How To Achieve BIM Level 2 Numbering In Advance Steel

As BIM adoption grows, more and more detailers are getting asked to comply with BIM Level 2 numbering for work they do as part of larger projects. Typically, infrastructure and other huge projects use this standardised numbering system to identify drawings and documents regardless of their source. How can we achieve this numbering system in Advance Steel automatically?

Generally, BIM Level 2 numbers are only required for the GA drawings on a project. The total number is made up of several fields, each with their own meaning, as follows:

This results in file names and drawing numbers such as DS1-GRA-105-01-DR-X-00114-A.dwg. The fields in grey are fixed and will not change between projects, whilst the other fields can vary in different projects. Naturally the Document Number field will vary for each and every drawing. We need an intelligent system to create the GA drawings with the correct file names and to fill in the right details in the title block for us.

We can enter the project specific fields into the Project Settings box within the model file, and the Drawing Number is generated as the drawings are generated. The first task is to get these fields to show in the title block in your drawing. For the title block it is best to split the long drawing number into separate attributes placed so that they read like a single piece of text, which is shown in my image below. The numbers in the red boxes are taken from the Project Settings of the model. The 00100 is the drawing number and the rest is dumb fixed text.

The tricky bit is getting Advance Steel to create the correct file name for us. This requires customising the Drawing Processes and databases in Advance Steel. A particular issue is getting the Project Number into the file name. Many people think this is not possible and it has been an outstanding feature request to Autodesk for many years. However, Graitec UK CAN achieve this for you and will be happy to do so as part of any consultancy we may do for you (workshop days / customisation etc.).

If you are required to deliver drawings with BIM Level 2 numbering don’t suffer in silence while spending considerable time renaming files and editing title blocks etc. Contact the Graitec team and in a short time we can set this all up to happen automatically for you. This will save you time on all of these projects and help to avoid potential human error. Thus, you will rapidly achieve a strong pay back on this investment.

Send us a message now, and our team will help you to find a solution: