Place columns, beams and braces

Members are placed on grid intersections: a column on one, a beam or a brace between two. Set up grids and levels first.

Choose a tool and its options

1. Choose Column (CC), Beam (BB) or Brace (RR) in the Place group.
2. The Properties panel on the right becomes "Place a column" (or beam, or brace) and shows the options for the next member:
   • Profile: pick from the list. Sizes are grouped by catalog (W shapes, Channels, Angles, HSS, IPE, HEA, HEB, and your Custom profiles). See Profile catalog.
   • Material: A992, A36, A572 Gr 50, A500 Gr C, S235, S275 or S355.
   • Position: where the section sits on the line between the two points: Top of steel on the line, Centered on the line or Bottom on the line.
   • Rotation (°): turns the section about the member's own axis.
   • Up to (columns only): The next level up, or a level name.
3. Below the options, a Profile box lists the chosen section's dimensions, area, mass per meter and the catalog it comes from.

The defaults are W12x50 in A992 for columns (centered), W16x26 in A992 for beams (top of steel on the line) and HSS6x6x1/4 in A500 Gr C for braces (centered). The options stay set until you change them.

Place by clicking

A column

1. Choose Plan and pick the level the column starts at.
2. Choose Column.
3. Move the pointer near an intersection. The nearest dot lights up and the status bar names it.
4. Click. The column runs from that level to the next level up (or to the Up to level). The status bar says, for example, "Column W12x50 at A/1, Level 1 to Level 2."
5. Keep clicking to place more. Press EscEsc when you are done.

If there is no level above the one you clicked, the status bar says "There is no level above Level 2 for the column to reach. Add a level first."

A beam

1. Choose Plan and pick the level of the beam.
2. Choose Beam.
3. Click the first intersection. The status bar says "From A/1 at Level 2. Now click the other end (Esc cancels)." A dashed line follows the pointer.
4. Click the second intersection. The beam appears.
5. Click again to start the next beam, or press EscEsc.

EscEsc after the first click cancels just that point; a second EscEsc puts the tool away.

A brace

A brace runs between two intersections at different levels, so it is easiest in Elevation.

1. Choose Elevation and pick the lettered grid line the brace is on.
2. Choose Brace.
3. Click the bottom end, then the top end.

Elevations exist only for lettered grid lines. For a brace in a frame along a numbered line (from A to B), use 3D or the Add by grid form below.

Place by grid, without clicking

Every placing tool has an Add by grid form at the bottom of the Properties panel. It works with the keyboard alone and does not need the 3D view.

1. Choose the tool, for example Beam.
2. In Add by grid, pick From grid (letter), From grid (number) and From level.
3. Pick To grid (letter), To grid (number) and To level.
4. Choose Add.

For a column or a footing the form has one point only: Grid (letter), Grid (number) and Level.

Change a member after placing it

1. Press EscEsc (or choose Select, VV) and click the member.
2. In the Properties panel, change Name, Profile, Material, Position or Rotation (°).
3. To move it, edit the x, y and z of Start or End under Ends (x, y, z mm). The grid name of each end shows underneath, or its coordinates when it is off the grid.

Each change is one undo step. Below the fields you see the member's Part mark, Assembly, Cut length, Weight (gross: holes and copes are not taken off) and which catalog the profile comes from.

Members cannot be dragged or arrayed yet. To make another member like it, copy and paste it, or duplicate it (⌘DCtrl+D): see Copy, paste and duplicate.

Delete a member

Select it and press fn DeleteDelete or DeleteBackspace, or choose Delete. Connections on it go too. ⌘ZCtrl+Z brings everything back.

Things to know

• Which way a column faces. At Rotation (°) 0, a column's flanges face along x, toward the neighboring numbered grid lines. A beam from grid 1 to grid 2 frames into a flange; a beam from A to B frames into the web. End plates are built only into flanges, so if your beams run from A to B, give those columns a rotation of 90.
• Beams at a level hang below it with the default Top of steel on the line. Choose Centered on the line if your levels are member centerlines.
• Columns run level to level. For a column through two storeys, set Up to to the higher level.
• Sloped beams are allowed (pick ends at different levels), but end plates are not built on them yet.

Next: Connect beams to columns with end plates.