F-0.0Feature index · StruxDraft v0.3.7

Every member checked. Every load traced.

The full feature set, documented against one real project — the founder's test-strux model, 78 elements across 8 sheets. Every screenshot and number on this page is program output, including the failures.

01 IMPORT PLANS 02 DRAW MEMBERS 03 CONNECT THE REST 04 VALIDATE IN 3D 05 EXPORT THE PACKAGE

F-1.0Connected load flow

The structure knows what carries what.

Connections aren't bookkeeping you do after design — they form while you draw, and the loads ride them: joist to beam, beam to column, column to footing, footing to earth.

TEST-STRUX · 78 ELEMENTS · 8 SHEETS

F-1.1

How connections form

AAuto-connect as you draw

Draw a joist field over a bearing wall and the bearings register the moment you release. End a beam on a column and the reaction is already routed to it. Most of a typical plan connects itself this way — the tools below exist for everything the pencil can't infer.

DEFAULT BEHAVIORNO EXTRA CLICKS

BT-Connect — drag a rectangle

Switch T-Connect to Drag Mode and pull a marquee across the plan: every member intersection inside it becomes a connection on release. A flush beam picks up its entire joist field in one drag instead of click-by-click, and the load transfer registers immediately.

DRAG MODEINTERSECTIONS → CONNECTIONS

CCtrl-connect specific pairs

Hold Ctrl and click a beam, then the column that carries it, to wire that exact pair — built for members that already have other connections attached, where a drag rectangle would catch neighbors you don't want. The reaction routes the instant the pair is made.

CTRL + CLICK · CLICKBEAM → COLUMN

DQuick-apply loads from the database

Right-click any member and Apply Load lists the project's load database — built-in assemblies like Roof · Asphalt Shingle alongside your own named cases. Applied loads stay linked to their entry: change it once in the database and every member that references it re-runs.

Right-click context menu on a member: Open in StruxCalc, Rotate 90°, Custom Angle, Design, and Apply Load expanded to show database entries — Heated Floors, Roof1, Tutorial Roof, and built-in roof assemblies like Asphalt Shingle, Metal Standing Seam, Concrete Tile, and Clay Tile.

REC — T-CONNECT · DRAG MODE UNEDITED CAPTURE · v0.3.7

StruxDraft plan view in T-Connect Drag Mode: the tooltip banner at top, an amber dashed selection rectangle stretched over beam B-004, walls W-001 and W-003, and the joist field between them. — PLAN — MARQUEE OVER B-004 + JOIST FIELD EVERY CROSSING CONNECTS

F-1.2

Gravity, end to end

Each hop below is a real connection in the test-strux model, with the reaction it carries — dead, live, and snow tracked separately the whole way down.

LOAD PATH — JOIST TO EARTHUNFACTORED · DL / LL / SL SPLIT AT EVERY HOP

JOIST JR-001 drops R1 = 1,227 lb on wall W-002 and R2 = 966 lb on beam B-002
BEAM B-001 delivers R2 = 1.36 kip to column C-004 — DL 470 lb, SL 893 lb
COLUMN stories stack — C-021 accumulates its column line and carries it to SF-001
FOOTING SF-001 reads the linked column's loads for bearing, punching, and flexure
EARTH soil pressure checked against q_allow — the profile prints on the calc sheet

F-1.3

Incoming loads, itemized in every dialog

Joist Designer JR-001 on its Incoming tab: a Gravity Distributed table lists walls W-001 and W-002 as bearing (bottom) sources with DL, LL, SL, Lr, R, W, E, and Temp columns — W-001 at 260 plf dead and 500 plf snow, W-002 at 295 and 635. The calc summary at right reads 237.0% FAIL — Bending, with unfactored reactions and the moment, shear, and deflection envelopes. — JOIST DESIGNER — JR-001 · INCOMING TAB 237.0% FAIL — BENDING

Open any member and the Incoming tab itemizes every load it receives — the source member, how it arrives (bearing, point, tributary), and the magnitude per load case across DL, LL, SL, Lr, R, W, and E columns. Nothing is a lump sum; you can audit where every pound came from.

JR-001 — INCOMING GRAVITY DISTRIBUTED (PLF)

Source	Kind	DL	LL	SL
W-001 (wall)	bearing (bottom)	260	0	500
W-002 (wall)	bearing (bottom)	295	0	635

It works downward too: bearings name each supporting member with the reaction it receives — JR-001's R1 lands 1,227 lb on wall W-002, and the seat is checked at 233.8 psi on 3.50 in of bearing. At the bottom of the chain, spot footing SF-001 literally links its column, C-021 — open the footing and the column's accumulated dead, live, and snow load is already sitting in the soil-bearing check.

F-1.4

Resize one member, re-check everything under it

B-003 · LONGER SPAN · SIZING A SECTION SCHEDULE LIVE

2×12

144%

FAIL

4×4

662%

FAIL

4×12

61%

PASS

Three sections tried on B-003, recorded live — each attempt re-ran the members that carry it in the same pass.

A section change isn't local. Resize B-003 and its self-weight changes, so its reactions change — and every member those reactions land on re-checks: the bearing seats, the columns underneath, the footings under those.

The schedule row recolors, the 3D heatmap re-shades, and any downstream member pushed past 100% flags before the sheet prints — not at plan review. Circular load paths are detected and reported rather than looped.

F-1.5

See the path. Check the number.

Strux4D 3D view of the test-strux model with a member right-clicked: the context menu shows Show Load Path and Design in StruxCalc, and the selected member's full load path — the joist field above and the supports below — is highlighted in green through the structure. — STRUX4D — SHOW LOAD PATH RIGHT-CLICK ANY MEMBER

UTILIZATION HEATMAP — JR-001 HOVER U = 2.370

The Joist Designer above says 237.0%. The heatmap hover card says U = 2.370. Same joist, same number, two views.

F-2.0Member designers

Every member, a full designer.

Thirteen member types, each with its own design dialog — loading diagram on top, engineering inputs below, the calc summary and envelopes at right. Seven of them opened up here, every screenshot straight from the test-strux project. Hover any dialog for its section data.

REAL DIALOGS · NO MOCKUPS

Joist

DIM 2×10 DF-L No. 2 · 16″ O.C. · OVERALL 22.61 FT · OVERHANG 2.41 FT

IBC 2021ASCE 7-16NDS 2018

A joist member is a field, not a single line — set size, species and grade, spacing at 12/16/19.2/24″ o.c., and overhangs each end, and the loading diagram redraws above the inputs. Tributary dead and snow loads come from the load database and stay linked to it — JR-001 carries 20 psf dead and 50.2 psf snow from the entries that define them. Bearings R1 and R2 name the members underneath — wall W-002 and beam B-002 here — each with the reaction it receives, split into dead and snow. The summary caught this one live: 237.0% FAIL, governed by bending, with moment, shear, and deflection envelopes plotted at the right.

Beam

(2) 2×12 DF-L No. 2 · FULLY UNBRACED · R1 → C-003 · R2 → C-004

IBC 2021ASCE 7-16NDS 2018

Spans build the beam — add a second span or an overhang and the diagram redraws with a reaction at every support. Bracing runs from fully braced to fully unbraced, the NDS adjustment-factor table opens inline so you can see every C-factor applied, and the deflection limits (total L/240, live L/360, upward L/240) are editable per member. End supports run a hanger check at each reaction — B-001's R1 reads "no hanger · % Fv OK" — and the incoming-bearings list names the columns underneath with the loads they receive. Governing check: positive moment at 35.7%, PASS.

Wall Designer dialog for W-001 — 2×4 studs at 16 inches on center, 8 feet tall, 24.8 feet long, drawn as an elevation diagram. Load inputs accept tributary, uniform, from-joist, from-beam, from-wall, and from-database sources. The calc summary reads 33.4% PASS — Compression with governing combination D+S at CD 1.15, per-stud loads of 347 pounds dead and 667 pounds snow, and wall totals in klf. A Shear Wall checkbox sits at the bottom. — WALL DESIGNER — W-001 33.4% PASS — D+S

Bearing wall

2×4 @ 16″ O.C. · HT 8 FT · LEN 24.8 FT · PER-STUD DL 347 LB / SL 667 LB

IBC 2021ASCE 7-16NDS 2018SDPWS OPTION

A bearing wall is designed stud by stud: pick the stud size and spacing and the dialog reports the load each stud actually carries — W-001 runs 347 lb dead and 667 lb snow per stud at 16″ o.c. Loads arrive through the connections from the joists, beams, and walls above, or directly from the database. The governing combination is named, not implied — D+S at C_D = 1.15 puts this wall at 33.4% compression, PASS. Tick the Shear Wall box and the same member picks up lateral design under SDPWS with a hold-down selection from the connector library.

Column

(2) 2×6 DF-L STUD · 9.00 FT · PINNED/PINNED · Kx = Ky = 1.00

IBC 2021ASCE 7-16NDS 2018

End conditions are explicit, not assumed: pinned or fixed at top and bottom, K_x and K_y effective-length factors per axis, bracing points along the height, even a rotation angle for the cross-section. The checks go well past axial — bending about each axis, combined P-M interaction plotted as a diagram from the actual section, shear, drift, and axial shortening. C-001, a doubled 2×6 stud column, sits at 1.1%, PASS, with its 32 lb self-weight computed rather than entered. The Design Base Plate button hands the column's reactions straight to a base-plate check — no retyping.

FW-001 — reinforcement & soil

Steel is set per face: interior vertical bar (the primary tension face for a propped wall), optional exterior soil-face bar, horizontal bars per the §11.6.1 minimum, with cover defined each side.

The EFP convention is printed right in the dialog: lateral pressure = EFP × depth, no Ka/Ko conversion.

Self-weight runs 427 plf; axial and interaction checks sit at 3% while slenderness governs.

FOUNDATION WALL — FW-001 60.0% PASS — SLENDERNESS

Foundation wall

CMU 8″ · HT 8 FT · k = 0.8 PROPPED · #5 @ 12″ INTERIOR · EFP 30 PCF

TMS 402-16IBC 2021

FW-001 is an 8-inch CMU basement wall designed to TMS 402 — f′_m, grouting, and reinforcement are first-class inputs, with the interior vertical bar treated as the primary tension steel for a propped wall under earth pressure, exactly as the dialog explains in plain text. Soil arrives as an equivalent-fluid pressure — 30 pcf EFP plus surcharge — and the lateral diagram is drawn next to the cross-section as a pressure profile, not left to imagination. The propped top sets k = 0.8, and slenderness governs at 60.0%, PASS, ahead of axial and interaction. Wall types cover CMU, cast concrete, and ICF.

Spot footing

PAD + BAR LAYOUT IN PLAN & SECTION · ECCENTRICITY FROM LINKED COLUMN

ACI 318-19IBC 2021

SF-001 is linked to its column — C-021 — so the footing reads the column's accumulated dead, live, and snow loads and its base geometry instead of hand-copied numbers, and eccentricity comes from where the column actually sits on the pad. The ACI 318 checks run the full set: soil bearing, two-way punching shear at the critical perimeter, one-way shear in each direction, flexure with the minimum-reinforcement floor, and bearing at the column interface. Cross-section and plan views draw the bar layout as you set it. Resize the column upstream and the footing re-checks in the same recalc pass.

Continuous footing

16″ × 8″ STRIP · 45.26 FT · SELF-WEIGHT 133 PLF · #5 TRANSV @ 12″ · (4) #4 LONGIT

ACI 318-19IBC 2021

A strip footing drawn under a wall — CF-001 runs 45.26 ft at 16 × 8 in with its 133 plf self-weight included automatically. Checks cover soil bearing against the allowable, flexure across the strip, and the minimum-reinforcement floor; bearing governs at 56.0%, PASS. Reinforcement is set both ways — transverse bars by size and spacing, longitudinal bars by count — and the calculation-methods note cites ACI 318-19 / IBC 2021 pulled live from the project's Engineering Scope, so the strip is always checked under the editions the project declares.

F-2.8

The full roster — 13 member types

MEMBER TYPES v0.3.7 · ALL DRAWN ON THE PLAN, ALL CHECKED LIVE

Member	Placement	Materials	Designed to
Beam	drag a line	sawn, glulam, LVL, PSL	NDS
Joist	rectangle or polygon field	sawn, LVL, I-joist	NDS
Header	drag across an opening	sawn, glulam, LVL	NDS
Column	click to place	sawn, glulam, LVL, PSL	NDS
Bearing wall	drag a line	2×4 / 2×6 studs	NDS · SDPWS
Steel beam	drag a line	W-shapes, HSS	AISC 360
Steel column	click to place	W-shapes, HSS	AISC 360
Spot footing	click to place	concrete	ACI 318
Continuous footing	drag a line	concrete	ACI 318
Pier	click to place	concrete	ACI 318
Foundation wall	drag a line	CMU, concrete, ICF	TMS 402 · ACI 318
Retaining wall	click to place	concrete	ACI 318
Anchor bolt	click to place	steel	diameter · embedment · spacing

F-3.0Analysis engine

One engine under every dialog.

The same solver runs whether a member is checked in its dialog, re-run by a cascade, or printed in the report — there is no separate "report math."

SAME ENGINE · DIALOG = REPORT

E-01

Finite-element member solver

Each member runs a stiffness solve — multi-span with overhangs, uniform, partial-span, and point loads, evaluated per load combination. The output isn't one number: moment, shear, and deflection envelopes plot the positive and negative extremes across every combination, and the governing combination is named on each check rather than buried in an appendix.

E-02

Auto-recalc cascade

Edits propagate through the connection graph: move a wall and the joists bearing on it re-run, then the beams those joists load, then the columns and footings below them. Only affected members recompute, so the model stays responsive at full project size, and circular load paths are detected and flagged instead of looping.

E-03

Auto-size

Point a failing member at its library and the engine walks candidate sections — smallest first — running the full code checks on each until one passes. The one-click Design button in the schedule does the same for a whole row; the B-003 arc above (2×12 → 4×4 → 4×12) is that walk done by hand, recorded.

E-04

The method is your call — and it's cited

Where the code permits more than one approach, the choice is explicit and yours: shear taken at d from the support face or at the support, foundation-wall soil as equivalent-fluid pressure or an entered lateral model, self-weight included or carried separately. Whatever you pick, the printed check cites the method and provision used, so the plan reviewer reads the decision instead of reverse-engineering it.

E-05

Engineering Scope — code editions per project

One dialog sets the project's code editions, and every member dialog reads them live — the chips at the top of each designer show exactly which editions that member was checked against. Switch the project from one edition to another and everything re-checks under the new provisions in the next pass.

NDS 2015/2018/2024 AISC 360-10/16/22 ACI 318-14/19/25 TMS 402-13/16/22 SDPWS 2015/2021 ASCE 7-22 IBC

244 golden hand-calc tests · 1,098 independent cross-checks against published references · run before every release

F-4.0Drafting & CAD

Still a drafting table.

The engineering rides on a full 2D drafting environment — the plan you check is the plan you issue. Hover any cell for the details.

REAL UI · NO MOCKUPS

Command bar

Start typing over the plan and the bar matches commands and member tags on every keystroke — jump straight to B-004 or fire a draw tool without touching a menu. Two or three characters usually get you there, and the suggestion list shows the hotkey beside each command as you go.

Hotkeys

Draw tools live on the left hand; the right hand never leaves the mouse.

Ctrl+B beam Ctrl+J joist Ctrl+W wall Ctrl+E header Ctrl+R column Ctrl+Q quick measure Ctrl+C/V copy · paste Ctrl+Z/Y undo · redo (80 states) ←→ sheet pages

Split view

Plan on the left, model on the right — draw in plan and the framing lands in 3D beside it. A joist at the wrong elevation or a beam missing its bearing shows up while it's still a one-click fix, not a redline at review.

Structural members drawn in color over an imported architectural PDF background

PDF overlay

Import the architect's set, scale it once off a known dimension, and draw members at true size over the real geometry. The background stays referenced underneath your framing, so a revised plan swaps in without redrawing the structure.

Wall highlighter

Shades the bearing walls directly on the plan so the gravity system reads at a glance. Toggle it while framing a level: a gap in the shaded line is a gap in the load path, caught while it's still cheap to fix.

A member designer dialog floated free of the main window, with the plan still visible behind it

Pop-out dialogs

Every designer detaches — Detach or Open In Separate Window puts the dialog on your second monitor while the plan keeps the first. Recalculate, compare members side by side, and never bury the sheet you're drawing on.

Markup

Revision clouds, leaders, callouts, highlighter rectangles, and free text draw on the same sheets as the members — no round-trip to a separate drafting file. Markups export with the package, so the reviewer sees the cloud beside the member it flags.

File menu open in StruxDraft, importing a multi-page architectural PDF set

Multi-page PDF

The whole architectural set lives in one project — every sheet a page, every page scaled. Members drawn on sheet 3 belong to sheet 3, you page through with ← and →, and the export keeps the sheet order intact.

Measure everything

Linear dimension lines with ticks and auto-length from the drawing scale, saved with the project. Polyline runs report per-segment and total length for irregular wall lines. Area measure closes a polygon and reports square footage and perimeter — tributary areas without a calculator. Quick measure (Ctrl+Q) checks a distance and vanishes when you switch tools.

F-5.0Schedules & output

The deliverable is the point.

Everything above exists to produce three things a reviewer accepts: live schedules on the sheets, a stamped-ready calc report, and plans that open in any CAD package.

PDF · DXF · CSV

A live member schedule rendered on the drawing sheet — rows of member tags with size, spacing, and span, kept current with the plan — LIVE SCHEDULE — ON THE SHEET UPDATES ON EVERY RECALC

Live schedules. The schedule fills itself as you draw — each member lands in its row with size, spacing, and span, plus a utilization chip that recolors on every recalc. Rows are inline-editable, and one-click Design resizes a failing row through the auto-size walk.

Insertable tables. The same schedule drops onto any drawing sheet as a drafting table that stays live — change a member and the printed table is already correct. Export the data to CSV when the contractor asks for a list.

Material estimate. Counts and total lengths roll up by type and size straight from the model — the takeoff can't go stale because it is the model. Run it early for lumber pricing, again when the design settles.

F-5.2

The calc report — 195 real pages

CALC REPORT — SECTIONS & MEMBER PICKER BEAMS · 18 OF 18 INCLUDED

REC — REPORT SCROLL · COVER → CRITERIA → TOC GENERATED BY v0.3.7

Pick the sections — cover sheet, design criteria, table of contents, load-path narrative, calculation audit, PE certification — then pick the members by tag, type, size, or sheet. Every included member prints its full check set: demand, capacity, utilization, and the code citation beside each equation. The test-strux project prints 195 pages; both files below are unedited program output.

Download the real 195-page calc report (PDF) Download the sample drawing set (PDF)

F-5.3

Plans that open anywhere

DXF on AIA-convention layers. Every member type lands on its own layer named to the AIA convention — framing, columns, walls, foundations, annotations — with coordinates converted through your drawing scale to real-world dimensions. The file drops into any CAD package's layer standards without re-sorting.

Multi-page PDF with markups. The full sheet set exports as one PDF at 2× resolution — members, schedule tables, revision clouds, and notes printed exactly where they sit on each sheet. What the reviewer receives is what you saw.

REVIT PLUGIN — IN DEVELOPMENT

F-6.0Libraries

Stocked, and yours to override.

Sections, grades, and connectors ship in the box; every table can be extended or overridden with your own entries.

15 DATABASE TABLES · CSV

MATERIAL & CONNECTOR LIBRARIES SHIPPED WITH v0.3.7

Library	Count	Contents
Dimensional lumber	18 sections	2×2 – 8×12 · A, Sx, Ix per the NDS Supplement
Species & grades	31 combinations	Fb, Ft, Fv, Fc⊥, Fc, E, Emin per species and grade
Glulam	23 sections	3⅛″–6¾″ widths · 6″–18″ depths · 24F-V4
LVL	31 sections	single through quad ply · 7¼″–18″ depths
I-joists	14 sections	9½″–16″ depths
PSL	6 sections	3½×3½ – 7×7 posts
Steel W-shapes & HSS	per AISC tables	A992 · A500 Gr. B/C · A36 — d, bf, tf, tw, A, Ix, Sx, Zx, r both axes
Concrete & rebar	#3 – #11	bar diameter and area · development-length factors
Simpson hangers	72+ models	face-mount and top-flange · Fv, Fl, Fu capacities
Simpson hold-downs	catalog	allowable tension · anchor and fastener specifications

Override anything with a CSV

Fifteen database tables back the libraries — materials, grades, sections, connectors, load combinations, governing codes, unit conversions. Every default table ships beside a matching user CSV: add rows to the user file and they merge by ID, with your entries taking precedence over the defaults.

A regional species, a proprietary section, a custom load-combination set — one row each. Updates never overwrite the user tier, so your library survives every release.

DEFAULT + USER TIERS MERGED BY ID SURVIVES UPDATES

F-7.0Issue for review

Bring a real project. We'll show every equation.

The beta is invite-only — tell us what you build and we'll set you up.

Request Beta Access Launch Strux4D in your browser

BUILT BY TWO PRACTICING STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS · FOUNDERS PRICING FOR EARLY ADOPTERS