Wall Plugin for SketchUp

Started by Medeek, March 05, 2017, 12:03:48 AM

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Medeek

Version 1.5.2 - 06.21.2020
- Added the ability to create, load and delete window presets within the Edit and Draw (HTML) Menus.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 1.5.3 - 06.22.2020
- Added the ability to create, load and delete door presets within the Edit and Draw (HTML) Menus.

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


Medeek

When you first click the gable wall tool you will be presented with the following gable wall matrix:



As you can see from the shading all wall types except for the "Gable" type have been grayed out.  Initially I will make only this wall type available, then the "Shed" will be the next type I proceed to develop.  The rectangular, gable and shed walls constitute the vast majority of wall geometries used in most construction however you can see there are quite a few other possibilities, so many in fact, that I quickly ran out of descriptive names to assign them.

Compared with a standard rectangular wall a gable wall with have the following additional parameters:

- Wall Height Left
- Wall Height Right
- Wall Pitch Left
- Wall Pitch Right

These four parameters will drive the location of the wall peak.  In most situations the left and right values will be the same resulting in a symmetric gable wall however any combination of dissimilar pitches and wall heights will be possible which will then yield an asymmetric gable wall.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

The wireframe preview will look like this:



In this case we have a symmetric gable wall.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

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


Medeek

I'm going to have to dumb down some of the more general features/parameters found with rectangular walls as they apply to gable walls.  For example with rectangular walls you can have walls connected at non-orthogonal corners.  For gable walls this becomes very complicated and eventually I will probably allow it however for now I think it would be best to limit gable walls to ONLY orthogonal connections at the corners.  If I don't do this it will be another 6 months of programming before I ever complete the gable wall module.

As I was testing asymmetric gable walls earlier today it became apparent that the intersection at the peak is a little more interesting with the asymmetric case.  Also I will probably make the double studs positioned at the peak an optional setting in the global settings. 

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

Medeek

Notice how the door falls beneath the gable wall peak:



In this situation the symbol or outline for the opening must be broken into two faces as shown.

There are a lot of little details like this that further complicate things having to do with gable walls, finding them all is a slow and meticulous process.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Working on in-wall columns for gable walls:



A full height column just butts up to the underside of the top plate(s) and is cut at a bevel to match the pitch of the wall as shown.

A more interesting scenario is where the column is less than or more than the plate height and you might then have a beam pocket, in this case at the peak of the wall:

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

Medeek

A bit more to do with the framing but it appears to be mostly there now, notice the mid-span blocking algorithm will need some additional logic:


The critical items still needing further attention are:

- Cavity insulation
- Mid-span blocking
- Sheathing, Cladding, Gypsum
-  Ext. Trim: Corner Trim, Band Board, Frieze Board
- Quoins
- Beam Pocket cut outs (sheathing, cladding, gypsum)

The future items that will need to be addressed at a later date are:

- Estimating quantities for Gable Walls
- Framing dimensions for Gable Walls
- Simpson Strong-Walls
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer


Medeek

Looks like we have the mid-span blocking firing on all cylinders now:



Notice the california corner still needs to be beveled where it abuts the top plate, I guess I missed that one earlier, I'm on it.

After that I will work on the cavity insulation.

I will release the gable wall to the public once I have completed the previous checklist, I will keep posting updates as I complete each item.  The ETA could be in a as little as two days or it could be as far out as two weeks depending on if I run into any specific roadblocks along the way.  You never know until you dig into the code.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

We're not out of the woods yet:



The WSW series is field trimmable (to an incline), so we can set that up if this type of pre-manufactured shearwall is selected. I also need to add some extra logic in for the optional king studs and the symbol on top of the wall.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

A WSW Simpson Strong-Wall trimmed to an incline to fit within a gable wall.  I've been looking forward to this day ever since I utilized one of these shear wall panels within one of my own residential designs about four years ago.



Note that only the WSW series can be field trimmed like this, at least to my knowledge.  I need to do a bit more research into what Simpson recommends for an SSW installation when the top plate is inclined or if this is even possible.  I suppose one could always install a trapezoidal block between the SSW and the top plate.

Next I will look at the sheathing, cladding and gypsum and also sort out more of the details with the inset outside corner (termination).
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

A CMU gable wall:



The texture/material on the inclined surfaces is representational at best.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Gable wall with cladding and quoins:

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


Medeek

Beam pocket cutouts for gypsum, sheathing and cladding:



In the situation where the cutout bisects the peak (as shown) the cutout piece is a pentagon not a trapezoid, needed to rework my logic a bit to take care of that situation.

Now I've only got the exterior trim to work on and possibly some more testing with the following items:

- corner configurations/terminations (make sure they all work as expected).
- adjust auto-corner configurations or disable entirely for the gable wall type.
- tee intersections, what are the possible permutations?
- change from polyline to single panel construction for the draw tool, still thinking about this one.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Gable walls with exterior trim (frieze, band, skirt, corners):



The intersection of the frieze board with the corner trim is still a bit of a question for me especially if the frieze were to cut through the corner trim.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/4383fd71-360a-4799-b6b8-3d0c374514ec/Gable-Wall-1
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Okay, so I don't have the inset outside corner quite right for the gable wall:



I need to adjust it so that it terminates at the plate height of the intersecting rectangular wall, a minor change.

I am still tossing around the auto-corner configuration routines, not sure yet on the final path I will take, it may just be easier to initially disable this for gable walls and require the user to manually set their wall termination configurations.

I will also update the draw tool to only allow the drawing of a single gable wall panel at a time.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 1.5.4 - 07.08.2020
- Added the gable wall tool with the ability to draw and edit standard gable walls.



Be advised this is a completely new module with modifications to over 36 files (ruby and html).  I have tested most of the features with the gable walls however I am quite positive that further testing will pull out a few bugs or limitations which will need to be rectified.

Please feel free to test out the new gable wall module and report any bugs or other issues that may arise.

The following limitations currently exist and are subject to change in the near future:

- The gable wall cannot be used with the wall "move" tool yet.  The results might be unpredictable.
- Gable walls are limited to orthogonal corners (90 degrees).
- Auto-corner configuration is turned off for gable walls, the user can edit the wall once it is created and set the start and end termination conditions.
- I will need to add in additional logic for the case of zero wall height (triangular gable walls).
- Currently there is no method from switch a gable wall to a rectangular wall.
- Termination conditions are:  Outside Corner, Inset Outside Corner, End, Terminal, Tee Corner.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Working on tee intersection blocking for gable walls:





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

Medeek

Version 1.5.4b - 07.10.2020
- Fixed a bug with the wall move tool when moving gable walls.
- Added tee intersection blocking for gable walls: 3-stud, 2-stud, 2-stud w/ blocking, ladder blocking.
- Enabled auto-corner configuration for gable walls.

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


Medeek

Before I move to shed walls I need to get zero height (triangular) gable walls up and running.

Which is the preferred configuration (left or right) of the bottom and top plates?

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

Medeek

Version 1.5.4d - 07.11.2020
- Updated the gable wall module to allow for zero wall height (triangular and trapezoidal walls).



I apologize for all of the micro-updates, however when you develop completely new module there is always a fair bit of residual debugging that accompanies it.  I will now turn my attention to shed walls.

I've had votes for both the right and left configuration given above however the left configuration received more votes so that is what I went with.

P.S.
The four sided variant (where one side is zero height and the other is some non-zero value) is more correctly a quadrilateral not a trapezoid.  Two side are perpendicular but not parallel, to my knowledge there is no specific name for this type of quadrangle, perhaps the correct term would be a "right quadrilateral".
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

First look at a left and right shed wall:

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

Medeek

Version 1.5.5 - 07.14.2020
- Enabled the gable wall tool with the ability to draw and edit shed walls.







View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/126f5080-0ecc-4edf-96b4-6599d4412dcd/Shed-Walls
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Updated todo list (as of July 14, 2020):

1.) Making the Window, Door and Garage Door modules work with generic walls, not just Medeek walls.
2.) Shear Wall module which will ultimately integrate with the engineering plugin.
3.) Presets for Garage Doors
4.) Move the Estimating module to the new Medeek Project extension, and further develop this module as it relates to the wall plugin.
5.) Start work on the integrated  Medeek Engineering  extension, start with window and door headers for vertical loads.
6.) Additional door and window types as requested (eg. bi-fold closet doors, sliding glass doors, pocket doors, double and triple single hung windows).
7.) Spend some time on the new tabs in the global settings, currently showing an Under Construction sign.
8.) Stair module permutations: U, L, T etc...
9.) Further "idiot" proofing of the plugins: (zero value, nil values, checking for impossible geometry, etc...)
10.) Wall Justification
11.) Interior trim added to Medeek Interior extension.
12.) Resume development of the Medeek Floor extension.

The list has gotten a lot shorter in the last couple of months.  I'm excited to finally have a working shed and gable wall type, there is still a lot more work to be done with many more gable variants, but I will attack those as specific requests are made for each type.

I feel it is time to move back to the complex roof module but before I do I may look at the new number one on this list.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer