P. To create a drawing group

To create groups (physical members) for inclined members such as bracing, truss chords, portals, etc., use the following procedure.

Steel AutoDrafter will identify physical members automatically for vertical and horizontal members.

Right-click on a member and select Cut Section @<grid or plane> .

The Section View dialog opens.

Select the group type tool corresponding to the group of members you want to create:

Tool	Description
	Top chord - can include purlins
	Bottom chord
	Portal - can include purlins at a specified spacing
	Bracing
	Inclined Column

The mouse pointer changes to a selection box.

Select the members to be grouped graphically:
- click on them individually
- click-and-drag a window box around the members
Tip: Use the view control tools to assist in selecting members.

Members in the selection set are highlighted in red.
Right-click anywhere in the Section View dialog view area and then select Create Group from the pop-up menu.

For Portal and Top Chord groups, the Create Group for <group type> dialog opens. For other groups, the group is created.
Optional: For Portal and Top Chord groups, select the Purlin Section shape and section size to use and then click OK.

Note: Purlins are not part of the analysis but this allows you to add these to the drawings for accuracy.
Repeat Steps 2 through 5 to create additional groups.
Click the Draw tool.

The Drawing Settings dialog opens.
Select the Scale for your drawing from the drop-down list.

The Scale of drawing can be set as 1:25, 1:50, 1:80, or 1:100.
Select an option from the Draw As drop-down list.
This will control the extents of how members are drawn.
- Full Sections - All edges of the section are drawn for the full length of the member
- Part Section - All edges of the section are drawn for the part length of the member
- 2D Sections - The sections are drawn as lines with no section size
Either:
- click Draw to generate the drawing
- click Add to Drawing List to add this drawing to the Drawing List tab

Tip: To delete a group, right-click on the group name in either the Section View dialog or in the Drawing Groups tab of the Drawing List & Groups panel and then select Delete from the pop-up menu.