mdkBIM Tutorial 1: Modeling a Two Car Detached Garage (41:14 min.)



A few issues popped out during the making of this tutorial:

1.) Portal frame holdown placement, custom deletion and redundancy, feedback required.
2.) Wall copy tool did not copy the insulation option setting.
3.) The insulation algorithm seems inconsistent when dealing with tee intersections.

View garage model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/58091575-f451-4c3e-af1c-934b28cecefe/Garage-4

Version 2.2.8 - 08.04.2021
- Fixed a bug with blocking and insulation for portal frame garage doors within rectangular walls.



Portal frames add a good deal of complexity to the framing, blocking and insulation.  Some of the details were not completely worked out previously.  I think I now have most if not all of these issues addressed. 

I also may need to spend some additional time on the holdown placement when multiple portal frames are adjacent to each other like in the example shown.

Version 1.7.5 - 08.04.2021
- Fixed a bug with the stemwall blockout tool.

Version 2.2.7 - 08.03.2021
- Added insulation to the Medeek Estimator for rectangular walls.

Version 3.0.0 - 08.03.2021
- Fixed a minor bug with the rafter framing module for complex roofs.
- Adjusted the tool tips within the HTML edit menu for common trusses.

Version 2.2.6 - 08.01.2021
- Fixed a minor bug with tee intersections for all wall types.

Tutorial 22 - Wall Copy Tool (6:21 min.)

Stacked windows and doors have been a topic a few times on this thread and I have incrementally improved the algorithms so that the plugin can deal with them.

However there still exists the situation where you have openings stacked that are not aligned or possibly the same size:



My feeling is one should avoid this type of situation in ones design but apparently it comes up often enough that I find myself fielding questions on how best to deal with this type of configuration.  Currently the easiest way to deal with it is to use the Trim and Split tool available in Truss plugin so that you end up with something like this:



The problem with this is that we are now back to manual edits and we lose the parametrics of the plugin, so the solution is not really acceptable for many, myself included.

1.) My first question is how common is this sort of thing and is it something I should worry about?  No point in spending a lot of time on a specific framing situation that is only the concern of less that 5% of the user base.

2.) The next question assuming that question #1 is the affirmative is how best to frame out this sort of situation.  Is what I have in the second screenshot the correct way to handle this?

Most of my time is actually spent debugging or looking for ways to break the plugins (instabilities etc...)

I found one small minor issue this morning when I generated this roof (I will issue the fix later today or tomorrow):





The module is surprisingly robust even with more intensive roofs however the draw and edit time required for this geometry is noticeable on my ten year old PC.  My youngest son keeps telling me to update to a newer machine with a better graphics card but I figure the older machine actually helps me keep my code lean and efficient.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/a245116e-88cd-4b5f-9536-cc060a43ce63/Complex-Rafters-3

Version 2.9.9 - 07.25.2021
- Enabled the rafter framing module for complex roofs.

I am releasing this update so that users can begin testing out the rafter framing module, however be warned that it is still missing many features and is technically in a BETA state right now as I sort out some of the details and finer points.

Please send bug details or other concerns directly to my email address, nathan@medeek.com.

Well the basics are more or less there but now the details...



Notice that the hip, flying hip and valley rafters are still missing, that algorithm is going to be fun.

Lots of little details that still need to be addressed to really make this usable in my opinion, especially when asymmetric roof planes are present within a roof assembly. 

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/005fd8fe-4252-4d3d-8dbf-45c3e58eca37/Complex-Roof-Rafter-Framing

Making progress on the complex rafter framing algorithm, but still a long ways to go:

Don't post it on the forum here but please email me the serial number you are trying to activate the foundation plugin with.  I need it exactly as you are entering it in.

Email me directly at nathan@medeek.com