Copying Add Members, FE surfaces, Grid Lines

The Copy/Add Members, FE surfaces, Grid Lines function provides a number of tools to copy and replicate existing elements of a model to quickly and easily extend a model. The Copy/Add Members tools allow single or multiple members to be selected and then copied to a new located by shifting, rotating or mirroring. Additional members linked the new elements to the original elements can be automatically added. For copying all elements on a common grid line location, the auto-select items on grid tools allows elements to be quickly selected by selecting the required gird line. The Copy/Add members tools also includes an add level mode, to quickly copy floor structure up to create new floor levels and so extend a model. If area loads have been created on a floor level, these loads will also be automatically copied up when using the Add Level mode.

To select the Add/Copy Members, FE Surfaces, Grid lines tool, go to Create>Add Copy Members, FE Surfaces, Grid lines. Alternatively, use the shortcut key Ctrl+Alt+C. The will open the Copy Frame Entities panel on the right hand side of the screen. The screen layout is shown below.

The Copy Frame Entities panel is shown below.

Note: When elements are selected to be copied, the are used to define the creation of new elements in the frame. But the original elements are retained in the model as well as introducing the new frame elements. The differs from the Move function, where the selected frame elements are repositioned.

The Copy Frame Entities pane had three main areas. These are described below.

Selection

The selection area controls the type of members which can be selected in the graphically display. By default, frame elements, that is, members, can be selected by using the mouse pointer and selecting with the left mouse button. With the Select slabs/wall (FE surfaces) option ticked, FE surfaces can also be selected and picked for copying. Selecting the Select Grid lines option allows grids line to be selected for copying.

With the Select grid lines option active, members on a grid line can be automatically selected, avoiding the need to then select individual or multiple members. The members on a grid line can be automatically selected by:

1.Check the Select grid lines checkbox

2.Using the mouse to select the required grid line(s)

3.Click on the  icon.

Selected members, FE surfaces and/or grid lines can be deselected using the mouse, in the same way as selecting them. To clear all highlighted elements, select the  icon.

Copy

The Copy area is used to determine the mode for copying, which also controls the options in the Shift area, along with controls for the number of copies and whether or not connecting members are to be added. The Copy area is shown below:

The type of copy is selected by using the radios button. Depending on the mode selected, the options available in both the Copy and Shift areas change. The copy modes are outlined below.

The Create connecting members option, if selected, will create tie members between the ends of the new and old members. For example, if a portal frame type structure was copied, the Create connecting members would also create tie members between the bases, eaves and apex of the frames.

The Add Level mode is used when copying floor plates. This option is only available in the Shift mode. With the Add Level mode selected, the Shift X and Shift Z options will be greyed out and will be deactivated.

The advantage of the Add Level mode lies in how the software copies columns - if columns are selected, the column length is automatically adjusted to the Shift Y level value. Thus the Add level mode uses column section to be copied but creates columns whose length matches the storey to storey height input in the Shift Y input.

Shift

The shift area is used to control the shift type and shift offsets, based on the mode of shift selected in the Copy part of the pane. The required inputs are dependant upon the options active in the Copy panel along with the selected options for the shift type selected.

Shift Mode

Shift performs a translational copy of the selected model entities. There are three forms of shift copying:

1.XYZ: copy the entities and shift them in the X, Y, and/or Z direction by the specified value

2.Polar: choose a plane of rotation, angle of rotation, and distance to shift the entities

3.Member Axis: shift parallel or perpendicular to a member at a specified distance

The layout of the Shift are is shown below.

The distance for each point and/or member to be shifted can be specified by inputting the distance in the relevant axis. To shift in just one axis, only a value need to be input for that axis. Using the Pick point-to-point option, it is possibly to define the translation for the copy using the mouse to specify the distance in the x-, y- and z-axes.

Rotate Mode:

Rotate allows you to create a copy of your selected entities by specifying the direction of the copy using polar coordinates. Each point is copied to a new position defined by the polar shift. The polar shift does not rotate the copied frame, since every point is shifted by the same position vector.  When the polar shift is selected, the shift inputs is displayed as show below.

The inputs selected are:

1.The plane of rotation

2.The angle of rotation, and

3.The centre of rotation (or origin)

The plane of rotation is selected using the  icons. Each icon represents a 2D plane and controls both the rotation and direction of shift specified in the distance input. The plane settings are:

 - the xy plane. The angle of rotation is measured from the x axis

 - The yz plane. The rotation is measured from the z axis.

 - The xz plane. The angel of rotation is measured from the x-axis.

Member axis:

The member axis mode allows the shift vector of the copy to be defined relative to an existing member in the model. The direction of the shift can be specified as parallel to the member, or perpendicular to the member, in either the direction of the member major or minor axis. The direction of the shift is governed by the input distance to shift.

The Member axis shift options appear as follows:

Rotate Mode:

The Rotate copy mode allows a copy of the selected members to be made by rotating about a specified centre of origin. The plane of rotation is selected and then the angle or rotation and centre of orientation are input. The origin point can be specified either manually, by typing in the position of origin point as a distance from the origin (0,0,0), or graphically.

The rotate mode results in copies where the orientation in the pane of rotation is different from the original copied members, hence this method of copying differs from the polar copy mode available in the Shift type copy.

The input area for the Rotate copy is shown below.

The plane of rotation is selected using the  icons. Each icon represents a 2D plane and controls both the rotation and direction of shift specified in the distance input. The plane settings are:

 - the xy plane. The angle of rotation is measured from the vertical x-axis

 - The yz plane. The rotation is measured from the z-axis.

 - The xz plane. The angel of rotation is measured from the x-axis.

To graphically input the origin point for the centre of rotation, click on the  icon. The position of the origin can then be defined by selecting a point in the graphics display and clicking with the left mouse button.

Mirror Copy:

Elements of a model can be copied by mirroring about a mirror line in a specified plane. The mirror line represents the edge or plane of the mirror. The mirror line is then positioned by drawing the mirror line graphically on screen. The layout of the Mirror copy area is shown below.

The mirror perp to plane is controlled by selecting the required icon. The options are:

 - Mirror perpendicular to the xy-plane

 - Mirror perpendicular to the zy-plane

 - Mirror perpendicular to the xy-plane

To draw the edge of the mirror, select the  icon and then use the mouse to draw the line representing the edge of the mirror in the graphics display window.

Note: The edge of the mirror is taken as the projection of any line drawn in the relevant plane. For example, to mirror in a line with the mirror perpendicular to the xz plane, if the line has a component in the y-axis, it is only the component of the line in the xz-plane that is considered.

Preview Changes and Apply

Once the copy type, members to be copied and copy parameters have been input, the

Changes to a model can be deleted using the Modify Geometry>Delete Members, FE Surfaces, Grid Lines function, or using Undo.