Development and Updates for the Medeek Truss Plugin

[Medeek]

Version 3.3.0 - 08.31.2023
- Added a rafter offset parameter for complex roof framing.
- Fixed a minor bug with complex roof framing for half hip roofs set to custom pitches.



The rafter offset parameter will now allow the user to offset the rafter framing any custom amount (positive or negative) for each roof plane independently.

[Medeek]

First look at a complex roof with the hips, flying hips and valleys drawn. The framing module still has quite a ways to go but at least this is a start on these elements:

[Medeek]

Version 3.3.1 - 09.03.2023
- Added hip, valley and flying hip rafters to the complex roof framing module.



The first thing you will notice is that the upper ends of the hip and valley rafters are not correctly trimmed, only the bottom ends.  Also flying hips are not trimmed on their upper or lower ends.  The trimming algorithm for these rafters is the next thing on my todo list.

Unlike the lower end trimming, the upper end will require a much more sophisticated algorithm so it may take some time.  The problem really is that there a number of possibilities for termination and the plugin needs to be be able to check for all of those possibilities.  No one said complex roof are easy.



Nothing is easy with complex roofs, the math is hard, the code is hard and the topology/trigonometry can be very challenging.  Fortunately I do like these sorts of hard problems but even I have to take a small break once in a while to let my head rest and regroup. 

Last night I was trying to figure out how to handle the asymmetric offset (lateral and vertical) for hip and valley rafters when the adjacent roof planes are different pitches.  The problem was that I did not have a good way to determine which of the two pitches was to the left or right of the rafter.  I was only able to solve the problem after calling it a night and then the solution (cross product of the flattened normal vectors of the roof planes) came to me while watching another episode of "How's it Made" on the Discovery channel.  Sometimes I think my best programming actually happens when I'm not actually programming

[Medeek]

Just when I think I've seen it all with complex roofs, I draw this small test roof:



Notice how the valley rafter continues on to become a flying hip higher up on the roof (I've colored the rafters of interest).  Crazy stuff.  My hat is off to the guys who actually frame these roofs up in real life, what a nightmare.

[Medeek]

Version 3.3.1b - 09.04.2023
- Refined the framing algorithm for hip, valley and flying hip rafters.



All of the major framing members are now being drawn however the trimming of certain rafters is still not quite correct, further refinement and correction will be necessary. 

I've also noticed that with certain large roof planes an occasional stray edge is generated (or left behind when the roof primitive is created), I will need to look into this further and rectify the issue.  It does not appear to be a critical error but it does effectively split the roof plane into two separate faces which then makes the plugin treat the roof plane as two separate faces.

With the flying hips terminating adjacent to valley rafters I'm not entirely sure how that is typically framed.

Please download and test this latest release and then email me comments or suggestions directly.

[Medeek]

Version 3.3.1c - 09.05.2023
- Minor bug fix within the rafter framing module for complex roofs.

[Medeek]

Version 3.3.1d - 09.09.2023
- Fixed a bug within the global settings for complex roofs.
- Updated the straight skeleton algorithm to better remove redundant edges within roof planes/faces.
- Improved the robustness of the complex roof module (framing and cladding) for specific cases.



The complex roof module is now a bit more robust than it was and should be able to handle more cases than it did previously.

However there still does exist the special cases where the fascia line is not all on one level that is still not possible to draw.  The discussion on that topic is presented in this video:



Hip and Ridge is still pending.  Previously I was unable to fully work out the algorithm in order to deal specifically with flying hips.  I will need to give this another hard look and see if my topological problem solving skills have improved since 2021.

[Medeek]

Version 3.3.2 - 09.17.2023
- Added statistics for complex roofs (Medeek Estimator integration).

[Medeek]

Tutorial 25: Estimating Complex Roofs (13:13 min.)

[Medeek]

Version 3.3.3 - 09.22.2023
- Improved the responsiveness of the "Edit Roof Plane" tool and the "Move Roof Edge" tool for complex roofs.

Previously when a complex roof was positioned on top of any wall assemblies and either of the two tools mentioned above were executed there existed the possibility of collinear edges with the roof assembly and the wall assemblies below.  This conflict would then not allow one to properly select the desired roof edge unless the wall assemblies were hidden, or put on a hidden tag/layer.  This fix should mitigate that problem and allow one to select a roof edge (on the roof outline) without having to take that additional step.

I highly recommend upgrading to this latest version if you are using complex roofs.

[Medeek]

Version 3.3.4 - 10.01.2023
- Added a "Complex Roof" tab to the Global Settings.
- Added a "Roof Framing" and "Advanced Options" parameter to the Complex Roof tab of the Global Settings.
- Added a "Primitive" option to the roof framing parameter within the Draw and Edit menus for complex roofs.
- Enabled the Up Arrow key as a method to toggle between "face" or "polygon" mode within the complex roof draw tool.

Tutorial 26: Complex Roof Primitives (6:42 min.)

[Medeek]

Version 3.3.4b - 10.02.2023
- Added a "Draw Mode" parameter to the Complex Roof tab of the Global Settings.
- Enabled a vertex (roof plane) selection method within the face selection algorithm of the Draw tool for complex roofs.

Tutorial 27: Drawing Complex Roofs (6:01 min.)

[Medeek]

Tutorial 28: Drawing Complex Gable Roofs (4:16 min.)

[Medeek]

Version 3.3.5 - 10.06.2023
- Sheathing Vertical Offset parameters added for common and monopitch trusses.
- Cladding Vertical Offset parameters added for common and monopitch trusses.





By customer request.

This feature is already implemented within the Wall plugin so it is about time that I bring the Truss plugin up to speed as well.  I think these four parameters are self explanatory enough that I don't need a tutorial video but if I do please let me know.

[Medeek]

Tutorial 29: Vertical Offset of Sheathing and Cladding (13:26 min.)