Development and Updates for the Medeek Truss Plugin

[Fred H]

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

[Medeek]

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. 

[Medeek]

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.

[Medeek]

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

[Fred H]

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.

Thanks; I woke up this morning realizing that I must have done that and planned to delete or edit the message. I appreciate your looking at my model and the clarity of the explanation.

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.

I've done this in some versions, but since we're just working on the overall "look" right now we don't need that detail.

[Medeek]

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.

[2Harry]

Regarding this post:

     "...make the plugin(s) more valuable and worth the additional cost."

I meant to respond to this some time ago but, many other things always seem to intrude.  I'm sure you can relate.

We are a modular building manufacturer that have, only recently, expanded into wood framed shop built structures.  I have just started to included Sketchup and your plug-in in the design process, and I am still developing the means to use these apps in a complete design process (hopefully). 

For our use, the truss plug-in would be mainly used to fill in some data for planning purposes, since we do not actually fabricate trusses.  It would help to explain what people should see when the trusses are erected, plan roof lifting operations and provide weight data.

The floor truss/joist module is a different story.  In addition to the previous items, it may allow us to actually produce shop drawings that explain how to fabricate the floors, produce cut lists and "pre-solve" assembly problems that inevitably arise on the shop floor.  The highly anticipated wall framing app will hopefully allow us to do the same.  These abilities would make the wall plug-in more valuable than the roof truss (only) plug-in and thus, easier to justify a higher cost than a mere $30, especially considering the price of similar extensions that run in AutoCad or Revit.

Regards

[Medeek]

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.

[Medeek]

Progress is slow but steady:



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

[Itworx4me]

When I choose to add advanced roof options. The list of options are too long and can't choose ok at the end of the list to complete the build.

[Medeek]

What is the size or resolution of your monitor?

[Itworx4me]

What is the size or resolution of your monitor?

1920x1080

[Medeek]

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.

[Medeek]

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.

[Medeek]

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.