Advance Steel Model Browser

Advance Steel includes many useful and powerful tools for all sorts of tasks. It is impossible to go through them all in an Essentials training course. As the name suggests, we have to keep that to the bare minimum we think you need to use Advance Steel successfully. Even then the course is 4 days long and quite full on. Model Browser is one of the tools we simply don’t have time to cover but which can be really helpful when used effectively. Read on to find out how to make the most of this utility.

The Model Browser can be opened from either of two locations: Home > Project Explorer drop down > Model Browser on the ribbon or Selection > Model Browser on the palette.

Once open the Model Browser lists all object sin the model. It has three basic modes depending on which part number you are interested in. At the top right of the dialog select “Sort By Preliminary Part”, “Sort By Single Part” or “Sort By Assembly” as desired.

When sorting by Assembly the assembly number is written in a line by itself with the assembly quantity then all the component parts are listed underneath.

Normally the Model Browser lists the entire model but if you have objects hidden, or are using Project Explorer to show only part of your model, you can tick the “Current Model View” box at the top of the Model Browser dialog to reduce the listed items to only those that are currently shown.

If you click on a line in Model Browser the corresponding objects are selected in the model. This is one way to find objects based on the part or assembly number.

When opened for the first time after installing Advance Steel the Model Browser only shows a few basic columns. However, you can right-click on the heading of any column and select “insert Column” and then choose almost any advance steel object property you wish. The selected column will be shown to the right of the column you right clicked on. You can click on the heading of any column to sort the data by that property. If you have too many columns you can right click on the heading for an unwanted column and select Remove Column.

This is great for checking that you have set things like Model Roles, Materials, Coatings, Lot/Phase etc. correctly. Even more useful is that you can tick the “Edit Properties” box at the top of the dialog and then you can actually edit the part properties right there in Model Browser.

The Model Browser does not list cameras in the model. Graitec have create a similar tool for Cameras in the PowerPack called the Camera Browser. That lets you see and edit all camera properties for all the cameras in the model from one dialog.

Written by Aleck Giles – Software Technical Specialist