Development and Updates for the Medeek Floor Plugin

[Medeek]

Here is a first look at what the updated Floor plugin Layer tab in the Global Settings looks like:



I just realized that the Layer Control in the Project plugin does not have a control in place for the new Floor plugin, there is always more to do.

[Medeek]

The edit menu and draw menu are pretty much done now, just a few more tweaks and error checking and we might be able to start creating our first real floors with this thing:



I was going to include the blocking as an advanced option but after some further thought it seemed like it might be more intuitive to have the blocking be similar to beams and openings, where you can really customize the location and size etc... of each row of blocks independently.

I usually have a pretty good idea how I want things to go even before I start coding but sometimes you get halfway into it and you realize that an alternative method or system would be more optimal.

[Northriver]

How is the floor plug in coming along? I like what I see so far. Are we ready for BETA or are we kicking the can down the road again?

[waynehughes2]

Nathan, Cant wait to see how the flooring plugin integrates with the other plugins with BIM package.

Hopefully, You'll have all the script finished soon.

Thanks

Wayne

[Medeek]

Starting to work on it today, its been a while.

[Northriver]

I see February 1st has come and gone. Are we getting any closer to having a floor plug-in? Can you update us on progress and issues that are holding up the project?
Thanks,
JK

[Medeek]

The progress has been slowed by some ongoing health issues I've personally encountered however progress is being made and I am carefully coalescing on a new plugin which will replace the existing module in the Truss plugin.  Also as updates have been made with various licensing updates within the other plugins I have been migrating those updates into this new plugin.  I apologize in the significant delay with this new plugin but please remember that I am still a one man show and I am spread very thin across the development of six different plugins now.  Each plugin requires a certain amount of attention as bug fixes, updates and feature requests all consume time and energy.

[Medeek]

I realize that people are chomping at the bit for this new plugin and I have been working on it diligently for the last two to three weeks.  The biggest holdup has been going back through all of the code and bringing it up to speed with the other plugins.  There have been quite a few incremental changes to the other plugins with regards to licensing, materials, layers etc...

For instance the plugin material library back end  was originally coded based off of the 2022 version of the Wall plugin.  I just updated all of the code now so that it is keeping in line with the most current version of the Wall plugins material library code base.



So right now I'm spending a few more days making sure everything is modern and up to speed with the other plugins. 

[Medeek]

I might actually designate the initial release a BETA number but I'm still not decided on that yet.

Right now the plugin is all torn apart as I continue to add in a few additional features like presets and the "remove joist list" option:



This is my current desk setup, I've just added the big monitor to my left which gives me more screen real estate and improves my coding efficiency.  This is where all the magic happens, at least for now.

I also initially used the slab-on-grade code for moving edges of the floor perimeter but now that I'm testing it more extensively it appears that I should probably switch to the code I use for the complex roofs, so some additional adjustments required there as well.

This is how the sausage is made, one line of code at a time.

[Medeek]

The draw and edit menus are working great (all HTML) but I've decided I might as well add in "floor" presets since I know that request will be coming down pike if I don't add it in initially.

Also after using the current menus and given all the I-joist options (sizes and manufacturers) it seems almost cryptic in many ways unless you are intimately familiar with the various manufacturer's product numbers. I'm not saying now but maybe at a later date (after the initial release) I will add in a small SVG graphic into both of these menus which give a simple preview (cross section) with dimensions of the selected I-joist product. It would certainly make the menus a bit more graphic and exciting and actually be minimal work to implement, thoughts?

[Medeek]

Just like you can do roof connections in the Truss plugin I am also enabling this feature within the Floor plugin as well as custom subtractions (SUBTRACT and CUSTOM). 

[Medeek]

I've been pushing the plugin all afternoon trying to find ways to break it and a few things eventually did jump out at me. One of which is the rim board algorithm and the sill plate algorithm (essentially the same algorithm but utilized differently). Other than that the basic joist (framing) algorithm seems very robust at this point no matter what strange configurations I try to attack it with:



My initial framing method for the rim joists was to simply bevel/miter the joints, which makes sense if things are non-orthogonal but in practice when things are orthogonal the joints are usually lapped, at least that is what I've always seen in the field. If they are lapped then the question becomes do you lap the long or short parallel to the joists themselves. What I've always seen is the long rim joists are perpendicular to the joists however the user may want some control over this, so it is probably best to make this user definable (yet another option).

I will put my thinking cap on and start a new day tomorrow...

[Medeek]

I think what I will do is provide three options for the joint treatment of both sill plates and rimjoists:

1.) Lap
2.) Reverse Lap
3.) Miter

Option #1 will be the default.  When reverse lap is instantiated the long sided boards will run parallel with the joists.  Most floors will be orthogonal and contain an even number of sides, so that makes things fairly straight forward.  However, there is the possibility for odd sided floors (ie. 3, 5, 7, etc...), in such a case you will usually end up with a non-orthogonal corner somewhere along the perimeter of the floor.  Even if option 1 or 2 is selected, if there are non-orthogonal corners I will simply miter those (for now).  In the future I may add an additional global setting which also allows for lapped non-orthogonal corners, but right now I don't want to spend too much time in the weeds on this.

Thoughts?

Here is an example of the three options for handling joints of both sill plates and rimjoists.  Note that they are independent of each other:

[Medeek]

How soon should I release the BETA version?  I'm currently checking the floor preset functionality and I will also look at the addition of insulation (bat or fill) tomorrow.  The gypsum (ceiling) seems to be working great, but eventually I will add in battens because I know someone will request it, but it is not top priority right now.

I'm thinking I will push out the opening and beam modules after I release the BETA, they will complicate things and may take a few weeks of tweaking and testing before they are ready for prime time.  The opening module will be the higher priority of the two.

I've created the template for the integration with the estimating module, but this will also require further fleshing out.  In addition there will need to be updates to the cost database and weight database modules that integrate materials for the floor assemblies.

I'm honestly not sure how useful the connection function is as compared to the Truss plugin, but it will be a feature since most of the heavy lifting is already done.

The CUSTOM and SUBTRACT feature will be similar to the Truss plugin, it is in place and appears to be working as it should, further testing would be prudent.

The I-Joist libraries (sizes and types) is much more organized than the previous system and should be easier to maintain and if required more manufacturers can be easily added.  I may also add in a "custom I-Joist" option which would allow one to specify the full set of dimensions for a custom sized I-Joist (depth, flange depth, flange width, web width, web material etc...)

Similar to the Truss and Wall plugins, one can specify a comma deliminated remove list to remove specific joists from an assembly. 

Still lots to do but it is almost close enough to the finish line to think about putting it out there and start garnering feedback and suggestions.

[Medeek]

Added a "Floors" tab to the global settings, I'm sure this tab will get more populated as development progresses.



The tool tip in the draw and edit menu.