User interface
EduBeam has three zones: the app bar at the top, the viewer in the middle where you draw, and the bottom bar with a table for every kind of object. Learn what lives where and the rest of the guide will make sense.
- ☰ menu: open, save, share and export; examples and guided tours.
- App bar buttons: Clear mesh and Share model.
- Undo / Redo for every change to the model.
- Viewer buttons: center, fit to screen, and the display options toggle.
- Display options: which results and model parts are drawn.
- Grid, snap, crosshair and units.
- Bottom-bar tabs: Nodes, Elements, Loads, Materials, Cross sections, Results.
- The table of the open tab, where every value can be edited.
Take the tour
☰ → Show me around points out these parts in the app itself, one at a time.
App bar
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| ☰ menu | The main menu, see below. |
| Clear mesh | Deletes all nodes, elements and loads after a confirmation. Two checkboxes also delete the materials and cross sections. Ctrl+Z brings the model back, and it is kept in Recent structures. |
| Share model | Opens the share dialog with a link that contains the whole model. |
| What’s New? | Release notes. They also open by themselves once after an update. |
| Documentation / GitHub | This guide and the source code. |
On a phone, only the ☰ menu and Documentation fit; everything else is in the menu.
The ☰ menu
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Open project / Save project | Open or download a project.json file (Ctrl+O / Ctrl+S). |
| Recent structures | The last 10 models you cleared or replaced, ready to restore. |
| Export image | Save the drawing as PNG or SVG, or copy it (Ctrl+P). |
| Share model | Same as the app-bar button. |
| Examples | The gallery of ready-made models. |
| Draw your first beam | A seven-step guided task. |
| Show me around | The tour of the interface. |
| Clear mesh | Same as the app-bar button. |
The bottom of the menu shows the app version and its release date.
Viewer
The canvas is where you draw and inspect the model. Everything else in the app follows what you select here.
Buttons on the canvas
- Top left: Undo and Redo (Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z). Every model change, including adding, editing, dragging, deleting and clearing, can be undone.
- Top right: Center content (C), Fit content to screen (F) and the ⚙ button that shows or hides the display options. On touch screens there is also Box select.
- Bottom right: G toggles the grid, S toggles snap to grid, the crosshair button shows the pointer position on the rulers, and the units chip opens the settings on Language & Locale.
Display options
Two rows of checkboxes, open by default:
- Results: Deformed shape, N (x), Vz (x), My (x), Reactions. Deformed shape, M and Reactions start ticked.
- Model: Supports, Loads, Node labels, Element labels.
More settings opens the full settings on Viewer settings.
Navigating
| Action | Mouse | Touch |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom | Mouse wheel (towards the cursor), Ctrl+= / Ctrl+- | Pinch |
| Pan | Drag with the middle or right button (see Settings → Controls & Shortcuts) | Drag with one finger |
| Fit / center | F / C or the top-right buttons | The top-right buttons |
Selecting and editing
Click a node, element, load or dimension line to select it. A panel opens next to it with its details and the actions that fit: add a load, set supports, edit, show the stiffness matrix, delete. Clicking a node also switches the bottom bar to the Nodes tab.
- Drag on empty canvas to draw a selection rectangle. Everything inside is selected: nodes, elements, their loads and dimension lines. Press Delete to remove it all, or Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V to copy it elsewhere.
- Drag a node to move it. With snap on, it lands on the grid. Connected elements and their loads follow.
- Double-click a load to edit it.
- Point at anything for a tooltip. Nodes show their displacements and rotation, elements their material and section, loads their values. On a touch screen, tap instead: the same details appear in the selection panel.
Right-click the canvas (or press and hold on a touch screen) for the canvas menu. Hold Ctrl while choosing Add node or Add element to place them with the mouse instead of a dialog. Over an element, the menu also offers Dimension element.
All shortcuts are on the Keyboard, mouse & touch page.
When the model cannot be solved
Messages appear at the top left of the viewer:
- No materials defined / No cross sections defined, with an Add new button.
- A small blue Needs supports chip while the model is simply unfinished.
- A red message when something is wrong, with Show details, which lists every problem.
When the structure can still move, EduBeam swings it as a dashed outline and circles the nodes or hinges at fault. Point at the message to see the motion again, or use its eye button to hide it.
Troubleshooting explains every message.
Bottom bar
Six tabs, each with a toolbar and an editable table. The tabs show how many objects of each kind the model has. The ? at the right explains the open tab, and so does the ? next to some column headings. Drag the tab strip up or down to resize the bar, or minimise it with the button on the right.
| Tab | Toolbar | Table |
|---|---|---|
| Nodes | Add node (dialog), Add node (mouse) | Label, coordinates, Supported DOFs (support symbol, Dx, Dz, Ry, support angle α), loads, edit, delete |
| Elements | Add element (dialog), Add element (mouse) | Label, type, nodes (with a swap button), material, cross section, End hinges, loads, stiffness matrix, delete |
| Loads | Add nodal load, Add element load | Type, target, editable components, edit, delete |
| Materials | Add material, Material library | Label, E, G, αT, delete |
| Cross sections | Add cross section, Section library, Polygonal section | Shape, label, A, Iy, h, k, edit shape, delete |
| Results | Nodal results, Element results, Export CSV, Copy | Displacements and rotations per node, or end forces per element |
Edit a cell in place: click, type, then press Enter (or Esc to leave the cell). Values are shown and entered in the current units.
Tabs above the viewer
Viewer shows the canvas. Settings shows the settings full-size, so you can change colours or units and switch back to see the effect. The units chip and More settings open the same settings as a dialog over the model.
Floating windows
Stiffness matrix (from an element's panel or the Elements table) opens a window with the element's 6 × 6 stiffness matrix in global coordinates. Edit in the canvas menu opens a table of the current selection. Drag them by their title bar and close them with the ×.