Structure Type - Two structure types are available: Space Frame and Plane Frame. Space Frame models use six degrees of freedom (DX, DY, DZ, RX, RY, RZ) while Plane Frame models only use three degrees of freedom (DX, DY, and RZ), with the others fixed.

Vertical Axis - Select a direction to use for vertical. Up is assumed to be the positive coordinate direction selected. This will affect self weight and certain building code load combinations, and graphic rotations. Members are oriented with a local coordinate system that is always based on the global Y, for historical reasons. CAD projects often use Z for vertical which can be accommodated in VisualAnalysis.

North Axis - Select one of the global coordinate directions (plus or minus) to be the North direction for the project.  This setting is used in the automatic naming of model objects.

Coordinate System - Select from displaying coordinates in Cartesian, polar, or spherical coordinates. Polar coordinates can be oriented in 3 different ways. Switch back and forth between the systems as you work with different parts of a model. This affects how coordinate locations are displayed.

Risk Category - The risk category selection is only used for the automated building code load combinations for seismic load combinations.

Static Method - Select from three different types of static analysis for the project: 1st Order - linear or iterated (for one-way elements), P-Delta - iterated 2nd order analysis, or AISC Direct Analysis - notional loads and reduced member stiffness for K=1 design.

Mesh Element Area - Specify the maximum element size for meshing auto-meshed areas. This setting controls how many plate elements get generated in all the auto-meshed areas. Use this setting for mesh refinement to work work towards convergence.

Meshed Plates - The number of generated plate elements created during meshing of auto-meshed areas.

Performance - Adjust how many places along members where intermediate member results are calculated.  This can have a significant impact on analysis and design performance and there is a trade-off with result accuracy.  Generally, the Automatic setting is a good balance.  If there are performance issues, set it to Fast.  For near perfect moment and shear diagrams, without numerical round-off errors, use the Academic setting. There are also Normal and Custom settings.

Neglect Nonlinear - Ignore one-way effects, seimi- rigid ends, and other nonlinear element features. Allows quick mode shape calculations, or state analysis of models that are unstable with one-way elements.

Lock Zero Stiffness - Should an infinite spring be placed at degrees of freedom which have zero stiffness? Please use this option carefully and note that if there is zero stiffness at a degree of freedom it could be resulting from more serious modeling error.

Return Unconverged Results - For a limited buckling or push-over analysis. Turning this on allows VisualAnalysis to iterate a second-order analysis under ever-increasing loads to find out which loading-level causes failure. When the numerical solution fails it may be an indication of buckling.  For a true buckling analysis you may need to split members into multiple pieces to get accurate results. Also, because VisualAnalysis does not handle material-effects such as yielding or crushing, the results may not be conservative.

Force and Displacement Tolerance - Convergence of a nonlinear analysis involves looking at errors in both displacements and unbalanced nodal forces.  In order for nonlinear analysis results to be acceptable (i.e. converged), these errors need to be smaller than a chosen tolerance.  For displacements, this is a unitless value and involves dividing the incremental displacement correction vector norm by the total displacement vector norm. Unbalanced nodal forces are calculated by taking the element forces that frame into a node minus the applied load node forces.  These form a vector as well and the check is similar to the displacement check in that it is the norm of the unbalanced force vector divided by the total applied load vector norm (unitless).

Nonlinear Iteration Limit - Maximum number of convergence iterations to try during nonlinear analysis.

Load Stepping Points - Number of stepping points per member for moving load truck placement (a performance vs. accuracy setting).

These settings are only used in VisualAnalysis to generate building code load combinations. They are all items defined in ASCE 7 (and referenced by IBC).

SDS - The design spectral response acceleration at short periods as defined by ASCE 7.

Category - The Seismic Performance Categories as defined by ASCE 7.

Overstrength X/Y/Z - Parameter for system and members requiring overstrength factors as defined by ASCE 7.

Redundancy X/Y/Z - Factor for structure exhibiting redundant features as defined by ASCE 7.

Auto-Group Members - VisualAnalysis automatically creates groups for members based on material, orientation, length, and/or cross-section for design checks.

Auto-Mesh Plates - VisualAnalysis automatically creates meshes (groups) for plates based on material, orientation, and/or thickness for design checks.

Auto-Stress Checks - Stress-check design groups are created automatically for ungrouped members, such as those with custom shapes, tapers, or materials not supported by built-in design checks.

Auto-Connections - Connection groups are automatically created for export and design in  IES VAConnect.

Metric Rebar Sizes - Use metric rebar sizes (e.g. 10M) instead of USA traditional sizes (e.g. #3).

Export Results Type - When exporting connection-design forces to VAConnect or QuickFooting select whether VisualAnalysis should export service case or load combination results. These results from VisualAnalysis become loads in the design tool. Exporting of service case results is usually better for these tools, but if the project is nonlinear or contains more sophisticated results that need checking, export the results as prefactored into these tools. This setting has no effect on exports to VisualFoundation, which always (and only) uses the service-level reactions.

Title - Optional descriptive name for your project.  If left blank, the filename for your project becomes the title.

Billing Reference - Optional name or number used for your internal business purposes, this number will appear on reports.

Project Notes - Optionally enter a description, notes, thoughts, or information that you can include in a report and that is saved with the project to help you remember what you need to do, or why you modeled something a certain way, or anything else you need to remember.

Nodal Tolerance - Specify how close nodes can be placed before VisualAnalysis combines them.

Beam Top @ Nodes: Set beams to have an automatic offset in the vertical direction equal to half of their depth (nodes are at the 'top' of the member). You may still use additional manual centerline offsets. Only applies to members with a framing type of 'beam'.

Offset Add Stiffness? - Should member offset add stiffness to the member or just affect the graphic view?