The Shape menu contains commands for working with Shapes in the Shape window.

Place an existing section from the Sections Library into the Shape window. You can use this to build up a section out of existing sections.

Place a standard structural shape in the Shape window. This provides an easy and precise way of automatically placing an I, C, L or T section or a rectangular or circular tube or a rectangular or circular bar. You can type in dimensions on a sketch of the shape to create it.

Choose a material from the Sections Library to be used for the selected shapes in the Shape window. When the section properties for the section are calculated, these shapes will take their Young's Modulus and Shear Modulus from the data stored with the material. The pattern of the material will be displayed in the shapes that are selected when you use this command.

Choose the material to be used as the reference material in the calculation of section properties for composite sections.

Converts the selected shapes into closed polygons, see Converting Shapes to Polygons on page 41.

Merges the selected polygons. Open polygons will be joined if their ends are connected. Closed polygons will be merged if they overlap.

Validate the geometry and topology of the shape drawn in the Shape Window.

(Ctrl I)

Install the shapes in the Shape window as a section in the Sections Library. You do this to make the sections data available to Multiframe for analysis or so you can use the section with other shapes in Section Maker in the future.