Truss Calculators

Started by Medeek, March 12, 2013, 06:33:08 AM

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Medeek

First look at soffit and fascia applied to a common truss (fink) roof:



If you look closely you can see the roof cladding is extending out over the gutter (0.75"), I'm adding the cladding extension parameter to the advanced options for trusses.

Even though this is working great now for the common truss I still need to add the logic in to handle the hip roof return and full return configurations.  I also have the configuration where the back side of the assembly is truncated to allow for abutting next to a wall.  This will require yet another soffit and fascia configuration. 
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Due to the complications caused by roof returns I had to jump through a few more hoops to get the soffit and fascia (and roof cladding extension) fully functional for common trusses:







Unfortunately, I still cannot release these latest upgrades to the public because in changing up the advanced options module I may have possibly broken other truss types.

Tomorrow I will need to do some thorough checking to make sure the other truss types:  attic, scissor, monopitch, cathedral etc... are working correctly and can now work with the soffit and fascia module.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer


Medeek

Quite a number of fixes to the attic truss module.  The floor sheathing option is also now exposed in the attic truss edit menu.



Full Return:



Roof labels and callouts also added to this truss type.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Soffit and Fascia now available for Scissor and Cathedral trusses:





I've also taken the time to make the cathedral truss type parametric (edit menu).

I only need to look at the monopitch truss edit menu and address a few changes to it and then I will be ready to push all of these changes out to a new version.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.4.3 - 06.02.2019
- Enabled soffit and fascia for the following truss types: common, attic, scissor, monopitch, cathedral.
- Enabled a roof cladding extension parameter for truss roofs.
- Enabled the "Edit Truss Assembly" function for all cathedral trusses (imperial and metric units).
- Added the floor sheathing option to the attic truss edit menu.
- Parameter change highlighting enabled for truss roof edit menus.
- Roof returns (full and hip) enabled for monopitch trusses.
- Addressed some minor bugs with the truss gutter module.
- Soffit and Fascia added to truss roofs with full or hip returns.
- Labels and callouts added to attic, scissor, and cathedral trusses.
- Added the soffit box extension parameter for truss roofs.

Monopitch variants:









This was a fairly substantial upgrade with lots of changes.  I wrapped up quite a few hours of testing today but there will probably be something that gets away from me, there always is.

Now its time to go after the much larger fish... Complex and secondary roofs.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer


Medeek

*** The Medeek Truss extension will no longer officially support SketchUp 2015 and SketchUp 2016, only SketchUp 2017 and newer will be supported. ***

I have reluctantly made this decision based on the additional time and effort I am spending trying to put in place additional logic (band aids) within the code base to ensure that the plugin maintains compatibility with these older versions of SketchUp.  At some point it is simply no longer worth the effort.

If you are plugin user currently running one of these older versions of SketchUp, I would strongly suggest that you upgrade to ensure continued operation of the extension.  The current version of the extension will probably still work with either SketchUp version however moving forward there will be no guarantee of compatibility.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Working on the edit menu for the shed rafter roof.  If the user enables soffit and fascia for this roof type I will need a small routine that checks the rafter depth and trims the upper rafter tails if the rafters are deeper than the barge rafter (rake board):



For the lower end rafter tails the soffit cut parameter takes care of this problem, however with an angled soffit I will need a similar routine for the lower rafter tails as previously discussed in a post a few days back.

Roof returns (rake, hip and full) have not been enabled for rafter roofs yet, that is something that will need to be setup for this module as the truss module already has this feature.

A number of other upgrades for this roof type as well:  Front and Back gable overhangs, Roof cladding extension.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.4.4 - 06.05.2019
- Enabled soffit and fascia for shed rafter roofs.
- Enabled a roof cladding extension parameter for shed rafter roofs.
- Enabled the "Edit Roof Assembly" function for shed rafter roofs (imperial and metric units).
- Added the option in the shed rafter roof edit menu to specify a separate front and back overhang length.
- Shed roofs auto-trim upper rafter tails as required when soffit is specified.

Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.4.4b- 06.06.2019
- Enabled gable and angled soffit & fascia for shed rafter roofs.





Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer


Medeek

Version 2.4.5 - 06.07.2019
- Fixed a minor bug with the shed rafter roof module.
- Enabled gable and angled soffit & fascia for all gable rafter roofs.





View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/7749498e-99c0-4914-abca-29516a324d4f/Angle-Soffit-with-Rafter-Roof
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.4.6 - 06.08.2019
- Enabled gable and angled soffit & fascia for common, attic, scissor, and cathedral trusses.
- Enabled gable and angled soffit & fascia for monopitch trusses.







Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.4.6b - 06.08.2019
- Added the ability to import materials directly from the model within the Custom Material Libary/Manager in the global settings.

This update was per customer request.  The direct material import feature previously was added to the Wall plugin but was missing from the Truss plugin.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

This is the first new icon for the main Truss plugin toolbar in quite some time:



The complex roof icon/tool will allow the user to pick between either a truss or rafter complex roof (first HTML menu), then the user will select a horizontal (closed) face which will be used to determine the perimeter of the roof.  Before the user selects the outline face they can utilize the complex roof draw menu (HTML menu #2) to adjust settings (ie. overhang, pitch, sheathing, cladding etc...)

The draw menu will stay open and the tool active until closed or space bar is pressed.  So multiple complex roofs can be created one after another with the given settings.  Similar to the wall plugin I will probably implement a system of roof presets so the user can quickly jump to a specific configuration.

My latest code for menus in the Electrical plugin is my cleanest and most advanced code for dealing with interactive HTML menus.  I will be borrowing heavily from this plugin initially to setup my basic tool and menu systems.

I will also at some point allow the user to select the points that define the roof outline rather than selecting a face but for the time being I'm going to keep it simple and just allow the face selection method for now.

I am starting with the complex rafter roof first.  The truss variant will be even more troublesome and problematic so its best to cut my teeth on the rafter variant and see how far I can take it.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

The first menu will use the following two images to select either a rafter or truss roof:



Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer


Medeek

First look at the initial selection menu:

Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.4.7 - 06.13.2019
- Enabled a "No Framing" mode for gable, hip and shed rafter roofs. This feature is also available for asymmetric gable and hip roofs.
- Added the complex roof icon to the main toolbar.





The "no framing" mode is per customer requests.  I'm really not sure how much utility this features offers but it certainly will keep your model more lightweight if you choose not to show all of the rafter framing.

I also added this parameter in preparation for the upcoming complex roof module.  With complex roofs the ability to eliminate all of the underlying framing will be a much bigger factor in my opinion.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.4.7b - 06.14.2019
- Addressed a number of critical bug fixes for metric templates.

If you are working with metric units this update will address a number of issues that were not resolved when the edit function was added to various trusses and rafter roofs.  This is an essential upgrade.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.4.8 - 06.16.2019
- Added a Soffit/Fascia tab to the Global Settings.

Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

With the recent post about the foundation plugin (adding in parametrics for slab on grade foundations) some people are asking "Why did you stop working on complex roofs and move back to the foundation plugin?".  As it turns out the algorithm or logic for editing the "polygon" outline of a complex roof or foundation is pretty much the same.  Since I have the overall code in place for a slab on grade foundation I am first implementing the polygon face edit tool with the foundation plugin then I will bring this code over to the Truss plugin and complex roofs.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Mountainman38

I came across your truss calculator today, and it's great! Thanks for making it freely available.

I'm able to download a PDF copy of my truss design, but I'd like to have a DWG or DXF file to put into a carport design I'm working on.  When I try to "Download the AUTOCAD copy of truss", I get a pop-up window that says "Creating CAD Files..." with the spinning circle, but it never completes.  I'm using Mozilla Firefox, if that makes a difference.

Thanks for any help you can give me.


Medeek

The "FRONT" option for Gable Truss parameter allows one to terminate a truss assembly where it meets another roof or wall but currently it does not provide for a GIRDER truss as shown:



I need to provide an additional option here called "GIRDER" which allows the user to terminate the truss assembly and also configure a girder truss (ie. Howe truss with heavy bottom chord and stubbed off tails).
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.4.9 - 08.27.2019
- Fixed the trim tool so that it is now able to trim hollow sections (ie. pipes, rectangular tubes).



The extend tool already had this ability but for some reason I was not made aware that the trim tool was unable to handle hollow sections until just recently.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

#897
Medeek Live Training: Session 2

https://youtu.be/WhIdP7Zr0dQ

Scheduled time is Sept. 12 (Thursday) at 11:00 PST

The primary topics covered will be the recent additions to the truss plugin (ie. soffit & fascia, asymmetric rafter roofs, etc...) however as usual I will be open to any other questions via the online chat.

The session should run about an hour in length depending on the number of questions I receive.

I think I've worked the kinks out of my streaming software, so things should go a bit smoother this time.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Working in earnest on the complex roof module today after spending about two months overhauling the foundation plugin.

As I'm putting together this module I'm starting with a clean slate and trying to take advantage of all my behind the scenes and UI improvements I've made with the updates to foundation plugin and even the electrical plugin.  All of the menus for this module will be HTML.  Many of the editing and move tools will be brought over from the recent work on the foundation plugin.

The basic parameters that will define the complex roof overall geometry and roof planes are:

- polygon outline (provided by a face or a locus of user selected points)
- pitch
- overhang
- birdcut
- rafter depth

Additional basic parameters will be:

- rafter width
- ridgeboard depth
- ridgeboard width
- hip rafter depth
- hip rafter width
- valley rafter depth
- valley rafter width

- framing option: Yes/No
- advanced roof options

If the advanced roof options are enabled then the roof planes are actually further defined by the sub-fascia width since in two of three sub-fascia types the roof sheathing (plane) actually extends over the sub-fascia.

The advanced roof options will include:  sheathing, cladding, sub-fascia, hip-and-ridge, gutters and soffit & fascia.  The number of parameter required for all of these options is too numerous to list here.  Future advanced parameters might include: gypsum, ceiling joists, heel blocking

Once a complex roof assembly is created it then can be edited by selecting various roof planes and customizing that roof planes particular parameters. 

The roof plane edit tool will allow the user to adjust the follow parameters specifically for that roof plane or eave/edge:

- pitch
- birdcut
- rafter depth
- Overhang OR Delta Height (vertical height of supporting top plate)

Additionally certain roof planes will be convertable from a hip configuration to a gable configuration.  Once a roof edge/plane is converted to a gable it will then need to be editable with a different "gable" menu, which will include a whole host of gable specific parameters (ie. outlookers, gable overhang, wall sheathing, wall cladding etc...)

Similar to the "Move SOG Edge" tool with the foundation plugin I will also have a "Move Roof Eave" tool that allows the user to move the roof outline around by picking an edge and dragging it perpendicular in or out.  This should make resizing a roof a breeze. 

I will also have the "Edit Roof Outline" context menu tool which will allow the user to actually edit the polygon that defines the roof outline.

I'm posting this update not only for you but also for me as it is helping me organize some of my own thoughts about what direction I need to take this new development.  Any feedback or suggestions on what I have proposed thus far for this new module is very much welcomed.

Just to be clear this module is something I have been trying to accomplish within this plugin since I began coding it almost four years ago.  This is the Holy Grail of the Medeek Truss extension.  If I can pull this off successfully then I have actually accomplished something.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

First look at the Draw menu for a complex rafter roof:



When you first click the complex roof icon you are first presented with the initial selection menu:



Once you click the rafter roof option you are then given the draw menu.

I now have the initial supporting infrastructure and templates in place, in other words the boring stuff (ie. attribute library storage and retrieval, draw and edit menus, polygon tool for point selection, global settings).

Now begins the much more challenging and exciting part of the development, establishing the roof planes and the actual geometry creation algorithms.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer