Wall Plugin for SketchUp

[Medeek]

Version 0.8.5b - 07.12.2018
- Added the following Grille Types for all windows: Prairie, Perimeter, Short Fractional, Farmhouse, Grid2x2, Grid2x3, Grid3x2, Grid3x3.



A Grid3x2 would be three columns and two rows (6 lite).

There are now 10 variants available for window grilles.  One of these days I might consider adding in the Diamond and Queen Anne patterns but right now I'm "grille fatigued".  On to bigger and better things.

[Medeek]

Beyond the trim and grilles the only exterior window treatment I am missing is shutters:



I will need to add in another set of parameters for shutters and associated menus. 

The parameters will be:

Shutter Geometry:  Single or Double
Shutter Style:  Louver, Raised Panel, Flat Panel, Board & Batten
Shutter Material
Shutter Thickness

By default they will be half the width of the window opening and their height will be the same as the window opening.  The shutter(s) will be offset 2" from the edge of the window to simulate the space taken up by hinges.  I will not be showing hinges or any other hardware so as to keep the poly count reasonable.

[Medeek]

Version 0.8.6 - 07.14.2018
- Added shutters: Solid, Flat Panel, Raised Panel, Louver to rectangular windows.



View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/65abb50e-d8ab-4312-8d09-ed89afbccef0/Window-Test-3

Available shutter styles are:

- Solid
- Raised Panel
- Flat Panel
- Louver

I have not yet enabled shutters for arched windows, that will be next.

I also need to add in a board & batten shutter which is also quite popular.

Also note that you can position the shutters on either side of the window (left or right, single shutter) or the more common double shutter configuration as shown.

[Medeek]

Board and Batten Shutters:

[Medeek]

Arched window with flat panel shutters:



These arched shutters are proving to be a bit more challenging.  I will need to figure out a new algorithm for board and batten shutters and louver shutters. 

[Medeek]

Raised Panel Arched Shutter:



I now have all the shutter types working for arched windows:



View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/325dad97-0a74-48b7-b1c6-d335be371261/Window-Test-4

[Medeek]

Left, Right and Double:



View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/f3001ec7-84ca-46da-b879-7ac7c3d80cd2/Window-Test-5

I've also addressed a bug with arched geometry where the push-pull direction was giving unpredictable results (flipping flopping between in and out).  Turns out that you need to clock your segments all in the same direction to get predictable results, which makes sense.  For some reason this did not occur to me as I was coding some of these sections of the main window module.

[Medeek]

Version 0.8.6b - 07.16.2018
- Added shutters: Solid, Flat Panel, Raised Panel, Louver, Board & Batten to arched windows.
- Shutter geometry parameter allows for: Left, Right or Double.
- Fixed bug in arched window module that was causing unpredictable push-pull behavior.

[Medeek]

For a triple casement window I am thinking a single frame with three sashes, does this seem reasonable?

Also I was thinking about oval and round windows earlier today and they are really one in the same, the only difference being the aspect ratio (height/width).  A round window is an oval window with an AR = 1.0:



Hence the window height and width will drive the shape of the oval, really no different than a rectangular window.

[Medeek]

Oval / Round windows are certainly something new and a bit more challenging but now that I've got the algorithms worked out the rest is just a matter of generating the code.

[Medeek]

[Medeek]

Version 0.8.7 - 07.18.2018
- Added oval and round windows to the window draw and edit modules.
- Enabled trim, casing and window installation for oval and round windows.





I haven't enabled shutters or grilles yet for this window type, it is not high on my todo list unless I receive additional requests for these features.

The trim and casing options are also pretty much plain jane for now.

Let's see if I can't knock out the Garage Door module this evening.

I also thought it might be helpful to reiterate that if you are an educator (teacher, professor, school) or a student I am offering full licenses of all my plugins for educational use.  All that I ask is you provide some form of student ID or other proof that you are associated with an educational institution.  The educational licenses provided to educators also allow installation on up to 50 seats.

[Medeek]

I have been primarily focused on the imperial/US units during the development but I also realize that a lot of current users are utilizing the plugin in metric units.  I am not at all familiar with construction and construction documents in metric units so I need a little help here.

What I am talking about is the callouts for windows and doors.  What is the appropriate way to show these callouts in metric units?  What is common or accepted practice?

[MountainDon]

Even though Canada is a metric country (gas, milk, distances between places...) , building supplies such as lumber, plywood, windows, and doors are all dimensioned in inches and feet. I was in Canada recently and helped my brother in law with a deck. All the lumber was 2x just like here. We looked at a prehung door... inches. PEX pipe... inches

I did notice that some extension cords in the HomeDepot were metric first (10M / 32.8 feet) and others were feet first (50 feet / 15,24 M).    And yes, that was a comma in the metric measurement, just like in europe.

They do sell tape measures that are dual scaled.

[Medeek]

Canada is one of those odd ones, they do use a lot of metric but some industries are still heavily imperial units like the building industry.  I grew up in BC and went to school there (K-12) so I'm quite familiar with their metric usage.  When I took my first physics and engineering classes at BYU it was quite a shocker to have to start using non-metric units.

I'm looking at an Australian floor plan right now and the first thing that jumps out at me is they call out height x width whereas in the US we call out width x height, now I am curious what other countries that are using metric are doing, specifically the UK, Norway and France.

The Australian system seems to be the following: window sizes are rounded to the nearest decimeter and shown in meters: (ie. a 1090mm x 2230mm window is called out as a 1022.  Doors on the other hand do not seem to be called out by height but only by their width in millimeters (ie. 820 for an 820mm wide door).

If the callout systems differ dramatically between countries I suppose I can add a global setting which allows the users to switch between various callout systems (for metric units).

[Medeek]

Version 0.8.7b - 07.19.2018
- Added a 5-Lite Circular Grille for all window types.
- Enabled all standard grille types for oval and round windows.



View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/34b3256b-040c-4cb9-a662-d8b2491d077a/Window-Test-6

This grille pattern was added per customer request, also note that it can be applied to any of the other rectangular window types (picture, single hung, slider).

Lately I've been having so many smaller feature requests that it has been hard to focus on some of the big ticket items.  I am doing my best not to be side tracked by these minor items and to just add them to the todo list so I can attend to them at a later date. 

The todo list is now over three pages long, so rather than shrink it has continued to grow.  Honestly the amount of items I'm currently looking at is really the work of an entire team of programmers, not just a single person.  So if my progress seems rather slow at times then it probably is.

I've been trying to get some of my kids (teenagers) interested in helping out with some of the coding over their summer break but they seemed to be more inclined to spend their time playing computer/console games.  I call them the Angry Birds or Pokemon Go generation.  All of this technology is great but unless it is harnessed correctly it seems more detrimental than good.

[MountainDon]

Curiosity got the best of me. I searched a few UK building material sites. Some things of interest I found include:

Lumber known as CLS (Canadian Lumber Standard) abounds. That's our standard 2x's sold by the mm equivalents to our 2" x 4" sizes for example or as actual sizes such as 38 mm x 89 mm. Seems to depend on the seller.

Plywood is 2440 x 1220 mm.  That 8 foot x 4 foot

Doors seem to be 78" or 1981 mm tall for the most part. Widths of doors are mm equivalents of our standard inches sizes

The UK has door casings and door lining... with a lining the door stops strips are loose, separate pieces that are nailed on, while a casing is a machined piece of solid wood.   Casings and lining material seems to be 32 or 33 mm thick.  The doors themselves were 35 mm thick, equal to our 1-3/8" 

The UK calls a groove cut in wood, a trench.

[Medeek]

As always the US has a big influence/impact on the rest of the world.  Even though these other countries don't use ft.-inches anymore they are still using building materials that are in the old units.  I guess it is hard to change an entrenched industry. 

On a similar vein, I was using a metric template last night to work on updates to the metric window and door call outs, when it became painfully obvious that the metric side of the house has way more bugs than I care to admit.  Obviously I have focused most of my efforts and attention on working with imperial/US units, so many of these minor issues have managed to slip by me.

I am going to spend the rest of the day or whatever it takes to go through the entire extension with a fine tooth comb and clean up some of these (metric only) bugs.  I'm finding that most of them are typos or something very simple, however I do need to get this done.

My sincere apologies to are international (metric) customers who have had to deal with this and I appreciate your patience with me.

[Medeek]

Version 0.8.7c - 07.20.2018
- Addressed a number of miscellaneous bugs related to metric templates.

I've also utilized the Australian standard for window and door call outs when using metric templates.  If someone would like to have a different call out system implemented for metric units I can do that as well, I just need specifics and what country or name to associate with that call out system.

This is a critical bug fix release and addresses a number of bugs having to do with metric units but also affects some issues that are also with imperial/US units.  I would highly recommend updating to this latest version at your earliest convenience.

Locating windows and doors along a wall in meters should now work as intended.

I'm am reasonably sure there are more bugs with the metric version of the plugin since I have not fully tested it in every possible scenario.  If you notice anything please feel free to contact me.

[Medeek]

I've introduced a start and end parameter for the wainscoting which allows for partial wainscoting on exterior walls:



View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/2bbae1f7-ca62-4cf0-b02a-7e1496a6bf22/Wainscot-Test-1

This feature has been requested a number of times in that last month so it managed to float to the top.

[Medeek]

Version 0.8.7d - 07.22.2018
- Added a start and end parameter for exterior wainscoting, which allows for partial wainscoting of a wall panel.
- All window grille types extended to half glass and full glass doors (single/double).

[Medeek]

Ext. Wainscoting is complicated.  Currently all I have is Mode 1 in the logic:



For example in Mode 3 you may start with full height brick then drop down to a half height and then terminate all on one wall panel.

With the start and end offsets set to zero the result for any of the different modes would be exactly the same, they really only come into play when you begin offsetting the wainscoting from the right and/or left.

[Medeek]

Version 0.8.8 - 07.24.2018
- Added an additional "mode" parameter for exterior wainscoting, which allows for multiple configurations of partial wainscoting.





There are now four modes however there are other modes possible but I think I have spent enough time on this for now until further requests propel this to the top of the list again.

[Medeek]

Version 0.8.9 - 07.25.2018
- Added the CMU framing mode for concrete block wall construction.





Currently the CMU mode is mostly the same as the "No Framing" mode with a few subtle differences:

1.)  Concrete block texture is applied to vertical and horizontal faces of the wall solid to simulate a block wall.

2.)  Round openings in the wall are cut out to follow the curve of the window or door.

3.)  Description of the group (solid) has CMU in the text.  This will be important in later releases as the estimating and engineering modules are developed and implemented.

As I receive further input on this new wall type I'm sure additional features will need to be added to fully bring the CMU wall framing mode up to speed.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/439b7b2e-0df4-4f82-97bb-a03494d24dd8/CMU-Test-2

[Medeek]

Version 0.8.9b - 07.25.2018
- Stud/Wall Depth and Width parameters added to the Walls tab of the Global Settings.

For CMU walls you will want to disable the standard stud sizes and then specify the wall/stud width (ie. 7.625") with the Walls tab of the global settings.  Also set the framing mode to "CMU" if desired. 

When creating the walls one would probably turn off the advanced wall options since gypsum, sheathing, trim and cladding are usually not needed for this wall type but if required all of the options are available for this wall type as well.

One additional note to add is that if you are upgrading the plugin and currently using the layers feature you will want to open up the layers tab of the global settings, so as to reinitialize the layers.  I've added an additional layer option for CMU block.