Align Local Axes in ETABS

A Closer Look

The Problem: In ETABS, diagonal members often have incorrect local axes because the software doesn’t always apply the right orientation. The only way to fix them is to adjust each axes manually.

The Approach: A script that updates the local axis direction for multiple members in one go. It can follow a convention to make things consistent.

The Outcome: Saved hours of manually editing the axes and reduced the risk of errors when working with non-standard member orientations.

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If you’ve ever worked with diagonal members in ETABS, you’ve probably seen times when the local axes are wrong or at least not what you want them to be.

ETABS does a decent job with vertical and horizontal members, but once things are on an angle, it can struggle to assign the correct local orientation. That becomes a problem when you start applying loads or trying to extract meaningful results.

To fix this, you have to go and manually fix the axes of each member. But if you’ve got dozens or even hundreds that quickly becomes a painful, repetitive task.

So, I wrote a script to fix that.

It automatically aligns the local axes based on the member’s direction, adjusting all selected elements in one go.

The script aligning all the local axes to the right direction

It’s a small script but it saves a lot of time and keeps things consistent.