Connection Callouts in Design

Another nice tool available in the Aegis Design program is Connection Callouts. These are job-specific settings that will produce a note pointing to a specific detail, based on uplift and bearing material. To see this dialog box, go to Setup--Job (Truss)--Connection Callouts. You will see a box like this:



Using the top tabs, you can specify details for each bearing material available. The first row of text boxes shows the upper limits of the uplift ranges that will use the specified detail. The second row of text boxes shows the name of the detail, and the third row shows the sheet number of the layout where you can find that detail.

Please notice that there are really three sets of callouts you can create--one for USC trusses, one for USD trusses at raised heel conditions (where we would be connecting to a USWD member), and one for USD trusses at standard heel conditions. The radio buttons and check box at the bottom of the dialog box tell you which set of callouts you are viewing/editing.

Also, at the bottom left corner is a checkbox to "Invoke Callouts". You obviously must have this box checked in order for these callouts to appear on your engineered truss drawings.

If everything is set up correctly, you should see notes similar to this on your engineered drawings:



One drawback to using Connection Callouts is that you must specify the bearing material for each bearing. The best way to do this is at Layout stage.

Has anyone used this for a real project? Can anyone provide some feedback? In my opinion, this is a very useful tool that can take some of the "connection detail stress" out of the design process.