Use Preferred Sections and Autosize

Preferred sections and AutoSize are two powerful features that enable you to quickly specify the members you’d like to work with for a specific project, saving time by providing a quick access list of your favorite sections. AutoSize instantly selects the most optimal beam from your preferred sections list so you can always be sure you’re using the best solution without trial and error.

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How to Specify Preferred Sections

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Adding Preferred Sections

Preferred sections can be added to your project from the Project Details screen which is the first screen you’ll see when you create a new project or click an existing project. Alternatively, you can copy preferred sections from a previous project if you already have an established list you like. You can also use this function to easily save client preferences by pre-creating template projects for each client that you can copy from.

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Editing Preferred Sections

To edit existing preferred sections, click the edit button in the project details page to add and remove the sections you have specified.

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Using Preferred Sections

Preferred sections can be used two ways:

1. Via the member selector - whenever you open the member selector, your preferred sections will always appear at the top with a star by default.
2. Via AutoSize - whenever you click the magic wand button AutoSize will run and automatically select the most optimal section from your preferred list.

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How to Use AutoSize

AutoSize eliminates trial and error member selection by automatically choosing the most optimal section from your preferred sections list. To use AutoSize, you’ll first need to specify your preferred sections and then create or select any existing member calculation. Once you’re on the calculation page (for example, a timber beam), you can click the blue magic wand icon next to the member selector and AutoSize will automatically select the most optimal member from your preferred sections list. AutoSize does not currently check across materials. Even if you have timber and steel preferred sections specified, AutoSize will only check the preferred sections for the material of the currently selected module (for example, it will only check steel sections if you’re working on a steel beam). To check sections for a different material type, you will need to first use the change material function, and then run AutoSize. If none of your preferred sections work then AutoSize will let you know you need to add larger sections to your preferred section list, manually select a larger section using the member selector or member type dropdown field, or change materials (for example, swap from timber to steel).

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How AutoSize chooses a section (and why it’s not always 100% utilization)

A common question is why AutoSize picked a section that clears its checks at, say, 97% instead of landing exactly on 100%, and whether it’s simply choosing the lightest section by weight. It isn’t. AutoSize checks every applicable limit state at once (bending, shear, deflection, combined actions, and any others that apply to the current module), and it only has the sections in your Preferred Sections list to choose from. From those, it selects the smallest section that passes every check, not the lightest by weight and not the one that gets closest to 100% on any single check. Because the sections in your preferred list come in fixed, discrete increments (the next size up is a real catalog member, not a continuous value), the smallest passing section usually leaves some margin on whichever check governs. That’s why the reported utilization on the governing check is often somewhere below 100%: the next size down would fail one of the checks, so AutoSize has to step up to the next available section. AutoSize only compares sections within the current material and module. As noted above, if you want to consider a different material (for example, switching from timber to steel), use the change material function first and then re-run AutoSize.

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Bonus Round: Saving Client Preferences

Architects and builders often have their preferences for what materials they like to work with, or are available in there region. It can be hard to remember what these are, especially in larger organizations with many engineers working across clients. Client preferences can easily be saved and shared using preferred sections by creating empty projects named after clients with their preferred sections specified. In this way, engineers can easily create a new project, click to copy preferred sections from existing, and look up the client project they want to copy from.

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Frequently asked questions

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