Multiframe 8.6 Released - Faster and even more graphical
Formation Design Systems is very pleased to announce the latest release of the Multiframe range of structural design software. Our new version 8.6 release will be coming to our Multiframe Subscription members over the next few weeks. Its primary enhancement’s are new options for managing groups of members, enhanced 3D drawing including structural grids, improved rendering, spring elements, automatic legends, support for BS5950 steel design, and a host of other features.
It’s often convenient to be able to group together a number of members for the purposes of selection, drawing colour or visibility. Multiframe now allows the grouping of members by the user and also allows the creation of different sets of groups so that it is easy to group members in more than one way. For example, members may be grouped by floor or by a frame line in a building.
To assist in this, Multiframe allows you to manage groups as group sets. You would create one group set for the floors and then group together the elements at each floor. You would then create another group set for the frame lines and group together the elements in each frame. Commands are provided for quickly creating groups from the current selection and for hiding and showing groups and changing the colour of each element based on which group it is in. This can be combined with the new automatic legends (see below) and with rendering to quickly create a concise yet easy to understand diagram of your structure.
3D Drawing and Structural Grids
Multiframe has always allowed quick sketching of your structures including automatic snapping to a regular grid. Now these commands have been extended to allow sketching in 3D, automatic snapping to element mid-points and the definition of multiple structural grid lines.
To compliment the drawing grid, any number of structural grids can be created to represent the grid lines of a building. Within each grid, any number of lines may be added to the model to represent floors or frames in each direction. As with the drawing grid, the structural grids provide a means of constraining drawing and dragging of items to specified locations in 3D space. This will make it easier to create a structure using a 3D view.
Each Grid can be named as can each grid line. Separate colours may also be defined for each grid.
The generation of common structural forms has been significantly improved in this release and now includes various forms of trusses, portal frames, grillages and frames. The Generate command from the Geometry menu now allows you to select from a range of common structure types.
Generation of structures has also been improved to allow for supports and other features to be specified. For the generation of a rectangular frame, both secondary and tertiary beams can now be automatically created.
OpenGL rendering has been enhanced to allow the user to select the level of detail to which section shapes are represented. Low level of detail will render section shapes as a number of flat plates with no representation of the web or flange thicknesses. Medium detail displays the true 3D outline of the section shape including thickness as modelled by a series of rectangular plates while a high level of detail models the true 3D outline of the section including the fillets, circular corners and rounded edges.
The OpenGL rendering has also been modified to use a full lighting model in which shading to the model is produced by lights located around the structure. An option for controlling the lighting is provided in the Rendering dialog. Lighting can also be controlled via a new Rendering toolbar that allows up to 4 lights to be toggled on or off.
Analysis and Plotting Performance
The speed of analysis has been significantly improved by optimising the order of member loads. For large frames, this has resulted in a reduction of analysis times of up to 75%. The same optimisation has also improved the time taken to display global diagrams of member actions. The generation of moment diagrams for some larger models has been reduced by more than a factor of 12 times!
The Multiframe automation interface has been updated to support the features added to the program since the original version of the interface. Modifications to the library include
- New library version – Version 1.1
- Added objects representing group sets and groups
- Support for new section shapes added since Multiframe version 8
- Support for new section properties added since Multiframe version 8
- Access to additional modal solver properties
- Access to participation factors via modal results
- New CopyWindow method of application object for extracting diagrams
- Support for new plot types added since Multiframe version 8
- Added UserData for Elements and Joints
Please refer to the Multiframe Automation manual for full details on each of this items.
Often when modelling a structural situation, you may wish to add a spring between 2 nodes in a structure to simulate the stiffness provided some part of the structure that it is not appropriate to model as a structural member. Version 8.6 adds spring elements to Multiframe. Note that unlike a normal beam/column member, there is no coupling of the actions along the members so the spring stiffness of the spring in each direction acts independently of the others.
Spring members can be sketched on screen in the same way as regular members. The properties of the spring can be edited by double clicking on the member or by specifying the stiffness of the spring via the Spring Member Stiffness command in the Frame menu. All stiffness’s are specified in the local coordinate system of the member.
For
some time Multiframe users have been asking us to automate the
assignment of colours to members. We have now done just that with
the introduction of automatic legends and the corresponding colour
drawing in the Frame window.
As you modify your structure, colour assignments are automatically made using a range of alternative colouring schemes. These include -
- No Colour scheme – Members all drawn in black
- By Section – Each section used in the frame is allocated a different colour. Members are coloured according to their section type.
- By Section Group – Each section group from which sections are used is drawn in a different colour. Members are coloured according to the group in which their section is located.
- By Shape – Members are drawn in a colour depending upon the shape of the section. Each section shape is automatically allocated a different colour.
- By Label – Each unique member label used within the frame is allocated a different colour. Members are coloured according to their label.
- By Type – Each different type of member is drawn in a different colour.
- By Group – Members are drawn in the colour of the first group they belong to in the current group set.
The legend is drawn in the top right corner of the Frame window. Some handy short-cuts allow you to double-click on a name in the legend to select items of that type. You can also double-click on a colour in the legend change that item's colour. A number of formatting options are also available via a popup menu displayed when right clicking the mouse on the legend.
Joints can now be dragged in a 3D view. Unless the joint is dragged over and snapped to another joint or structural grid point, it will move in a plane at the drawing depth that is most perpendicular to the direction from which the model is currently viewed. This plane can easily be identified as its axes are highlighted in a double thick line on the global axes icon.
While dragging in the 3D view of the model, the crosshairs are now displayed running parallel to the global axes so as to help align points in the model.
After double-clicking on a member in the Plot window, the local action, stress or deflection diagrams for that member are displayed. This display has now been extended to include a diagram of the local loads acting on that member. The loads for the major or minor local axis direction will be displayed to correspond with the action or deflection diagram displayed.
The variation of distributed loads along the member is plotted in terms of the member’s local coordinate system. Superimposed on this diagram are the locations of point loads applied to the member. For plots of loads along design members, the loads applied to joints internal to the member are also displayed. Note that the point loads are not drawn to scale and that only point loads with components applied parallel to the axis of the plot are displayed.
Double Angle and Angles shapes
Double angle and angle sections aligned about their principal axes are now supported within Multiframe as standard section shapes. For unequal angles, the angle between the principal axes and the geometric axes aligned with the legs of the angle needs to be included in the sections library data to ensure the angles are displayed correctly.
The Section Type dialog in the Frame menu now displays a preview of each section shape when it is selected in the list of sections.
Steel Designer now supports design of rolled and welded sections to the British Standard BS5950 “Part 1- Structural use of steelwork in buildings”. BS5950 is of course the standard design code for steel structures in Britain but is also widely used in South-East Asia.
For design checks to AS4100, LRFD or BS5950, the efficiency at which a design check on a member is deemed to have failed can now be modified to values other than 100%. This value is known as the Acceptance Ratio. The acceptance ratio for a member is set via the Design->Options command.
The graphical presentation of design results has been improved via the introduction of a new colour scale, new legend, and support for OpenGL rendering. The new colour scale for displaying design efficiencies highlights members that have failed or are near failure. Member that have just failed but are within 5% of the acceptance ratio are shown in orange. Members with efficiencies exceeding this are shown in red except for members that failed to be designed due to an error which are displayed in magenta. Members that have passed but have an efficiency within 5% of the acceptance ratio are shown in yellow. All other members with a successful design are shown in a colour scale that varies from blue to yellow.
Section Maker now computes a number of additional section properties including plastic modulus and warping constant. The Section Maker user interface has also had a facelift with many new functions to make it easier to draw compound section shapes.
The value of the warping constant is now evaluated for shapes that Section Maker can identify as one of the standard shapes supported within the program. The calculation of the warping constant in based on empirical equations and provides a close estimate of the true value. For any shape not recognised as a standard shape, the warping constant will be set to zero.
The evaluation of section properties for composite sections is now performed using the modular ratio theory. The user may select the material used as the reference material via the “Reference Material…” command in the Shape menu.
Tapered flange sections are now supported within Section Maker. The representation of tapered shapes assumes that the flange thickness is the thickness of the flange computed midway between the tip of the flange and the web.
New standard section shapes have been added to support double angles sections and angles described about their principal axes.
The following section properties can now be stored within the library
- r0 - Polar radius of gyration about shear centre.
- H - Flexural constant as defined by Appendix E of AISC LRFD design code.
- k - Distance from outer face of flange to toe of fillet on web.
- k1 - Distance from outer centre of web to toe of fillet on flange.
- Qf - Statical moment of the flange.
- Qw - Statical moment of the web. xp - x position of equal area axis used in computing plastic modulus as measured from centroid.
- yp - y position of equal area axis used in computing plastic modulus as measured from centroid.
A number of addition fields have also been added for storing the dimensions of shapes. These allow for the description of more complex shapes.
- t1 - Additional thickness dimension.
- t2 - Additional thickness dimension.
- s - Spacing dimension. taper - Flange taper angle.
In addition, there are five user properties that may be used to store any property not supported within the library. These properties will be displayed in the terms of the base unit set used within Section Maker and Multiframe.
The Property window has changed from a single table view to a multi-table view that contains new tables displaying specific subsets of the section properties. The user now has the choice of viewing tables containing properties relevant to the geometric axes, the principal axes, or just the dimensions of the section. In addition, there are also tables that display all section properties, the properties of the current group selected within Section Maker or the properties of the Frame group used within Multiframe. The last two groups can be used to help exchange section property data with Multiframe via cut and Paste into the Multiframe Add or Edit section dialogs.
Note that the section properties in the Group Table are displayed in the units of the current group. All other tables are displayed using the current units selected within Section Maker.
A default material is now assigned to shapes drawn in the Shape Window. The default material is specified via the Select Material dialog. This dialog now has an option to set the selected material as the default material.
When the application starts or a new library is opened the default material is reset to no material.
Two new commands have been added to assist in building complex shapes. The first of these commands allows the user to merge one or more closed polygons into a single shape. The second command complements the Merge command and allows the user to convert shapes other than polygons into closed polygons.
The merging of polygons will join all connecting or overlapping closed polygons. In doing so it considers if each of the polygons is solid or forms a hole. As such, the result of merging polygons may not be a single polygon but a number of polygons.
Align, Stack and Size commands
New commands have been added to the Geometry menu for the alignment of shapes within the Shape Window. Shapes can now be moved to align the sides or centres of all the shapes selected within the Shape Window.
Selected shapes can now be moved to align the shapes side by side or on top of one another via the new Stack commands. The Stack Horizontal command will move shapes horizontally such that the left and right edges of adjacent shapes are aligned to one another. Similarly, the Stack Vertical command will move shapes such that the top and bottom sides of adjacent shapes and aligned.
Three other commands are now available via the Geometry menu for resizing shapes to make them equal in width, height or in both directions.
For all these commands, shapes will be resized or aligned to the shape that was selected first. A Geometry toolbar incorporating all these commands has also been added to the user interface. The display of this toolbar can be toggled via the View->Toolbars submenu.
Drawing in the Shape window has been enhanced by the introduction of a number of options for choosing the colour used to draw each shape displayed within the window.
- No Colour scheme – Shapes all drawn in black
- By Shape – Each shape or section is drawn in an individual colour.
- By Material – Each shape is drawn in the colour of it’s material.
- By Shape Type – The type of shape (i.e. box, tube, polygon, etc.) is used to determine the colour in which a shape is drawn.
A feature of the legend is that all items corresponding to a particular item in the legend can be selected by simple double clicking on the text of that legend item. In most cases the colour of a legend item can be changed by simply double clicking on the colour box associated with each item.
Symbols
The display of symbols has been rationalised with the grouping of all symbol commands into a new Symbols submenu. A new Symbols toolbar has also been added to provide access to many of these commands.
Shape Dimensions
The overall dimensions of a shape may now be displayed in the Shape Window. In addition, internal dimensions showing the position of the centroid can also be shown in this window. The display of these dimension are toggled via the command in the Display->Symbols submenu.
Copy and Paste Shapes
Shapes selected within the Shape Window can now be cut, copied and pasted within the window. The duplicate shapes will be inserted into the window offset slightly from the original shapes.
Note that the existing behaviour of the copy command to place an image of the windows contents onto the clipboard has been preserved.
Duplicating Groups
A new command has been added for creating a duplicate of a group. The group that is currently displayed in the Group Window can be duplicated using the Library->Groups->Duplicate command. This command adds a new group to the library and all properties of the current group and sections within this group are then copied to the new group.
Group Organiser
When groups are moved between libraries using the Group Organiser, any materials referenced by the sections in that group will also be moved to the destination library if a corresponding material does not already exist in that library.
Drawing Grid
The existing drawing grid used within Section Maker has been improved. Grid lines are now drawn as solid light grey lines and grid snap has been modified to only snap to the grid when the cursor is close to a grid point.
Graphical Enhancements
A number of graphical enhancements have been made to the program to improve the look and feel of the program when drawing or dragging within the Shape window.
Multiframe Subscription Program
This substantial upgrade to Multiframe is being provided free of charge to all members of the Multiframe subscription program. This program delivers twice yearly updates to all of the programs in the Multiframe suite and provides unlimited technical support by phone, email and fax. Subscription renewals can be made by emailing info@formsys.com.
