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STAAD Integration

STAAD.Pro Import: What’s Supported

This page lists what comes into SkyCiv Structural 3D when you import a STAAD.Pro file, feature by feature. Yes means it’s fully supported. Partial means most of it comes through, with one documented exception — see the note underneath the row for what to expect. No means it isn’t converted; where that applies, you’ll usually see a note about it in the import log.

Model geometry & organization

STAAD Feature Supported? In Structural 3D
Joint coordinates, including cylindrical coordinates Yes Nodes, with cylindrical coordinates converted to X/Y/Z automatically.
What’s missing

Generating extra joints with REPEAT or REPEAT ALL isn’t supported yet. STAAD doesn’t document how it numbers the new joints, so rather than guess and risk incorrect geometry, these lines are skipped — you’ll see a note about it in the import log.

Member connectivity, including STAAD’s shorthand for generating a run of members Yes Members, generated exactly as STAAD itself would create them.
Plate/shell connectivity, including the shorthand generation forms Yes Plates, generated the same way.
Solid (brick) elements No Structural 3D doesn’t have a solid element type to import these into.
Groups (joints, members, elements, floors — including whole-model and whole-axis shortcuts) Yes Converted into SkyCiv groups once the rest of the model has been read in.
What’s missing

If a group is defined using one of STAAD’s shortcut forms (a keyword like ALL, or a bare axis letter), it can only be used after the whole import finishes — not by another command earlier in the same file.

Physical members (a single member split across several joints, with its own properties, constants and loads) Yes Its data is applied to each of the individual members that make it up.
Rigid links between a control joint and a set of dependent joints Yes Fully supported, including selecting the dependent joints by a coordinate range.
Rigid floor diaphragms No Not supported yet.
Surface elements (wall/slab surfaces defined as a single entity, distinct from plates) No Not supported yet.

Sections & materials

STAAD Feature Supported? In Structural 3D
Sections chosen from a country’s standard database Yes Matched against Structural 3D’s own section database by name, including close matches.
Sections assigned by STAAD’s own per-country default (beam, column, channel or angle) Yes Resolved to that country’s default section, then matched the same way as a table section.
Custom (prismatic) and tapered sections Yes Converted into a matching rectangle, circle, tee, tube, or tapered I-shape.
What’s missing

A round hollow tube can’t be tapered, since Structural 3D’s Section Builder only allows tapering for I, rectangular, hollow-rectangular and T shapes. Where only overall properties are given (area, moments of inertia) instead of dimensions, the section’s properties still come through correctly, but it won’t be drawable in the Section Builder.

Custom, user-defined section tables No Not supported yet.
Materials, including a units change partway through a material’s definition Yes Fully supported.
Per-member material assignment, rotation angle, and per-member material overrides Partial Material assignment and each member’s rotation angle are converted.
What’s missing

Overriding a single member’s stiffness, density or other material properties (rather than assigning it a whole different material) is read but not applied — you’ll see a note in the import log for each one. Rotating a member to align with a reference point, joint or vector isn’t converted into a rotation angle yet.

Member behavior

STAAD Feature Supported? In Structural 3D
Member end releases, including partial (spring) releases Yes Converted to a fixity setting at each end.
What’s missing

STAAD’s torsional partial release has no equivalent in Structural 3D, so it’s treated as fully fixed. Where a partial release does map to a spring, only the fact that it’s a spring comes through — its stiffness value doesn’t, yet.

Member end offsets Yes Fully supported.
Truss, tension-only, compression-only and cable members Yes Fully supported.
What’s missing

For cable members, only the member type comes through — its initial tension, length and self-weight factor don’t, since Structural 3D doesn’t yet have a matching field for them.

Inactive or deleted members and joints Yes Excluded from the imported model, as expected.

Supports

STAAD Feature Supported? In Structural 3D
Fixed, pinned and partially-fixed supports Yes Fully supported.
Spring supports, including one-way (tension-only or compression-only) springs Yes Fully supported.
Inclined supports No Structural 3D’s inclined support only allows a single angle, and can’t reproduce STAAD’s more general 3D reference direction. These are skipped, with a note in the import log — an Inclined Roller Support can be added manually afterward.
Elastic mat and elastic footing supports No Not supported. Consider modelling these as Surface Spring Supports in Structural 3D instead.

Loads

STAAD Feature Supported? In Structural 3D
Joint loads, including loads applied along an inclined direction Yes Fully supported.
Self-weight Yes Fully supported.
Uniform, trapezoidal, concentrated and moment loads on members Yes Fully supported, in global, local or projected directions.
What’s missing

A moment or force applied about a member’s local Y or Z axis is approximated using only its local X axis — you’ll see a note asking you to double-check these. A trailing “perpendicular distance” value on these loads is read but not used.

Pressure loads on plates Yes Supported for uniform and trapezoidal pressure, in global or local directions.
What’s missing

A pressure load defined over only part of a plate (a partial or concentrated pressure) isn’t converted yet — you’ll get a note about it in the import log.

One-way (area) loads Yes Supported when applied to a member list, an axis direction, or a floor group.
What’s missing

The alternative form that defines the load’s extent with coordinate ranges, instead of a floor group, isn’t converted yet.

Floor loads (two-way load distribution) Yes Supported when applied to a floor group.
What’s missing

The coordinate-range form, and a floor load on a non-horizontal (inclined) panel, aren’t converted yet.

Support settlement / displacement loads Yes Fully supported.
Reference loads Yes Supported, applied as a scaled combination of other loads.
What’s missing

The reducible-load option, and the seismic form of a reference load, aren’t converted — both are noted in the import log.

Response spectrum (seismic) load cases No Not supported. The whole load case is skipped, since its data represents mass rather than a static load — you’ll be notified.
Automatically generated wind and seismic loads (STAAD’s built-in code-based generators) No Not supported. Structural 3D doesn’t reproduce STAAD’s own load-generation calculations, so these are noted in the import log rather than converted.
Notional loads No Not supported yet.
Member temperature loads No Not supported. Structural 3D has no matching load type yet.

Load combinations

STAAD Feature Supported? In Structural 3D
Load combinations Yes Fully supported, with each term’s factor.
What’s missing

A combination’s GENERATE instruction, and an overall scale factor at the end of an SRSS combination, are intentionally not applied — this matches how Structural 3D expects a combination to be defined, not a coverage gap.

Repeated (REPEAT LOAD) combinations Yes Fully supported.
A combination that references a response-spectrum load case No Not supported. That term is left out, and a combination left with nothing in it is removed entirely.

Units & file formatting

STAAD Feature Supported? In Structural 3D
Changing units partway through the file, including inside a material definition Yes Every value is converted using whichever units were active where it was written.
Mixed-case STAAD keywords Yes Fully supported — STAAD itself isn’t case-sensitive, and neither is this import.
Indentation, spacing and blank lines Yes Fully supported — these have no effect on how your file is read.
Analysis and design-code commands (which load cases to run, steel/concrete design checks, print settings) No Not imported. Structural 3D brings in your model’s geometry and loads for analysis — it doesn’t reproduce STAAD’s own design-code checks.

If a command from your STAAD file isn’t listed here, or something didn’t come through the way you expected, reach out to our support team and we’ll take a look.

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