The effective length of a beam can be controlled by setting the criteria from the menu item Criteria-Design Defaults. The specifications of CAN/CSA S16 have been implemented with the following modifications according to the Structural Stability Research Council (SSRC), "Guide to stability Design Criteria for Metal Structures", Galambos, 1998.

For cantilever beams the effective length is taken as 1.5 times the unbraced length. This assumes the cantilever tip is restrained against torsion. Omega 2 (w2) is taken as 1.0 for cantilevers.