Tips & Tricks

October 30, 2025

🎃 Trick or Treat… It’s RISA-Jeopardy! 👻

Halloween isn’t just for candy and costumes—it’s the perfect time to test your spooky engineering skills! We’ve brewed up a Halloween-themed RISA Jeopardy game, packed with fun, easy questions about our software. Tip for readers: Try to answer before revealing the “treat” below each question! 💀 Can You Count? 100 – RISACalc: How many components are currently available in RISACalc? 10 (Beam, Column, Steel Joist, Composite Beam, Retaining Wall, Spread Footing, Wall Footing, Drilled Pier, Seismic Load, Wind Load) 200 – FD: How many Data Entry spreadsheets are available in RISAFoundation? 25 300 – RISA-3D: How many countries or regions have building codes supported in RISA-3D? 9 (US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Great Britain, India, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia) 🎃 Adaptable 100 – ADAPT: Which of these is not an ADAPT product? ADAPT-Builder, ADAPT-Felt, ADAPT-Floor, ADAPT-ABI ADAPT-Floor 200 – ADAPT: Which mode of ADAPT-Builder is used to design slabs-on-grade on expansive soils using the PTI method? ADAPT-SOG 🕸️ The Whole Family 100 – Other: This steel detailing software and fellow Nemetschek brand has a built-in export option in RISA-3D. SDS2 200 – Other: Which design code is the most common in our software, found in 8 of our 10 programs?…

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Using Analysis Offsets in RISA-3D
September 27, 2018

Using Analysis Offsets in RISA-3D

Have you ever wondered what the Analysis Offset feature does? Let’s take a look at how this feature can be used to model members at top of steel.

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Passive Resistance for Mat Slabs
September 20, 2018

Passive Resistance for Mat Slabs

RISAFoundation includes the added ability to enter a passive pressure for slabs. The passive pressure represents soil pressure along the perimeter of the slab and will contribute to the sliding resistance of the slab.

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Copy Elements from Floor to Floor
September 6, 2018

Copy Elements from Floor to Floor

RISAFloor v13.0 now includes the added ability to graphically copy elements from one floor to another floor. This feature will expedite the modeling process by giving designers more control over which beams, columns, walls and joints are carried over to another floor. To access the tool, click on...

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P-Delta Instability with Gravity Only Loads
August 23, 2018

P-Delta Instability with Gravity Only Loads

“Why am I receiving a P-Delta instability error when I run my DL + LL load combination? I don’t see this error when I run my lateral load only combination.”

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Modeling Cables in RISA-3D
August 16, 2018

Modeling Cables in RISA-3D

One of the support questions we get most often is, “How can I model a cable element in RISA-3D?” Cables that are straight and experience only axial loading can be easily modeled. When modeling structures with cables (such as guyed structures) the cables can be modeled as tension only and doing so...

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RISA-Tekla Link v8 Now Available
August 9, 2018

RISA-Tekla Link v8 Now Available

RISA is pleased to announce the release of the latest RISA-Tekla Link that is compatible with Tekla Structures 2018. Roundtrip integration is now available between RISA-3D and Tekla Structures 2018. This seamless link will allow analysis models to be transferred between programs while tracking and...

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Governing Load Combinations for Shear in Concrete Columns
August 2, 2018

Governing Load Combinations for Shear in Concrete Columns

For concrete column members, the load combination producing the maximum shear code check is reported in the Detail Report and corresponding Results spreadsheet. Since concrete is evaluated based on a batch solution, this can be useful when shear governs the design.

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