We got about 50% the way there which in my mind is pretty good.  I don't know that Kickstarter was the right venue for trying to stir up the momentum for a SketchUp plugin but I thought it's at least worth a shot.  I sincerely appreciate all who have pledged their hard earned money and supported me in this endeavor.  Your faith in me is the reason I keep plugging away at these tools.

I am currently pursuing other funding options.  To produce a wall plugin that can do what the other "big boy" softwares can do will take a serious investment of my time and effort.  I'm am figuring at least two years of solid programming to produce a polished product that has all the bells and whistles. 

How I get there, I'm still trying to figure out.  Currently I spend my weekends and a small amount of my time during the regular work week (usually going after the low hanging fruit).  Surprisingly I am able to make some headway but progress is too slow in my opinion, somehow I will need to speed up.

Again I would like to thank everyone who participated in this campaign and for all of your pledges, it means a lot to me.

Version 1.9.7 - 08.26.2017
- Added king post timber trusses with bolts and metal plates.



There may be a few bugs to work out as I haven't had the time to test every possible configuration but it appears to be mostly working now.  The metric version is not quite ready so the GUI defaults to the imperial units regardless of the template.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/b9530289-89ff-40c4-ac55-754344864d3a/Timber-Truss-King-Post

I will add in the Queen Post and Howe configurations if requested by users and make any other corrections or adjustments as needed.



The permutations with this thing is ridiculous.  The truss above has larger members with a wider plate width that allows for two rows of bolts.

I've uploaded a minor update which integrates the timber truss web dialog (won't actually create anything just yet) for those interested in testing it in SketchUp.  It will only load up in Imperial/US unit templates for now.  My main concern is cross browser issues that I'm not aware of but may pop up for other users who have their PC's configured differently than my own.

Let me know if there are any issues.

The html webdialog is now integrated into the plugin and variables are passing correctly between the two:



Developing new modules, especially one with some many variables/inputs is a time consuming process.

No major complaints or concerns with the way I have it currently configured, so far.  I've starting creating the ruby code that does the heavy lifting.  By the end of the week I should have something ready to go for timber trusses. 

My goal is to also add in the Queen Post and Howe configuration for timber trusses, these other two seem to be the most commonly used.

There is a number of ways one could arrange the bolts on these plates or even configure the plates.  I am trying to come up with the mostly widely accepted method that will make at least 75% of the user base happy.  Hopefully I can achieve that.

At another level I am really happy about this latest edition to the plugin,  I now have a better understanding and comfort level with designing bolt connected timber trusses and I can better address local customer requests in this regard.

This is would be the typical output of the html input for the timber trusses:



I may add in the L1 dimension and the heel height dimension.

I've got all of the bolts working now for each plate as well as the extra logic to make sure bolts don't get too close to the scarf line at the heel joint. 

http://design.medeek.com/resources/timbertruss/web_dialog_timber_truss.html

Please go ahead and test out the link I've given above. 

If there are no major fixes then I am ready to implement this module into the plugin.

I've posted the Html Timber Truss input page at the link below so anyone can start putting it through its paces and offer me some feedback.

http://design.medeek.com/resources/timbertruss/web_dialog_timber_truss.html

I still need to add in the algorithms for the bolts into the top chord and top of the king post, should be able to knock that out this evening.

I will probably need to add in some extra logic that deals with bolt placement at the heel joints especially when the scarf cut on the bottom chord extends below the centerline of the bottom chord.

What is the size or resolution of your monitor?

Progress is slow but steady:



Now I just need to add the bolts to the peak and heal plates...

Visually, not a lot of progress:



But what you can't see is the algorithm to efficiently position and display the bolts. 

For larger trusses I'm a little worried that the display is too small to show the bolt details, but I'm not sure what else to do about it.

This afternoon I began to put together the HTML for the timber truss GUI (what I have so far):



I think I've reduced a metal plated (bolts) timber truss down to twenty (20) parameters.

Hopefully the preview panel will help simplify the entry of these parameters and give the user instant feedback on what each one does.  With these sort of trusses the look and feel of the truss is every bit as important as the structural aspect so a preview is very important.

The preview panel will not only show the timbers but also the metal plates and exact position of each bolt.

Once the user submits "go", the timber truss module will draw one (1) timber truss with all of the timbers, metal plates, bolts, nuts and washers.

In the global options the user will be able to specify the bolt standard and the washer standard as well as set the material (color) for the plate and hardware.

As usual the design and programming is a little more involved than I originally anticipated but in the end it should be quite dramatic to be able to create a fully bolted and plated timber truss.

I'm probably going to need a full week to complete this, so given my current schedule and hours it will probably be 2-3 weeks before this is ready to release.

Added a hip & ridge option for all gable truss roofs (sub. rev. 1.9.6b):

Quote from: Fred H on July 29, 2017, 01:02:33 PM
Hi Nathan,

I'm using your plugin to guide the "look" of a house we're not sure we can afford to build. Until we get it to look like we want we can't ask for any bids.

To break up a too-large roof expanse I wanted to add a dormer. Since that's not fully implemented yet, I thought I'd just do an additional roof. But the result is weird; it seems to be rotated a few degrees clockwise as seen from above.

I put the file on dropbox so you can look at it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9lnnksyct7nkz93/VT11.skp?dl=0. I made the "dormer" using a Fink truss with a 9/12 pitch, 16.6025" energy heel and 24" overhangs and gables. The three points I used are the two vertical dotted lines on the front where they intersect the green wall, and where the horizontal dotted line intersects the brown wall.

Either I'm misusing the program or there's a bug. Would you please take a look?

Thanks,
Fred

The vertical line next to your main entrance is offset from the exterior wall line, this is skewing your secondary roof (dormer) from the perpendicular to the main roof line. 

Another hint:  Click on the global settings and turn on layers and materials, this will let you peel back the roof  and look at things easier.

Version 1.9.6 - 07.29.2017
- Added a hip & ridge option for all hip type roofs.

I will now need to setup hip & ridge for all other roof variants (gable, dutch gable etc...)

I'm quite pleased with the way this has come out.  Within the global settings under the "Sheathing" tab you can adjust the width and thickness of the hip/ridge cap. 

This option definitely adds a finished look to the roof.