
• When you use Truss (S78), Shed (S57), Building (S58) and Building
(S91) modeling tools to create trusses and portal frame buildings,
their parts will now automatically be included in full analysis model.
• When Tekla Structures merges nodes along the top and bottom
chords of a truss, the merge location now snaps to part end locations.
• When you create connections between two plates, the maximum
length of a rigid link is now adjusted according to the thicknesses of
the parts.
• When you have modeled plates as beams, Tekla Structures now uses
the smaller dimension of the plate as the plate thickness. As a result,
the element mesh planes are now positioned correctly when you use
the Top option in the Rotation field when defining the properties of
the plate.
• There is a new option on the Analysis tab of the attributes dialog box
of parts called Pinned rigid link (to part names). It enables you to con-
nect the pinned rigid link part to the parts you specify. To use the
option, enter the part names separated with spaces, commas, or semi-
colons. You can also use wildcard characters.
Release Notes 125

To have a rigid link in the connection, it may be necessary to for
example use neutral axis analysis modeling for secondary
beams.
• There is a new Kmode option to define how Tekla Structures calcu-

lates buckling length L: Analytical member. With this option you can
give the exact number of buckling length factors for each member.
126 Release Notes

• When you used the Column segment option for Kmode in the calcula-
tion of analysis member buckling lengths, the buckling lengths y and
z were interchanged. This has been fixed.
• Polybeams were not visible in the STAAD.Pro postprocessor in
Tekla Structures version 11.2. This has been fixed and the polybeams
are now visible.
Release Notes 127

128 Release Notes
Project Management
Tekla Structures 11.3 Project Management configuration contains the following

new features:
Topics Miscellaneous (p. 129)
Miscellaneous
• You can now see the instruction messages for object group related
information in the Object representation dialog box.
• The Component category in Object group - representation dialog box

now includes two options: Name and Number.
Release Notes 129

Tekla Structures 11.3 Project Management

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Tekla Structures 11.

Product version 11.3

Copyright © 2006 Tekla Corporation

1 Tekla Structures 11.3 Steel Detailing ..................................................... 5

3 Tekla Structures 11.3 Analysis and Design ...................................... 121

4 Tekla Structures 11.3 Project Management ...................................... 129

Summing of rows in templates

The summing of rows in templates has changed so that the sum-

The value field

If you have any existing templates that use summing of rows, do

New Template editor - version 3.30

Compatibility with previous versions of Template Editor

Starting Template Editor

What’s new in Template Editor 3.30

Improvements in View properties dialog box

Inquire dialog box

Using the Advanced options dialog box

Part reference line

4. Click Modify and OK.

Moving and selecting objects

Running and recording macros

The size of repeated tile pattern is now restricted to 2000 x 2000

Copying and moving objects

Hide and show objects in drawings

If a model object is hidden in drawing views it will not be

Automatic view name labels in drawings

7. Define the height of the symbol and text label in Height.

The prefix and postfix values cannot be plain numbers. Also,

Hide dimension values

Include a 3D view To include a 3D view before creating a drawing:

Edit the properties of automatically created section view hatches

If you are using a hatch, whose type is hardware_SOLID,

Templates and reports

Now if you ask for NUMBER_IN_PHASE for for example a bolt,

• If the Single-part attributes option is set to something else than Cur-

• It is again possible to display decimal values for inches in dimensions.

Drawing part properties

• In general arrangement drawings, when you pressed the Modify but-

1.4 Import and export

New NC pop-marks dialog box

The order of the lines in the dialog box is important. Tekla

Produce DSTV files for CHS profiles

If the value of the variable

Improvements in IFC import and export

Below is a picture of the correct DSTV file:

1.5 Custom components

Importing and exporting custom components

• Now a progress bar shows how the import or export is proceeding.

User-defined attribute names must be written inside double quo-

• Nested custom components created with Tekla Structures version

For these components to work correctly, save the parent compo-

Bolted gusset (196)

2. Double-click the component icon to open dialog box of the connection.

Portal Bracing (105)

Tapered column 2 (S44) and Tapered beam 2 (S45)

• When you rotated the gusset plate perpendicularly to the primary in

Stair Base Detail (1039)

Circular base plates (1052)

Summing of rows in templates

The summing of rows in templates has changed so that the sum-

The value field

If you have any existing templates that use summing of rows, do

New Template editor - version 3.30