When you click on the "Draw Load/Support" icon of the toolbar you will be presented with this matrix menu:

With respect to who will use this module, I actually do think a lot of architects and designers would find use for it even if they are unable to "stamp" their design as "engineered". There would be many situations where a designer would want to get a reasonably ballpark idea on how big a beam or header needs to be. Unless there are complex loading situations at play, assigning some basic loads and supports to a beam is usually not rocket science. However, as always it is garbage in, garbage out. Obviously the user needs to have some understanding of the correct site specific loads in order to get the correct answers.

That being said, my primary audience for this plugin is residential structural engineers (like myself) who are wanting to quickly apply loads to a design and push out a report with minimal effort. I still have a long way to go with all of this but I am definitely opening a new can or worms with this one, let's see where we can take it in the next few months.

I think I am entering uncharted territory with this new development. To my knowledge there does not exist a comprehensive software that combines architectural design with engineering, that is my goal with integrating this new engineering module/extension with the mdkBIM suite.

This will be a separate extension that will be integrated with the other extensions in the mdkBIM bundle. It does not need to be installed with the mdkBIM bundle and is completely optional. However, it is not really a stand alone extension since it can only be used with geometry drawn by other Medeek extensions.

After giving it some additional thought I think it would be good to decouple this extension to the extent that even if for example the Wall plugin is not installed the user could install the engineering extension and still apply loads/support and analyze a given beam. However they would be unable to modify the beam as drawn (ie. size, depth, length) unless the Wall plugin was installed.

In the Account Manager its icon will be:

I have been contacted by SketchUp (Educational Programs Coordinator) with regards to using SketchUp for electrical work.  They are looking for some examples of recent work to share with the IBEW and ETA (electrical union) to showcase the use of SketchUp in the design and layout of electrical systems.

I am not an electrical contractor so I don't have any actual real life case studies to share or demonstrate but I am hopeful that some of the current users of the electrical plugin might have some examples they are willing to share with the rest of the electrical community.

If you would be interested in sharing some of your work as a case study please contact me at nathan@medeek.com. 

I was going to name the engineering module or plugin "Medeek Structural" however I've decided to change the name to "Medeek Engineering".

The plugin icon will now be:





The first toolbar I will add is the Beam Engineering Tools which will allow the user to add point loads, distributed loads and supports to beams drawn in the wall plugin:

Version 1.5.7c - 07.23.2020
- Fixed a bug with certain wall sheathing materials as applied to gable, hip and shed walls.

Off the beaten path a bit today, had a discussion about engineering and the plugins, so it got me thinking about the engineering module and beams and headers.  Some ideas on representing loads on beams below:



Not sure I like how the distributed loads are represented with a transparent PNG, it might be better to simply draw two connected arrows which represent the extent of the distributed load (start and end points along the length of the beam).

The colors represent different load types (ie. Dead, Live, Snow).

The magnitude will be represented by the height of the arrows and size of the arrow heads.

The loading diagrams will be placed on their own specific layer so they can easily be toggled on an off.

Initially I think it would be best to stick with just rectangular distributed loads, trapezoidal and triangular loads complicate things considerably.  Notice how the loading is placed on the beam such that coincident loads are offset in the Y axis so they can be better visualized and not Z-fight each other.

This would be a significant upgrade to the plugins, allow the user to quickly calculate and check a beam or header, similar to doing a check in Weyerhauser's Forte or any other comparable engineering application.

The output would be something similar to my Beam Calculator here:

https://design.medeek.com/resources/beam/beam_calculator.pl

However the output probably should be less verbose and more compact, similar to the one page output of Forte.

Version 1.5.7b - 07.22.2020
- Updated the gable wall module to allow for zero wall height hip walls.
- Fixed a bug with the trimming of Simpson Strong-Tie wood shear walls (WSW).

Version 1.5.7 - 07.21.2020
- Enabled the gable wall tool with the ability to draw and edit hip walls.



View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/8707c88c-0874-4c47-8563-f4e4326da53f/Hip-Wall-2

Hip wall with windows and doors:

Hip wall with insulation and blocking:

First look at a hip wall with blocking:

So I'm looking at the hip wall again because I've had some further interest in it.

However, I'm trying to figure out the best way to frame the top plates, which variant is preferred:

Version 1:



Version 2:

I've been chiseling away at these plugins now for almost 5 years, granted I only started working full time on them since April 2018, but I do think they have evolved significantly even at that.

With that being said there is still much to do.  Additional plugins (Floor, Interiors, Decks, Project, Engineering, RC, etc...) are needed to fully flesh out the building and all of its potential elements.  At some point the engineering and estimating pieces also need to become a reality, this will take everything to a new level.  Sadly I am still working on the design/architectural elements, but if all goes well I should have most of it wrapped up in a few more months and then begin the engineering and estimating pieces.  I also want the ability to export elevations and sections quickly into Scenes and then they can be easily moved into Layout, I've got some good ideas on that.  A DXF export utility for floor plans etc... would also be nice, there is so much one can do with the API, it is mind boggling.

Every day I get emails from customers and potential customers requesting various features or new plugins, obviously there is a demand for this sort of thing, my email inbox bears this out.  Unfortunately, I am so over taxed just trying to knock out the things on my existing todo lists that many of these great ideas go by the wayside (some do eventually make it on to my lists).

For a concise summary of the recent updates:

http://design.medeek.com/resources/wallpluginchangelog.html

As they say though, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, if I get enough demand for a certain feature it tends to move it up the list.  Please keep the feedback rolling in, it only makes the plugins better.