Development and Updates for the Medeek Truss Plugin

[Medeek]

Looks like Justin has featured the plugin in a demo of Quantifier Pro:



It would have been better if he had turned on the gable truss option in the global settings but regardless I appreciate the featuring of the plugin.

Justin does a nice job with those videos.

[Medeek]

Working on the edit menu for the shed rafter roof.  If the user enables soffit and fascia for this roof type I will need a small routine that checks the rafter depth and trims the upper rafter tails if the rafters are deeper than the barge rafter (rake board):



For the lower end rafter tails the soffit cut parameter takes care of this problem, however with an angled soffit I will need a similar routine for the lower rafter tails as previously discussed in a post a few days back.

Roof returns (rake, hip and full) have not been enabled for rafter roofs yet, that is something that will need to be setup for this module as the truss module already has this feature.

A number of other upgrades for this roof type as well:  Front and Back gable overhangs, Roof cladding extension.

[Medeek]

Version 2.4.4 - 06.05.2019
- Enabled soffit and fascia for shed rafter roofs.
- Enabled a roof cladding extension parameter for shed rafter roofs.
- Enabled the "Edit Roof Assembly" function for shed rafter roofs (imperial and metric units).
- Added the option in the shed rafter roof edit menu to specify a separate front and back overhang length.
- Shed roofs auto-trim upper rafter tails as required when soffit is specified.

[Medeek]

Version 2.4.4b- 06.06.2019
- Enabled gable and angled soffit & fascia for shed rafter roofs.

[Medeek]

Version 2.4.5 - 06.07.2019
- Fixed a minor bug with the shed rafter roof module.
- Enabled gable and angled soffit & fascia for all gable rafter roofs.





View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/7749498e-99c0-4914-abca-29516a324d4f/Angle-Soffit-with-Rafter-Roof

[Medeek]

I've beaten soffit and fascia to death but there still remains more to be done.

The gable and angled option still need to be made available with the truss module.  Additionally I have not yet enabled soffit and fascia for hip truss sets as well as other more exotic truss types.

Note that soffit and fascia can only be enabled once the roof or truss assembly is created (within the edit menu).  This is on purpose.  Only those truss or rafter families that have the edit function available can have soffit and fascia enabled.

[Medeek]

Version 2.4.6 - 06.08.2019
- Enabled gable and angled soffit & fascia for common, attic, scissor, and cathedral trusses.
- Enabled gable and angled soffit & fascia for monopitch trusses.

[Medeek]

Version 2.4.6b - 06.08.2019
- Added the ability to import materials directly from the model within the Custom Material Libary/Manager in the global settings.

This update was per customer request.  The direct material import feature previously was added to the Wall plugin but was missing from the Truss plugin.

[Medeek]

This is the first new icon for the main Truss plugin toolbar in quite some time:



The complex roof icon/tool will allow the user to pick between either a truss or rafter complex roof (first HTML menu), then the user will select a horizontal (closed) face which will be used to determine the perimeter of the roof.  Before the user selects the outline face they can utilize the complex roof draw menu (HTML menu #2) to adjust settings (ie. overhang, pitch, sheathing, cladding etc...)

The draw menu will stay open and the tool active until closed or space bar is pressed.  So multiple complex roofs can be created one after another with the given settings.  Similar to the wall plugin I will probably implement a system of roof presets so the user can quickly jump to a specific configuration.

My latest code for menus in the Electrical plugin is my cleanest and most advanced code for dealing with interactive HTML menus.  I will be borrowing heavily from this plugin initially to setup my basic tool and menu systems.

I will also at some point allow the user to select the points that define the roof outline rather than selecting a face but for the time being I'm going to keep it simple and just allow the face selection method for now.

I am starting with the complex rafter roof first.  The truss variant will be even more troublesome and problematic so its best to cut my teeth on the rafter variant and see how far I can take it.

[Medeek]

The first menu will use the following two images to select either a rafter or truss roof:

[Medeek]

First look at the initial selection menu:

[Medeek]

When you initially create the complex rafter roof all plate heights, rafter depths, pitches and birdsmouth cuts will be the same for each eave/roof plane.  Then I would like to have a system whereby the user can potentially edit each and every eave, changing up these parameters as they desire as well as switching certain hip planes to gable or vice versa. 

Additionally it will be useful to have a system wherein you can also edit the underlying outline that defines the entire roof.  This latest module is not going to come easy but if I can pull it off it will be a very nice tool.

The idea being that you should be able to adjust the roof parametrically as if it were a piece of clay and you are the sculpture.

[Medeek]

Version 2.4.7 - 06.13.2019
- Enabled a "No Framing" mode for gable, hip and shed rafter roofs. This feature is also available for asymmetric gable and hip roofs.
- Added the complex roof icon to the main toolbar.





The "no framing" mode is per customer requests.  I'm really not sure how much utility this features offers but it certainly will keep your model more lightweight if you choose not to show all of the rafter framing.

I also added this parameter in preparation for the upcoming complex roof module.  With complex roofs the ability to eliminate all of the underlying framing will be a much bigger factor in my opinion.

[Medeek]

View comparison models here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/9a3671b9-b721-4c54-9204-b26d9713a8a7/Hip-Rafter-Roof-With-Framing

versus:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/1be249cf-4426-4a18-9ebf-3c5816aeb049/Hip-Rafter-Roof-No-Framing

After your purge the models there is not really a huge difference in file size between the two.

[Medeek]

Just an FYI, some of the recent updates have managed to break a few things in the metric side of the plugin.  I will be working on these issues all of today (and tomorrow if necessary) and release the fix later this evening or Saturday morning.  I apologize for the inconvenience.