Hanging from bottom of steel is not as prevalent as it used to be, but it is still done often enough. A change was made recently to HydraCAD to allow quicker use of the Steel Depth blocks added to steel (or any material) structures. If these steel depth blocks are inserted, the program can now reference them more easily.
First, you will need these blocks inserted. To do that, use the Size Steel (SS) command from the Steel toolbar:
Select the steel members to be sized. Again, keep in mind you can insert these on concrete or timber members as well
After you draw the pipe and label building elevations, you are ready to add the hangers.
The one important item of note in the Hanger Setup dialog box is the checking of the Bottom option in the Hang From section (above). This must be checked to use the Steel Depth blocks.
Next, use the Steel Hang (STH) command to insert the hangers:
Check the Use Steel Depth Blocks option:
When you pick the steel members to be hung to, the steel depth will be read from the block attached to that steel and subtracted from the rod length. If there is no steel depth block, no hangers will be inserted.
The H-Factor 
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