Built a free calc workspace where equations, FEM, and PDF markups live on the same canvas - looking for honest feedback from people who do this for a living
As a junior structural engineer, I've gotten more and more frustrated with how fragmented my structural design workflows is.
A typical project ends up scattered across PDFs and markups, FEM screenshots, Excel sheets, hand sketches, calc packages, notes to myself, and multiple design iterations sitting in different folders. The actual reasoning behind the design (why one scheme was chosen over another, what assumptions were made, what quick checks were done along the way) usually gets lost.
This can be brutal when trying to communicate my work to my supervisor, and fumbling around trying to remember all the assumptions and checks I did to validate my final result. I can compile things nicely into a bluebeam pdf calc package in the form of screenshots and static text, but when the design inevitably changes I have to redo all the work.
I've also felt like most structural software forces you into "finalized models" way too early. In reality, structural design is messy and iterative: sketch an idea, simplify it, run a quick check, compare options, rethink assumptions, refine later.
So I've been building a side project to explore a different workflow. The idea is basically an infinite canvas for structural reasoning.
You can:
- import drawings and PDFs as references and sketch over them
- drop down equation blocks that evaluate live with units enforced, so 5 kip + 2 m refuses to give you a number instead of quietly fudging it
- sketch a frame on the canvas, apply loads, supports and releases, and get moment, shear, and deflection diagrams in place
- connect variables across everything, so changing w_dead updates every downstream equation and FEM input, and selecting a result traces back through what it depends on
- keep assumptions, calcs, and models spatially connected instead of spread across disconnected tools
PS. There are many more features hidden in the app, too many to enumerate here or in the demo video, but you can find comprehensive documentation by hitting the help icon top right.
The goal isn't to replace advanced FEM software. It's the layer above, where you actually reason about a design before committing to a detailed model.
Still very early but working end-to-end. I'd love feedback from people who do this for a living: does the workflow resonate, what feels useful vs gimmicky, and what would make something like this actually worth opening during a real project? Brutal honesty welcome.
If there's enough genuine interest, I'm also considering open sourcing it.
Link: https://www.noem.works/