Working with RFEM
Once RFEM is connected, the assistant works in your open model on your machine. Not on a copy, not on an upload. That is the point of the feature and the reason the rest of this page exists.
Setup is on Connecting RFEM; when something is not working, go to RFEM troubleshooting.
The active model is yours to choose
Dlubal CALC does not switch the active model on its own. Creating, opening or activating a model is your decision, so the assistant asks first rather than acting.
This matters more than it sounds. If it silently created a second model when yours was merely inactive, your work would go into a model you never opened, and you would find out much later.
Example: you ask for a frame while no model is open. You get a question first. Answer it, and the build runs in the model you named.
Every RFEM call costs 3 credits
Billed when the call happens. A conversation that builds, calculates and reads results makes several calls, so a modelling session costs more than a question does. The table is in Plans and credits.
Check the axis orientation before you trust a coordinate
RFEM models can run with Z up or Z down, and the assistant states which orientation it worked with after it creates or changes geometry:
Global axes: Z points down → column head at z = −4.0 m
Read that line. It is what lets you catch a mirrored model before it reaches a calculation, and a mirrored model produces results that look entirely reasonable.
Watch it happen
Keep RFEM visible while the assistant works. Objects appear as they are created, and if something is being built in the wrong place you see it immediately rather than in the results.
Where to go next
- Creating models for building geometry from a description.
- Running calculations for what to ask for and what comes back.
- Reading results for getting the right load case out.