Truss Calculators

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

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Medeek

Version 2.0.5 - 11.05.2017
- Added gutters and downspouts for rafter and truss hip roofs.
- Gutter menu added to the global settings.
- Custom roof layer added for gutters in the layer menu within the global settings.





I still need to add gutters and downspouts to the gable roofs (truss and rafter).

Four gutter types with two different downspout types.

This is a new feature so please send me your feedback and I will try to address all of the issues.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek



K-Style gutter with "2x3" downspouts.

I may need to add a few more user configurable variables:

- offset from bldg. corner (currently I have it offset 0" from the framing)
- offset from framed wall (currently I have it offset 1" from the framing)
- downspout radius (currently set at 3" @ CL)
- downspout drop (currently set at 3" before the first bend)

Right now these values are all hard coded into the plugin.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer


Medeek

Version 2.0.5b - 11.06.2017

- Fixed a minor bug with the downspout module, downspout solid is now a uniform extrusion with no unnecessary seams or edges.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.0.5c - 11.07.2017

- Fixed a minor bug with the gutter layer for installation upgrades of the plugin.

If you have version 2.0.5b please upgrade to this version or be sure to open up the global settings and click on the layers tab, this will create the default gutter layer setting.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.0.6 - 11.10.2017
- Added gutters and downspouts for rafter and truss gable roofs.
- Added gutters and downspouts for dutch gable rafter roofs.

I still need to add gutters to monoslope truss roofs, shed roofs and some other specialized truss roofs.  Adding the gutters to the common truss roof became slightly more complicated when I realized I also had to deal with roof returns and their various configurations.



This gable roof has a hip return with fully wrapped gutter, you can also choose to half wrap or no wrap (linear gutter only at eaves, does not wrap around corner).



The dutch gable is really no different than the regular hip roof, when it comes to the gutter and its configuration, but internally it is a completely different set of advanced options.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer


Medeek

Half wrap of a hip roof return:





All of the gutters and downspouts are constructed as solids so that it is easy to manipulate them with Pro's boolean tools or other third party solid tools.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.0.6b - 2017.11.11

I've added a text file in the materials sub-folder that allows one to modify the available materials (colors) for the gutters within the global settings menu.

The default values are:

8B4513:BROWN
B87333:COPPER
C0C0C0:SILVER
FFD700:GOLD
8B0000:DARK RED
0000CD:MEDIUM BLUE
006400:DARK GREEN
556B2F:DARK OLIVE GREEN
FFFFF0:IVORY

If all of these custom materials are deleted then only "white" will be available "FFFFFF" in the global settings.

The first six letters is the RGB value for the color, the description after the colon is the color name.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

The Medeek Seal of Authenticity:



This will be shown in the new license tab of the plugin global settings when the copy is fully registered.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Don_P



Medeek

"Where once there was nothing"
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.0.7 - 11.16.2017
- Added license tab to the global settings.
- Minor updates to the licensing system.

I've spent a couple days on adding language support but was unable to roll it out with this latest release.  I will keep working on this in the next few days and hopefully have something to show for my efforts with the next major release.

As far as languages go I am planning on producing language files for each of the SU supported languages. 

Any help with translating some of these very construction specific terms and phrases would be greatly appreciated.  Google translate seems to work quite well but I don't completely trust some of its translations.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Starting to make some head way on the translation / language support:



I've decided to devise my own language handler since I could not get the built in one to work.

The upside is that this allows me so support any language I choose, not just the languages supported by SketchUp.  I will be adding in an option in the general settings where the user can select their language of choice.

I will also be storing the language data in a new sub-folder "lang".  My intent is to be able to make it possible for the user to add their own language file and translations if they need to.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

My first menu in Japanese:



Fortunately, I know a little Japanese so I think I've got these more or less correct.  I will probably need to have a native Japanese speaker who is familiar with the construction industry check these over for me.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

I've added in a language option into the General tab of the Global Settings:



I currently have nine languages that I will support however if there are any others that you would like to see added please feel free to suggest one.

I think this method is preferable over using the locale of the installed plugin since someone that is running a french version of SketchUp may want to run the plugin in English or some other combination.  This allows the user to customize their user experience exactly.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer


Medeek

Version 2.0.8 - 11.18.2017
- Added language support for the following languages: French, Spanish, German, Russian, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese.
- Added a language option in to the "General Tab" of the Global Settings.
- Fixed a bug in the gutter module for metric templates.

There is still a huge amount of work to get all of the menus translated into the eight languages given above. 
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

I apologize Version 2.0.8 had a fatal flaw in it that thankfully someone pointed out to me this morning.  Please re-download sub-rev. 2.0.8b which addresses this issue immdediately.

The problem is that I am encrypting the .rb files into .rbs when I sign the plugin.  I don't want to encrypt the language files in the "lang" folder however the signing page did not know to discriminate so it encrypted those files as well and hence broke my links to them from the plugin load module.

Once I sign the extension and encrypted it I had to re-open the .rbz and put back in the unencrypted language files, problem solved.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Web based (HTML) user inputs will also require translation.  These are a little more challenging than the regular (non-graphical) UI but nothing a little javascript could not overcome.

Here is the gutter tab of the global settings translated into Japanese:



The translation (creation of language files) for each menu and alert will take some time and effort.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Back to complex roofs.  I've been giving some thought to complex truss roofs and how to handle L-shaped roofs and their derivatives.  Basically there is three ways to frame them out, which one is the most standard or preferred?

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/0d42dfb9-8059-40a9-afb9-e0f5a8c346df/Hip-Study-2

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/0d2f77aa-207c-457d-8315-9012eabb958e/Hip-Study-2B

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/cab9b658-f458-4453-b276-e8a9bb34bfb2/Hip-Study-2C
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Valley sets can get a little interesting when you start dealing with intersecting hip roofs.  If the width of the projection were to increase the valley set would become a combination of standard valley trusses and flat top or hip valley trusses.



View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/9bf5fd1a-e2db-4346-9596-d044bf4a1cd7/Complex-Roof-6
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.0.9 - 11.25.2017
- Structural outlookers (vert. & horz.) enabled under advanced roof options for Parallel Chord truss type.
- Metal plate connectors now enabled for all parallel chord trusses.



This truss type should now be up-to-date with all of the advanced options available:

roof returns, gutters, ceiling drywall, ridge cap etc...
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer


Medeek

Version 2.1.0 - 11.28.2017
- Added Northeast hip set trusses.
- Enabled advanced options for northeast hip sets.
- Added energy/raised heels for northeast hip set (3 variants: wedge, slider and vertical w/ strut).
- Added the option for open vs. closed end jacks.
- Added the option for a drop in purlin frame.
- Enabled a graphical user interface for Truss Set selection.





I only plan on adding the midwest and california variants if requested.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

The reason I am taking so long with complex rafter and truss roofs is the possible permutations is making things very challenging.

For example take the truss roof below:



I'm assuming there are no interior bearing walls and we want to clearspan the entire building outline.  I can get the basic roof and truss layout by creating to hip truss sets as primitives but that is where it then becomes very interesting.

As you can see there are two mid-building girder trusses that then catch the mono pitch sub-girders which are each supporting two common trusses.  Next to the sub-girders is a small valley set (half valley) that fills in the roof behind the sub-girders. 

The largest span is 36', which is reasonable.  This appears to be the simplest way to truss this roof out but is probably not the only solution.  A good truss technician could tell me how close I am to the optimal solution.

Granted the complex rafter roof is not IMHO as hard a problem but it also has similar difficulties and issues. 

View model at this link:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/24c19aa6-814a-4e9e-aa42-a0e0de1ba74c/Complex-Truss-Roof-8
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

As the number of advanced options have increased (common trusses) the user input menu has slowly grown in size until it is so large that it often does not fit the screen of many laptops and smaller screens.

This problem has been well documented by a number of users for quite some time.

This weekend I spent some time putting together a new HTML menu for advanced options for roof trusses:



I still need to work out the metric version and also all of the language translations but otherwise I think it is almost ready to roll out.

As you mouse over each of the options a 320x240 image will display as shown, hopefully clarifying the meaning or usage of each parameter/option.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

I am working on adding the heel blocking since it is an option listed in the advanced options.



So far there has not been much call for this feature but a few people have inquired so I figured we might as well add it in for completeness.  The red coloration is for clarity in the image above.

I will probably add the option to allow for venting holes since this is fairly typical in my neck of the woods.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Featured on the SketchUp Extension Inspection:

https://youtu.be/C4bW3dFPuUA
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer