"Other" can represent any material, such as wood or masonry. Steel and concrete sections can also be entered as "Other" if desired, such as those with unusual cross-sections.

Note that the RAM Steel Beam Design module can only be used to design Steel, Steel Joist, SMARTBEAM and Westok Cellular Beam members and the RAM Steel Column Design module can only be used to design Steel members. RAM Concrete is only used to design Concrete beams, columns and walls.

Material Mode can be easily changed with the Material Command in the Modeler main menu or by selecting a material from the combo box on the toolbar. Generally speaking, layout commands will only affect members of the currently selected material. If the current Material Mode is set to Concrete, for example, performing a command such as Layout - Beams - Change Properties will only affect concrete beams.

The current Material Mode is shown in the Material Window on the Status Bar, and is also shown as being the checked material under the Material Menu Item.

Materials are discussed in more depth in Chapter 3, Modeling in Plan Mode.