Wall Plugin for SketchUp

[Medeek]

When an interior wall terminates without adjoining other walls at a corner or tee, it is what I call the "end" condition.  Up until now when gypsum was turned on it was only being applied to the exterior and interior face of the "interior" wall. 

Now if an interior wall panel has an end condition it will also receive wall board treatment on the ends in order to complete the wall panel:



Also note that I have enabled the Wall Gypsum Corner parameter in the Sheathing Tab of the global settings.  This will allow for either "flush" or "miter" treatment of the gypsum, the screenshot above shows the gypsum with mitering.



These two items were per user request.

[Medeek]

Version 0.9.3c - 08.30.2018
- Enabled the Wall Gypsum Corner parameter in the sheathing tab of the global settings (MITER/FLUSH).
- Interior walls now receive end treatment when gypsum enabled.
- Gypsum wrap enabled for openings in interior walls that do not have a window or door installed.

[Medeek]

Version 0.9.4 - 08.31.2018
- Added additional (New Zealand) standard metric stud sizes: 45x90, 45x140, 45x190, 45x240, 45x290
- Addressed multiple bugs having to do with metric templates (glulam headers, columns, SSWs).
- Added (New Zealand) standard metric sizes for window and door headers.

If you are using metric templates you will want to update the plugin to this latest version which addresses a number of critical bugs when using metric units.  I really need to spend more time in metric templates testing things.  Unfortunately, most of my time is spent working in imperial/US units so that side of the house is more thoroughly vetted.

While I'm on the topic of metric templates I still need to provide standard size metric columns and beams (the plugin currently defaults to imperial sizes for these two building elements).  I have a pretty good idea on column sizes in New Zealand since I just spent some time perusing their building code and becoming familiar with it but I need some input from other countries who use metric lumber sizes (ie. UK, France, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, Germany etc...)

[Medeek]

Version 0.9.4b - 09.01.2018
- Fixed a bug with corner stud placement where corner angles are extreme values.

[Medeek]

Version 0.9.4c - 09.03.2018
- Improved the Tee intersection algorithm of the auto-corner configuration module.
- Fixed a minor bug in the Windows tab of the Global Settings.

[Medeek]

Not wanting to clutter the toolbars any further I waffled quite a bit on this decision but I think it makes more sense to provide a separate icon and a "Draw Garage Door" feature, hence the new menu will appear as below:



Garage doors are kind of their own beast.  Typically much larger than a simple man door and various options such portal framing further complicate the matter.  By completely separating the two I am better able to fully customize the UI for garage door specific parameters and features.

[Medeek]

The recent update with the gypsum option (miter) needed some further attention.  While I was sorting that out it became obvious that, along with tee intersections, columns that are not full height need to have the ability to cut out the gypsum, sheathing or cladding when the column is less than the full height of the wall.



Note that the advanced options for columns allows the user to specify which element to trim away as shown in the column edit menu above.  In some cases the beam may project through the wall to the exterior of the structure.  In this case one would want to cut away the interior gypsum, sheathing and cladding as shown.  The exterior gypsum is referring to interior walls with gypsum cladding on both sides.

[Medeek]

Tee intersections will now automatically remove the gypsum where the walls meet:



The algorithm which notches out the top plates is very similar to this algorithm, which notches out the gypsum.  For interior walls, as shown above, the tee intersection may be on either the "interior" or "exterior" of the wall.  Hence the algorithm needs to be smart enough to detect which side of the wall is being affected and notch the appropriate gypsum wall panel. 

Further refinement is probably in order since the result is not a true mitered corner however it is a start and certainly and improvement from when tee intersections were simply ignored with the gypsum.

[Medeek]

One thing to note is that gypsum is never really installed "mitered".  The finished corners are always created with drywall corners (corner bead - outside corners) or drywall tape (inside corners).

https://www.homedepot.com/b/Building-Materials-Drywall-Drywall-Corner-Bead/N-5yc1vZc7qn

https://www.homedepot.com/c/steps_to_finishing_inside_corners_HT_PG_BM

I added the mitering option to the gypsum primarily for aesthetic reasons, especially for outside corners.  Most designers want to see a finished corner not a raw drywall corner where the corner bead has not yet been applied. 

So for tee intersections the fact that it is not mitered is probably mute for most purposes however at some point I will rectify this as my schedule allows.

[Medeek]

The number of garage door types and variants is almost exhausting, yet another plugin within a plugin.  To begin with I will start with the following door types:

- Solid
- Panel (Panels will consist of 18" or 21" panels (or metric equivalents: 455mm, 525mm) arranged in such a way to allow for 3" (70mm) increments in door height.)
- Standard Raised Panel
- Long Raised Panel
- Standard Flat Panel
- Long Flat Panel
- Glass Standard Raised Panel (Glass indicated that the top panel will have glass inserts)
- Glass Long Raised Panel
- Glass Standard Flat Panel
- Glass Long Flat Panel
- Full Glass Standard Panel (Full glass indicates that entire door is glass)
- Full Glass Long Panel

There are many other garage door variants:  Carriage doors etc... those will be added per user request.

[Medeek]

Slowly working through the garage door module.  Here is a first look at the garage door casing:

 

(Painted blue for emphasis)

With this new module I'm getting things right from the get go.  Materials options are incorporated from the new Material Library so that piece of the puzzle will be much more streamlined and easy to use.

Since I am working through this a little more slowly (and carefully) it may be a few days before I release any fixes, I apologize for the delay.

As I mentioned in a previous post I have broken garage doors out into their own separate container, as such garage doors have their own edit menu etc...  this is a little bit more work but will result in more flexibility and long term improvements will be more attainable.

[Medeek]

I'm fielding at least 5-10 questions per day on the plugin (need to put up a FAQ).  However, I thought this particular question on utilizing layers within the plugin was worth posting here:

QUESTION:

Just to clarify, all pre-loaded layer names for all Plugins can be changed/modified through the global settling interface.

Can layer names be changed at anytime or must layer name changes be in place at the start of modeling? How would you update existing model layer naming to new names?

ANSWER:

As mentioned in previous posts, editing or do anything to modify a wall panel (ie. adding a door or window) will cause the plugin to redraw the wall panel from scratch.

This is particularly advantageous for making layer modifications (changing a layer name).

Try it out, create a wall, then update the name for the framing layer (or any other layer name being used) to something different in the global settings.

Then regen the wall panel(s), ie. drop them down to 2D and bring them back up again into 3D.  You will notice that the new layer name has been added and that the old layer name is also still present.  If you have regenerated all of the wall panels then nothing should remain on the old layer unless you have manually placed something there, and you can safely delete it.  SU will prompt you if something does remain and what action to take.

So the long answer to this question is that layer names can be changed at anytime and are not restricted to being set at the start of a model.

[Medeek]

So here is what I have for the garage door callout so far:



The second (smaller) line of text will display the header/lintel size:

Glulam headers will display the glulam dimensions and the term "GLULAM BEAM"

A typical lumber (nail lam) beam will be:  (2) 2X8 LUMBER BEAM

A typical LSL Callout:  (2) 1-3/4X7-1/4 LSL BEAM

I'm sure everyone has their own favorite way of making these callouts and I need to figure out a way to allow for enough flexibility but at the same time to not over complicate the matter.

The dashed line shows the footprint of the overhead door, with its depth equal to the door height.

Please feel free to chime in with suggestions or concerns.

[Medeek]

The detail below shows most of the basic elements of the portal frame that will be drawn by the plugin:



The PF King Stud and PF Trimmer Stud parameters will allow the user to increase the quantity of the king and trim studs accordingly.

The PF Bottom PLT parameter will allow PF Bottom Plates to vary from zero, one or two.

Optional head and jambs studs can be specified (shown in red).

The detail shows a double portal frame, a single portal frame is very similar with one side conventionally framed and one side portal framed as shown.

The light blue elements are the regular studs (or cripples) on their typical 16" o/c spacing.

PF C2 and PF C1B are probably optional elements but I like to include them, please let me know if there are any objections.

For now only strap holdowns will be available since this seems to be the prescriptive path most people employ.  However in my professional opinion other holdown types (HDU) could be permitted provided that the proper engineering has been done.

Eventually I will include a PFH calculator in the plugins engineering module based on my own Excel based Portal Frame Calculator:

http://design.medeek.com/resources/PFH/PFH_CALCULATOR.pdf

Please feel free to chime in with any comments, suggestions, concerns or additional options or parameters you would like to see added to this module.

[Medeek]

PF Framing algorithm is complete:



Double, Single (Left), Single (Right)

In this case a 10' wall creates a pony wall above the headers.

Now I just need to add in the logic for the optional jamb studs.

[Medeek]

A garage door with optional head and jamb studs enabled:



Also note that this feature can be utilized in the CMU or no framing mode:



Typically I see jamb studs used in a situation like this, where the door drops below the framed wall (vertically offset) into a garage curb or stemwall.  By default the jamb studs are assigned to PT lumber.  However, they can also be utilized without a vertical offset.

[Medeek]

A typical raised panel and flat panel garage door (10'x7') with the panels parameters set to "AUTO":





I may need to fine tune the spacing parameters a bit (I have not exposed the parameters to the user, it would probably just over complicate things) depending on feedback from designers.

Working on the window versions of these two variants now.

Then the all glass version for commercial applications (ie. Fire Station overhead doors etc...)

I will probably not release a carriage door style just yet, not until I have further researched this type of door and determined what configuration and additional parameters might be needed.

Below is a preview of the Garage Door Edit Menu (note that most of the advance options have been disabled so that if fits on the screen):



I've enabled the Portal Frame option so that you can see the available parameters.

[Medeek]

Exterior and interior of a 10'x7' garage door (raised panel with glass and 2x2 grille):

[Medeek]

The number of horizontal and vertical panels can be specified or be set to AUTO so virtually any number of combinations are possible:



Full glass door exterior and interior.  However I'm noticing that these types of doors usually have a kick panel (no glass) installed.

[Medeek]

A glass door with a threshold and door lever (hardware):



Note that the grey material applied to the door was first created in the material manager in the global settings and then applied in the garage door edit menu.  I am very happy with the implementation and added functionality of the new material manager.

The blocked out areas on each side of the garage door indicate the extent of the portal frames when enabled:

[Medeek]

Garage door with ext. trim and wainscoting:

[Medeek]

I was just about to release the latest release when I noticed a few issues with the insulation when portal frames are enabled for the garage door openings:



The portal frames added a whole new level to the stud framing, blocking and insulation algorithms. 

I will hit it again tomorrow and see if we can't finally push out this latest version.  I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised with the new functionality and bug fixes.

[Medeek]

Version 0.9.5 - 09.17.2018
- Added advanced options to the column edit menu which allows for notching out of gypsum, sheathing and cladding for beam pockets.
- Tee intersections will now automatically remove gypsum where walls meet.
- Added the garage door module with the following garage door variants: Solid, No Panels, Raised Panel, Flat Panel, Glass Raised Panel, Glass Flat Panel, Glass Panel.
- Added Portal Frames: Both, Left, Right to the garage door module.
- Removed garage door option from door draw and edit menus.

Just a word of CAUTION when upgrading to this latest version from previous installed versions:

Upgrading to 0.9.5 will break all previously installed plugin models.  The reason being is that the door module and attribute library associated with doors has been changed in this latest version.

[Medeek]

Now that the garage module is finally out I'm able to refocus back onto the gable wall module, and hopefully get something going with this in the next week or two.

As I've been contemplating it implementation this morning I've come to the following realization.  A gable wall can be separated into two cases:

1.)  A true gable wall (ie. balloon framed wall from rafters to floor)

2.) A gable pony wall that rests on top of a regular rectangular wall.

However a gable wall is still a gable wall whether it rests on top of another wall or floor.  So the basic algorithm for it remains the same.  Like a regular rectangular wall it also still has inside or outside corners as well as tee intersections and also an end case.

Unlike a rectangular wall when it intersects other walls its top plate(s) don't mesh neatly with the other walls.  This has been cause of some concern for me as I want to make sure I figure out the best way to handle intersecting sloping walls.

Also gable or sloping walls can get quite a bit more complicated than just your simple symmetric gable or shed wall, there are a lot of possible variations with the potential for multiple pitch breaks with the top plate(s).  Even more interesting are special pony walls between various roof lines where the bottom plate of the wall is also sloping or has multiple pitch breaks (probably not as common).

The simplest incarnation of a dual pitched gable wall (vs. a shed wall with a single pitch) should have four basic parameters:

1.)  Left Wall Height (start)
2.)  Right Wall Height (end)
3.)  Left Pitch (x:12)
4.)  Right Pitch (x:12)

By default wall heights and pitches will be equal, resulting in a symmetric gable wall.

Setting the wall height to zero will result in a triangular shaped wall segment. 

Please feel free to offer any corrections to these observations, comments or additional suggestions with regards to gable walls. 

[Medeek]

Here is a first look at the HTML preview screen of the Medeek Estimator Module:



I've only added in the sheathing, cladding and gypsum so there is a lot more things to add yet.

Also noticeably absent is the download link for the Excel (CSV) file.  I will see if I can make that happen tomorrow.

Each wall panel has a lot of data and meta-data associated with them.  I really could use some feedback on what is important in this regard and what is not.

Now that I have the basic framework in place it is really not too big of deal to add additional items (ie. stud counts, lineal feet of trim, etc...)

Separate from the wall panels are beams, I will get to those later.  On the preview screen I will probably provide a tabbed navigation so one can move between walls, windows, doors beams and so on.

The CSV file however will contain all of the information in large sheet.