A preview of the Polyline Wall Creation Tool and Auto-Corner Configuration:
I am now working on the wall move tool, this one should be a bit more challenging.
Another test of the wall plugin combined with the foundation and truss plugin.
The wall plugin is now in better shape than the truss plugin since no manual edits are required and all the windows and doors are fully parametric.
However note that the interior walls and garage doors are still missing, more work yet to be done.
View model here:
After spending the last month on this new plugin I can see where the other two plugins have room for some serious improvement, I’ve really got my work cut out for me.
Its complicated, still working out a few kinks but progress is being made.
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One of many wall move permutations that must be considered:
I also still need to fully vett the non-orthogonal wall possibilities, this is exhausting work.
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Orthogonal walls are now pretty solid, onto non-orthogonals.
As I’m testing this feature out it occurred to me that it might be useful to have the ability to move just one corner of a wall, this would allow for the changing of angles between walls. I have added this feature to the “todo” list for future consideration.
Along with the split wall function it would also be useful to have a fuse or join wall function, where two wall panel that are inline with each other and butting up can be joined into a single wall panel.
A preview of the Wall Move Tool:
View Model here:
The primary items left to do before the release are:
- Interior Walls
- Global Settings (update)
- Web Page (update)
I will start on interior walls tomorrow.
I also have some additional testing to do with the no framing option to make sure it is working seamlessly with the other modes (2D and 3D).
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As I’m working on interior walls today it occurred to me that just as I’ve provided for a trim option with exterior walls I also need to provide an interior trim option for both interior (int-int) walls and exterior walls (int-ext).
I’ve added in one extra option in the advanced wall options to toggle interior trim. I will probably not full flesh this out until after the plugin release but interior trim will probably deal with the following key elements/options:
- Baseboard
- Crown Molding
- Chair Rail
- Wainscot
In addition to the 2D mode, after speaking with a couple of other designers, I think I’m also going to add an additional global setting called: “2D Layout in 3D”
If the user toggles this to “ON” then the 2D representations for the windows and doors will be drawn on the top surface of the wall plate, the door swing(s) will be shown at the wall bottom and the text callouts will also be drawn at the wall bottom. The idea being that you can view the 3D model from the top down and still see the plan layout.
Interior Walls:
A couple of items on today’s todo list with regards to interior walls:
- The wall move tool decouples interior wall corners from exterior wall corners, this is intended.
- I still need to add in an algorithm which can sense when an interior wall is Teeing into an ext. or int. wall. This is important primarily for the move tool and wall creation tool.
- Update interior door casing
- Interior windows (windows that are embedded in an interior wall) are not very common, not sure exactly what to do in this case. Perhaps just treat as regular window installed in an exterior wall.
- Interior framed openings (without installation of door or window): These need to be wrapped in gypsum to properly finish them out.
- Added interior trim (baseboard, crown molding, chair rail, wainscoting) to the long term todo list.
That should be it for now. I may be able to get all this done today if I really hustle and then on to the global settings tomorrow.
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Window and Door callouts with the “2D Layout in 3D” option turned on.
Notice that I have parallel projection turned on in SketchUp.
I apologize for the strange coloration and quality of the image, I’m trying out some new software for taking screen grabs and turning them into animated GIFs.
Per input from various designers I am steering towards top center for windows and bottom center for doors. The insertion point of the window/door component (at origin of SKP file) will be inline with the outside framing by default but then can be adjusted by an inset variable (neg. or pos.) I will create a sub-folder within the plugin called “library” where the designer can place all of their pre-configured SKP files, so the plugin can access them. The plugin will then allow one to select any one of these files to place into an opening.
If there are additional requests I can also make the insertion point fully customizable within the global settings:
- Top Center
- Top Left
- Top Right
- Middle Center
- Middle Left
- Middle Right
- Bottom Center
- Bottom Left
- Bottom Right
Straps, holdowns, anchor bolts, threaded rod and couple nuts are now part of the plugin. More details on that later. At some point the engineering module will be able to do the entire lateral calcs on a structure with the click of a button and input of a few site criteria parameters. The idea is to fully automate the engineering of a residential structure, engineers shouldn’t have to work this hard.
Tomorrow I will wrap up the global settings and we will release the plugin for beta testing.
I still have quite a bit more stability testing to make sure I have missed any glaring errors but I’m sure the beta testers will help sniff out a lot of those issues.
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I’ve now enabled the “Install Mode” parameter which allows the user to use the “Builtin” window generator/plugin or use one of their own pre-configured windows stored within the “library” sub-folder of the plugin:
Notice that the insertion point can be specified as well as locating within the wall depth by two parameters:
1.) Window Location: ON SHEATHING or ON FRAMING, this parameter will offset the location of the window within the wall by the sheathing thickness automatically or place it inline with the wall framing.
2.) The window location within the wall can be further modified/customized by adjusting the outset with either a positive or negative value.
One thing to note is that the framed opening has no idea what the dimensions of the window or door are, the user must provided the correct width and height for the installed window. Also note that callout at the base of the wall does not include any specifics on the window installed when in library mode since it does not know whether the window is a picture, single hung, casement etc…
Since this particular library file already has the proper trim and casing as part of the component I have turned off these advanced features for this opening. If it did not I could alternatively enable both the trim and/or casing within the plugin even though the plugin is not actually drawing the window itself (it is bringing in a third party component instead).
The plugin will automatically populate the library dropdown with any valid SketchUp files found within the sub-folder “library/windows/”.
I am now working on the door modules to extend this functionality for doors.
I am also interested in working with other plugin authors so that I can establish an API which will allow the wall plugin to talk to their window/door plugin and automatically pass parameters back and forth so that opening location and size can properly sync with a third party plugin.
You might also notice that there are two dots shown on the top plate at each end of the wall in this model. This gives the user indication that holdowns are installed in this wall panel at these locations. In 2D mode these indicators will also be shown even though no hardware is drawn.
Working on updating the global settings to reflect the myriad of settings added to the plugin in the last month.
This is what you will see when you pull up the license tab with a fully licensed plugin:
Notice that there are twelve tabs:
- General (complete)
- Layers (complete)
- Materials
- Sheathing
- Walls
- Doors
- Windows
- Wall Corners (complete)
- Trim
- Insulation
- Holdowns (complete)
- License (complete)
The window and door tabs will have the largest amount of options. Updating all of these html pages is rather tedious work but it is necessary.
I might be going out on a limb here, but I’d bet most of us intending to use your Wall extension will be perfectly happy with windows and doors only represented by rough openings - especially in a beta release. All the bells and whistles are OK to wait until later!
Chomping at the bit for the beta!
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As soon as I get the global settings wrapped up I will be releasing the beta to all pre-purchase customers and Kickstarter supporters. I’m hoping there are not too many bugs left to be found but as with all new software the chances of that are pretty slim.
After a few mind numbing hours of parameters the global settings are now up-to-date. See a screenshot of the door tab below:
There are probably a few more additions that can be made to some of the tabs but I think we are good enough now for the initial release.
I still have one major item that needs some attention:
Updating of the interior wall algorithm so that it properly detects “Tee” intersections.
I also need to update the door casing for interior walls and add the gypsum wrap for interior walls with framed openings that do not have a window or door installed (ie. plain opening), however these are minor items and can probably be attended to after the initial release.
I have some known issues with the “no frame” option that need to be addressed but should only require a few minutes to remedy.
I will start working on the “Tee” intersection algorithm tonight and hopefully wrap this up tomorrow.
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Looking forward to another awesome Medeek plugin!
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Hopefully it doesn’t disappoint.
Realize that the initial release will probably have plenty of deficiencies, bugs and functional flaws that will need to be addressed. I have tried to think of everything based on my experience with the truss plugin but I am sure that significant improvements will be made during the first few weeks after the wall plugin is released.
I am still working out the (efficient) algorithm for the “Tee” intersection, I’m also doing quite a bit of debugging this morning as I further test the plugin in the “no frame” mode and tease out any issues. Some little fires to put it out but surprisingly nothing too big, I am pleasantly surprised.