SPACE GASS is a general purpose structural analysis and design program for 2D and 3D frames, trusses, grillages and beams. It comes with a full complement of features that make it suitable for any job from small beams, trusses and portal frames to large high rise buildings, towers, cranes and bridges. Items such as graphical input, polar coordinates, elastic supports, pin-ended members, tension-only members, rigid member offsets, moving loads and non-linear analysis are all standard features.

SPACE GASS has been designed so that you have everything at your fingertips. The main graphics display, which is visible almost all of the time, is the central focus of the program and constantly shows the current state of the model; you can display up to four viewports (windows), with different views of the structure, at one time. Toolbar buttons that instantly activate the most frequently used commands, and toggle buttons that turn options on or off and indicate their state at a glance, give the program a highly visual look. A logically arranged system of pull-down menus gives access to all of the program’s features in a way that makes it impossible for you to get lost in. Context sensitive help is available for each screen and, if that is not enough, the entire SPACE GASS user manual is included on-line!

SPACE GASS has a feature rich set of graphics commands which enable virtually all parts of the data to be input or edited graphically. This includes the structure, loads, and design data. The list of graphics commands includes draw, move, rotate, copy, mirror, erase, stretch, subdivide, intersect, connect, merge, renumber, attributes, restrain, section, material, constrain, load, area load, moving load, combine, mass, steel member, steel connect, show, label, annotate, redraw, zoom, pan, viewpoint, filter, query, grid, snap, ortho, attach, plane, coordinates and scale.

As an alternative to graphical input, an enhanced form of spreadsheet input, called Datasheet Input, is available for all types of data. Special buttons for generation and other data specific items such as section property shape input or material library input make datasheet input indispensible. SPACE GASS also offers pro-forma text file input and standard wizard input.

Although SPACE GASS is very easy to learn and use, it contains a huge number of sophisticated features and capabilities. Most of these come as standard features, however a few of the more specialized ones are supplied as options.

The standard features in SPACE GASS include:

• Intuitive and easy-to-use graphical user interface.
• Simple and logical menu system offering access to all program features.
• Multiple viewports that allow you to display up to four different views of the model at once.
• Toolbar buttons offering instant access to the most commonly used commands.
• Maximum use of buttons with icons or pictures in place of words or codes.
• Metric, Imperial or any mixed units system.
• Graphical input.
• Undo / redo.
• Filters that let you control what you see graphically.
• Context sensitive menus that are activated by right clicking the mouse.
• Datasheet input and text file input.
• A structure wizard that guides you through the generation of standard structures.
• Full data generation facilities for linear and curved structures.
• Rigid, sliding and pin-ended members.
• Semi-rigid joints.
• 3D member offsets.
• Tension-only and compression-only members.
• Rigid, sliding, pinned and elastic supports.
• Standard section, material, spectral, vehicle, bolt, plate and weld libraries.
• Library editor.
• Shape builder for built-up shapes and non-standard sections.
• All types of node and member loads (concentrated and distributed).
• Prescribed node translations and rotations.
• Thermal loads.
• Prestress loads.
• Area loads.
• Moving loads.
• Automatic self weight generation.
• Load combinations.
• Load case enveloping.
• Automatic stabilization of unrestrained nodes.
• Linear and non-linear analysis.
• Wavefront analysis optimization.
• Export/import facilities with MS-Access, MS-Excel and MS-Word.
• Highly customizable output reports which can be previewed before printing.
• Reports in PDF format.
• Background printing.
• Full node and member renumbering before or after other data has been input.
• Virtually unlimited capacity (subject to sufficient memory and disk space).
• Loading diagrams.
• Deformed geometry diagrams.
• Bending moment, shear force, and axial force diagrams.
• Query function for frame and diagrams.
• Full 3D geometry display from any viewpoint with optional hidden line removal.
• Lightning fast analysis speed.
• The ability to merge jobs.
• Script files for controlling SPACE GASS from other programs.
• Macro facility for running other programs from SPACE GASS.
• Context sensitive on-line help.
• The complete SPACE GASS user manual on-line.
• 32-bit program with all analysis calculations to 64-bit accuracy.
• Compatible with Windows 98 / ME / 2000 / NT / XP / Vista.

The optional features in SPACE GASS are:

• Master-slave constraints.
• Catenary cable element.
• Dynamic frequency analysis.
• Dynamic response spectrum analysis.
• Buckling analysis.
• Steel member design.
• Steel connection design.
• Steelwork drafting and CAD interface.
• Reinforced concrete column design.

Note that all of the standard and optional features are fully integrated into SPACE GASS and form an integral part of its menu structure. Transfer of data between the various modules is automatic because they all share the same database.

For more information about the major standard and optional features mentioned above, refer to Main Features.