IES ShapeBuilder User's Guide
Shape Types
There are three types of shapes available for use in ShapeBuilder: generic section parts, parametric shapes, and database shapes.
Generic section parts are created by either drawing the part in the Sketch View or by importing the parts from a CAD or text file. Any arbitrary geometry can be constructed by drawing multiple parts connected to or overlapping one another. Once a polygon is drawn or imported, the dimensions of the part cannot be modified.
Parametric shapes are defined by dimensions like width, depth, radius, thickness, etc. that can be changed manually. Parametric shapes can be used as building blocks to create more complex custom shapes. ShapeBuilder offers 34 types of parametric shapes to choose from which fall into three categories: Simple Parametric, Rolled Parametric, and Bent Parametric.
ShapeBuilder has two different types of shapes databases: a standard shape database and a custom shape database can be used. Custom shapes created in ShapeBuilder can be added to the custom shape databases. IES VisualAnalysis can perform design checks on member elements created from shapes in the IES shape database as well as some certain shapes exported from ShapeBuilder.
IES includes a large database of steel, wood, cold-formed, aluminum, and other shapes common to the building industry (e.g. AISC, ACI, NDS, etc.). While the dimensions of these shapes cannot be modified in ShapeBuilder, these shapes can be combined (e.g. a cover plate can be added to a wide flange) and saved in the custom shape database. The shape database contains Virtual Joists and Virtual Joist Girders which are developed by the Steel Joist Institute. There website has information on the basic concept and purpose. While, you may use these shapes, please understand their purpose and limitations before using them.
The Custom Shape Database is a file describing shapes created through ShapeBuilder, defined directly (in XML files), or imported (note: the database does not support composite shapes). This system is used by a number of IES products to make it easy to build structural models from beams or columns with predefined properties. The XML files are stored on your machine at the following path: C:\Users\<your.login>\AppData\Local\IES\Customer\Shapes. You may copy these files from one machine to another to share your customizations. While the database files can be modified manually outside of ShapeBuilder, this is generally not needed as shapes are typically exported from shape builder to the database. If you do decided to manually modify the database files, there are examples in the Shapes folder for you to follow. You will need to restart the program to load any database changes.
To get custom cold-formed steel shapes into the IES Database for ShapeBuilder or VisualAnalysis, you may use the menu item to import the .scl or .cfsl file you have obtained through CFS. VisualAnalysis has the ability to design or check cold-formed steel shapes; however, these shapes must come from RSG Software's CFS program (www.rsgsoftware.com), because VisualAnalysis uses that utility, behind the scenes, to perform the design checks.