Assign Objects to Groups

Form: Groups

The concept of groups is the backbone of some powerful tools in ETABS. A group is a collection of objects that is assigned a name. After the group has been named, groups can be used as follows:

Select objects by group.
Design steel frame elements, including composite beams, by group. ETABS selects the optimum section that works for all frame elements in the group.
Use groups to define section cuts in the model and then obtain the forces acting on those section cuts.

Assign selected objects to a previously defined group name as follows:

Select the objects to be part of the group.
Click the Assign menu > Assign Objects to Groups command to access the Groups form.
Highlight the group name to which the selected objects should be assigned. Click the Add button to add a new group name to the list. Note that clicking on a group name and clicking the Delete button will delete the group definition from the model. The objects in the group are not deleted from the model however.
Options: Choose to add the selected objects to the selected Group name, replace any objects that had been assigned to the selected group with the newly selected objects, or delete the selected objects from the selected group.

If you are unsure which objects are included in a group, click the Select > Select > Group command to access the Select Groups form. Click on the group name and the objects in that group will be selected in the active window.

Click the OK button to accept the assignment.

Change the color associated with a group as follows:

Highlight the group name in the Groups area of the Groups form.
Click the color box to access the Color form. Select the revised color.