Understanding Paragon Settings

Video Transcript:

  Welcome! In this video, we’ll provide an overview on managing and working with Paragon Design App settings.

This tutorial uses the Sample Layout project, which is accessible from Choose/Create Project menu and then under Open Sample. Once you have the file opened, go to the menu along the top right and select Copy to My Organization. You are now able to edit the file and make changes as needed for this demonstration.

Let’s review Project Settings which include load settings, analysis settings, material settings, and feature pattern settings.

It’s important to differentiate between Project Settings and Truss Settings. Project Settings apply across the entire project, while Truss Settings apply only to the active component.

Click Project Settings.

Let’s start with load settings. Here, you’ll see a list of components organized in a hierarchy. At the top, we have the project name. Unchecking this will deselect all components under it.

Next, we have the “defaults” load settings. These settings apply to newly created components. Select to check the box for only the Defaults settings. As an example, let's set 30 for Top Chord Live Load, next set 30 for Top Chord Dead Load, and then set 10 for Bottom Chord Dead Load. Remember this for later. Next Click Save.

Now, return to the Design scene and create a new component. For the purposes of this demonstration, use a predefined shape from the Component Insertion dialog. Select the first truss in the list for the shape, then click Next. Then Insert. Now, let’s verify the default loading was applied to the new component. Go to truss settings by clicking the Truss Settings icon. Next select Load Settings. This brings up the loading for the selected component. As we can see, the recently modified default settings were applied to the new component.

However, if we go back and change the Project Settings for the default settings for the Top Chord Live Load and set it to 40. Press enter to set the value. Click Save, the existing components won’t be affected. Select the component from the list. Return back to Truss Settings to verify the Top Chord is still at 30. The load settings for this component are preserved and reflect the settings upon creation.

To modify load settings for an existing component, select the component and note the name. Go to Project Settings, check the box for your component. Now change the load to 20 for Top Chord Live Load, and 10 for Top Chord Dead Load, and 10 for Bottom Chord Dead Load. Press enter and click to Save the settings. Next, let’s verify the loading changes were applied by reviewing the active Truss Settings. As you can see the settings have been modified for an existing component.

Next, we’ll change load settings for multiple components simultaneously. Select the components you want to modify and then let's change the wind speed to 150. Now click to save these settings. Let's verify the changes were applied. Select one of the trusses we just adjusted. Go to Truss Settings to verify the applied load settings. We can see the wind speed change were applied to the components. Repeat for the other truss.

Analysis Settings are applied similarly to Load Settings. Adjust any of the settings and define whether the settings should be applied to the defaults and/or to existing components.

Next we’ll review Material Settings. Material Settings work a little differently compared to Load and Analysis Settings. To manage Material Settings, you first adjust the setting then you choose whether to apply them to new components or to all components. However, you can override these settings for individual components using the specific Truss Settings.

Feature Pattern Settings are project-wide settings. Specifically for feature pattern trusses, more known as “floor trusses”. Details are covered in another video. The general logic is the same, however, changes to Feature Pattern Settings only apply to new components.

Now that we’ve made changes, let's analyze the components. Access the Projects Menu and click Analyze All Changed Components. The analysis will run for all unanalyzed components in the project.

Finally, access the User Settings from the Profile icon. Here you can access Paragon Docs, send feedback, customize user settings, and log out of your account. The User Settings are covered in more detail on our Paragon Docs site.

And that’s an overview of Paragon Design App settings. I hope this video helped you better understand Paragon Project Settings vs. Truss Settings and how they are applied.

Thanks for watching, and see you in the next one!