What's New in the Graitec PowerPack for Advance Steel 2021

The Graitec Powerpack 2021 for Advance Steel has now been released, the Powerpack is Graitec’s extension to Advance Steel which gives users more modelling tools, connections, templates, sections and data, this blog will run through what’s new in the 2021 release.

The Graitec Advance Steel 2021 Powerpack and can be downloaded through your Graitec Advantage account and is found under the “Download Release” section, there is also a full what’s new document available on the Advantage site.

New Ribbon – The Powerpack ribbon has been reorganised into 4 key areas, these are Create elements, Create macros, Fabricate and Manage.

GTCX file transfer – The Powerpack has new options to exchange information between Advance Steel and Graitec software via the GTC / GTCX import and export, this improves the exchange of information between Advance Steel and Advance Design.

Check Parts – This command will find items in the model that don’t have any features, notches, cuts, holes etc so a fabrication detail doesn’t need to be created, the item can be ordered from the BOM. As well as finding these items a description of “Without drawing” will be added to the User Attribute.

Kingspan SBS Mezzanine Floor Beam Systems Create CAM & CAM Data – This new tool is specific to the Kingspan SBS Mezzanine floor beam systems and will allow users to create an export which can be sent straight to Kingspan SBS for manufacturing. The new CAM tool will produce the following items:

• CAM Export file
• A required drawing report (Notepad format)
• A warning report for non-standard details (Notepad format)
• An error log (Notepad format)
• A summary file (Notepad format)
• As well as the CAM data a new drawing process for Kingspan SBS drawings has been added to Advance Steel via the Graitec Powerpack 2021.

Learn option – Located at the end of the new ribbon the Learn option gathers all the external information about the Powerpack such as videos, FAQ’s and social activity.

Graitec Stairs & Railings Vault – Formerly installed as a separate package called BIM Designers Stairs and Railings, these tools are now being merged into the Powerpack. These stairs and railings tools will be available to users with a Powerpack Premium or Ultimate license.

The Graitec stair tools allow you model straight or balanced stairs with 1, 2 or 3 flights and in L, U or Z shapes, the Stair tools also allow you to create stairs with plate stringers.

For the 2021 release the new stair functions include the following:

• Create special part treads
• Create nosing bars
• The ability to extend internal stringers through to external stringers
• Create landing support ribs
• Split landings

The Graitec railing tools allow you to model ball post, key clamp, double post, wallrail and standard railings. Users can now also create infill panels from Plates or Gratings inside the key clamp, double post and standard railings tools, these panels can be connected to the posts with special part clamps or have a fabricated frame generated around the panel.

The Graitec railing tools do not need a supporting beam and can be modelled based on AutoCAD lines or points chosen by the user, they can also be connected to beam, plates, gratings or nothing.

For the 2021 release the new railing functions include the following:

• Equal spacings between posts for infill bars
• The ability to split top and middle rails based on total length or specific post positions
• Create swann neck configurations on top or middle handrails

Have a watch of the video below which goes over all the new features in the 2021 release of the Advance Steel PowerPack.

To find out more about the PowerPack for Advance Steel, just head over to our web page or click on the button below to request more information.