RISA 3D V 18 Specific Complaints 10

These are the impressions and the frustrations of 'an old hand' on using RISA 3D V 18 (new risa) for a month now. If it is true that old risa was the most popular frame-analysis program in the USA, then I would say that new risa has done great harm to our profession. The old risa was straightforward, sensible, intuitive, and user-friendly. New risa is none of these things and seems to have been programmed not to make a successful program better or maximize ease-of-use, but ‘change for the sake of change’ (and maximize the number of clicks to boot). The new version has absolutely no regard for engineers who know old risa well – they threw our knowledge into the trash and gave us a shiny new POS that takes us hours and days of wasted time to figure out. In the past month new risa has taken more then twice the time that old risa used to take.
I can’t believe the stupidity of software hiding things and forcing engineers to ‘hunt and peck’ click and click just to accomplish what used to take one click. The hiding of menus and lack of expansion of same, the lack of obvious important buttons is really dumb given the larger screen areas that we have now compared to older computers. Old risa fit many more useful buttons on smaller screens and didn’t ‘bury’ items in menus. It may be elegant in a phone to not know how or where to turn the thing on, but in frame-analysis it is maddening, and if it’s also expensive (as new risa is), you are paying for a mediocre, frustrating to use POS (piece of software). Enough for now, more specific comments later.

 

[JoshPlumSE]

JMarker -

Stated another way. Let's say that RISA didn't release this program. But, it came out as a package called "XYZ Analysis and Design". I wouldn't be on any message boards talking about how the interface is terrible. My comments would be more along the lines of "similar to the Revit interface." That would invoke both the good and bad aspects of the Revit interface. In my opinion, it's pretty easy to grasp the basics of the Revit interface. However, to become truly efficient at all the little things takes a lot more work and experience.... Similar to this new RISA/Nemetchek interface.

Now, I doubt that I could EVER be as productive with new RISA as I was with the old RISA interface. No matter how much time I spent with it. That definitely says something.

Also keep in mind that I'm not using the interface within the context of production engineering, where I'm stressed about deadlines and budgets and such. In that respect, my "frustration level" never gets beyond a very basic, "why did they do it that way?". I'm not spending large amounts of time trying to figure out how to do something simple that used to take me seconds.

 

[German Shabanin]

Hello, JMarker8489 (Structural)(OP).
About your Item 2 (Draw Members) and Item 3 (Print Report) - absolutely agree with your!
When I was working on the project (RISA 3D .Net), I offered many ready-made design solutions (C++ and C# programming components) that allow you to repeat the convenient behavior of RISA versions 14, 15, 16 ... But the project manager decided to develop everything from scratch. Much depends on a competent project manager. I'm sure it can still be fixed - not all is lost.
JMarker8489 (Structural)(OP) - Your comments are very valuable for the development of the software product.
Best regards,
German.

 

[JMarker941]

Item 4. Fixed vs 'Floating' Menus.

Besides the fixed Member Properties menu on left side of page, there is the Data Entry and Results fixed menus on the right side. It's another example of changing old risa's way to an inferior/cheaper new risa way.

In old risa you had the freedom to put these 'floating' boxes anywhere on screen you wanted. New risa confines oneself to the right side, but also creates the ridiculous overlap of the 2 menus (ie, Results menu overlaps the Data Entry menu). It wouldn't be so bad if they had only listed the most important Data Entry items: Materials, Section Sets, Joint Coordinates, Boundary Conditions, Members, Basic Load Cases, and Load Combinations.

While on this topic of the right-side menus, where was the old risa user who could've reminded them to highlight the most important buttons so they standout from the useless buttons? (what a concept . . . software that makes it easier for eyes to quickly locate the items they want to find . . . )

 

[JMarker941]

German, Thanks for your comments.

 

[German Shabanin]

Hello, JMarker8489 (Structural)(OP).
You have done a very important job of practical testing of the software product.
RISA 3D .Net has a very flexible software architecture for developers. The Chief Software Architect has foreseen great opportunities for changing the user interface in future versions.
I am sure that all your wishes will be taken into account by the developers. I know many from the development team in Kiev. They are all very responsible and conscientious. I am sure that they will take into account all your wishes.
Best regards to you,
German.

 

[JMarker941]

Item 5. Node Coordinates (a misnomer).

I say misnomer because no structural engineer in history has ever gone to a job-site to inspect the nodes; the engineer goes there to look at the connection-joints. You might say "what's the big deal over a word? don't be lazy - just get over it!"

I would've thought twice before changing this old word. Maybe it's just me who is used to looking for Joint Coordinates on the right-side menus, but it's a constant aggravation to skip past the Node Coordinates. Same with Joint Loads. I've never heard of Nodal or Jointal Loads, so I'm not geared to look for thingals of any kind.

The old word "joint coordinate" is time-honored going back to FORTRAN, Descartes, and maybe even Ictinus, the designer of the Parthenon (who created some architectural visual tricks that even new risa would find impossible to replicate). I have not seen in risa a column whose diameter varies from one end to another. for some of this complexity, see

https://youtu.be/I6Wl4vyRqvw?t=538

 

[JoshPlumSE]

JMarker -

RISA (and other programs as well) have gone back and forth over the terms Joints and Nodes. I thought RISA had settled on Joints some years ago because that was a more general term. Some of those joints are used as FEM Nodes to define members, or plates, or solids. Some joints were used to define orientation or as a mechanism to load the structure (member area loads and such). Even so, if you searched the help file on the older versions you would find the term Node in a lot of places.

I have no idea why they back tracked on that. That's certainly not a big deal to me personally. But, I really wonder how much effort they made to make the interface like the old one. That seems like such a basic thing. They really should have named all the spreadsheets the same thing they were before.... weird.

 

[JMarker941]

Item 6. Coordinate Axis.
Of all the wonderful graphic improvements of V18 (and there are many), unfortunately this item was a FAIL: the main 3D axis is shown dimmed (unless you roll over it to brighten it up). I don't know what the rational was for 'dimming' the axis; I can't picture any sane engineer of any age complaining that "gosh I wish they'd dim the axis in the next version of risa, I'm really tired of knowing instantly where I am in the model". Hopefully someone will brighten the axis up so we don't have to squint or roll over the thing.
But the main problem I had (which caused quite a bit of hair-loss) was trying to figure out where they hid the 'rotate-model' function in new risa. Oh I know, it's so easy to do once you look at the cheat-sheet and find out the trick to do it, but I'm not Zelda trying to find the magic powder (although I do love the music in Zelda), I'm tryin' to get some work done here and the new risa video-game is driving me nuts!
But let's end this item on a positive note: the input of coordinates was improved in v18 because someone realized that repeating the coordinates above would make life easier, as opposed to old risa who dished out 0,0,0 whether you liked it or not.

 

[JoshPlumSE]

JMarker -

The coordinate Axes are now "interactive" meaning you can click on them and pull / rotate the model in various directions. That's why it brightens up as you roll over it. If you click on the Z axis, hold the click and then move the mouse, you will initiate a rotation about the Z axis. If you click on the main cube you will get a free rotation in any direction.... similar to the shift-center click that was in the old RISA.

That being said, I cannot believe that they removed the regular rotate X, Rotate Y, Rotate Z buttons. These should still exist (IMO) on the View tab of the ribbon toolbar. It's fine to add fancy new controls that the project manager / developers think are improvements. But, you really need to keep the old controls that users rely on and know how to use. Like you mentioned before, there is all kinds of space on the Ribbon Toolbars. Why get rid of tools that people found useful?!

 

[dik]

When I see a statement like that, I usually give my head a shake to knock the sawdust from between my ears...

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?
-Dik

 

[JMarker941]

Item 7. Loads Input.
It happens to everyone, on simple to most complex models, from old risa to new risa: you're sailing along making great progress and then you go to input some loads. DOH! the load is going in the wrong direction, so you need to go back and change the axis.

This is an obvious opportunity for AI to make life better, by automatically assigning the correct axis to whatever load you input (what a concept!). For instance, any load with the capitals DL in it's name is obviously a dead-load; likewise any load with a LL in it's name is a live-load. These loads always act in the Y direction (unless the user chooses to override and use x,y or some other weird axis). So in my perfect risa world, DL and LL would never end up going the wrong way.

So what about all the other loads: every load the user puts in must have an axis letter in the load, such as EQZ, WLX, ELY, OLX, and so on. Risa AI should recognize this axis letter and automatically assign it to the same axis (again, the user can subsequently override it).

Under the present AI-less risa, the user has to override every load going in a different direction, so I think the above suggestion would prevent a lot of DOH!s

 

[JoshPlumSE]

This load direction correction idea is a good suggestion.... I suggest you send that into RISA directly.

I would suggest one minor correction. Rather than RISA automatically fixing it for you. I would suggest that it pop up a message saying, "This is a DL case, but you entered the Axis as X, would you like us to switch this to Y? Yes, Continue , Cancel".

With a similar type of message / warning when you applied the load in the Y direction, but forgot to give it a negative sign.

 

[German Shabanin]

Hello JMarker8489!
Congratulations!
You actually wrote the terms of reference for the new version of the program RISA 3D AI.
If I am now working in Risa I would take into account all your comments with great gratitude.
I specialize in artificial intelligence AI and its applications.
If you have a desire, I am ready to write such a program as you want.
Get into contact with me.
Thank you very much for all your comments from Item 1 to Item 7.
Best regards,
German.

 

[JMarker941]

Josh: I appreciate your reply to the loads input item, but in general I feel that new risa added too many pop-ups and this interferes with the experienced user. For instance: such a user is expert at adding and deleting Shapes from the Section Sets. The pop-up which appears "Deleting this information will result in the program automatically reassigning this property for the affected elements" is inane and useless except for the student who is doing this for the first time.

Another inane pop-up is the one which appears when risa does not approve of your changing the Shear Modulus, G: "Shear Modulus entered does not match Poisson's Ratio. Not a problem for non-isotropic materials." Maybe it's just me, but I sit there and say "damn it risa, change the value because I'm using a non-isotropic material!"

Why is it inane? because risa already has one of the most powerful buttons on the planet: the "go-back-in-time" button which has saved so many user's cookies.

 

[JoshPlumSE]

One thing that RISA did in the past (when they got feedback that a popup was annoying) was that they added a check box that essentially said, "don't show me this again, just do it".

Tell them to add this sort of thing to some of these annoying popups.

My philosophy is usually that I didn't like it when a program automatically change or correct user input without telling him/her.

 

[JMarker941]

Item 7a. Gravity Loads.
Risa (old and new) has a basic misunderstanding of the gravity load function: the experienced user realizes that earthquake loads (or any load based on a percentage of self-weight) can be simulated with this function. Earthquake in it's simplest idealization is actually gravity in the X and Z directions applied to the self-weight of structure.

Being that the factor has been programmed such that -1 means load in the -Y, -X, or -Z direction, the user can input say -0.35 to simulate an earthquake load. However, entering a positive value of 0.35 will trigger the risa police who will inform you that "you are entering a positive gravity value! Please make sure you are applying uplift load, otherwise please enter a negative gravity value." Hahaha!

My suggestion is that DLs on the structure should be considered as self-weight, meaning that if an engineer puts in a gravity factor of -0.35 in the X direction, the total self-weight will include the applied DLs. At present, risa does not include applied DLs in the self-weight of structure.

 

[JMarker941]

Item 3a. More belly-aching about the Print Report function.
This button is the Rodney Dangerfield [

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0toL3C0R14

] button of risa: "in the old days I used to measure 90sq mm, now I'm only 20sq mm on a screen twice as big! No respect! - I tell ya' no respect at all!"

New risa: for the sake of older eyes please Make this button Great Again and put it back in the ribbon where it belongs. In addition, please change the tolerance on clicking to add loads, delete nodes, and select members, back to what it was in old risa - a quick experience as opposed to a test of mouse dexterity. (I selected a member, why the hell can't I un-select it?)

Report Templates: you Click on Print Report and None comes up. Wat? why the hell can't my first saved report come up first? or why aren't the reports alphabetized so the user could prioritize their own reports, hmmm? Instead, I am forced to click and then drag the gd sidebar down to my precious reports that took me so many hours to create . . . *sighs*

 

[BUGGAR]

Did everybody get a chance to sample the new Risa before they had to buy in (subscribe)?

 

[JMarker941]

just another suggestion on the subject of AI:
Say that you're Solving for a Single Load Combination: wouldn't it be nice to automatically see those LC loads on the model? Furthermore, why not also show the Reactions for the solved LC? At present, new risa's way of showing Reactions is completely lame: the drop-down menu button on rt. side only allows you to make one click at a time! I keep saying "this is the dumbest thing" but what else can you say about a menu that only allows you to click one item at a time?

The other way of showing reactions, clicking on View, Results, Display Reaction Results, Magnitudes, is also a waste of time - this is a torturous system to accomplish something as simple as showing the reactions, and because the user has no freedom of choice, they have to go through the same maze every time. Again, with so much screen area available, lots of Show Reaction buttons could've been put onscreen to make using risa easier.

 

[dauwerda]

Does the new RISA give you the ability to customize your own ribbon tab and buttons? Much like you can do with AutoCAD? This is the only thing that makes AutoCAD's ribbons bearable to me (at least in AutoCAD we can still key in commands as well). It's a pain to go through the customization process, but once its done you can have all your typical tools in one spot organized how you want.