Changes between PLS-CADD 14.20 compiled 03/21/16 and PLS-CADD 14.

00 compiled
10/23/15

Projects saved in version 14.20 can only be read in version 14.08 and later due to
changes in LOA, DON and CRI files.

Criteria, Codes & Structure Loads

1) LCA files written by PLS-CADD "Structures/Loads/Write LCA File",
"Structures/Check/Edit", and "Structures/Modify/Edit" now include wire geometry
information for each load case. Newer versions of PLS-POLE and TOWER can display
this geometry making it easier to visualize where the loads came from.
2) "Criteria/Galloping" now allows Amplitude Safety Factor as low as 0.3 (used to
limit it to 0.5).
3) "Criteria/Code Specific Wind & Terrain Parameters/EN50341-1:2012 CENELEC" dialog
box has new options to override terrain roughness Zo, to limit length Lm used in Gc
calculation, to choose between using average span length or total section length
for Lm in Gc calculation and to override the iced wire drag coefficient Cic.
4) Added support for "EN50341-3-2:2012 Belgium NNA" wire gust response factor in
"Criteria/Weather Cases" and "Criteria/Code Specific Wind & Terrain
Parameters/EN50341-3-2:2012 Belgium NNA". This is the same as "EN50341-1:2012
CENELEC" wire gust response factor except for a different expression for the
background factor B2 used in the calculation of the structural or span factor Gc.
5) "Criteria/Code Specific Wind & Terrain Parameters/EN 50341-3-9:2001 and EN
50341-2-9:2015 UK NNA" adds support for 2015 UK NNA adjustments of wind and ice
with height above ground, altitude and span length. Since original release in beta
14.04 new options for selecting "Design Approach" 1 or 3 have been added and the
formulas used for Calt and Reynolds number have been changed.
6) "Criteria/SAPS Finite Element Sag-Tension" now has a "Limit L3 and L4 structure
modeling to structures within specified number of spans of structure having load
computed. Remaining structures will be modeled L2.

Drafting
1) Font rendering functions now adjust spacing between individual characters for
text widths that are more consistent across zoom levels. Width of text in earlier
versions varied between zoom levels such that text that appeared to fit in a title
block cell at one zoom level might not at a different one.
2) "Drafting/Plan & Profile Sheet Configuration/Pages and Station Range" dialog box
now allows input of multiple station ranges. These station ranges may overlap or
occur out of order. One can specify the start and stop stations via reference to
structure numbers by selecting "Get Station From Structure" from the menu that
appears when right clicking in the "start station" or "stop station" controls.
3) Sheets view left click context menu has "Add Sheet Page" and "Insert Page
Before" items providing a quicker alternative for adding title, notes or appendix
pages than visiting "Drafting/Plan & Profile Sheet Configuration/Pages and Station
Range".
4) "Drafting/Move Annotation Point or Text" in profile and plan views now preserves
current profile offset and plan elevation if tab key held down while annotation
moved. If do not hold down tab key operations in profile view reset offset to 0
and in plan view reset elevation to that of closest entity as was done in earlier
versions.
5) Annotation Add and Edit dialog boxes now support font point size input. To
specify a point size enter a negative number (-8 for 8 pt, +8 if want 8" or 8cm).
6) "Structures/Automatic Spotting/Spotting Constraints/Display..." now lets you
control if constraints are displayed on plan and profile sheets.
7) Fixed problems with text justification and overlap of section labels common when
using the "National Grid (UK") long axis plot option or when using multiple line
section labels with the "Horizontal section label at mid point of each section"
option.

Inset Views
1) Report view right click menu "Add as Annotation to Inset View" dialog enhanced.
Now have a "Preview page sel" check box for graphical preview of size and position
of inset view being created, spin button controls to adjust size & position,
ability to edit footer text and buttons to add additional title/notes/appendix
pages.
2) "Drafting/Inset Views/Add Inset Plan View" now works from within 3D and Plan
views (easier to pick plan extents desired than in earlier versions where this was
done in plan part of P&P sheet).
3) Entity info left click context menu now offers "Add Inset View for Structure"
option when snapping to a PLS-POLE or TOWER structure.
4) Images and DXFs can now be attached to an inset view. Images are positioned
within the inset view the same as they are positioned for sheets (x,y position and
size specified in inches). DXFs are automatically centered and scaled to fill the
inset view while preserving aspect ratio.
5) Inset plan views now have an option to disable display of plan annotation (text
size for annotation sometimes doesn't display well and is best hidden).
6) Inset view properties dialogs accessed via entity info left click "Edit Inset
View" now features a "transpose" button in its title bar that lets you toggle
display between a 34 column table showing attributes for all inset views and a one
column table displaying attributes for a single selected inset view.
"File/Preferences/Disable auto-transposing of tables when entered via entity info"
determines which form you start with.
7) Inset Structure View Z Rotation (Longitude) made consistent with the definition
used in the 3D Controls dialog.

Import of Imagery, DXF Attachments and survey points

1) Now support DXF "\W" (width factor format code) in MTEXT entities. Also fixed
width factor for DXF TEXT entities which wasn't applied when using TrueType Font.
2) Changed DXF interpretation of lineweight of "0" which is a default value.
Previously interpreted as "bylayer" but now treat as minimum possible line width
since this is more consistent with AutoCAD.
3) Fixed DXF export problem that resulted in use of layer 1 instead of Structures
Layer for guys and cable elements in exported views.
4) Fixed issue that prevented snapping to DXF overlays projected into profile using
"F1/Custom/Under Development/Project plan view DXF into profile view".
5) Adopted LASlib library to support LAS 1.3 files and enable reading LAZ
compressed files.
6) Updated libraries used to support TIFF and JPG image file formats (LibTIFF 4.06,
JPEG library 9a)
7) Added "Drafting/Attachments/LiDAR Video Setup/Opten" feature.
8) "Drafting/Attachments/Attachment Manager" "Bitmap Options" dialog now has a
"Optimize image draw for text or line work rather than aerial photography" check
box that improves fidelity of text. Appropriate setting is automatically selected
for images from built in WMS servers. Use of this option slows image drawing so it
isn't recommended for images that do not contain low resolution line drawings or
text.

Export of KML/KMZ/XML
1) KML/KMZ Export now groups all lines/polygons for a structure in a folder named
after the structure, likewise for sections.
2) XML output now respects any filtering that may have been done in a table. It
also sets the 'nrows' attribute to the actual number of rows output rather than the
original number (the two can differ when have filtered output).

XY Structures
1) Modified the way wind applied on XY based structures for Normal All and Normal
Left, Normal Right and Bisector cases. Program used to make wind relative to
structure transverse axis but now uses wires connected to define a virtual
alignment which it uses to define the line angle and bisector direction producing
results more in line with station based structures on a simiilar alignment.
2) Can now label attachment heights or elevations of XY based structures
(previously only station based structures were labeled).

PLS-CADD/Lite
1) Fixed problem that prevented PLS-CADD/Lite line specific annotation from being
saved.
2) PLS-CADD/Lite now has left click "Entity Info" context menu similar to PLS-CADD
standard edition. Clicking on a wire and selecting "Line Setup" will take you
directly to the corresponding row in the "Model Setup" dialog box.
3) PLS-CADD/Lite "Wire and Structure Loads" now has a number of optional Sag-
Tension oriented columns that standard edition includes in the "Span and Wire
Summary" report. Includes load per unit length for sagging condition and load case
being verified, wind angles and horizontal tension.
4) PLS-CADD/Lite "Line/Setup" dialog now has a "Groups" button so can manually
assign groups in Lite the same way as in the Standard edition.

Other
1) "Structures/Customize Structure/Move Attachment Point..., Move Guy Anchor...,
Move Arm, and Change Insulator" are now framing aware (moves entire framing up/down
or between poles).
2) "Structures/Customize Structure/Move Attachment Point/..." now allows snap to
attachment points without wires attached provided "Drafting/Show Cable Attachment
Points" is enabled.
3) "Structures/Customize Structure/Move Attachment Point/Snap to Surveyed
Attachment Points (multiple structures)" now has options letting you specify if
want to snap wire attachment point or insulator attachment point.
4) "File/Restore Backup" now allows selection of multiple ".bak" files to restore
at once and has a "Change Common Directory Path" button for faster search and
replace of directory paths used by a project.
5) Sections Add, Add Graphical, Modify and Automatic Stringing now automatically
set color to that specified in cable file.
6) Fixed problem that caused galloping ellipses to be drawn at incorrect fraction
of span length when doing calculation in spans with strain insulators in an FE
condition. Problem is limited to 3D view, report and distance between ellipses not
impacted.
7) Fixed problems responsible for Entity Info and some sag-tension functions being
unable to snap to some spans.
8) PLS-CADD/Lite's "Line/Setup" "Edit Structure" Button" and other PLS-CADD
commands that open a structure in PLS-POLE or TOWER now check if structure is
already open to avoid having multiple instances of same structure open at once.
9) "File/Preferences" now has a "Table header font" input to change font used for
column headings in spreadsheet tables. Bold version of this font will be used.
10) Posted updated CTC Global ACCC cable models.
11) Other crash fixes, tweaks and refinements too numerous to list here.

Changes between PLS-POLE 14.21 compiled 03/24/16 and 14.00 compiled 10/23/15
(includes changes made in beta versions 14.05-14.11)

Projects saved in version 14.21 can be read in version 14.00 and newer unless
attachments or structure drafting is used in which case the files are only readable
by version 14.08 and newer.

Interface
1) Added option to display "PLS-CADD Wires" for Load Vectors in the "3D Controls"
dialog reached via "View/Display Options/Set Rotation, Color and Label Options...".
PLS-CADD Wires are only available when the loads have come directly from PLS-CADD.
2) Report view right click menu "Add as Annotation to Inset View" dialog now
provides a graphical preview of inset view size and position adjustable with spin
button controls, buttons to add additional title/notes/appendix pages, and controls
to customize text appearing in inset view footers.
3) Enhanced drag-to-resize of windows to also support resizing into quadrants of
the screen, similar to Windows 10, and also added ability to drag minimized windows
to the edges of the screen to resize.
4) Added "View/Cycle/" sub-menu that contains entries for the major items in the
"3D Controls" dialog reached via "View/Display Options/Set Rotation, Color and
Label Options..." such as Color By, Load Case Display, Vector Loads, Joint Labels,
Member Labels and Render Mode. You may wish to add some of these commands to your
custom toolbar.
5) "File/Restore Backup" now has a "Change Common Directory Path" button enabling
faster search and replace through directory paths used by a project.
6) "File/Restore Backup" now allows you to select multiple ".bak" files to restore
at once.
7) Made the ordering of items in "File/Batch Modify" more consistent and color
coded geometry and components items to make them easier to identify. Finally,
added the three letter file extension of component files to the description of
Component File items.
8) Added "File/Export/PLS-CADD LITE" command that is equivalent to the PLS-POLE
graphical member toolbar PLS-CADD/LITE button.
9) Added Entity Info command to graphically rotate guys, davit arms, equipment,
vangs, strain insulators, post insulators, and framings.
10) Various Member, Joint, Component, Result and Inset view dialogs when invoked
graphically for editing a particular item now display a "properties-style" single
column table that only lists the properties for the relevant item. Previous
versions showed table including properties for all items, a presentation that is
still available if one presses the new "Transpose" button.
11) Now color the background of Relative Attachment Labels for poles green if there
is something attached to that joint.
12) "File/Preferences" now has a "Table header font" input to change font used for
column headings in spreadsheet tables. Bold version of this font will be used.
Also improved outlining of active cell, text justification, etc.
13) Annotation Edit and Add dialogs now use the graphic font inside their text
fields to more accurately reflect what it will look like (size is not
representative of actual annotation).
14) Graphical Add and Move Snap Settings dialog now allows you to choose "At Joint
Labels" for snap instead of "At Interval". When this is selected the program only
snaps to joints with labels.
15) Drag'n'Drop of a Framing now has a prompt "Press 'R' to rotate azimuth by 90,
current = 0 (deg)" in status bar. Pressing the R key does just that.

Engineering
1) The Loading Method Parameters dialog has been reworked to give each code a tab
that contains a "notes" section that describes what calculations the software
automates for that code.
2) Added "EN50341-2-9:2015" (UK NNA) wind/ice model in Loads/Vector Loads and
Loads/Wire Loads.
3) EN50341-1:2012 users may now input a "ZO override" in the Loading Method
Parameters dialog which overrides the terrain roughness otherwise specified by
terrain category as per table 4.1 on page 56.
4) Added "Interaction-2xLong" CAN check where longitudinal load and capacity are
shared, but transverse and vertical are checked separately.

Drafting
1) Can now attach Bitmaps and DXF files directly to any named inset view
2) Fixed problem where the "Color by" selection for structure inset view was not
being drawn correctly (rendered and black worked, but not the others)
3) Added new context menu command for drafting sheets so user can insert a new
blank sheet before any other drafting sheet (old behavior only allowed adding new
sheets to the end of a category)
4) Inset Report views created from a table with filters applied will now respect
those filters.
5) In the Sheets View, now adjust spacing between individual characters (font
kerning) to produce more consistent text widths across zoom levels. Width of text
varied far more in earlier versions such that text that appeared to fit in a title
block at one zoom level might not appear to fit after zoomed in or out.

Miscellaneous
1) XML output now respects any filtering that may have been done in a table. It
also sets the 'nrows' attribute to the actual number of rows output rather than the
original number (the two can differ when have filtered output).
2) Added wpoex9.pol example that demonstrates the use of Structure Drafting. Use
Window/Sheets View to see the beautiful drawing.
3) Moved "F1/Debugging Stuff/Export STL..." command to the "File/Export" menu in
response to interest shown in this feature at the ASCE SEI/ETS conference.

Changes between SAPS 14.20 compiled 03/21/16 and 14.00 compiled 10/23/15

1) Enhanced drag-to-resize of windows to also support resizing into quadrants of

the screen, similar to Windows 10, and also added ability to drag minimized windows
to the edges of the screen to resize.
2) "File/Restore Backup" now has a "Change Common Directory Path" button enabling
faster search and replace through directory paths used by a project.
3) "File/Restore Backup" now allows you to select multiple ".bak" files to restore
at once.
4) "File/Preferences" now has a "Table header font" input to change font used for
column headings in spreadsheet tables. Bold version of this font will be used.
Also improved outlining of active cell, text justification, etc.
5) Fixed dialog sizing problem that could cause a vertical scrollbar to be drawn
off side of monitor.
6) XML output now respects any filtering that may have been done in a table. It
also sets the 'nrows' attribute to the actual number of rows output rather than the
original number (the two can differ when have filtered output).
7) Various Member, Joint, Component, Result and Inset view dialogs when invoked
graphically for editing a particular item now display a "properties-style" single
column table that only lists the properties for the relevant item. Previous
versions showed table including properties for all items, a presentation that is
still available if one presses the new "Transpose" button.
8) Added a "Transpose" button to the title bar of "properties-style" dialogs that
toggles between "properties-style" and full table view.

Changes between TOWER 14.20 compiled 03/21/16 and 14.00 compiled 10/23/15 (includes
changes made in beta versions 14.05-14.11)

Projects saved in version 14.20 can be read in version 14.00 and newer unless
attachments or structure drafting is used in which case the files are only readable
by version 14.08 and newer.

Interface
1) Added option to display "PLS-CADD Wires" for Load Vectors in the "3D Controls"
dialog reached via "View/Display Options/Set Rotation, Color and Label Options...".
PLS-CADD Wires are only available when the loads have come directly from PLS-CADD.
2) Report view right click menu "Add as Annotation to Inset View" dialog now
provides a graphical preview of inset view size and position adjustable with spin
button controls, buttons to add additional title/notes/appendix pages, and controls
to customize text appearing in inset view footers.
3) Enhanced drag-to-resize of windows to also support resizing into quadrants of
the screen, similar to Windows 10, and also added ability to drag minimized windows
to the edges of the screen to resize.
4) Added "View/Cycle/" sub-menu that contains entries for the major items in the
"3D Controls" dialog reached via "View/Display Options/Set Rotation, Color and
Label Options..." such as Color By, Load Case Display, Vector Loads, Joint Labels,
Member Labels and Render Mode. You may wish to add some of these commands to your
custom toolbar.
5) "File/Restore Backup" now has a "Change Common Directory Path" button enabling
faster search and replace through directory paths used by a project.
6) "File/Restore Backup" now allows you to select multiple ".bak" files to restore
at once.
7) Made the ordering of items in "File/Batch Modify" more consistent and color
coded geometry and components items to make them easier to identify. Finally,
added the three letter file extension of component files to the description of
Component File items.
8) Changed entity info snapping for groups, members, and joints. If all three modes
are enabled, the outer 20% of a member (on either end) will snap to a joint, the
next 20% (on either end) will snap to the member, and the middle 20% will snap to
the group.
9) Added Entity Info command to graphically rotate guys, equipment, strain and post
insulators.
10) Various Member, Joint, Component, Result and Inset view dialogs when invoked
graphically for editing a particular item now display a "properties-style" single
column table that only lists the properties for the relevant item. Previous
versions showed table including properties for all items, a presentation that is
still available if one presses the new "Transpose" button.
11) Now set the background color of the group column in the angle members table to
the color of the group type that it corresponds to.
12) "File/Preferences" now has a "Table header font" input to change font used for
column headings in spreadsheet tables. Bold version of this font will be used.
Also improved outlining of active cell, text justification, etc.
13) Annotation Edit and Add dialogs now use the graphic font inside their text
fields to more accurately reflect what it will look like (size is not
representative of actual annotation).
14) Added "File/Export/PLS-CADD LITE" command that is equivalent to the PLS-POLE
graphical member toolbar PLS-CADD/LITE button.

Engineering
1) The Loading Method Parameters dialog has been reworked to give each code a tab
that contains a "notes" section that describes what calculations the software
automates for that code.
2) Added "ASCE 10-2015" climbing load check (C2.2 refers to ASCE 74-2009 section
3.1.2.1 which requires a 1.5 load factor so load is 375 lbs vs. 250 lbs in ASCE 10-
1997).
3) Added "EN50341-2-9:2015" and "EN50341-2-9:2015-EN1993" member strength and
connection check options. These are identical to the corresponding EN50341-1:2012
except for different partial safety factors, extra warnings and allowable unbraced
length ratio.
4) Added "EN50341-2-9:2015" (UK NNA) wind/ice model in Loads/Vector Loads and
Loads/Wire Loads.
5) EN50341-1:2012 users may now input a "ZO override" in the Loading Method
Parameters dialog which overrides the terrain roughness otherwise specified by
terrain category as per table 4.1 on page 56.
6) Added "Interaction-2xLong" CAN check where longitudinal load and capacity are
shared, but transverse and vertical are checked separately.
7) Added RLClimb override of unbraced length used for climbing load check in
"Geometry/Members/Capacities and Overrides...".

Family Manager
1) Added info field to Family Manager that lists number of configurations, number
included in analysis and number selected.
2) Sped up creation of Group Summary Super Set for the Family Manager and
dramatically reduced the amount of memory used if not opening a deformed geometry
for each configuration.
3) Family Manager graphical preview generation time reduced by ~25%.
4) As a result of the efficiency improvements above, increased the maximum number
of configurations in the Family Manager from 512 to 640.
5) Added right click "Filter non-controlling BLE configurations from analysis"
command to the deformed geometry view when the Family Manager is engaged. Will set
"Include In Analysis" to "No" for any BLE configuration that doesn't control at
least one group.
6) The Family Manager now allows export of a BLE configuration when the model was
opened read-only.
7) Fixed problem in Family Manager that could manifest as spurious duplicate
secondary joint errors that prevented an analysis from succeeding.
8) The Family Manager now handles canceling and failure to converge better. In the
latter case, the Family Manager now offers to enter/run NLI Debug Mode if the
active configuration fails to converge. If other (non-active) configuration fails
it tells you to make it active and rerun.
9) Family Manager now forces each configuration to have a unique name. Ability to
duplicate configuration names led to much confusion for the user and programmer.
10) Now skip Family Manager Analysis Mode when only running a single configuration
since it has no benefit.
11) Now warn when have a non-terminal body extension with fixed joints as this
can't possibly be correct.

Drafting
1) Added experimental File/Preferences setting "Draw angles as L shape rather than
rectangle (EXPERIMENTAL)" using an automatically determined orientation angle for
single, double or cruciform cross sections. The heuristic for determining the
orientation angle is still under development.
2) Can now attach Bitmaps and DXF files directly to any named inset view
3) Fixed problem where the "Color by" selection for structure inset view was not
being drawn correctly (rendered and black worked, but not the others)
4) Added new context menu command for drafting sheets so user can insert a new
blank sheet before any other drafting sheet (old behavior only allowed adding new
sheets to the end of a category)
5) Inset Report views created from a table with filters applied will now respect
those filters.
6) In the Sheets View now adjust spacing between individual characters (font
kerning) to produce more consistent text widths across zoom levels. Width of text
varied far more in earlier versions such that text that appeared to fit in a title
block at one zoom level might not appear to fit after zoomed in or out.

Miscellaneous
1) XML output now respects any filtering that may have been done in a table. It
also sets the 'nrows' attribute to the actual number of rows output rather than the
original number (the two can differ when have filtered output).
2) Increased the maximum number of Angle Groups from 1000 to 2000 to aid 3rd party
software that automatically creates TOWER models.
3) Moved "F1/Debugging Stuff/Export STL..." command to the "File/Export" menu in
response to interest shown in this feature at the ASCE SEI/ETS conference.