Open your STAAD, SAP2000 or IFC model

Structural reads the models you already have. Every import ends with a report that counts what came across, names each assumption, and lists everything it could not bring — nothing is dropped silently.

Open Structural

What it reads

File → Import, Open from computer, or drop the file on the window. The app tells files with the same extension apart by their content.

Import formats
FormatFileWhat comes across
STAAD.Pro.std, .txtThe most complete importer: units (including changes part-way through a file), Y-up to Z-up, member orientation and BETA angles, materials, job information, fireproofing, rigid links and diaphragms, temperature loads, floor and one-way loads, response spectra with their modal case, typed combinations and envelopes.
SAP2000.sdbThe native model file, checked against real files up to v26 and converted from the model’s own units. Joints, frames, releases, end offsets, local axes, insertion points, sections as stored, materials, patterns and analysis cases, frame, joint, temperature and shell loads, plates with their stiffness modifiers, load-distribution areas, combinations, groups, body constraints, the mass source and the grid. A file from SAP2000 15.x is refused with a message saying to save it again in a newer version.
SAP2000.xmlThe XML table export.
IFC.ifcBeams, columns and members become frames; a section is matched to the catalogue only when the file’s own geometry agrees. Slabs, walls and footings are counted in the report, not imported. Nothing is joined for you: members that touch in the physical model are reported, so you can connect them.
SkyCiv.jsonThe model export.
XFEM4U.xmlThe XML Interface export (not the native .xfr3).

A SAP2000 text file (.s2k) cannot be read yet — the app refuses it by name and asks for the XML export or the .sdb instead.

The import report

Each importer maps the model onto Structural’s own, converting units to SI and turning axes where the source is Y-up. Anything it cannot map — a command, a load type, a setting — gets a line in the report with its count or its value, so you know the size of what is missing and not just that something is.

The import report after opening a STAAD .std file: a count of the nodes, frames, sections, supports, load cases and combinations found, then importer notes naming each assumption, such as the default S235 steel added because the file had no material.

After importing

  • The import opens as a new model: saving never writes over the file you imported.
  • Read the report, then check the units and materials — a weight density that looks like a mass density is flagged.
  • Run Analyze → Check Structure. A model the solver cannot run is refused with the joint or member named, using the labels from your file.

Export goes the other way as Structural’s own JSON, XML, or IFC 2x3 and IFC 4.