FEM-Design

Documentation

2008
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www.fem-design.com

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PRINT OVERVIEW ...................................................................................................................................... 3

PLOT COMMAND ........................................................................................................................................ 3

COPY TO CLIPBOARD ............................................................................................................................... 4

DOCUMENTATION MODULE .................................................................................................................. 6

4.1
AUTOMATIC DOCUMENTATION VIA TEMPLATE ........................................................................................ 7
4.2
CREATE YOUR DOCUMENTATION ........................................................................................................... 11
4.2.1
Settings ............................................................................................................................................. 12
4.2.2
Title label, headers and footers........................................................................................................ 12
4.2.3
Table of contents .............................................................................................................................. 15
4.2.4
Chapters ........................................................................................................................................... 15
4.2.5
Texts ................................................................................................................................................. 16
4.2.6
Figures ............................................................................................................................................. 16
4.2.7
Tables ............................................................................................................................................... 17
4.2.8
Images .............................................................................................................................................. 20
4.2.9
Create a template ............................................................................................................................. 20

FEM-Design -- Basic Training of Documentation -- 2008

Print overview

Possibilities to print out input (geometry, drawing, loads etc.) and result data:
1 Print out drawings, figures by pages with the Plot command (pdf saving is also available).
2 Print out tables containing input and result data within the List command.
3 Send a copy of drawing area (figures) to the Clipboard to paste it to photo editors, MS
Word, Excel etc.
4 Send tables to the Clipboard to paste them into MS Excel and Word.
5 Use the Documentation module to create complete, multi-page documentation of your
project. The pdf saving is also available. Two ways of making documentation:

--

Automatic generation of document as built-in or user-defined templates.

--

Step-by-step definition of documentation.

Plot command

We would like to print out a view of our model. Start the command Plot (File menu). Select the
printing are by window selection (LB-mouse click) or select the whole, visible content of the
screen by RB-mouse click.
The selected part will appear as a print preview in a new dialog:

In the Plot dialogue we can:

-

do greyscale or colour print (Colour print option; but it also depends on the printer settings);
set pen width for different drawing colours (Pen simulation; special setting for plotter);
print border (margin settings effect on its size, see Page setup);
fix the position of the left bottom corner of the printing area (Origin);
set scale size (Scale);
The bottom left corner called origin remains in its fixed position (set at Origin) and the
printing area will be modified only in the right and top directions!

- set the page properties (size, orientation and margin), printer settings and title label under
Page setup.
FEM-Design -- Basic Training of Documentation -- 2008

If Info label option is active we can paste a title label into the bottom right corner of the page.
Under Setup we can define the size of this table. Its content contains automatic and fixed
texts. Automatic texts (Project, Description, Designer, Signature and Comments) get their
value from the title settings (Settings/ Title) and the First page number field. The current date
also appears as the PC setting.
Under Printer, you can choose a printer or PDF creator to plot the subject as the print preview.
After finishing settings click on Print to plot the drawing.

3 Copy to Clipboard
If we would like to insert the screen content or a part of it to a documentation program or a
photo editor, we can use the Copy bitmap command (Edit/ Special). After selecting the screen
part with window selection (LB-click) or the whole screen with RB-click, it will be stored on
the Clipboard and we can insert it (with Paste) into other programs.
The next figure shows an example for MS Word connection.

FEM-Design -- Basic Training of Documentation -- 2008

We can also copy and paste tables to other programs with the List command (Tools menu).
After starting the command we can find a list in a new dialogue. The list contains input and
result data. The available result data depends on the calculation run (analysis, RC and/or steel
design).

Select a data type in the Tables list and the goal data in the Data / Result list. Choose a source
for sending or plotting. Select Clipboard to copy the data table to the Clipboard for later
pasting it to another program (e.g. MS Excel, Word etc.). The figure shows an example for
copying load case and load combination tables to MS Excel.

We can also send the selected data directly to a printer or PDF creator, if we choose Printer
under Send to. Under Page setup, you can set the page format and the printer type. The
properties (column width, decimals, etc.) of the goal table can be set at Table (it works only for
one selected data). With the option List data we start printing.

FEM-Design -- Basic Training of Documentation -- 2008

4 Documentation module
With built-in Documentation module we can create our own complete and multi-page
documentation with figures (geometry, loads, results etc.), texts, tables, headers and footers.
The module can be reached and run under all design modules.

The main commands and their functions:

- Section
Part of the documentation can have different page formats and printer settings
- Title block
Definition of new labels, headers, footers and frames; built-in styles are also available
- Table of contents
Insertion of a table of contents into the document; so a list of the chapters
- Chapter
Definition of main and sub-chapter titles in the documentation
- Page break
Page break to provide an opportunity to place figures and texts on supplementary pages
- Graphical window
Insertion of (working) windows in which different figures (geometry, loads, mesh, analysis
and design results, etc.) in different views can be shown
- Table
Definition of tables (input and result data)
- Draw box
Possibility for drawing in the documentation with own layer-system
- Text box
A simple word processor for inserting texts, notes into the document
- Image
Insertion of different image files (e.g. jpg, bmp etc.) into the document

FEM-Design -- Basic Training of Documentation -- 2008

Control panel
The control panel shows the items and parts of the current documentation and gives the
possibilities of navigation, editing parts and properties. It contains built-in and user-defined
documentation templates and the printing procedure.
- (List)

It shows the items and parts of the documentation. An item can be

activated by double clicking on its name.
- Navigation
Navigation between pages: Page up, Page down, Home and End. Go
to activates the object selected in the list (=double clicking in the List).
- Items
Cut, Copy and Paste tools for modifying the items position. Delete
erases one or more selected items. The settings (sizes, styles, contents,
etc.) of the selected item can be modified with Properties.
- Document
Reset deletes the whole content of the current documentation. At
Templates we can save the current document structure and settings as
a template, or by applying a template the documentation is
automatically generated. Print is for plotting the complete
documentation or its parts.

4.1 Automatic documentation via template

Open the first example of the Plate module and first try the automatic generation of
documentation as a built-in template.
At Document click on Templates/ Apply. For a concrete slab example (created in Plate module)
choose the plate_rc design.dsc template file (from FEMDATA folder). The program
automatically generates the cover page, the chapters, the figures, the tables etc.
If the template contains some results that are not valid on the current model, then those
results (tables and figures) would be empty or invalid.
Cover page Title label
Double click on Section 1. in the list, and we can see the cover page with a title label. It
contains texts with fixed content or with variable text or only as question marks (?). The ?
symbol shows a field-type text. All of them will be filled as the Settings/ Title (Project name,
Designer etc.). The texts with variable content (date, page numbers etc.) will be filled
automatically as the properties of the current project. The other, fixed-texts (e.g.
Customer:) can be modified with the Draw/ Text command.

FEM-Design -- Basic Training of Documentation -- 2008

Chapters
The font style for main- and sub-chapters can be modified, if we click on Documentation row
in the list and apply Properties on it. In the dialogue we can set the properties by chapter levels.

Modify the chapter name Static model to Model parameters. Click on 1 Static model in the
list and then press the Properties button. Rename the field text.

Graphical window
Modify the model view and display settings of a figure in the first Graphical window. On the
drawing area (page) click into the first graphical window to activate it. Use the Animate
rotation command to modify the model view. Switch to Wireframe mode. Go to the layers
settings and switch of the Wall layer, etc. Apply Zoom margin and lets see the result.

FEM-Design -- Basic Training of Documentation -- 2008

Resize the second Graphical window. Click on the second Structure (Graphical window) in
the list and press Properties. Modify the height of it from 100 to 120.

After the modification activate the graphical window by clicking into it and use Zoom margin
to fit the model geometry to the new window size.
Text
Modify text content. Click on the first Text box after 1.3 Check data chapter in the list. Press
Properties and type Applied top reinforcement instead of Top reinforcement in the appeared
dialogue. The position (Alignment) and the style (font type, size, etc.; Font) of the text can be
also modified.

Tables
Modify the column width of the table Load cases. Click on the Load cases (Table) in the list.
Press Properties and enter to Table page. Set the width of the Name column 40mm to 30mm
(see the next figure). The font style and size of the table title and cell texts can also be modified
but in the Text page of the dialogue.

FEM-Design -- Basic Training of Documentation -- 2008

Delete
If the document contains unnecessary elements, we can easily erase them in the Control panel.
For example, there are load case figures (Graphical windows) that do not contain visible loads:
dead load and shrinkage. You can delete these figures, but first check what the meaning of the
windows is. Active the Loads (Graphical window) items step-by-step and lets see the Load
case list in the Loads tab menu.

If we defined 3 load cases in the

following order dead load,
shrinkage and live load (the
load case table also shows this
order), it means that the first
two graphical windows have no
load symbols and we can delete
them. So select the first two
Loads (Graphical window)
items in the list of the Control
panel and click on Delete.

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To print out the document or to save it as a pdf, click on Print in the Control panel or Print
document in the File menu. (Do not use the File/ Plot command!) Set the Page range to All
and press OK.
Different and not continues pages can be plotted as the fill-out of Pages field. For example:
print out the 1st, the 3rd, the 6th and 7th pages. Type: 1,3,6-7 into Pages field.

4.2 Create your documentation

This chapter introduces the recommended steps and possibilities of creating a new
documentation (without using a template).
Before starting, click on Reset to delete all content of the documentation. The title (the first row
of the list) becomes Untitled.
Our suggestion is to also practise on the example written in the New features guide
(pages 48-60).
1st step

Set the main properties of the documentation.

2nd step Set the page size, orientation and margins of the current section with Properties
applied for the section. Create new sections if different page format is needed (with
Section).
3rd step Define the cover page, title label, headers, footers etc. with the Draw menu
commands (Line, Rectangle, Text and Field). Register it into a library for later usage
as a template (Title block).
If we do not define a new section after the title block the program repeats it on all
pages. This fact could be used for defining headers or footers.
4th step

Define a new section (Section) and insert the table of contents (Table of contents).
Initially it is empty, but it refreshes after defining chapters together with the
documentation size.

5th step

Create a chapter (or chapters) (Chapter).

6th step

Define descriptions with the Text box command.

7th step

Insert figures of the model, results etc. (Graphical window)

8th step

Insert tables of input and/or result data (Table).

9th step

Insert images, photos of the current project etc. (Image)

10th step Repeat steps 5-9 in required order.

11th step Save the document as a template for later use (Templates/ Save as).

FEM-Design -- Basic Training of Documentation -- 2008

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4.2.1 Settings
Chapter settings
Set the text style (font type and size) of the latter
chapter titles for each level. Click on Untitled and
press Properties.
Set the title of the documentation to Design
documentation (Title field).
Meanings:
Level 1. = Chapter 1, 2, 3 etc.
Level 2. = Chapter 1.1, 1.2, 2.1 etc.
Level 3. = Chapter 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.2.1, 2.1.1
We can save the settings as a style under Utilities >.

Page and printer settings (sections)

Click on Section 1. row in the list and press
Properties.
Set the page format, orientation, margin settings
of the cover page (Section 1.). Also choose the
printer or pdf creator for latter plotting.
Set the margin to 20 mm at the top, left and right
and to 25 mm at the bottom. This rectangular
area defines the available size for texts and
figures. The real border will be at 15 mm at all
pages (see chapter 4.2.2), so the texts and figures
will be inside it with 10 mm at the bottom and 5
mm at the others.
4.2.2 Title label, headers and footers
The next page shows how the cover page, title label will look like. First create the borders and
lines with the Rectangle and Line tools by typing the corner and end point coordinates in the
Command line. Also use relative coordinates (@, F11 and/or F12) if it is needed. Do not forget
that the default unit for coordinates is mm.
Use the Draw/ Text command to define the fixed texts: Project:, Company:, Designer: and
Date: . The font type would be Arial and the size 3 mm. Set the position of the insertion point
to top left. Apply F12 for or cells top left corners: x = 3 mm and y = -1 mm .
Define auto-text with the Draw/ Field command. Use the text type: Project, Signature,
Designer and Current date. The font type would be Arial and the size 5 mm for Project and
Signature, and 3 mm for Designer and Current date. Question mark (?) appears at the first 3
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cases. Set the position of the insertion point to top left. Apply F12 for or cells top left corners:
x = 20 mm and y = -1 mm .

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The fields symbolized by ? can be filled at Settings/ Title.

To save this final title

label use the command
Title block. Use its
Register tool. Give the
name: cover01 and
select all objects by
window selection (LBclick). In the last step
define the insertion of
the new title block in
the bottom left corner
of the page. The
program stored this
title block under the
name cover01.
In the next step delete
all drawing and text
objects on the page
(Edit/ Erase). Insert the
cover01 (Name) to the
page 0,0 point with
Title block/ Insert.

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Create a new section to give the possibility of defining footer for the further pages. Use Section
again with the same page size and margin settings (20, 20, 20, 25). We get a new empty page.
Define the following footer in the same way written before. The border and the line is in the
same position as done at the first page. We place only one Field as Current page type into the
bottom right corner (Arial, 3mm and alignment top right corner). For positioning use F12 with
the x = -3 mm and y = -1 mm .

Register and insert this drawing elements as title block with the same method written before
(Title block/ Register, Erase, Title block/ Insert). Use the Name border_page.
This new title block will appear on all pages which are in the Section 2., so until we define a
new section again.
4.2.3 Table of contents
Insert table of contents on the second page. Keep the selection on the Section 2. in the list and
click on the command Table of contents. The title of the current document (Design
documentation) and the Contents text appear on the 2nd page. The table is empty. You can
check its content after defining the first chapter.

4.2.4 Chapters
We define our first
chapter. First, define a
new page (not a new
section!) with Page
break after Contents
(select it in the list).
Now the Page break is
active in the list. Start
the Chapter command
and give the chapter
title in the appeared
dialogue: Geometry .
Finally click on Close.
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4.2.5 Texts
Define text 3D view after the first chapter. The selection is on 1 Geometry, so click on
command Text box. Choose Arial font type and use 3 mm as font size under Font settings.
Type 3D view in the Text field.

4.2.6 Figures
Place a figure of model geometry after the title 3D view. The selection is on Text box, so click
on command Graphical window and choose Structure. In the dialogue set the figure properties:
activate Display scale, inactivate Print border, choose Page width (170 mm) under Size,
set the Height to 100 mm and the Alignment to middle. Press OK to finish definition.
Page width means = page width left and right margin sizes (210-2 X 20 = 170 mm).

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After inserting a graphical window in a page, we can activate it by clicking over the window.
Use the View menu commands to set the required view positions (e.g. Animate rotation) and
sizes (e.g. Animate zoom). Wireframe or Shade mode also can be applied for the current view.
Display settings can be modified under the Settings menu. Object layers can be activated or
hidden under Layer settings.
Click on Space view and Zoom margin for 3D view of the model.

The other Graphical window types offer us more possibilities with figures.
- Loads

Display loads by load cases.

- Finite elements

Display mesh with peak smoothing regions.

- Analysis

Display analysis results with numeric values.

- RC design

Display analysis and RC design results with

numeric values.

- Steel design

Display analysis and steel design results

with numeric values.

Analysis, RC design and Steel design corresponding results

would be empty if the calculation is not performed.
The working windows also differ in active object layer
system.
4.2.7 Tables
Before inserting a table of load cases, define a new main chapter: 2. Loads and a sub-chapter
2.1 Load cases by the Chapter command as introduced before. (The selection is on Structure
(Graphical window).)

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Now, we insert a table of the load cases. The selection is on 2.1 Load cases, so click on
command Table and choose Tables/ Loads/ Load cases. Set the font style and size in the
dialogue and click on List data and finally Close.

Repeat the steps: define chapter 2.2 Load combinations and then insert the Load
combinations table.

The display properties of a table can be

modified by selecting the table name in
the list and clicking on the Properties
option. For example, we modify the
width of the Name column of Load
combinations table. Select Load
combinations (Table) in the list, press
Properties and enter to Table page.
Click on Name in the Column list, and
set Width to 15 mm.
The width of the cells is not
automatically fitted to the texts,
so if the texts are longer than
the available fields, modify the
width sizes manually as written
before (Properties).

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For practicing chapter and figure definition do these tasks:

Create chapter 2.3 Live load and insert a Loads-type Graphical window by choosing Live load.
Also create more chapters: 3 Results, 3.1 Displacement. After 3.1 insert Analysis-type
Graphical window and choose the Displacement result. Display the maximum deflection as
numeric value. Insert page breaks between chapters, if it is needed. Set the required view and
layer settings by graphical windows: e.g. hide walls and columns in displacement figure.

We can use different units for different graphical windows. E.g. the displacement results
are in m as default. If we would like to show numeric values in mm, activate the
graphical window (displacement result) and start Settings/ Units. After choosing mm
for Length unit the values and the title of the result figure is modified as the mm
selection.
We can define a graphical window in the Model view also. Go back to the statical model
by pressing Return to model. Activate the mode what graphical window type is needed
in the documentation and use the command Add view to document (Tools menu). The
selected view is always placed to the last page of the documentation.
The next figure shows the example how reaction force result (in RC design mode) is added to
the document. Return back to documentation by clicking on Documentation.

The height of a figure can be modified with the Properties applying on the graphical window.
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4.2.8 Images
Place an image (jpg, gif, bmp etc.) on the last page. Use the command Image and browse a
photo under File name. Set the images width size and the program calculates the height to
keep its original ratio, if the Preserve ratio option is active. The horizontal position can be set
at Alignment. Press OK to finish the insertion procedure.

4.2.9 Create a template

If we are ready with the documentation, we can save as a template to use the same structure
(cover page, table of content, chapters, texts, tables and the position and size of graphical
windows) and same settings for another project.
It is suggested to create templates by FEM-Design modules. E.g. we create now a
documentation template for design calculation of slabs in Plate module, so apply this template
also in Plate module later on.
Click on Templates/ Save as to save the document as a template under a given name.
Try out the saved template:
Create a new or open a previous project in Plate module, switch to Documentation and load the
saved template using Templates/ Apply. The program automatically generates the
documentation as the template. The Images defined in a template would not be loaded.
Depending on the current project some graphical windows and tables are empty. For example,
if we run only Analysis for the current project and the applied template contains RC design
calculation, the RC result windows and tables will be empty. But, if you run RC design for that
project later, the RC design results would be refreshed.

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