Setting the size of a model
Set spans, bays, storeys and heights in the Size step: the steppers, typed values, More options, the live model summary, and rebuilding after hand edits.
The Size step, titled How big is it?, is where a template gets its dimensions. Every value you change rebuilds the model straight away, so you can watch the structure grow in the 3D view as you set it up. Nothing here needs drawing.
Parameters
Each template has its own inputs, grouped in sections. The Multi-storey frame, for example, asks for:
| Section | Input | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan | Bays in X | 4 | 1–10 |
| Plan | Bay width X | 6 m | 3–12 m, steps of 0.5 m |
| Plan | Bays in Y | 3 | 1–6 |
| Plan | Bay width Y | 5 m | 3–12 m |
| Height | Storeys | 5 | 1–25 |
| Height | Storey height | 3.5 m | 2.5–6 m, steps of 0.1 m |
| More options | Secondary beams per bay | 1 | 0–3 |
| More options | Braced bays per face | 0 | 0–2 |
Other templates ask for what defines them: span and rise for an arch, number of panels for a truss, water depth for a jacket, retained height for a wall. Each structure's tutorial explains its inputs.
Changing a value
Every input is a row with a − button, the value and its unit, and a + button.
- Click − or + to step the value. The buttons grey out at the input's minimum and maximum.
- Click the value and type a number, then press Enter or click away. A comma works as the decimal point.
- With the value focused, ↑ and ↓ step it up and down.
Typed values are rounded to the input's step and kept inside its range — a bay width of 6.3 m with a 0.5 m step becomes 6.5 m, and counts are whole numbers. If you type something that is not a number, the old value comes back.
More options
Inputs most people leave alone are folded under a link at the end of the panel that names them, for example More options — secondary beams per bay, braced bays per face. Click it to show them in their own More options section; click Fewer options to fold them again.
The model summary
Two chips under the 3D view keep count while you work:
- the overall size of the model, length × width × height in metres;
- the number of members, columns, beams, the floor area in m² (when it has floors) and the number of supports.
On the workspace's Setup card, the size line shows the same dimensions with the member and node counts; click it to return here.
After editing by hand
If you have changed the model in the workspace — moved a node, drawn or deleted a member, set a support — a warning appears at the top of this step: You changed the model by hand. Changing a size here builds it again from the template. Changing any size then rebuilds the whole model and your hand edits are lost. Undo (Ctrl+Z) brings them back if that was a mistake.
Settle the sizes first, then make hand edits. Sections, materials, loads and design settings are not affected by a rebuild: they belong to the project, not to the geometry.
Models drawn by hand
A model started with Draw it yourself has no template, so the step shows Drawn by hand with links to choose a template or open the workspace. Change its geometry with the drawing tools, or edit node coordinates in the Full interface's Nodes table.
Next
Click Next: materials to choose the design code, material and sections — see Materials and sections.