2020 - Steel Framing extension needs a Developer ! -to resume the project-

Developers
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Hi guys!.

Im writing to tell you about a project we started early this year that need a developer to resume the work.

It is an extension to frame steel houses and buildings and then fabricate trough the use of Semi-Automatic and full CNC automatic Steel rollformers machines.

The project also includes a web platform where the users can find factories anywhere in the world to produce the structures, and the distributors can sell the steel. All of this is connected to the extension.

It also includes a series of semi-automatic machines that are currently on development to integrate the purlins produced by standard machinery around the world to the system.

The soft was improoved by Eneroth after a primary version in a basic state. It was completely re organized, cleared and optimized. Then, he did a tremendous work focusing in re-write new foundations so the new capabilities can be added without any issue and with a wider horizon in function capabilities.

We need to resume his work, add a few new functions to reach a first 1.0 version. And then continue with the schedule to achieve some goals, related to the fabrication data output, and other tools that need to be added. We are currently in a 0.1.1v.

You can take a look at www.sketchframer.com and download it, since the concept is to deliver a completely free program to the final user, alway.

All the code is in a git, detailed and easy to resume from now.

Please, feel free to contact us if anyone is interested, so we can talk and move this on.

Thank all the community !.

Vladimir.

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I’ve tested it out in SU 2017 and 2018 and I’m fairly impressed with how far you guys have come with this plugin. A couple of questions:

1.) Funding: If you are offering the plugin for free how do you plan on funding its development. What is the business model?

2.) As nearly as I can tell the walls don’t have any sort of corner connection logic, so if you move a wall the ends of the walls don’t auto-resize, I could be mistaken. Do you plan on implementing some sort of logic in this regard.

This will be critical to the parametric behavior of the plugin. I had to work out a system for my wall plugin to do exactly this and to be honest it is a challenge. I’m still not completely satisfied with the stability of my algorithms but after multiple edits it seems to be mostly stable.

3.) I noticed a gap between the studs and track, is this by design or a bug? The gap is only 0.003937" or 0.1 mm.

4.) I think it would be nice to be able to apply a material to the steel (via the plugin).

5.) I noticed the steel profile is modeled as solid (c-shape with returns). This is the way I probably would have modeled them as well with my preference for solid modeling but the model does get heavier with so many polygons (faces and lines).

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Hi Nathaniel, thanks for the response.

I will answer between the lines.

medeek

      Member




    December 27

I’ve tested it out in SU 2017 and 2018 and I’m fairly impressed with how far you guys have come with this plugin. A couple of questions:

1.) Funding: If you are offering the plugin for free how do you plan on funding its development. What is the business model?

We got a funding model, and it is based in a model to construction idea. We are going to sell steel, trough some associates. As the plugin includes a web service where any builder will order the steel (and other materials) to the site. The plugin is oriented to fabrication with cnc machines, and the file to fabricate will be released once the client make the payment. It has other inbetweens but that the is the short explanation.

2.) As nearly as I can tell the walls don’t have any sort of corner connection logic, so if you move a wall the ends of the walls don’t auto-resize, I could be mistaken. Do you plan on implementing some sort of logic in this regard.

Yes, this is a must. As another 20 functionalities that are actually on the table. But we are pretty sure that all the tools we need, as we are experienced users of other similar software, like vertex Bd.

This will be critical to the parametric behavior of the plugin. I had to work out a system for my wall plugin to do exactly this and to be honest it is a challenge. I’m still not completely satisfied with the stability of my algorithms but after multiple edits it seems to be mostly stable.

3.) I noticed a gap between the studs and track, is this by design or a bug? The gap is only 0.003937" or 0.1 mm.

A bug, that has an explanation, and is not fixed yet :slight_smile:

4.) I think it would be nice to be able to apply a material to the steel (via the plugin).

yes, as other materials to the walls, to obtain a final bill of materials. The layered 3d representation of the materials is not an issue right now, but the bof.

5.) I noticed the steel profile is modeled as solid (c-shape with returns). This is the way I probably would have modeled them as well with my preference for solid modeling but the model does get heavier with so many polygons (faces and lines).

Thanks for your feedback Nat.

Could you be interested in work with us in some way?

Thanks and happy new year !.

Vladimir.

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Good choice, @medeek (Nathaniel) is a very dedicated developer.

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