Move Members, FE Surfaces, Grid Lines

Select Modify Geometry > Move Members, FE Surfaces, Grid Lines. This opens the Move Entities editing function at the right of the screen.

The Move Entities function can adjust the position of existing physical members, FE Surface and Grid Line entities. The position of selected entities can be changed by shifting (translational) and/or rotating.

To exit/close the Move Entity function, click on the ‘X’ button at the top right of the Move Entity window.

Notes:

During a move operation, the program attempts to preserve the straightness of the physical straight members. Therefore, as one member is moved, other connected members may also move, and have a knock-on effect on other connected members. If such a constraint is not geometrically possible, then a straight physical member that is no longer straight is automatically split into separate straight physical members.

If you have not selected an FE surface entity, if you change the geometry of a member that is used to define the boundary of an FE surface, then the geometry of the FE Surface will be also be changed.

Selection Mode

The type of geometric change depends on the selection mode used. The Move Entities has two main modes of selection for members; Member Ends and Whole Members

Member Ends

When in ‘Member Ends’ selection mode, the end(s) of a physical member can be selected by single select or window select. In this mode one end of a member can be moved independently from the other, so members can be stretched or realigned. When both ends of a member are moved, it is treated similar to a ‘Whole member’ move selection mode. By selecting member ends and not common node points to move, this allows much greater flexibility in the type of changes that can be made. In the example below, the ends of member 50 and 52 are not selected, and therefore not moved.

Note – Ends of curved members cannot be moved independently from each other. When one end of a curved member is selected, the program internally selects both ends. Therefore, using the Move function, curved members cannot be stretched in the same way as a straight member. For manipulation of this nature of a single curved member, use the Redefine Single Member Geometry function.

Whole member

When in ‘Whole member’ selection mode, the physical members can be selected by single select or window select. In this mode the entire member is moved as one. When in this mode, the additional option is available to select to move FE surfaces.

Check the ‘select Grid Lines’ box to enable selection of grid lines. Note for grid lines, the selection mode does not affect the move operation, as the whole grid line is always selected and not individual ends. To modify the geometry of individual ends of grid lines, you can make these changes in the dedicated Grid Line Editing area.

Move Settings

Move All Connected Ends - The Move entity function can move selected members and FE surfaces independently from other connected elements. Check this box to move all the non-selected connected ends and hence retain all connections.

Extend ends to retain connection – Applies to ‘Whole member’ selection mode only. When moving whole members, and they connect internally to other members, extend the ends of the moved member such that they retain their connection to the members they are connected internally to. In the example below member 88 is moved 1m in the Z direction and its left end is extended to retain its internal connection to the physical member M50-52.

Disconnected supported members – when a physical member is moved, by default any members connected internal to it (i.e. members it supports, and not member connected to its ends) are also moved to retain this connection. The program will attempt to move the connected ends in a manner that preserves the connected members alignment. If this is not possible the connected ends will move to a new position on the moved member that is the same ratio as the original position on the moved member. By unchecking this option, the supported members are disconnected.

Shift Settings

Check the ‘Shift’ box to perform a shift (translational) type move operation. The shift amount/direction can be determined in one of three ways by selecting the appropriate options.

Note – If Shifting and Rotating, the order of operations is important, i.e. shift first, then rotate about new position, or rotate first about original position, then shift. Click the ‘Swap’ button to change the order of operations. The top most check box determines the first operation.

XYZ – Enter the shift amount in the global X and/or Y and/or Z directions. Note the sign of the global axis directions. Using the blue ‘Pick’ button, two points (move from and move to) can be select using drawing snap points, which in turn determine the global X, Y and Z values automatically.

Polar – using polar co-ordinates, i.e. an angle and total shift distance in the selected global plane. The selected global plane icons are XY, YZ, ZX.

Member Axis – Select a member and using the options select if the shift direction is parallel or perpendicular to the member. When perpendicular to member is chosen, the default is that the shift direction is in the major axis of the selected member. Check the ‘Shift about minor axis’ box to in the minor axis of the member. In the ‘Distance to Shift’ box, enter the total shift amount.

Click the ‘Clear’ button to rest the shift amounts.

Rotate Settings

Check the ‘Rotate’ box to perform a rotate type move operation.

Note – If Shifting and Rotating, the order of operations is important, i.e. shift first, then rotate about new position, or rotate first about original position, then shift. Click the ‘Swap’ button to change the order of operations. The top most check box determines the first operation.

The rotate operation is performed in one of three selected principal global planes XY , YZ , or XZ . Enter the angle in degrees to rotate by. Specify the origin of rotation on the selected plane by either manually entering the two co-ordinate values, or pick clicking on the blue ‘Pick origin’ button and graphically selected an origin using drawing snap points.

The ’Retain Co-ordinates’ check boxes allows one of the two co-ordinates being changed by the rotation to be retained. For example, take some horizontal floor beams that are in global Z direction; if rotating them by 15 degrees in the XZ plane, the X and Z co-ordinate will change. If the retain Z coordinate box is checked, only the X co-ordinate will be changed. In this case because the beams are in the Z axis, it would be impossible to make the rotation if the retain X box was checked. Therefore, care must be taken to the retain axis box that is checked, in consideration of the original geometry of the structure being rotated.

Click the ‘Clear’ button to rest the rotate amounts.

Move Operation

To change the geometry of selected entities by shifting/rotating

1.Choose your selection mode

2.Select entities to move from the frame graphics window

3.Set the Move Settings, including if the move is to shift and/or rotate. If doing both, note the order of the operations.

4.If shifting set the Shift amount/direction

5.If rotating set the Rotate settings

6.You can optionally click on the ‘Preview Changes’ check button at the bottom of window, to enter the preview mode. This shows the changes to made in preview mode.

1.To action the move, click on ‘Apply’ button at the bottom of the window. This also automatically clears the current selection.