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What it does

Pre-Con Assist sizes the aluminum framing of curtain wall, storefront and window wall while the design is still moving. You enter each elevation off your window schedule and the design criteria off the general notes; it works out, for every elevation:

• The mullion depth it needs: the shallowest depth that works with standard mullions, and the shallowest that works at all (with heavy wall mullions or steel).
• Where tie-backs help: what an added anchor at a floor line buys you.
• The load at every anchor, wind in and out and dead load, for your structural engineer.
• The glass: a strength and deflection screen on every lite, and story drift when the building is in a seismic category that needs it.
• The energy code: the framing's published U-factor and the glass's SHGC against the code's limits for your climate zone.

It re-checks as you type or drag, so you can try a module, a depth or a tie-back and see the answer at once. When it looks right, Forgenux checks it and you download the Pre-Con Report.

Results are preliminary and never signed, sealed or stamped. The final design is the delegated-design engineer's, after award.

Your first project, step by step

1. Make a project. On Projects, choose New project and give it a name, city and state. It opens with an example elevation you can change or remove.
2. Upload the drawings (optional). Choose Drawings, upload and add the plans, schedule, elevations and wall sections. You can ask Forgenux to set the project up from them: see Send it.
3. Set the wind. Open Wind on the left rail. Type the engineer's components and cladding pressures, or a wind speed until they're issued. How
4. Set the deflection limit. Open Deflection. Leave AAMA, or pick the limit your spec gives. How
5. Set the energy code. Open Energy: the IECC edition your jurisdiction adopted and the climate zone. How
6. Enter the first elevation. Open Elevation. Give it its mark (CW-1), the family, the width and height, the number of verticals and horizontals, and any tie-backs the wall sections show. How
7. Read the answer. The card shows the depth that works in each wind zone. Full results shows the depth table, the anchor loads and the splices. How to read it
8. Add the rest. Use Add an elevation or Copy for each type on the schedule.
9. Add glass types when you know the glass, so each lite is checked and the energy code uses your glass. How
10. Send it. When the elevations and the criteria are right, use Send to Forgenux for a check. Once it's checked you can download the report. How

Tip. Everything saves as you go. The bar at the top says All changes saved; if you lose your connection it says so and keeps trying.

The Projects page

Every project your firm has, newest first, with its state, its elevations, the deepest framing it needs and where it stands with Forgenux. Start a new one with New project.

The project page

The icons down the left are the sections: Elevation (the editor beside the results), then the criteria every elevation shares: Wind, Deflection, Mullions, Glass, Energy and Seismic. A red dot on an icon means something in that section needs you (a lite that fails, an energy code miss); a green dot on Seismic means the story drift check is on. On a phone the icons sit in a row under the menu.

Each criteria section shows the job totals at the top, so a change shows what it does. All elevations shows every elevation on one board at one scale; One at a time shows one with its full results.