# Members
Members represent physical entities in a structural model (i.e., an entire beam, floor slab or bridge deck) and contain attributes that describe the entity as a whole. Members can be:
- 1D (linear) entities
- 2D (area) entities
- 3D (solid) entities
A member is comprised of one or more finite elements that share the same attributes as the member. To create finite elements from members, go to the Model tab in the top menu and select Coordination tools > Create elements from members or click the toobar button: 
.
BIM coordination and round-tripping with BIM software relies on both the physical location and attributes of members.
Entities are modelled as members in the Design layer where you can also specify:
- Target mesh size
- Member releases
- Offsets
- Steel and concrete design parameters
The table below gives a brief description of the fields used to define a member:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Topology | The topology describes the geometry of a member. This is defined by nodes that make up key points on the member. |
| Name (optional) | An optional identifier for the member. |
| Colour (optional) | An optional colour that could be assigned to a member. |
| Type | Describes the dimensionality and whether the member is representing actual geometry, or will be used as a void cutter. |
| Property | Describes the material, shape and dimensions of the member by assigning it a defined property. |
| Group | A group can be assigned to a member to help with later downstream sorting. |
| Orientation node or angle (optional) | User-specified. Indicates the local axes of a member, if different from the default member. |
| Releases (optional) | Describes whether or not the ends of a 1D member should be assigned a release. |
| Offsets (optional) | Represents whether or not the physical geometry should be modelled offset from the geometry defined in topology. |
| Dummy | If a member is labelled as dummy, it will be as if this member does not exist. |
| Element type | Describes which type of finite elements this member will create. |
| Element size | Mesh size, default is 1m. |
| Intersect with others | If the member intersects with others, it will be meshed to be node out with adjacent members. |
| Design options for effective length | For steel design only. |
| Design variable overrides (optional) | For steel design only. |
| Timeline and exposure (optional) | |
| Fire resistance (optional) |