Member Change Type

Converts one or more members into a different member type. The members can be converted to beam, column, horizontal brace, vertical brace, girt, purlin, or joist members.
  • Step-By-Step
  • Tips and Tricks
  • Related Tools

1 . Preselect a Member to enable the Members contextual page and click the Member Change Type icon found in the Process section.

Alternative: Invoke Member Change Type using the Find Tool by searching the command name and clicking the icon, which is pictured above.

2 . The Change Member Type window appears. Select a new member type to change the selected member(s) to and press OK.

Alternative 1: If you did not preselect one or more members in step 1, the status line prompts, "Select members." Left-click (Select) one or more members. Press Enter or right-click (Menu) and select OK. Then follow step 2 above.

Alternative 2: Press Esc or click Cancel to end the command.

3 . The member type will change when the member is processed.

  • Changing a member's type then changing it back may cause information about that member to be lost.
  • You might, find this tool useful if you have imported members using Import Model.
  • For those members that are of a type that cannot be converted, the Warnings window opens. It lists the member number [num] of the members that were not converted and informs you that each of these members are not a convertible member type.
  • If you attempted to convert a perfectly vertical column to a beam, girt, or purlin, the member will not be converted and you will get the message: "Beams, girts, and purlins must have a plan length >= (1/16 inch or 1 mm)".
  • If you attempted to convert a perfectly horizontal member such as a beam to a column, the member will not be converted and you will get the message: "Columns must be >= (1/16 inch or 1 mm) vertically".
  • If you attempted to convert a member that had its Model complete date set, the member will not be converted, and you will get the message: "Member is marked model complete and cannot change type".
  • If you attempted to convert a member that has a frozen piecemark, the member will be converted, but its piecemark will be thawed, and a new system piecemark will be assigned to it. You will get the message, "Piecemark on member has been thawed". If there are other members under the original piecemark, they will not be affected.