Do grasshopper has a live link with MIDAS CIVIL? If not, does anyone had a workflow around it?
I dont think that live link is possible but I am currently developing a plugin to link grasshopper and Midas. It is still work in progress but I hope I’ll be able to share it soon.
You may check in the following video a bridge and also some other structures where I implemented the plugin.
how about a fact midas has no mesher built-in so when dealing with plates its not that easy, you have to provide it with meshed structure. is there some FE mesher plugin for GH?
I’m not sure I understand your point but you can always mesh the plate in rhino/grasshopper and then export to midas. You can’y have plates with more than 4 nodes in midas so obviously you’ll have to mesh in grasshopper but that is not a problem. Grasshopper is great when it comes to meshing. You may check a few more videos in my channel in YouTube where i modeled some plate elements.
i will have a look. my problem with midas in general is that once you create geometry and topology you have to mesh it manually inside the program and there is no turning back once you totally explode and atomize your model. it is sometimes pretty difficult especially with plate models. in all other programs you create beams plates and solids and the meshing part is automatic.
Use a copy.
// Rolf
editing and things like that 
not talking about load combinations. there are no parameters possible so you cant just define your coeficients once. i just hate its user interface its stuck and never developed since 2000. there should be someone to take its fea code and build proper interface around it. maybe the whole thing could be controlled within rhino and GH enviroment ?! that would be super cool because midas is powerful in calculations just terrible to work with.