I read in another thread where STAAD(X) was being developed as Bentley's primary general analysis platform. Am I to read into that thread that RAM Elements will be eliminated? Elements is my primary alternative to RISA, especially because it integrates into RAM SS which is our firm's building analysis software, and RAM Connection.
Elements hasn't been updated for over a year, and I have been holding out hope that a new release would come soon taking advantage of the 64bit FE engine that RAM SS now uses. If this is not the case, I'd like to know. Seth mentioned a patch that was forthcoming to Elements to work with Connection V9, but if all we're going to get is maintenance and not development, I'll be sorely disappointed.
Would it be possible to share development plans in broad strokes for the RAM Suite (Elements, SS, Connection, Concept) so users have an understanding of capabilities/improvements being developed.?
Thanks
There will be another update for Ram Elements in the short term which will have trust licensing and works with Ram Connection v9.0. Beyond that most of our development efforts will be focused on STAAD(X). Ram Elements users will eventually be offered an option to switch to STAAD(X) but that's too far out for me to provide details.
So will the design modules from Elements (footings, walls etc) be rolled into STAAD(X)?
Yes, the design modules are being migrated.
I'm glad the modules won't disappear, but this is really disappointing news overall. I may be in the minority but I really like Elements for component, detail, and miscellaneous models and analyses, and have been using it since the Advanse days. I have been trying to sway coworkers away from RISA, and fear this will do nothing but hurt my (and Bentley's) cause on that front.
Is there a version of STAAD(X) that's anything like it's final form (a beta, etc) that will let me evaluate it? The only thing I saw on the main site was STAAD(X) Tower. Having never used a STAAD product, my impression is a data/text driven interface without a strong, straightforward GUI, but I could be wrong.
STAAD(X) is in an early adopter phase now, and then we will have a proper Beta phase. I would watch the Ram Elements news feed, and/or the Structural Analysis and Design News for announcements about that. STAAD(X) will be more like Ram Elements than STAAD.pro in the way is looks and works. I would say it's like a Windows 8 style Ram Elements from what I've seen. It should preserve the best of all the Bentley structural analysis and design products.