• Clicking on Nodes - Used to define the deck by clicking on the nodal points that comprise the deck boundary. Click on the Create New Deck button to begin selecting the deck boundary using the composite boundary cursor . Once the deck is created, it will be shown with a hatch pattern.
• Use Selected Beams - Used to define the deck by selecting the beams that comprise the deck boundary.  Using the Beams cursor, select the beams which will define the outer boundary of the deck.

Used to define the deck in by the selected method. Once the deck is identified by any one of the aforementioned methods, a dialog box as shown below will prompt for the deck name. Enter an appropriate deck name in the edit box provided. 

The deck will then be defined and the deck name will appear in the Composite Deck box as shown below.

Select the deck in the tree control to define the properties of the deck. The various options in the Composite Deck box are explained as follows.

Used to define the deck direction (direction of the longitudinal flutes or ribs in the deck) by highlighting any two beams and clicking the Create Direction button.  The deck direction will be defined to run perpendicular to the two beams that were selected.  A symbol will appear to indicate the direction of the deck. This symbol will be placed at the centroid of the deck area.

Once the direction of the deck is specified, the beam numbers which comprise the deck will be displayed as child elements of the deck group.

Click the color square (adjacent to the Create Direction button) to open a color picker dialog. Select a custom color to hash the selected deck or any newly created decks. Each deck can have a different color.

A drop-down list of the various standards incorporated in STAAD.Pro. The program includes three standard catalogs: ASC™, Vulcraft™, and VERCO™. The rib properties will be used from the database provided.

Apart from using the available standards, you may also define custom rib properties by providing the Rib Width and Rib Height.

The effective width for each beam is automatically calculated by STAAD.Pro and is displayed in the Effective Width box. The user can modify the effective width for any individual beam by inputting the value in the Effective Width box and clicking on the update button.