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August 11, 2026

Automate ETABS processes with VIKTOR using AI: 3 prompts for preliminary building analysis

by Alejandro Duarte Vendries

I have been using ETABS and the wider CSI ecosystem for more than 10 years, and learning how to automate workflows with the ETABS API gave me a major advantage. I always wanted my colleagues to have access to the same type of automation, but in the past that meant learning to code, understanding the API, and finding time to build and maintain scripts between project deadlines. That was not an easy skill to pick up while delivering real projects.

With the new ETABS integration in the VIKTOR platform, any engineer can automate ETABS workflows in minutes, without writing or maintaining code. In this blog, we’ll show you how with three practical examples: comparing structural layouts under gravity loads, evaluating seismic performance, and estimating preliminary footing sizes for a steel warehouse.

The VIKTOR AI platform gives you one place to automate engineering workflows, test these thoroughly and share them with your colleagues. It's built on three pillars that work together, shown below: a knowledge base that gets smarter with every project, governed distribution once an app is ready to scale, and connections into the engineering tools your team already relies on, like ETABS.

VIKTOR AI Platform.png

VIKTOR uses AI to turn a simple prompt into an automated workflow, while VIKTOR Desktop connects that workflow to ETABS running on your computer. No custom coding or complex installations are needed. The connection stays within VIKTOR’s security and access controls, and you can share the app with the right users, review revisions, collect feedback, and improve it without sending scripts around the office. The ETABS integration is currently in its early stages, so it offers the clearest value today for creating new, compact models for feasibility studies, early design testing, and small buildings.

In this blog, you will automate the following ETABS workflows:

A parametric gravity-load building: to compare structural grids and estimate starting sizes for main beams, secondary beams or joists, and columns, saving time on repeated model setup
A preliminary seismic braced building: to compare story drift, column demand, and brace axial forces, so you can focus further work on the most promising concept
A steel warehouse with roof trusses: save time on early foundation estimates by applying roof gravity loads, calculating support reactions, and sizing preliminary isolated footings

These three apps were built using just one part of the VIKTOR platform: the App Builder. From there, VIKTOR also gives you the tools to securely share and manage your apps across your organization and connect them to the engineering software your team already uses.

How do I create a parametric gravity-load building in ETABS with AI?

The first automation creates a regular reinforced-concrete building with primary beams, secondary beams, and columns. It is a good starting point because it follows a practical early-design sequence. You define a grid, assign gravity loads, run a linear analysis, and review member demands and reactions. You can change the bay layout, number of stories, section sizes, secondary-beam spacing, and dead and live loads without rebuilding the model by hand. The result is not a final code design, but it gives you a reusable basis for comparing layouts and selecting reasonable starting sections for the main beams, secondary beams or joists, and columns.

You can use the prompt box below to open the App Builder and create the first automation.

Create a parametric 3D reinforced-concrete gravity-frame building

Using VIKTOR + ETABS Connect, create a parametric 3D reinforced-concrete gravity-frame building in kN-m units for preliminary residential or commercial analysis.

Allow the user to define the number of bays in X and Y, bay spacing in each direction, number of stories up to a maximum of 2, first-story height, typical story height, concrete strength, beam section, column section, superimposed dead load, and live load. Create shared joints, primary beams, columns, and fixed base restraints only.

Create load patterns DEAD with self-weight multiplier 1.0, SDL with 0.0, and LIVE with 0.0, and apply the floor gravity loads to the primary frame members using appropriate tributary areas. Create two load combinations: DL + LL, where DL includes self-weight and superimposed dead load, and 1.2DL + 1.5LL.

Create a 3D model view using vkt.GeometryView and two vkt.TableViews: one showing all support reaction loads for each load case and load combination, and another showing the internal forces for every frame element, including beams and columns, with P, V2, V3, T, M2, and M3 results for each load case and load combination.

Follow the ETABS Connect knowledge-base examples for all API calls. Create named groups for joints and frame members, assign the objects to those groups, and use GroupElm when extracting results. Keep the same result-query structure and exact ref/out parameter counts shown in the guide to avoid ETABS parameter errors.

You can download and install VIKTOR Desktop, sign in, and add the ETABS integration. This gives the app a managed connection to the licensed ETABS installation on your Windows machine.

Once VIKTOR Desktop is online, you can start with a small regular model and let the ETABS integration create a new analysis model from the app inputs. You can use the app to vary the grid, sections, and gravity loads, compare alternatives faster, and check the geometry, load directions, units, and result equilibrium.

How do I check seismic drift and bracing forces in ETABS with AI?

After the gravity example, the focus moves to lateral behavior with a regular steel braced building. This automation is useful for early seismic studies because you can change the number of stories, bay widths, column and brace sections, bracing arrangement, and a user-defined preliminary base-shear coefficient, then compare drift and force demand without rebuilding every alternative. The app returns story displacement and drift, base reactions, column forces, and brace axial forces so you can see which parts of the lateral system control the concept.

Use the following prompt to create the seismic model and review story drift and bracing forces.

Check seismic drift and bracing forces in ETABS

Use VIKTOR + ETABS Connect to create a parametric 3D steel braced-frame building in kN-m units. Let me set the number of bays in X and Y, bay spacing, number of stories, first and typical story heights, beam section, column section (HEA/IPE/W), brace section (Circular hollow section), brace layout, steel material, floor dead load, floor live load, seismic weight factors, preliminary seismic coefficient Cs, and vertical-distribution exponent k.

Create fixed bases, rigid diaphragms, shared joints, beams, columns, and braces. Create DEAD, SDL, LIVE, EQX, and EQY load patterns.

Calculate each story weight, calculate the preliminary base shear as Cs times total seismic weight, and distribute it to the floors in X and Y using Fi = V(wi hi^k) / Σ(wj hj^k). Show the calculation table in the app.

Create a GeometryView 3D view of the model (do not add labels) and a TableView with a story displacement and drift table, a chart of height vs storei displacmements for x and y.

Use the example in knowledbase guide to use the proper signature for the joint displacements

After the App Builder creates the app, you can run a compact test model first and compare the ETABS base shear, drift pattern, brace-force signs, and reactions with hand calculations. From there, you can use the App Builder to improve the layout, add result filters, or change the bracing options. This helps you compare alternatives faster while keeping the engineering assumptions visible.

How do I size warehouse footings in ETABS with AI?

Finally, you can use the same approach to create a steel warehouse with triangular roof trusses. The app lets you control the building span, length, frame spacing, eave height, roof slope, and structural sections. It applies dead and live loads to the roof, runs the ETABS analysis, and uses the governing compressive reaction at each support to estimate an isolated footing size. This connects the warehouse geometry, gravity load path, support reactions, and preliminary foundations in one workflow, so you can compare configurations without rebuilding the model and footing calculations by hand.

Use the following prompt to create the warehouse model and calculate preliminary footing sizes.

Size warehouse footings in ETABS

Use the VIKTOR ETABS Connect integration to create a parametric steel warehouse with triangular roof trusses spanning the building width. Each roof truss must include top chords, a bottom chord, and internal diagonal and vertical web members. Add X bracing to one bay between two adjacent columns on each longitudinal side of the warehouse. Connect the roof trusses longitudinally with purlins. Use kN-m units.

Let me set the building span, length, eave height, roof slope or angle, frame spacing, number of frames, column and beam sections, truss member sections, purlin section, longitudinal bracing section, steel material, roof dead load, roof live load, and allowable soil bearing pressure.

Create DL and LL load patterns. Include structural self weight in DL, and apply the additional roof dead and live loads downward at the appropriate roof nodes using their tributary areas. Create a service load combination named COMB_DL_LL that includes DL + LL. Do not create wind or seismic loads for this use case.

Save the ETABS model, run a linear static analysis, and retrieve the support reactions for DL, LL, and COMB_DL_LL. Check the analysis status and verify that the total vertical reactions are consistent with the applied gravity loads.

Use the governing compressive axial reaction at each support to size its preliminary isolated footing. Calculate the minimum required footing area as A = N / q_allow and determine the corresponding square footing dimensions. Ignore support moments, shear, eccentricity, sliding, settlement, and reinforced concrete design for this use case.

Create a 3D geometry view without labels that shows the warehouse structure. Create a second 3D view that includes the preliminary foundation pads. Create a results table showing the support ID, X and Y coordinates, governing load combination, compressive reaction N, allowable bearing pressure, required footing area, and square footing dimensions.

Before creating a frame member, check whether another member already connects the same two joints. Avoid zero length or duplicate members, especially at the truss eaves and ridge nodes where chords, columns, and web members share joints. Create helper functions for these checks.

Before creating a load combination, check whether its name matches an existing load case or combination. Reuse it if it already exists, and prefix every new combination name with "COMB_".

Finally, verify the exact reaction-results method signature against the reference guide and worked examples.

After the App Builder creates the app, you can test it by starting with a small warehouse and comparing the applied roof gravity load with the total vertical reactions. You can then change the span, frame spacing, roof slope, or truss sections and review how each option affects the support reactions and preliminary footing dimensions. This gives you a faster way to compare warehouse configurations and prepare early foundation estimates from the same ETABS model.

How to use AI for ETABS building design

You have now used three prompts to create ETABS apps for gravity analysis, seismic studies, and warehouse footing estimates. The next question is how you can keep using AI to build and improve these workflows safely. The VIKTOR platform gives you a controlled environment where you can turn more engineering ideas into ETABS applications, test them with small models, and improve them before sharing them with your team.

The App Builder generates the application code in the VIKTOR platform, and the ETABS integration connects the app to ETABS through VIKTOR Desktop. You do not need to install Python or run AI-generated Python code directly on your computer. The generated code does not receive unrestricted access to your local device. This gives teams a safer way to scale prompt-driven development across the organization, spark innovation, and optimize engineering processes.

How does AI know how to create models in ETABS

In addition to providing a safer way to create ETABS apps with AI, the VIKTOR platform includes a knowledge base. The knowledge base is one of the main pillars of the platform. It stores engineering information specific to the industry and your company, including internal methods, design guidance, terminology, and workflow requirements, of course only within your company’s secure environment. AI can combine this knowledge with your prompt and curated ETABS integration guides to create models and applications in ETABS.

What's next for the ETABS integration

The current ETABS integration is optimized for preliminary design workflows that create new models and run supported analyses. The team is now working to extend it with the following capabilities.

Direct access to the built-in ETABS cross-section libraries or material database
Connections to an ETABS instance that is already running
Workflows that use existing models and their results
The option to return a saved ETABS model file to the VIKTOR app for download or reuse

We know these capabilities are central to day-to-day structural engineering. You can help us prioritize them by sharing your use case on the VIKTOR Community.

Conclusion

These three prompts show how you can use the ETABS integration for gravity analysis, preliminary seismic studies, and warehouse footing estimates without rebuilding every model from scratch. The VIKTOR platform brings the inputs, ETABS analysis, and results into reusable apps that you can test, share, and improve as your workflow develops. This helps you compare concepts faster, keep assumptions visible, and spend less time repeating model setup and result processing.

Try one of the prompts above and adapt it to an ETABS workflow your team repeats often. You can start with VIKTOR here.

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