Stacked windows and doors have been a topic a few times on this thread and I have incrementally improved the algorithms so that the plugin can deal with them.

However there still exists the situation where you have openings stacked that are not aligned or possibly the same size:



My feeling is one should avoid this type of situation in ones design but apparently it comes up often enough that I find myself fielding questions on how best to deal with this type of configuration.  Currently the easiest way to deal with it is to use the Trim and Split tool available in Truss plugin so that you end up with something like this:



The problem with this is that we are now back to manual edits and we lose the parametrics of the plugin, so the solution is not really acceptable for many, myself included.

1.) My first question is how common is this sort of thing and is it something I should worry about?  No point in spending a lot of time on a specific framing situation that is only the concern of less that 5% of the user base.

2.) The next question assuming that question #1 is the affirmative is how best to frame out this sort of situation.  Is what I have in the second screenshot the correct way to handle this?

Most of my time is actually spent debugging or looking for ways to break the plugins (instabilities etc...)

I found one small minor issue this morning when I generated this roof (I will issue the fix later today or tomorrow):





The module is surprisingly robust even with more intensive roofs however the draw and edit time required for this geometry is noticeable on my ten year old PC.  My youngest son keeps telling me to update to a newer machine with a better graphics card but I figure the older machine actually helps me keep my code lean and efficient.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/a245116e-88cd-4b5f-9536-cc060a43ce63/Complex-Rafters-3

Version 2.9.9 - 07.25.2021
- Enabled the rafter framing module for complex roofs.

I am releasing this update so that users can begin testing out the rafter framing module, however be warned that it is still missing many features and is technically in a BETA state right now as I sort out some of the details and finer points.

Please send bug details or other concerns directly to my email address, nathan@medeek.com.

Well the basics are more or less there but now the details...



Notice that the hip, flying hip and valley rafters are still missing, that algorithm is going to be fun.

Lots of little details that still need to be addressed to really make this usable in my opinion, especially when asymmetric roof planes are present within a roof assembly. 

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/005fd8fe-4252-4d3d-8dbf-45c3e58eca37/Complex-Roof-Rafter-Framing

Now that I've found a natural break in the Truss plugin development I want to address the wall preset issue that has been dogging me for way too long.

My idea has always been to make the storage system for the presets manually editable by the user (if required) so I have simply stored the data as long strings of text in a simple text file (.txt)

Here is an example of a bunch of wall presets:


Medeek Wall Preset File
2|Stucco Rockwool|20210510115553|Int-Ext|Front|97.125|80.0|5.5|1.5|16.0|Left|0.0|2|1.5|1|1.5|NO|YES|Outside Corner|90.0|1.5|1|California|Stud Depth|YES|Outside Corner|90.0|1.5|1|California|Stud Depth|YES|YES|0.4375|FLUSH|YES|0.25|0.0|MITER|YES|5.0|NO|YES|0.0|0.0|0.0|0.0|0.0|ZIP_12|STUCCO_LIGHT_TAN|WALLGYPSUM|RKW|YES|NO|NO|NO|NO|0.5|WALLGYPSUM|NO|0.4375|FLUSH|ZIP_12|Center|YES|1|48.0|ON SHEATHING|0.75|YES|3.5|YES|3.5|YES|#ffffff|YES|3.5|0.75|NO|48.0|YES|5.5|0.75|NO|YES|7.25|0.75|YES|YES|0.75|1.25|36.0|4.0|1.0|MITER|BRICK_RED|YES|4.0|1.0|YES|0.0|0.0|MODE1|BRICK_RED|A|16.0|12.0|12.0|2.0|1.0|QUOIN
3|Stucco Pink|20210510124401|Int-Ext|Front|97.125|80.0|5.5|1.5|16.0|Left|0.0|2|1.5|1|1.5|NO|YES|Outside Corner|90.0|1.5|1|California|Stud Depth|YES|Outside Corner|90.0|1.5|1|California|Stud Depth|YES|YES|0.4375|FLUSH|YES|0.25|0.0|MITER|YES|0.5|YES|NO|0.0|0.0|0.0|0.0|0.0|OSB_FELT|STUCCO_LIGHT_TAN|WALLGYPSUM|PFG|NO|NO|NO|NO|NO|0.5|WALLGYPSUM|NO|0.4375|FLUSH|OSB_FELT|HDU8|0.0|SB78-24|24.0|BOTH|FRAMING|Center|YES|1|48.0|ON SHEATHING|0.75|YES|3.5|YES|3.5|YES|#ffffff|YES|3.5|0.75|NO|48.0|YES|5.5|0.75|NO|YES|7.25|0.75|YES|YES|0.75|1.25|36.0|4.0|1.0|MITER|BRICK_RED|YES|4.0|1.0|YES|0.0|0.0|MODE1|BRICK_RED|A|16.0|12.0|12.0|2.0|1.0|QUOIN
4|test2|20210510145752|Int-Ext|Front|97.125|80.0|5.5|1.5|16.0|Left|0.0|2|1.5|1|1.5|NO|YES|Outside Corner|90.0|1.5|1|California|Stud Depth|YES|Outside Corner|90.0|1.5|1|California|Stud Depth|YES|YES|0.4375|FLUSH|YES|0.25|0.0|MITER|YES|0.5|NO|NO|0.0|0.0|0.0|0.0|0.0|OSB|HARDI_CM_HM|WALLGYPSUM|PFG|NO|NO|NO|NO|NO|0.5|WALLGYPSUM|NO|0.4375|FLUSH|OSB|HDU8|0.0|SB78-24|24.0|BOTH|FRAMING|Center|YES|1|48.0|ON SHEATHING|0.75|YES|3.5|YES|3.5|YES|#ffffff|YES|3.5|0.75|NO|48.0|YES|5.5|0.75|NO|YES|7.25|0.75|YES|YES|0.75|1.25|36.0|4.0|1.0|MITER|BRICK_RED|YES|4.0|1.0|YES|0.0|0.0|MODE1|BRICK_RED|A|16.0|12.0|12.0|2.0|1.0|QUOIN
5|4/2 Wall|20210510145837|Int-Ext|Front|97.125|80.0|5.5|1.5|16.0|Left|0.0|2|1.5|1|1.5|NO|YES|Outside Corner|90.0|1.5|1|California|Stud Depth|YES|Outside Corner|90.0|1.5|1|California|Stud Depth|YES|YES|0.4375|FLUSH|YES|0.25|0.0|MITER|YES|0.5|NO|NO|0.0|0.0|0.0|0.0|0.0|OSB|HARDI_CM_HM|WALLGYPSUM|PFG|NO|NO|NO|NO|NO|0.5|WALLGYPSUM|NO|0.4375|FLUSH|OSB|HDU8|0.0|SB78-24|24.0|BOTH|FRAMING|Center|YES|1|48.0|ON SHEATHING|0.75|YES|3.5|YES|3.5|YES|#ffffff|YES|3.5|0.75|NO|48.0|YES|5.5|0.75|NO|YES|7.25|0.75|YES|YES|0.75|1.25|36.0|4.0|1.0|MITER|BRICK_RED|YES|4.0|1.0|YES|0.0|0.0|MODE1|BRICK_RED|A|16.0|12.0|12.0|2.0|1.0|QUOIN
6|120wall|20210606121902|Int-Ext|Front|120.0|80.0|5.5|1.5|16.0|Left|0.0|2|1.5|1|1.5|NO|YES|Outside Corner|90.0|1.5|1|California|Stud Depth|YES|Outside Corner|90.0|1.5|1|California|Stud Depth|YES|YES|0.4375|FLUSH|YES|0.25|0.0|MITER|YES|0.5|NO|NO|0.0|0.0|0.0|0.0|0.0|OSB|HARDI_CM_HM|WALLGYPSUM|PFG|NO|NO|NO|NO|NO|0.5|WALLGYPSUM|NO|0.4375|FLUSH|OSB|HDU8|0.0|SB78-24|24.0|BOTH|FRAMING|Center|YES|1|48.0|ON SHEATHING|0.75|YES|3.5|YES|3.5|YES|#ffffff|YES|3.5|0.75|NO|48.0|YES|5.5|0.75|NO|YES|7.25|0.75|YES|YES|0.75|1.25|36.0|4.0|1.0|MITER|BRICK_RED|YES|4.0|1.0|YES|0.0|0.0|MODE1|BRICK_RED|A|16.0|12.0|12.0|2.0|1.0|QUOIN
7|150HD|20210606122002|Int-Ext|Front|150.0|80.0|5.5|1.5|16.0|Left|0.0|2|1.5|1|1.5|NO|YES|Outside Corner|90.0|1.5|1|California|Stud Depth|YES|Outside Corner|90.0|1.5|1|California|Stud Depth|YES|YES|0.4375|FLUSH|YES|0.25|0.0|MITER|YES|0.5|NO|YES|0.0|0.0|0.0|0.0|0.0|OSB|HARDI_CM_HM|WALLGYPSUM|PFG|NO|NO|NO|NO|NO|0.5|WALLGYPSUM|NO|0.4375|FLUSH|OSB|HDU8|0.0|SB78-24|24.0|BOTH|FRAMING|Center|YES|1|48.0|ON SHEATHING|0.75|YES|3.5|YES|3.5|YES|#ffffff|YES|3.5|0.75|NO|48.0|YES|5.5|0.75|NO|YES|7.25|0.75|YES|YES|0.75|1.25|36.0|4.0|1.0|MITER|BRICK_RED|YES|4.0|1.0|YES|0.0|0.0|MODE1|BRICK_RED|A|16.0|12.0|12.0|2.0|1.0|QUOIN
8|150BLKHD|20210606122102|Int-Ext|Front|150.0|80.0|5.5|1.5|16.0|Left|0.0|2|1.5|1|1.5|NO|YES|Outside Corner|90.0|1.5|1|California|Stud Depth|YES|Outside Corner|90.0|1.5|1|California|Stud Depth|YES|YES|0.4375|FLUSH|YES|0.25|0.0|MITER|YES|0.5|NO|YES|0.0|0.0|0.0|0.0|0.0|OSB|HARDI_CM_HM|WALLGYPSUM|PFG|YES|NO|NO|NO|NO|0.5|WALLGYPSUM|NO|0.4375|FLUSH|OSB|HDU8|0.0|SB78-24|24.0|BOTH|FRAMING|Center|YES|1|48.0|ON SHEATHING|0.75|YES|3.5|YES|3.5|YES|#ffffff|YES|3.5|0.75|NO|48.0|YES|5.5|0.75|NO|YES|7.25|0.75|YES|YES|0.75|1.25|36.0|4.0|1.0|MITER|BRICK_RED|YES|4.0|1.0|YES|0.0|0.0|MODE1|BRICK_RED|A|16.0|12.0|12.0|2.0|1.0|QUOIN

Notice how I've used the vertical bar to separate the values/parameters, any deliminator could be used but the vertical bar is not something one would use typically in any of the fields as values so it makes for a convenient choice.

This system works well enough for storing and retrieving the data however the huge downside is that it is an ordered array of values and if I add in a new parameter (somewhere in the middle) then it throws off previous versions of preset files (ie. no backward compatibility).

I need a better way or method of storing this data.  It can't be binary since it needs to be visible to the user but it needs to be either some sort of structure, hash or XML so that I can easily add additional parameters to the system when required.

Any suggestions?