Cable Tray Material Elements
- Last UpdatedNov 19, 2025
- 4 minute read
Cable Tray Material elements are single pieces of material suitable for use with cable trays.
It is normal to build up the cabling design by adding material elements sequentially, starting at any point and positioning and orientating each material element as they proceed.
Depending on the element selected from the Select Element part of the window, will dictate which window is displayed. For example the selection of the Reducer element results in the Create Reducer window being displayed. Input will vary depending upon the material element selected. The window for the Straight element is displayed as the default. All the tasks you would carry out with creation or modification of cable tray material elements are initiated from the create element window.
The Cable Design User Guide only includes a description for the default (Create Straight). The information can be applied to the same processes that are used to create all other types of cable tray material elements.
Create Cable Tray Material Element
All Create material elements windows are dual purpose, allowing you to create a new cable tray material element (by default), or modify the attributes of an existing cable tray material element.
Referring to the Cabling hierarchy, a cable tray material element must reside below an existing cable tray material main element (CTMRL). For a detailed explanation of creating an cable tray material element, see Cable Tray Material Elements.
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The task of creating an cable tray material element is initiated from the main menu, select Create > Material > Elements. The Create Straight window is displayed (by default):
Note: Make sure that Creation is selected, from the Mode part of the window.
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You can specify in which direction the material elements are added to the cableway branch, select Dress Backwards to reverse the direction.
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To position the origin of the material elements, from Reference Point dropdown menu, select the required reference point or select Pick. You will be prompted to Pick on the segment which CTSTRA should be placed: In both cases the Along Route (Zdis) field is automatically populated.
Offsets
The Offsets part of the window of the Create window, allows you to position the material element at an offset position.
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Along Route (Zdis) |
Input an offset along the cableway route. |
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Pick Position |
Select Pick Position and Pick define position (Snap) Snap: in the 3D view to position the material element at the offset. |
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Align with gridline |
Select Align with gridline and Pick Grid to define position: in the 3D view you can align the picked point with a gridline. |
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Move Offset |
Input distance to move the offset, to move the offset by this distance, press the appropriate arrow key. |
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Gap |
Input the gap offset. |
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Proportion (Pkdis) |
Input the proportional offset. |
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Horizontal (Xoff) |
Input a horizontal offset. |
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Vertical (Zoff) |
Input a vertical offset. |
Angle Attributes
The Angle Attributes part of the Create window allows you to input the angle attributes.
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Input the orientation of the section about its neutral axis in terms of an angular clockwise rotation (the default is zero).
Dimensions
The Dimensions part of the Create window allows you to view and input the material elements dimensions, some will be automatically populated by the cabling specification.
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Length |
Default value set. Input a different value for the cable tray material element length, if required. |
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Width |
Default value set. Input a different value for the cable tray material element width, if required. |
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Height |
Default value set. Input a different value for the cable tray material element height, if required. |
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Tier Heights |
Input a value for the tier height. |
Templates
The Templates part of the Create window, allows you to select a template for the material element and display the element in the 3D view.
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Template Zone |
Select the zone in which the template resides from the dropdown menu. |
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Select Type |
Select the template type from the dropdown menu. |
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Use Templates |
Select Use Templates to use the selected template for the cable tray material element. |
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Display Preliminary Dressing |
Shows any Preliminary Dressing of the cableway branch in the main 3D view. It is selected by default. |
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Mode |
Allows options of Creation or Modification to be selected. After creating a material element, selecting Modification displays the corresponding Modify window. |
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Create |
Actions the creation of the cable tray material element. |
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Back to CableWay Material Tasks |
Displays the Modify Straight window. See Modify Material. |