Graphic Editing

You may draw, edit, and load your model directly in the model views. You can draw columns, beams, walls, and slab edges between existing points or draw to grid intersections and have the points created automatically.

Drawing and Modification Features

There are several graphic editing features that make the creation and modification of models quite easy. Use the Insert and Modify Menus or the Drawing Toolbar to utilize these features in the model view. To create new beams, columns, etc., you can draw them using a drawing grid or draw "dot to dot" from existing points. Once you have created these items you may use other graphic features to load the model.

See Columns for information on drawing and modifying Columns.
See Walls for information on drawing and modifying Walls.
See Beams for information on drawing and modifying Beams.
See Decks and Slabs for information on drawing and modifying Decks/Slabs.
See Loads - Load Types for information on drawing Loads.
See Graphic Selection to learn how to make selections.

All model data is automatically recorded in spreadsheets and the spreadsheets and model views are always in tune (unless you turn this feature off in the Application Settings on the Tools Menu). As you edit a model graphically the spreadsheets are automatically updated and as you make changes in the spreadsheets the model views reflect these changes immediately.

All of the graphical modeling tools may be found on the Drawing Toolbar shown below. This toolbar may be turned on and off by clicking the button on the Window Toolbar.

RISAFloor Beam Supported Floor:

RISAFloor Concrete Floor Slab:

Where to Start

When you first open a new model in RISAFloor, you are prompted to create a new floor. Once a floor is created a project grid may be useful. This allows you to set up grid lines, which may then be used to define your columns or walls which in turn support the rest of your floor.

Apply Options

Some of the graphic editing options offer more than one way to apply a modification. This is because there are times when each option is useful. For example, changing the material of a beam from A36 steel to A572 steel can be accomplished using the Beams Spreadsheet. If you had to apply this change to 100 beams however you would not want to do that for each of them. A better way to do this would be to graphically select all of the beams and then apply the changes all at once.

Use the following options to specify how you want to choose the items to modify. Choosing Apply Entries to All Selected Items allows you to use the tools on the Selection Toolbar to choose the items you want and then apply the modifications to all selected items at once. Choose Apply Entries by Clicking Items Individually to then click on the items you wish to modify individually. See Graphic Selection for more information on the selection tools.

Note

The selection and viewing tools override the graphic editing modes so that as you are editing the model you can alter the selected state. You will be returned to the current editing mode when you exit a selection mode.

Undo Operations

RISAFloor provides you with unlimited 'Undo' capability so that you may easily correct mistakes or just back up to try different possibilities. Simply click the button on the RISA Toolbar as many times as you wish to undo your previous actions. The model view and the spreadsheets will visually display the "undoing". Remember that spreadsheet edits are undone as well.

Note

Changes made to the selection state of the model, the zoom level or rotation of the model view, or to the Model Display Options settings are NOT undone. Only a change to the model data can be undone.

Redo Operations

RISAFloor provides you with unlimited 'Redo' capability so that you may easily redo any actions that were previously undone using the 'Undo' button. Simply click the button on the RISA Toolbar as many times as you wish to redo actions that were previously undone. The model view and the spreadsheets will visually display the “redoing”. Remember that spreadsheet edits are redone as well.

Note

Changes made to the selection state of the model, the zoom level or rotation of the model view, or to the Model Display Options settings are NOT redone, since they cannot be undone to begin with. Only a change to the model data can be redone.

Project Grid

The Project Grid provides convenient snap points for modeling columns and walls in buildings and building-type structures. It also provides a convenient terminology to refer to locations in a model, such as "Grid Intersection C-4". The Project Grid is intended to be a permanent part of the model so unlike the Drawing Grid it is saved with the model.

Project Grid Spreadsheet

Click the button on the RISA Toolbar, or click the Project Grid button on the Data Entry Toolbar to open the Project Grid Spreadsheet shown below.

Each Grid Line (as opposed to Grid Arcs) is defined by Start and End coordinates along the X and Z axes. This method of defining grids allows them to be oriented in any direction, including skewed grids or non-parallel grids within the same building.

Detach Model

The columns and walls will move when the project grid is moved. The detach model check-box will allow you to move the project grid lines without moving the model.

Note: The model will move with the associate grid line/arc that moved. For example if you increase the radius of an Arc, the columns on that Arc grid will follow the arc. If you move a Line grid line, the columns/walls will move with that Line grid. This may mean that the column/wall is no longer at the intersection.

Project Grid Line Generation

The Project Grid Line generator can be accessed using the button in the Project Grids spreadsheet, or by clicking the button on the graphic editing toolbar.

The generator provides the ability to generate an entire grid system at once rather than entering the grids in manually in the project grid spreadsheet.

You may use symbols such as "@", "/" and "," when entering the increments.

The "@" entry may be used to specify multiple, equally spaced, grid increments. For example, if you wanted 7 increments at 10 units each, you would type "7@10" in the increment field.

The "/" entry subdivides a larger increment into smaller equal increments. For example, the entry "12/4" would create 4 increments of 3 units each.

Use commas (",") to enter multiple increments in the increment field. For example, if you wanted to define increments of 3, 4, 7 and 2 units, you could enter "3,4,7,2" in the increment field.

The Apply and Undo buttons provide an easy way to preview a Project Grid before adding one to the model.

Once the project grid is specified and displayed in the model view, it will provide snap points while drawing your model.

Editing the Project Grid (Adding or Moving Grid Lines)

Once a Project Grid has been created the grid lines can be moved, or additional grid lines can be created, by double clicking on a grid line in the model view.

The Copy Line button allows a line to be created by offsetting an existing grid line. If the 'Move adjacent lines' is checked, a new grid line will be created and will shift existing grid lines in the same direction as well. If the 'Move adjacent lines' is unchecked, the new grid line will be created at the offset distance specified, without altering adjacent existing grid lines.

The Move Lines button allows a grid line to be moved by a specified distance. A positive distance will move the line in the positive global direction, while a negative distance will move the line in the opposite direction. If 'Move adjacent lines' is checked, all lines in the same direction will be moved by the same distance as well. This allows for a particular bay in a structure to be made larger/smaller without affecting the other bay sizes.

Elevation Framing View

In the RISAFloor interface, below the selection toolbar there is a an button. This will initiate the Framing Elevation selection tool. The mouse cursor changes to a cross hair icon. Then when you click on a project grid line you will see the elevation view of that project grid line in a new window. The display and label options of this window are based on those in the currently selected model view, but can be changed by clicking on the plot options.

Drawing Grid

The Drawing Grid is a tool that lets you draw new columns, beams, and decks in the model view. This grid is independent of the model, so you may change the grid as you build your model without changing any modeling that you have completed. This is because as you draw the columns, beams, and decks the points used to define them are created automatically. These points remain in their locations if the grid is relocated.

Drawing Grid Dialog

Click the button on the Drawing Toolbar to open the Drawing Grid Dialog shown above. The display of the Drawing Grid in the current model view may be turned on and off by clicking the button on the Drawing Toolbar. If the Drawing Toolbar is not visible in the current model view, click the button on the Window Toolbar.

You may choose to view construction lines and/or drawing grids. For drawing grids, you may choose between a rectangular drawing grid or a radial drawing grid. Also, rectangular drawing grids may be skewed from perpendicular to the global axis plane.

The Save and Recall Grid Settings... section allows for drawing grids may be saved and recalled for later use. Saved drawing grids are model independent, i.e. when you save a grid, you can reuse it in any other model you are working with in the future. To save a drawing grid, click the Save button after defining the grid. You will be prompted for a name for the drawing grid and it will then be saved and added to the list of grids available for recall. To recall a previously defined drawing grid, select the grid name from the drop down list and click the Retrieve button. If you wish to delete a previously saved drawing grid, select the grid name you want to delete from the drop down list and click the Delete button.

The Show Grid As... section gives the option of displaying the drawing grid as lines from grid point to grid point or simply as a grid of points.

You may save any of the grid information as the default setting so that when you start a new model that information is already there. To do this, simply enter the information that you want to save in the Drawing Grids Dialog, check the Save Current Settings as Defaults box, and then click the OK button.

Rectangular Drawing Grid

The rectangular drawing grid is defined by increments in two directions. The Drawing Grid Origin is where you want the grid increments to start. The Rectangular Grid Increments are the distances between the grid points or lines in two global directions.

You may use symbols such as "@", "/" and "," when entering the drawing grid increments.

The "@" entry may be used to specify multiple, equally spaced, grid increments. For example, if you wanted 7 increments at 10 units each, you would type "7@10" in the increment field.

The "/" entry subdivides a larger increment into smaller equal increments. For example, the entry "12/4" would create 4 increments of 3 units each.

Use commas (",") to enter multiple increments in the increment field. For example, if you wanted to define increments of 3, 4, 7 and 2 units, you could enter "3,4,7,2" in the increment field.

Once the drawing grid is specified and displayed in the model view, it will provide snap points while drawing your model.

Skewed Drawing Grid

The rectangular drawing grid can be skewed by specifying a skew angle. This option is available in the Rectangular Grid Increments section of the Drawing Grids Dialog. This skew angle will allow the creation of a regular rectangular drawing grid, but displayed in the model view at the specified angle, inclined from the global axis.

Radial Drawing Grid

Increments in two polar directions define a radial drawing grid. The Drawing Grid Origin is the point about which the grid will rotate. The default is at the global origin (0,0). The Start Angle defines the angle from the global axis that the first spoke will be drawn. The Angle Increment controls the number and angular spacing of the spokes in the grid. The Radial Increments controls the number and location of the rings in the grid.

Relocating the Drawing Grid

The origin of the drawing grid may be specified in two ways. The first is to enter the exact global coordinates for the origin. This can be done by entering the values in the X and Z fields of the Drawing Grid Origin section. The second option is to specify the origin by clicking on an existing point in the model. This option is available by checking the Click on a location to relocate Origin box, clicking the OK button, and then clicking on the specific location in the model view where you wish the drawing grid origin to be located. The drawing grid origin will then be moved to this point.

Construction Lines

The Draw Construction Line option adds the ability to draw Construction Lines as a type of Drawing Grid. Construction Lines are drawing grid lines that are infinite and allow you to snap to them just as if they were typical drawing grids. Construction Lines can be drawn by either Point to Point, Point Angle or Offset.

Point to Point will draw a construction line that passes through two selected points.

Point Angle will allow the user to define an angle within the dialog and then select a point for construction line to pass through at that specified angle.

Offset will draw a construction line that is parallel and offset by a specified distance to any of three element types chosen by the user; Walls, Beams, or Project Grids. First select the item you would like to reference, then select on which side you would like the construction line to be drawn on.

Snap Points

Snap Points let you draw in the model view without the use of grids. To view or modify the snap point settings, click the button on the Drawing Toolbar and select the Snap To Options tab shown below.

In the Beam Snap Locations section, you can set the program to automatically snap to the Quarter Points and/or Third Points of a beam by checking the appropriate boxes.

The Universal Snap Increments section is used to define a snap grid for "free" drawing to any incremental location on a plane. To activate this feature, check the Use Universal Increments box. Or, the feature may be toggled on and off in the current model view by clicking the button on the Drawing Toolbar. If the Drawing Toolbar is not visible in the current model view, click the button on the Window Toolbar.

When snap points are activated, a red dot or asterisk will appear on your screen as you move your drawing cursor over one of these points. The exact coordinates of this point, and whether it is a 1/3 or 1/4 point of a beam, are reported in the status bar at the very bottom of the main application window just beneath the workspace.

Import DXF

Import DXF lets you import a DXF drawing into the model view as a grid. The DXF image is imported so that you can snap to any point or intersection to aid in the drawing of your model. The DXF Import Drawing Grid supports Lines, Polylines, Circles, Arcs, Polylines with Arcs, and Points.

To Import DXF Drawing Grid:

If there is not a model view already open then click on the RISA Toolbar to open a new view and click to turn on the Drawing Toolbar if it is not already displayed.
Select the Drawing Grid Origin or click to checkbox to manually locate it after the dialogue closes.
Assign the DXF Import Options and DXF Plane.
Select Lines or Points for grid lines.
Select the DXF File from a file or from the list of recently used files. The program will remember the last 5 files imported.
Once the file is imported, you will be prompted to "Use All Layers" or "Select Layers from the List". You can check or uncheck selected layers, and select colors of the layers display by clicking on the gray box (defaults to gray).

The program will default to use All Layers. Or you can select the color of the grid lines/points by clicking on the color box next to each layer name and select the color.

Locating the DXF Drawing Grid

Drawing Plane

Select the RISA drawing plane for the DXF file shall be placed.

DXF Scale Factor

Enter the scale factor that will cause the DXF file to be scaled up or down to full scale. For instance, if you had created a scaled model in AutoCAD at a scale of 1/4"=12", then the appropriate scale factor to produce a full size RISA- model would be 48. The default is 1.0.

DXF Plane

Select the DXF drawing plane to import from the DXF file. The DXF file will be flattened to this plane and all lines/points visible from this plane will be imported.

DXF Units

Select the units you used in the CAD model from which you produced the DXF file. The supported DXF units are none, inches, feet, mm, cm, and meters.

Angle Increment

The program will break an arc or circle into straight line segments to allow you to snap to them. This indicates the number of degrees the that an imported arc or circle should be broken into.

Copying Model Elements

To Copy Selected Items

If there is not a model view already open then click on the RISA Toolbar to open a new view and click to turn on the Drawing Toolbar if it is not already displayed.
Select the items you want to copy.
To copy the selection linearly click the Copy button and select one of the following options:
- Copy by Point Location
- Copy by Increment
- Copy by Angle
- Copy to Another Floor

Note:

Use the "@" symbol to specify multiple equal increments. For example specifying "3@10" will give you 3 copies at 10 units apart.
You may undo any mistakes by clicking the Undo button.

Copy by Point Location

This allows you to copy the selected items by clicking on any two points. The selected items will copy the distance between the two points in the direction of the first to second click.

For example, if you click two points: A then B in the model below, the columns will copy 60 feet in the positive Z direction.

Copy by Increments

This allows you to copy the selected items by entering in increments in any or all of the global directions. The selected items will copy the increment distance(s) that you have entered.

Use the "@" symbol to specify multiple equal increments. For example specifying "3@10" will give you 3 copies at 10 units apart.

Select the Use increments simultaneously to perform a skewed copy checkbox to combine the orthogonal increments into a single resultant increment vector to copy the elements in a direction other than the three global orthogonal directions.

Select Copy to Another Floor to graphically copy beams, columns, walls and joints on a floor level to another existing floor level.

Note:

Copy tool does not support floor to floor copies on Parent/Child floors.

There are many Copy Selected checkboxes at the bottom of the dialog to define which elements in the model you wish to copy.

Copy by Angle

This allows you to copy selected items a certain distance at an input angle. Simply enter the angle (relative to the global Z axis) and the increment and your selected items will be copied in that direction.

For example, if you enter an angle of 15 degrees and an increment of 50 feet in the model below, it will copy the frame 40 feet at 45 degrees.

Copy to Another Floor

The copy to another floor option will duplicate selected beams, columns, walls, and joints on a level to another existing floor level. To use this tool, select these elements in your model view and choose an existing floor level to copy those elements on. The copied elements will be duplicated on the selected floor level. The location of the elements will remain in the same X and Z coordinates as the original floor they were copied from.

Note:

Elements can only be copied to similar floor types, e.g. beam to beam supported floors and slab to slab floors.
Elements cannot be copied to or from parent/ child floors.

Copy Offset

This tool allows you to copy selected beams at an offset simply by entering the offset distance, clicking on the member, and then clicking on the side of the member at which you'd like it to be offset.

Moving Model Elements

To Move Selected Items

If there is not a model view already open then click on the RISA Toolbar to open a new view and click to turn on the Drawing Toolbar if it is not already displayed.
Select the items you want to move.
To move the selection linearly click the Move Linear button and specify the offset distances.

Note:

You may undo any mistakes by clicking the Undo button.

To Move Selected Items

If there is not a model view already open then click on the RISA Toolbar to open a new view and click to turn on the Drawing Toolbar if it is not already displayed.
Select the items you want to move.
To move the selection items linearly click the Move button and select on of the following options:
- Move by Point Location: This allows you to move the selected items by clicking on any two points. The selected items will move the distance between the two points in the direction of the first to second click.
- Move Distance: This allows you to move the selected items by entering in an increment of the global directions. If you enter both X and Z directions, the selected items will move diagonally.
- Move at an Angle:This allows you to move selected items a certain distance at an input angle. Simply enter the angle (relative to the global Z axis) and the increment and your selected items will be moved in that direction.

Note

You may undo any mistakes by clicking the Undo button.

Trim/Extend Members

As you modify the model, you may find that you will need to trim or extend a member. The Trim/Extend tool will allow you to modify the ends of any member in relation to another member. This extension is for members only, not walls or plates.

Note

This tool is sensitive to the end that you click. Each member has an I and J end. Make sure to click on the member side that you want to modify.
You need to click on the member NOT the joint. This tool is modifying the length of the member.

To Perform a Trim

If there is not a model view already open then click on the RISA Toolbar to open a new view and click to turn on the Drawing Toolbar if it is not already displayed.
Select the items you wish to trim.
Click the Trim button.
Click on the member end to Trim. Then click on the boundary member.

To Perform an Extend

If there is not a model view already open then click on the RISA Toolbar to open a new view and click to turn on the Drawing Toolbar if it is not already displayed.
Select the items you wish to merge.
Click the Extend button twice or select Extension by clicking the arrow.
Click on the member end to Extend. Then click on the boundary member.

Example 1:

Example 2: The Extend tool can also be used to extend a member to intersection of that member's projected location.

Deleting Elements

You can delete parts of the model based on the current selection state, or you can click on the items you wish to delete individually. If you accidentally delete something you didn't want deleted, you can use the Undo feature to repair the damage.

If you wish to delete based on the current selection state, you must use the check boxes to define the criteria the program will use to perform the deletion. Only items that are selected and that have their check boxes "checked" will be deleted. The choices let you delete points, beams, columns, decks/slabs, edges, and/or loads.

Keep in mind that if you delete points, any beams, columns, etc. attached to the deleted points MUST also be deleted, regardless of whether those elements are selected or not.

Beam Supported Floors:

Concrete Slab Floor:

A noteworthy feature is the ability to delete unattached points. Sometimes in the process of modeling you accidentally create unwanted unattached points. This parameter gives you a convenient way to remove these unwanted points.

If you request deletion of displayed loads, you'll get exactly that. Any load currently displayed will be deleted. By controlling what loads are displayed via the Loads tab in the Model Display Options Dialog, you can easily delete specific types of loads for particular load categories or load combinations.

Alternatively, you can choose to delete items by clicking on them individually. Select the radial button next to Delete Items by Clicking Them and use the mouse to click on any individual item you wish deleted.

Remember to click the Apply button to make your choices active.

To Delete Selected Items

If there is not a model view already open then click the button on the RISA Toolbar to open a new view and click to turn on the Drawing Toolbar if it is not already displayed.
Select the items you want to delete.
To delete the items click the Delete and specify the types of items.

Note

You may undo any mistakes by clicking the Undo button.

Re-Labeling Selected Elements

You can use the right-click menu in the program to re-label only the selected items. This is useful when you want all members at a certain elevation to have a prefix which denotes the floor on which it is located.