Before you can produce structural drawings, you must first create and assign the Structural drawing resymbolization rules . With this functionality, you can create many different kinds of structural rules to control the appearance of your resymbolized members in Structural drawings. Once you create the rules, you can assign them to members in any combination you need. For example, you can be as broad as assigning one resymbolization rule to all beams, or you can be as specific as assigning a different rule to each member of the steel family.

Rules have two basic parts: member resymbolization and labels. Member resymbolization refers to the footprints or lines that represent the physical member itself. Footprints often are assigned to columns, since many drawings are for a top view and the “footprint” of a column is the top view of it.

Lines can be single or double, and can represent visible or hidden members. You can create short double lines that show the profile of a member. These double lines (often called “widgets”) can be moved along a member line just as a label can be moved to make the drawing easier to read. Labels often identify the section name of the member, but can also display the size, dimensions, distance from the top, and so forth.

There are four different categories of rules. Some rules, such as the Top/Side Resymbolization rules, let you create a single line or double line and a label for the resymbolized top/side member. Other rules, such as the Footprint Resymbolization rules, let you create a footprint graphic and a label for the resymbolized footprint.

• Top/Side Resymbolization — you can create single line graphics, double line graphics, and labels
• Footprint Resymbolization — you can create footprint graphics and labels
• Top/Side Annotation — you can create center lines and labels
• Footprint Annotation — you can create center lines and labels for resymbolized footprint.