The editor
Opening a model opens the editor. It has six parts:
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ribbon (top) | Tabs Home, Model, Loads, Analyze, Results, Design, Advanced, Report, View, Seismic, Bridge and Help; the model name, the save state, the command palette, panel toggles and the theme. |
| Model tree (left) | Nodes, members, plates, supports, materials, sections, load cases, combinations and groups with counts; click selects in the 3D view, double-click opens the editor for the item. |
| 3D view (centre) | The model, loads and results; selection, drawing tools and the view cube. |
| Properties (right) | The selection's properties, edited in place. |
| Tables (bottom) | Spreadsheet-style grids of the model (nodes, members, plates, supports, loads, combinations) and of the results (displacements, reactions, member forces, envelope, modal, buckling, design). |
| Status bar (bottom line) | Tool, selection, active case, results shown (and whether they are stale), undo label, job progress with Cancel, units. |
Ribbon tabs #
- Home: new, open, save, save as copy, export; undo, redo, delete; the select, node, member, plate and support tools; fit and zoom; templates.
- Model: geometry generators, grid lines and stories, split and merge, supports, sections, materials, end releases, roll angle, mirror, array, rotate, groups and the advanced model features.
- Loads: load cases, combinations (generate ASCE 7-22 LRFD / ASD), nodal, distributed, point, area and self-weight loads, the loads table and the wind, snow and seismic generators.
- Analyze: run (F5), the analysis types, the model check, cancel.
- Results: deformed shape, diagrams, reactions, mode shapes, plate contours, utilization colours, tables, server-shaded view, section cut.
- Design: steel design setup and run, design results, utilization colours, optimize, beam sizing, composite beam, concrete, shear wall, wood, masonry, AISC 341 seismic checks, story and wind drift, DAM helper.
- Advanced: stability, robustness, moving loads, forced vibration, staged construction, continuum and specialty analyses.
- Report: report builder, PDF, preview, print, results CSV, title block.
- View: camera views, projection, display toggles, labels, units, high contrast, text size.
- Seismic: modal analysis, mode animation, response spectrum, ELF.
- Bridge: send to ILX Connection / ILX Calcs, connection type, project navigator.
- Help: user manual, tour, keyboard shortcuts, About, Settings, Account.
Command palette #
Ctrl+K opens a search over every command (the same entries as the ribbon and the shortcuts). Type part of a name, move with the arrow keys, run with Enter.
Saving, versions and conflicts #
Edits save automatically a moment after you stop (the delay is in Settings); the indicator next to the model name shows Saved, Unsaved changes, Saving or a problem. Ctrl+S saves at once. If the same model is saved from another tab or device, a banner offers to load that version or to keep yours. Leaving the page with unsaved changes asks first. Every save is also a version: Home ▸ Versions lists them, saves a named version and restores an older one (the current state is kept as a version first, so a restore can itself be undone).
Jobs #
Analyses, designs, reports and CSV exports run as jobs on the server. The status bar shows the progress and a Cancel button; the same request a second time comes back at once from the results cache. Results carry the model they belong to: after an edit they are marked stale until you run again.