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    3D Truss Models

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    • medeekM Offline
      medeek
      last edited by

      http://design.medeek.com/resources/images/truss_su289_800.jpg

      Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
      Medeek Engineering Inc
      design.medeek.com

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      • pbacotP Offline
        pbacot
        last edited by

        Thanks for the note on those trusses. Always looking for reasonable 1 hr. 2 hr. assemblies.

        MacOSX MojaveSketchUp Pro v19 Twilight v2 Thea v3 PowerCADD

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        • medeekM Offline
          medeek
          last edited by

          I drop the price and sales decrease rather than increase, this just doesn't make any sense.

          Some sort of reverse psychology I guess.

          p.s. I moved the price up slightly to $20.00 and $15.00 for the renewal and sales are picking up again.

          Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
          Medeek Engineering Inc
          design.medeek.com

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          • medeekM Offline
            medeek
            last edited by

            A request today for the barrel vault truss. I had been working on the algorithm for this truss type about 18 months ago but the lack of interest caused me to stop. Below is a matrix of potential configurations:

            http://design.medeek.com/resources/truss/BARREL_VAULT/BARRELVAULT_STUDY1_REVA2.jpg

            If anyone has some shop drawings for this truss type that they are willing to share I would be grateful.

            I will try and knock this one out next week. I will probably utilize an html/svg UI since the look and feel of this truss type will be important to the designer (barrel height and barrel width).

            Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
            Medeek Engineering Inc
            design.medeek.com

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            • medeekM Offline
              medeek
              last edited by

              I've got some direction on how to deal with engineering for beams and joists, not high on the priority list right now but I've been giving it some thought:

              Link Preview Image
              Intersecting Faces or Edges

              In the model below you can see that the I-joist is supported or touches three separate faces (surfaces). I am trying to figure out a way to code an algorithm that lets me know all of the bearing points along a beam o…

              favicon

              SketchUp Community (forums.sketchup.com)

              At first gathering the geometric information from the model seemed the most challenging aspect of this problem but after giving it more thought, dealing with multi-span beams with various distributed and point loads is also not a trivial problem. My current beam calculator is very limited in this respect and can only handle very simple loading on a single span.

              Link Preview Image
              Medeek Beam Calculator

              Medeek Beam Calculator

              favicon

              (design.medeek.com)

              And yet even with the simplicity of the span and loading the logic and calculations required is fairly substantial. The output of the beam calculator will attest to this.

              To properly analyze a multi-span beam with complex loading requires some magic from my engineering texts (ie. matrix analysis). Since beams and joists are one dimensional as compared with trusses (two dimensional) the math is not nearly as cumbersome but it should prove to be a bit of a challenge.

              Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
              Medeek Engineering Inc
              design.medeek.com

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              • medeekM Offline
                medeek
                last edited by

                The updated truss menu:

                http://design.medeek.com/resources/images/truss_su293_800.jpg

                Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
                Medeek Engineering Inc
                design.medeek.com

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                • medeekM Offline
                  medeek
                  last edited by

                  Version 2.0.4 - 10.21.2017

                  • Added Parallel Chord (vaulted) truss type, configurations: (2/2, 4/4, 6/6).

                  http://design.medeek.com/resources/images/truss_su291_800.jpg

                  http://design.medeek.com/resources/images/truss_su292_800.jpg

                  http://design.medeek.com/resources/images/truss_su294_800.jpg

                  I will still need to enable structural outlookers and plates for this truss type, but everything else should be there:

                  • Roof Cladding
                  • Roof Sheathing
                  • Gable Wall Cladding
                  • Gable Wall Sheathing
                  • Ceiling Gypsum
                  • Ridge Cap

                  etc...

                  View model here:

                  Link Preview Image
                  3D Warehouse

                  3D Warehouse is a website of searchable, pre-made 3D models that works seamlessly with SketchUp.

                  favicon

                  (3dwarehouse.sketchup.com)

                  Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
                  Medeek Engineering Inc
                  design.medeek.com

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                  • D Offline
                    dpaul
                    last edited by

                    I have been hoping for the parallel chord truss. Just great.
                    Thanks...!

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                    • medeekM Offline
                      medeek
                      last edited by

                      All you have to do is ask.

                      This truss type is relatively close to the scissor truss so I was able to bring it together fairly quickly. If there is anything I'm missing on this truss type please let me know. I can also add the 8/8 and 10/10 configuration if requested

                      Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
                      Medeek Engineering Inc
                      design.medeek.com

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                      • medeekM Offline
                        medeek
                        last edited by

                        Version 2.0.4b - Added the 8/8 configuration:

                        http://design.medeek.com/resources/images/truss_su295_800.jpg

                        Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
                        Medeek Engineering Inc
                        design.medeek.com

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                        • medeekM Offline
                          medeek
                          last edited by

                          People have often asked why there is always a guy shown in various screen shots for the plugins next to the truss, foundation or building displayed. The reason for the person in the picture is to give the geometry some sense of scale. I've also received comments as to why the "old guy"? Some have even complained about it. Each release of SketchUp features a new default person for that release. The 2015 release featured an older gentleman. Since most of my audience is architects and designers who are the predominantly of the male gender perhaps it would be more fitting to use a female model to indicate the scale?

                          http://design.medeek.com/resources/images/truss_su296_800.jpg

                          Conclusion: The problem with the female model is she is too distracting. The audience will naturally focus on the model and not on the product I am selling which is architectural modeling software (BIM). The model should only function as a yard stick and should remain secondary to the structure or building component displayed. Bottom line I won't be switching to a female model anytime soon.

                          Another point worth noting is that a well designed truss or roof is already a thing of beauty, no further marketing gimmicks required.

                          Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
                          Medeek Engineering Inc
                          design.medeek.com

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                          • M Offline
                            MtnArch
                            last edited by

                            @medeek said:

                            Another point worth noting is that a well designed truss or roof is already a thing of beauty, no further marketing gimmicks required.

                            Spoken like a true engineer!

                            Highest Regards,

                            Alan T. Hendry, RA
                            Architect

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                            • medeekM Offline
                              medeek
                              last edited by

                              I've been slowing chewing away at the straight skeleton algorithm and still working out some of the kinks, there is a lot of logic dealing with how the rafters intersect various valleys and ridges. I will continue to hammer away at this over the next couple of weeks and hopefully have something to release by the end of November or sooner.

                              On a slightly different note I've been examining Vali Architects Instant Roof plugin and looking at how it generates gutters. Is this something that people would be interested in seeing added to the plugin?

                              I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to add this feature in.

                              I would probably start with the standard 5" K-style gutter where one could fine tune the dimensions within the global settings.

                              https://www.guttersupply.com/file_area/public/categories/ImageUrl4_1297790173_1813.jpg

                              I'm assuming one would just want to draw this a surface and not a solid?

                              Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
                              Medeek Engineering Inc
                              design.medeek.com

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                              • pbacotP Offline
                                pbacot
                                last edited by

                                I think you'd have to use as a surface to keep the polycount down. VA Roof plugin is very good and I use it especially for quickly adding the materials and features like gutters. The gutters and caps are not all that accurate,but OK for an overall building model. For ogee gutters I use my own geometry with Followme etc. I do not worry about having it open on top as it hardly affects the appearance of most views to the model and the solid shape is easier to work with. In sections, you might prefer it open for realism. I also add downspouts.

                                BTW I don't often use the actual roof forms of InstantRoof because I don't seem to have roof designs that work well. There's always something unusual about the roofs. I figure (since you go for accurate framing) your plugin has also solved the issue of accurate placement of the roof planes in relation to the plate height, which is my problem with most roof plugins.

                                MacOSX MojaveSketchUp Pro v19 Twilight v2 Thea v3 PowerCADD

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                                • jujuJ Offline
                                  juju
                                  last edited by

                                  I don't think you should add in the gutters option, one can do that separately.

                                  Save the Earth, it's the only planet with chocolate.

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                                  • medeekM Offline
                                    medeek
                                    last edited by

                                    I don't know if is something I will add in right away but it has been added to my list. I think that making the gutter a solid makes it easier to work with manually and that the top being covered or solid does not really affect the appearance detrimentally.

                                    http://design.medeek.com/resources/images/truss_su297_800.jpg

                                    View model here:

                                    Link Preview Image
                                    3D Warehouse

                                    3D Warehouse is a website of searchable, pre-made 3D models that works seamlessly with SketchUp.

                                    favicon

                                    (3dwarehouse.sketchup.com)

                                    Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
                                    Medeek Engineering Inc
                                    design.medeek.com

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                                    • medeekM Offline
                                      medeek
                                      last edited by

                                      I've been contacted by a truss designer who uses Mitek software. He wanted to know if there was a way to bring my truss models directly into the Mitek Engineering software. Apparently there is a .mxf file format that is already utilized by a Revit plugin to do this exact thing. If I can get the specifications of the .mxf file format I can probably setup an export feature which will allow the full truss assembly to be exported directly into Mitek. This would be convenient for the truss technician, eliminating some of his workload and manual entry.

                                      I've contacted Mitek's support staff inquiring about the the .mxf file format and if they would entertain the idea of my plugin be able to transmit truss designs directly to their software.

                                      Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
                                      Medeek Engineering Inc
                                      design.medeek.com

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                                      • medeekM Offline
                                        medeek
                                        last edited by

                                        About a year ago I added some code into the plugin to phone home when a new installation occurs. This tells me the IP address (geographic location) of the installation as well some other data such as the plugin version number and whether or not it is the trial or full version.

                                        Recently I have noticed a number of installations of the full version of the plugin that show a bogus version number (2.8.8) and they are all coming from China. The leads me to believe that the plugin has been hacked and possibly those hacked copies are being distributed but so far not widely.

                                        I guess the upside is that if the hackers are trying to crack the program it must be worth their time and hence I've put together a fairly substantial product.

                                        On the next release I will include some additional error checking which will hopefully thwart these would be hackers.

                                        Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
                                        Medeek Engineering Inc
                                        design.medeek.com

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                                        • jujuJ Offline
                                          juju
                                          last edited by

                                          @medeek said:

                                          I guess the upside is that if the hackers are trying to crack the program it must be worth their time and hence I've put together a fairly substantial product.

                                          Aaaah, a silver lining type of guy! 👍

                                          Save the Earth, it's the only planet with chocolate.

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                                          • medeekM Offline
                                            medeek
                                            last edited by

                                            Life is tough, you've got to find a silver lining somewhere.

                                            Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
                                            Medeek Engineering Inc
                                            design.medeek.com

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