Development and Updates for the Medeek Wall Plugin

[Medeek]

First look at a left and right shed wall:

[Medeek]

Version 1.5.5 - 07.14.2020
- Enabled the gable wall tool with the ability to draw and edit shed walls.







View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/126f5080-0ecc-4edf-96b4-6599d4412dcd/Shed-Walls

[Medeek]

Updated todo list (as of July 14, 2020):

1.) Making the Window, Door and Garage Door modules work with generic walls, not just Medeek walls.
2.) Shear Wall module which will ultimately integrate with the engineering plugin.
3.) Presets for Garage Doors
4.) Move the Estimating module to the new Medeek Project extension, and further develop this module as it relates to the wall plugin.
5.) Start work on the integrated  Medeek Engineering  extension, start with window and door headers for vertical loads.
6.) Additional door and window types as requested (eg. bi-fold closet doors, sliding glass doors, pocket doors, double and triple single hung windows).
7.) Spend some time on the new tabs in the global settings, currently showing an Under Construction sign.
8.) Stair module permutations: U, L, T etc...
9.) Further "idiot" proofing of the plugins: (zero value, nil values, checking for impossible geometry, etc...)
10.) Wall Justification
11.) Interior trim added to Medeek Interior extension.
12.) Resume development of the Medeek Floor extension.

The list has gotten a lot shorter in the last couple of months.  I'm excited to finally have a working shed and gable wall type, there is still a lot more work to be done with many more gable variants, but I will attack those as specific requests are made for each type.

I feel it is time to move back to the complex roof module but before I do I may look at the new number one on this list.

[Medeek]

While I am still fresh with gable walls (and the code for this module) I am contemplating getting the hip variant done as well:



I've already got two votes in favor of it (myself and Larry Belk) however I want to put this out to everyone else and find out if it is of any interest, would you use this gable wall type?

It will probably take me about 3 or 4 days to make it happen or I can move on to other items in the list.

[Medeek]

Version 1.5.6 - 07.16.2020
- Updated the gable wall module to allow for zero wall height shed walls.
- Added triple single hung windows to the window module.





View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/5d1c193e-2547-4ad3-ae31-25e2762a32e7/Triple-Single-Hung-Window

[Medeek]

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.

[Medeek]

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:

[Medeek]

First look at a hip wall with blocking:

[Medeek]

Hip wall with insulation and blocking:

[Medeek]

Hip wall with windows and doors:

[Medeek]

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

[Medeek]

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).

[Medeek]

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.

[Medeek]

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

[Medeek]

Version 1.5.8 - 08.01.2020
- Fixed a bug with all wall assemblies when auto-assigment of materials is turned off in the global settings.