USA-based heavy construction industry software developer A1A Software has expanded its 3D Lift Plan crane lift planning program software. The company said it has done this in order to better facilitate 3D Lift Plan’s use as a sales tool, for bid proposals, for crane selection and setup, for lift planning, and for documentation.

A1A Software said users can now use the program to determine which type of crane pads or mats are best for the ground conditions. Ground bearing calculations can now be made for steel mats with an option for layering steel mats over timber for better distribution of outrigger loads. This is in addition to the previous ability to select wood mats or DICA’s SafetyTech or FiberMax engineered outrigger pads or crane pads. Printouts of the crane mats in the lift plan now display corresponding images of steel mats instead of wood when steel mats are selected as part of the plan.

Other improvements, said A1A Software, offer users greater control of planning for unique lifting scenarios. For example, users can now: override the boom angle when using a load chart with fixed boom angles; establish one crane in setup mode while simultaneously putting other cranes in normal operation mode for the creation of erection and dismantling plans; and knife-jack a lattice boom with luffer to verify procedures for lowering long lattice/luffer combos into stowed position.

A new rigging configuration has also been added to the standard options in the Advanced Rigging Design portion of the program. The new configuration has two spreader bars and four roll-blocks. When this configuration is selected, 3D Lift Plan will calculate the sling angles and tension, A1A Software claimed.

A new feature of 3D Lift Plan allows users to establish one crane in setup mode while simultaneously putting other cranes in normal operation mode for the creation of erection and dismantling plans

“We have also utilised WebGL technologies to enable the display of 3D content in Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge web browsers to improve the interface for customers no matter their preferred browser,” added Tawnia Weiss, president of A1A Software. “This flexibility is important because 3D Lift Plan is a cloud-based program, eliminating the need to download and update software to individual computers.” When using one of these browsers, users need to select the WebGL version.