How should I label piers for a wall with openings?

ANSWER: A suggested pier labeling scheme for walls with openings is given in Figure 1:

• Additional information is available through Help > Documentation > Shear Wall Design > General Design Information.
  
  Note the following about the wall pier labeling scheme shown in Figure 1a:
• Wall piers are always associated with the story level directly above them.
  Thus, in Figure 1a, the upper level wall piers are associated with the Roof
  level and the lower level wall piers are associated with the 2nd level. Because
  the wall piers are associated with story levels, wall pier labels can repeat
  at different levels, as shown in the figure.
• When we refer to wall pier P1 at the Roof level in Figure 1a, we are referring
  to the pier across the entire width of the wall that is made up of the
  five area objects given the pier label P1. Similarly, pier P2 at the Roof level
  is made up of the two area objects to the left of the door opening.
• Wall pier design is performed at the top and bottom of each pier. Thus, for
  wall pier P2 at the Roof level, design is performed at the top and bottom of
  the door opening. No design is performed near the midheight of the door
  opening because the design is done at the top and bottom of the wall pier,
  not the top and bottom of each area object that makes up the wall pier.
• Wall pier forces are reported at the top and bottom of each pier. Thus, for
  wall pier P2 at the Roof level, wall pier forces are reported (printed) for locations
  at the top and bottom of the door opening. For graphic representation
  on the model, the forces are plotted at the top and bottom of the pier
  and connected with a straight line.
• If, for example, you are not interested in either design or output forces for
  wall piers P1 and P5 at the Roof level, do not provide wall pier labels for
  those area objects.

How are surface loading conditions applied to an area?

Answer: Loading conditions may be applied as follows:

1. Mesh the area at appropriate locations and intervals using the options available through Edit > Mesh Areas.
2. Concentrated loads – Apply concentrated moments and point loads to any node location by selecting Assign > Point Load.
3. Line loads – For linear distributed loading, define a frame object with negligible structural properties, then draw these frames where line loads are to be applied. Draw line loads on the frame objects by selecting Assign > Frame loads > Distributed, then scale their magnitude according to tributary allocation.
   
   Area loads – Similarly, apply area loads by selecting Assign > Area loads > Uniform