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Reference & appendices
A quick-reference appendix for CivilKit Studio - every keyboard shortcut, the plain-English meaning of the jargon, common fixes, the sample-model gallery and the design standards the app refers to.
Appendix A - Keyboard shortcuts
These are read straight from the app's command registry, so they always match the in-app help. Press ? at any time to bring up the same list inside Studio. On a Mac, Ctrl means Cmd (⌘).
Files and project
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
N (or Ctrl+N) | New model |
I (or Ctrl+O) | Import a model file |
E | Open the export menu |
Ctrl+S | Export the model as JSON |
Ctrl+Shift+S | Cloud versions (commit panel) |
R | Generate the PDF report |
Ctrl+, | Settings |
Editing
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+Z | Undo |
Ctrl+Shift+Z (or Ctrl+Y) | Redo |
Ctrl+C | Copy selection |
Ctrl+V | Paste |
Ctrl+D | Duplicate selection |
Ctrl+A | Select all |
Delete (or Backspace) | Delete selection |
Escape | Close a dialog, or clear the selection |
Running and checking
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
S | Solve |
Z | Auto-size members |
W | Toggle self-weight |
V | Verify (validation suite) |
View and navigation
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+K | Command palette (search every command) |
F | Fit to view (or frame the selection) |
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 | Isometric / Top / Front / Side view |
X | Isolate the selection |
A | Show all (un-isolate) |
B | Light / dark background |
? | Keyboard-shortcut overlay |
Display layers (toggle on/off)
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
L | Node and member labels |
G | Dimensions |
O | Node markers |
P | Supports |
D | Loads |
H | End releases (hinges) |
C | Connections |
Panels
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
[ | Toggle the left (model tree) panel |
] | Toggle the right (inspector) panel |
\ | Toggle the bottom (results) panel |
Appendix B - Glossary
Plain-English definitions for the terms you will meet in this manual.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Beta (β) angle | The roll angle of a member about its own length - it rotates the cross-section so the strong (major) axis faces the right way. A beam laid web-vertical to resist gravity uses β = 90°. Getting β wrong is the usual cause of a model that looks far too flexible. See orientation. |
| Utilisation | The demand-to-capacity ratio for a member: how much of its strength the loads use up. 0.80 means 80% used (OK); above 1.0 means the member is overloaded. See design checks. |
| LTB (lateral-torsional buckling) | A failure mode where an unrestrained beam in bending twists and buckles sideways before it reaches its full strength. It is why a long, unbraced beam can carry less than a short one of the same section. |
| P-Delta | A more advanced analysis that accounts for the extra bending caused by loads acting on a structure that has already moved sideways. It matters for tall or slender frames where the basic (linear) analysis would be unconservative. |
| DSM (Direct Strength Method) | The design method used for thin, cold-formed steel sections, which buckle locally before they yield. |
| Wood-Armer | A method for working out the reinforcement a concrete slab needs, combining the bending and twisting moments at each point into design moments for the steel bars. |
| k_u | In a reinforced-concrete section, the proportion of the depth that is in compression at failure - a measure of how heavily reinforced (ductile or brittle) the section is. |
| Envelope | The worst-case result at each point across all the load cases or combinations considered - the outer boundary you design to, rather than any single case. |
| DOF (degree of freedom) | A single way a node can move: three translations and three rotations per node in 3D. Restraints (supports) remove DOFs; an unrestrained DOF that nothing holds is what makes a model unstable. |
| Load case vs combination | A load case is one set of applied loads (e.g. dead, live or wind on their own). A combination scales and adds cases together with code factors (e.g. 1.2G + 1.5Q) to give the design demand. See design checks. |
| Serviceability (SLS) | Checking that a structure performs acceptably in everyday use - mainly that deflections stay within a limit (e.g. span/250) - as opposed to strength, which is about not collapsing. |
Appendix C - Troubleshooting & FAQ
The model is far too flexible / deflections look enormous. Almost always a section-orientation problem: a beam is bending about its weak axis. Check the member's beta (β) angle - a floor beam usually needs β = 90° so its strong axis resists gravity. See orientation.
There is no design check / the Design tab is empty. A member needs a real catalogue section before it can be checked, because the check relies on the section geometry. Open the member inspector, choose Browse sections and assign one. See design checks and sections.
The model will not solve. This is usually an instability - a part of the structure that is not held against some way it can move (a missing support, a hinge that releases the only thing holding a member, or a node connected to nothing). Use the Find instabilities and Check connectivity tools in the Edit menu to locate the loose DOFs, then add the missing restraint or member.
My share link is too long to send / it gets cut off. A share link encodes the whole model in the URL, so very large models produce very long links. Instead, export the model as JSON (Ctrl+S) and send the file. See share.
Getting started. If you are new, work through getting started first - it loads a sample model and walks you through your first solve.
Appendix D - Sample models
Open these from the gallery (the Open menu). Each one is built to demonstrate a specific idea, and the realistic ones already carry real catalogue sections so the design checks populate straight away.
Featured
| Model | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Steel portal | AS/NZS 3679.1 portal frame (250UC columns, 360UB rafters), 18 m span. Major-axis bending governs. |
| Portal + 1170 combos | The same portal with separate G, Q and W cases and AS/NZS 1170 factored combinations, each design-checked. |
| Solar array | Ground-mount PV support frame: inclined rails on raked posts with braces, panel dead load plus wind. |
| Warehouse portal | A two-bay industrial shed (310UC columns, 460UB rafters) tied longitudinally. |
Beams
| Model | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Cantilever | Fixed-end cantilever with a tip point load - the textbook PL³/3EI deflection. |
| Simply supported | Pin-and-roller beam with a central point load - PL³/48EI. |
| Floor beam (strong-axis) | A real UB rolled web-vertical (β = 90°) under a UDL - the everyday correct-orientation case. |
| Continuous beam (2-span) | Two equal spans showing the hogging moment over the interior support. |
| Timber floor beam (AS 1720) | An F17 hardwood floor beam carrying an AS 1720.1 timber design check. |
Frames
| Model | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Portal frame | A simple single-bay portal with fixed bases under wind plus gravity. |
| Moment frame | A 3-bay by 3-storey steel moment frame under wind and gravity. |
| 3D space frame | A single 3D structural bay (columns and ring beams). |
| Timber pergola (AS 1720) | A full timber frame (posts, eave beams, rafters) rendered in the timber tone, with AS 1720.1 checks. |
| Horizontal bracing (HBBB) | A floor with a horizontal diagonal brace, demonstrating beam-beam-brace gusset joints. |
| Braced tower | A large multi-storey perimeter-braced frame (~960 DOFs) that exercises the fast sparse solver. |
Trusses
| Model | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Pratt truss | A pin-jointed 12 m Pratt roof truss in SHS members, loaded at the top-chord panel points. |
| Warren truss bridge | A 24 m footbridge: two parallel trusses with floor beams and lateral bracing, open sections with bolted gusset joints. |
Plates
| Model | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Floor slab | A 1 m simply-supported steel plate on a 2x2 shell mesh - the basic plate/shell element demo. |
| Clamped plate | The same plate with all edges fully fixed - a classic plate-bending benchmark. |
| SS plate (4x4) | A larger simply-supported plate on a finer mesh, for mesh-refinement comparison. |
Appendix E - Standards referenced
CivilKit Studio refers to the following design standards. The active steel code follows your chosen design region (see design checks).
| Standard | Covers |
|---|---|
| AS 4100 | Australian hot-rolled steel structures - the default steel member design code. |
| AS 4600 | Australian cold-formed (thin) steel structures, designed by the Direct Strength Method. |
| AS 3600 | Australian concrete structures, including slab reinforcement. |
| AS 1720 | Australian timber structures. |
| AS 5100 | Australian bridge design. |
| AS/NZS 1170 | Structural actions - the dead, live, wind and earthquake loads and the combination factors used to build design combinations. |
| AISC 360 | United States steel design (LRFD) - used when the design region is the US or Canada. |
| Eurocode 3 (EC3) | European steel design - used when the design region is Europe or the UK. |
| EIT | Engineering Institute of Thailand standards - used for the Thailand region. |
Verify before professional use
The checks in Studio are a transparent first pass. Always confirm sections, restraints, material grades and the governing load combination against the relevant standard and a manufacturer catalogue before relying on the numbers.