Hey Nathaniel, I do have Framer for SketchUp in beta testing now and hope to release it soon. It works very well with my Estimator for SketchUp extension. It has a simple floor and roof tool (rectangular only), nothing close to yours 
Framer is customizable and textured (customizable), with choice of headers, jacks, sheathing, drywall, etc. cuts out openings. All pieces are components, so you could report a cut list for wall panels, but each type of wall member has its own layer, so in Estimator you can use LF divided by lumber length needed, uses area for drywall and sheathing. Will release after fixes from beta test, on www.estimatorforsketchup.com not priced yet but certainly not free, cost me a bunch to have it built! House builder is still free but limited and does not work with Estimator, which is why I invested in Framer
I’m excited to try it out once you release it. A good wall framing plugin is sorely needed, that much I do know.
For a quality plugin it does take a lot of time and effort, so I understand the cost you have probably invested to put together the Framer for SketchUp.
Take at look at my changelog for the Truss Plugin:
I’ve been steadily working on this thing for over two years now and quite literally the end is no where in sight. I’ve easily have another two (full) years of work that can be done before I would consider this plugin to be a finished product.
I’m honestly surprised that some big corporate giant hasn’t already swooped in and created these same architectural tools that we are individually laboring hard to create. A team of programmers with an engineer or two thrown in the mix could easily do what I have done in a matter of a couple of weeks. I suppose the ROI for this sort of thing is simply not there and that is why it has been left up to us to fill the gaps.
I totally respect the massive hours you have invested in yours. Mine has been a year in the making! I agree with you, always assumed guys like us would be knocked out by a big player with money and programmers. I’ll shoot you an email with more info, traveling now and going airplane mode
I use Housebuilder (and my other plugins) for the simple reason that I am too lazy to try and draw things manually. I guess the concept of having a plugin there to do most of the heavy lifting has ruined me.
And of course the other factor is time, who has 2 hours to burn manually creating complex geometry?
Hey, I’m not criticizing anyone for using any tool that works for them. I just prefer to model things as I would build them and housebuilder doesn’t come close enough.
As an example your barn has the wall sheathing exceeding the foundation. I prefer the sheathing to reflect the building size. Then the studs, joists and rafters should stack on top of the 16 or 24 inch wall layout.
Then there’s the corners, cripples and headers. I could go on…
I’d agree. To model one way for convenience and build another would seem rather silly.
I agree with you on many of these items. The Housebuilder plugin does not position the studs in the correct places in many instances, and the corners aren’t correct.
I’ve added a variety of start/end/corner options to Ffamer, including California corners and T’s. Multiple jacks, plates on top and bottom of headers, 1 or 2 sills, etc., treated bottom plate option too.
Those are the kinds of details I’m talking about. When is the projected ETA?
I currently have a beta testing group using Framer and noting issues, etc. The first phase ends this week and then I will compile issues, bugs, etc. and have my programmer fix them all - so hopefully in a few weeks.
Is there any progress with Framer?
Went through beta testing and now making updates and fixes. Got side
tracked trying to get new Estimator version done same time. Hopefully next
couple of weeks
Can’t you adjust the Housebuilding plugin’s code to adjust it to your liking? Unless there are other major issues I don’t see the plugin being a lost cause.
I need to get my takeoffs for the lumber using Estimator. I had to make one that would create components vs groups and on layers for takeoffs. I needed treated bottom plate option, sheathing, custom header sizes, multiple jacks, drywall, etc. Housebuilder certainly works for some wanting to look like framing, but I need the accuracy for my workflow. Framer will hopefully be out soon, trying to fix a few issues and have other work in front of it presently.
It will work, like framing in Chief Architect? Or similar? Automatically do corners, windows?
When you add a window or door opening, you select parameters (how many plies header), size of header (you can make as many custom sizes as you want, comes with standard), opening width, height and header height, number of jacks (1-4), number of sill plates (1-2) and it will automatically create the opening, headers, sills, cripples, jacks, etc. cuts opening in sheathing and drywall. It does NOT act along a polyline, currently it is one wall at a time, like you build it, you pick start and end conditions/corners (1 stud, 2 conventional, California left and right, solid 3 stud or T at intersecting walls). I would like to make it automatically turn a corner eventually but maybe if I hit the lottery.
As a follow up on this thread I started working on the Wall Plugin again on April 5th and released the BETA version on May 25th . It’s now Oct. and roughly six months later I’m happy to report that the development of the plugin is still very active and that substantial progress has been made. Hopefully by the end of the year I can declare it out of BETA and begin adding the engineering into the mix.
To see how far it has come visit this link:
And yes, Housebuilder is certainly obsolete now. Your three best options for architectural modeling in my opinion are:
- PlusSpec: http://plusspec.com
- Framer (with Estimator): http://estimatorforsketchup.com
- mdkBIM (Medeek Wall, Truss and Foundation): Medeek Design Inc. - Medeek Wall
With an active development community and enthusiastic user base my hope is that SketchUp will one day become the dominant player for residential and commercial design work (BIM).
Fast forward to Jan. 2020 and a lot of progress has been made with regards to BIM and SketchUp.
PlusSpec continues to improve their product offering.
John Brock’s Estimator is now on Version 2.0
The Medeek Wall extension is out of BETA and currently on version 1.1.7b. There is now also a Medeek Electrical extension to compliment the mdkBIM suite as well as an upcoming Medeek Floor extension.
This might be the year that SketchUp achieves critical mass and takes the lead from Revit and other architectural software.
I, for one, would love to see that.
Careful what you wish for. If your old enough to remember what happened when Revit did not belong to Autodesk and became a market share problem for them you will know what I mean.