Assign Components to each Element.
This can be achieved using a couple of methods.
Method one: create Assemblies within a project.
Method two: Use Global Assemblies that are pre-loaded and available in Actually.
The first method for creating Assemblies is to click the “Assemblies” tab in the top panel.
Here the Assemblies Section of each Category is shown. In this location, a new Assembly can be created for respective Categories.
Components and Products need to be assigned to that Assembly.
Note: Editing Assemblies in this tab will cause the changes to be applied across all the Elements the Assembly has been assigned to.
The second method for creating Assemblies is to manually assign Components and Products to an Element.
Once these are assigned to the Element click on the three dots of that Element.
Click “Save as Assembly”.
Note: Assemblies can be assigned to different Elements of the same Category.
Click the “A” button next to the Search Field, after adding a Component. This will show a full list of user-made Assemblies available, as well as Global Assemblies that have been created by Actually. These can now be chosen for the project.
Pick one of the Assemblies from the list, click “Apply.”
Once selected, the Assembly Components adopt the geometry of the Element and all Metrics are calculated alongside the Project Totals in the top panel.
Note: In the case where there is only one Element, there is no benefit to having an Assembly made for this individual Element.
Methodically add Components and Products or Assemblies to each Element of each Category within the project.
Note: For each Category it is imperative that Components and Products are specified for each Element.
Note: When there this more than one Element, it can be helpful to create at least one Assembly. This provides global control for the specification of all Elements using that assembly. This means less time is spent editing when a change is made.
Note: When an Assembly is edited, all Elements using that Assembly will automatically update with the edited changes. This becomes a powerful way to experiment and test cost and environmental results.
Once an Assembly has been assigned to an Element it can be edited locally for that Element in isolation. This is done by expanding the Element to view the Individual Components included in the assigned Assembly.
Click on the three dots of any of the Components.
Click “Detach Assembly.”
Now Components can be deleted by clicking on individual three dots and clicking “Delete.”
Swap out one Component for another using the “Replace” option.
Add other Components by clicking the “+ Component” button.
To edit the Products within an Assembly, click on a Product Name. This provides a list of all the Products available under each Component. You can search or scroll the list.
To escape out of the search window, click a white space to the side of the window or press “esc” on the keyboard.