Risa Tips & Tricks: How to Use Our Structural Analysis Software

August 19, 2026

The RISA License Difference: Built for How Engineering Teams Actually Work

RISA’s shared, cloud-based licensing model is designed to reduce software costs, eliminate administrative frustrations, and give engineers access to the tools they need when they need them. Unlike traditional named licenses, RISA licenses are shared across your team and not tied to a specific user. Shared licenses align with real world workflows and budgets. For firms evaluating different structural engineering software, shared vs. named software licenses directly impacts both cost and productivity. READY TO LEARN MORE? Explore RISA's Cloud Licensing Difference Reduce License Costs Without Limiting Access Most firms do not need a dedicated license for every engineer. With RISA’s shared license model, access is based on usage rather than user. Teams can operate efficiently with fewer shared licenses versus the named license alternative. For example, a senior engineer may only need periodic access to review another engineer’s model. With a named license system, they would require a full license despite the limited use. Over time, this leads to an underutilized tool and higher total costs. By contrast, shared licensing ensures that licenses aren’t sitting idle on one individual’s computer. Licenses can be accessed by multiple team members requiring fewer total licenses and lowering overall licensing costs. Eliminate Reassigning Delays…

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Plates

July 07, 2020

Expanded Results for Contour Plots

Color contours and gradients can be very helpful to visualize the...

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April 01, 2020

Introducing RISA Live!

With many of us working from home, our support team wanted to be able to...

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June 07, 2018

Improved Automesh & Local Axis Settings

RISA-3D now includes improved behavior of the automesh feature as well as...

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January 15, 2015

Approximate Guidelines for Plate Meshing

It is important to submesh plate elements in your model in order to obtain...

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August 21, 2013

How can I transition a Plate Mesh from Round to Rectangular?

Transitioning plates from a circular (or elliptical) to a square (or...

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May 15, 2013

How can I find the deflection of plates?

Below is a model of a flat concrete slab made of plates. In order to...

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March 20, 2013

Plate Contours Compared to Spreadsheet Values

After solution in RISA-3D, you can use Results View Settings to view the...

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February 06, 2012

How do Plates and Walls interact with each other?

Below is a model of a concrete flat slab (represented by a plate) which is...

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