Key details

Autodesk Advance Steel is used to create and detail 3D steel structures.

This introductory-level course teaches the use of Advance Steel’s key functionality, tools, commands and workflows. By building a steel structure from the ground up, you’ll learn to create:

• Beams and columns.
• Plates.
• Connection elements.
• Lists and schedules, such as Bills of Materials and loading lists.
• Drawings.

In-class or online

This course is available in-class at eight centres or live online.

Upcoming course dates

Who should attend?

Newcomers to Advance Steel who want to use the application to design and detail 3D steel structures.

Accredited Advance Steel training

Armada is an Autodesk Authorised Training Centre (ATC), and our Advance Steel training courses are accredited by Autodesk.

Advance Steel Essentials courses are hosted by highly experienced Autodesk Certified Instructors with extensive experience of using Advance Steel professionally. See Expert trainers.

How will I learn?

Advance Steel training is hands-on and practical.

Our trainers teach the necessary theory then demonstrate techniques step-by-step. You then practice the techniques yourself in Advance Steel.

There’s plenty of time to ask questions, and you can keep all files you create.

Advance Steel training guide and certificate

Course delegates receive:

• Comprehensive training notes, to refer to throughout the course and use as a refresher after.
• An e-certificate confirming successful completion of an accredited Advance Steel training course.

After course support

Following Advance Steel training, delegates are entitled to 30 days’ email support from their Advance Steel trainer to help with any post-course issues. For further details, see Support.

Prerequisites

Delegates should have basic CAD skills, i.e. have attended AutoCAD Essentials training or have equivalent knowledge.

If you need to attend AutoCAD Essentials first, we offer an Advance Steel training bundle price for both courses.

Advance Steel version

Training is based primarily on Advance Steel 2025, running on Windows. It is relevant to all recent versions of Advance Steel.

Our guarantees to you

We offer:

• A price guarantee that you’re getting the best value for money.
• A training guarantee that you’ll learn the concepts and skills you need.

On-request Advance Steel training available

Advance Steel Essentials training is also available on-request, i.e. one-to-one training or a ‘closed course’ for your group, hosted at one of our centres, your venue or online.

On-request Advance Steel training can be tailored to take into account any existing knowledge you have, and the work you’re going to be doing. Please contact us for a quote.

General information

Course times

9.30am–4.30pm.

Payment

Payment for Advance Steel training can be made by:

• Bank transfer. Please call 01527 834783 for our bank details.
• Card. All major credit and debit cards accepted. Payment can be made securely online or over the phone. Card payments are processed by Stripe. Armada doesn’t record or store your card details.

Purchase orders

We accept purchase orders from UK-registered companies and public sector organisations.

Cancellations and transfers

You can cancel a booking on a scheduled training course, or transfer to a later course, without penalty providing you give us 10 working days’ notice. Any fees already paid will be refunded.

If you cancel a booking on a scheduled Advance Steel Essentials course giving less than 10 working days’ notice, or request a transfer to a later course, a cancellation/transfer fee is payable. The fee charged depends on the notice period given. For details, see cancellation terms.

Different terms apply for the cancellation or postponement of an on-request course (one-to-one training or a ‘closed course’ for your group). For details, see course cancellations.

Terms and conditions

Training course bookings are subject to our terms and conditions.

Expert trainers

Advance Steel Essentials training courses are hosted by:

• Stewart Cobb
• Wendy Sprakes

Stewart Cobb

Stewart began his working life as a junior draughtsman, and progressed through to Design Director leading a studio of designers working on both 2D and 3D projects.

He then worked for himself for over 25 years, completing around 100 design projects per year for a myriad of clients, including household names such as Vauxhall and McDonalds.

More recently, Stewart’s focus has been on training. He has been an Autodesk Certified Instructor since 2010, hosting courses in AutoCAD, Revit, 3ds Max, AutoCAD Plant 3D, Civil 3D, AVT and Advance Steel. He’s also an expert user of Trimble SketchUp.

In between courses, Stewart uses these applications professionally when carrying out project work for clients. Using the applications regularly helps him to keep up-to-date with the latest technologies and practices. He also specialises in the production of photorealistic rendered images and visualisations using renderers including V-Ray.

Outside of work, Stewart enjoys music (he runs the sound desk for a number of local bands), reading and playing with any new piece of technology he can lay his hands on!

Wendy Sprakes

Wendy Sprakes is an Autodesk Certified Instructor, a Microsoft Master Instructor (MMI) and a qualified teacher (QTS).

Wendy began her working life as a CAD operator, using Medusa, MicroStation and AutoCAD.

Working through the ranks of trainee draughtsman, graduating as a professional Mechanical Engineer, she worked in the Mechanical Handling industry on site and in the drawing office for ten years. She became a Project Engineer then moved into the CAE Industry, working as an engineer in the Fatigue Analysis software industry for clients such as Ford Motor Company and Jaguar Land Rover. She then went on to qualify as a teacher, and has been hosting AutoCAD courses since 2000. She also has specialist knowledge of Advance Steel.

Wendy has also been hosting Microsoft Office courses since 2000. Wendy trains all applications in the Office suite, including Word, Excel and other, more niche applications such as Visio and Project, from beginner to advanced and customised level. Wendy has been a staff member, delivering IT and Project Management modules for Chesterfield College, and a course leader for Microsoft Project at Sheffield Hallam University for five years.

Away from training, Wendy is an accomplished jazz musician. Her music enjoys regular airplay on both regional and national stations including BBC and JazzFM.

Course content

Getting started with Advance Steel

• The basics – beams, plates, connections and structures
• The Advance Steel user interface
• Ribbon tabs
• Advance Steel tools
• Advance Steel palettes
• The file and folder structure
• Grids
• The User Coordinate System (UCS)

Viewing tools

• Changing viewpoints and visual styles
• Navigating through the model
• Use of layers

Beams and columns

• Beam features
• Drawing beams individually and using macros
• Cutting and shaping beams
• Notch contours

Plates

• Creating plates of all types and shapes
• Cutting and shaping plates
• Flat plates
• Folded plates
• Chamfers

Connection elements

• Bolts
• Holes
• Welds

Lists

• Bills of Materials (BOMs)
• Bolt schedules
• Loading lists

Drawings

• Locating points in the Drawing Window
• Generation
• Parts
• Assemblies
• Manipulation

Live online training

Online training lets you participate in a live Advance Steel course from your place of work or home.

We do everything possible to make your online training experience as close as possible to actually being in the classroom. You can:

• See and hear our trainer, and the other delegates participating in the course…
  
• Watch our trainer demonstrate techniques in Advance Steel.
• Interact by speaking, or using chat.
• Share your screen with our trainer, and allow them to take control to explain something.

Like our in-class courses, online Advance Steel Essentials courses…

• Are presented by Autodesk Certified Instructors.
• Give you plenty of opportunity to carry out assisted, practical exercises using Advance Steel.
• Offer 30 days’ email support from your trainer.

All you need is an Internet-connected computer with…

• Advance Steel installed. If you don’t have a current subscription to Advance Steel, you’re entitled to a 30-day trial that’s ideal for participating in training. We’ll send you a link to this. If you’ve already used your trial, we can lend you a license for the duration of your course.
• A webcam and audio capability. If your computer running Advance Steel doesn’t have these, you can use a second device, such as another computer or tablet. See Hardware recommendations for live online training for further details.

If there’s anything you’re not sure about we’ll do our best to help you. We won’t be able to assist with your Advance Steel installation, but we can provide details for Autodesk support who’ll be able to help you with this.

We provide everything else…

• Links to download the files, resources, etc. you’ll use in your course.
• A training guide. For most courses, you can choose from a printed copy that we post to you, or a PDF.

In the week before your course, we’ll send you an email containing everything you need to prepare for and participate in the training. Then, a couple of days before your course, we’ll give you a courtesy call to make sure you have everything in place and answer any questions you may have.

Please note that we are not able to record scheduled online courses for privacy reasons.

When you attend live online training, you’re participating in a real course, hosted by a real trainer, in real time

Discounts and bundles

To make your Advance Steel training as affordable as possible, we offer:

• A discounted Advance Steel training bundle.
• A range of training discounts on our scheduled (public) Advance Steel training courses.
• A price guarantee that you won’t get Advance Steel training for less.

Advance Steel training bundle

Book:

• AutoCAD Essentials (3 days), and
• Advance Steel (2 days)

for £895 + VAT (classroom-based) or £795 + VAT (live online training), saving £95 + VAT in both cases.

The bundle price will be applied automatically when you add these two courses to your basket.

Training discounts

Multiple places

If you book multiple places on any courses, we can offer you:

• 5% discount if you book two places.
• 10% discount if you book three places.
• 15% discount if you book four places.
• 20% discount if you book five or more places.

This can be for several people attending one course, one person attending several courses, or a combination.

These discounts are available for both classroom-based courses and live online training.

Concessions

We offer a 10% discount on scheduled Advance Steel course places to:

• Students, teachers and lecturers.
• People who work for a registered charity.
• ISTC members.

These discounts are available for both classroom-based courses and remote training.

Please call us if you qualify for a discount. Evidence of your status that entitles you to a discount may be requested.

Terms and exclusions

Only one of the above discounts can be applied to any booking.

The above discounts are not available for on-request course bookings (one-to-one training or a ‘closed course’ for your group).

Price guarantee

When you book training with Armada, we want you to be certain that you’re not paying over-the-odds. So, if you book a place on any scheduled (public) course and then find the same course at a lower price elsewhere, we will match that price.

To qualify for the price match:

• The course you find must be comparable. By this we mean it must:
  • Cover the same subject.
  • Be the same duration or longer.
  • Hold the same accreditations as our course, i.e. it must be provided by an Autodesk Authorised Training Centre (ATC).
  • For classroom-based courses, be in the same region, i.e. within 50 miles of our centre.
  • For online training, be a live course, i.e. not pre-prepared e-learning content.

• The lower price must be advertised on the other company’s website.

To claim a price match, just call any time before attending your course and tell us where you saw the price.