3D Truss Models

pbacot · 11 Nov 2017, 05:55

Very nice looking models!

medeek · 11 Nov 2017, 15:21

Half wrap of a hip roof return:

All of the gutters and downspouts are constructed as solids so that it is easy to manipulate them with Pro's boolean tools or other third party solid tools.

medeek · 12 Nov 2017, 07:08

Version 2.0.6b - 2017.11.11

I've added a text file in the materials sub-folder that allows one to modify the available materials (colors) for the gutters within the global settings menu.

The default values are:

8B4513:BROWN
B87333:COPPER
C0C0C0:SILVER
FFD700:GOLD
8B0000:DARK RED
0000CD:MEDIUM BLUE
006400:DARK GREEN
556B2F:DARK OLIVE GREEN
FFFFF0:IVORY

If all of these custom materials are deleted then only "white" will be available "FFFFFF" in the global settings.

The first six letters is the RGB value for the color, the description after the colon is the color name.

medeek · 13 Nov 2017, 02:57

The Medeek Seal of Authenticity:

This will be shown in the new license tab of the plugin global settings when the copy is fully registered.

medeek · 14 Nov 2017, 16:16

Had a little fun with AutoCAD and SketchUp yesterday. I created the arc aligned text in AutoCAD first and then imported the DXF, then completed the solid model in SketchUp:

I can't believe I used to solid model in AutoCAD, what a clunky interface for that sort of thing. I will say though that AutoCAD is still king when it comes to 2D drawings though, SketchUp has a ways to go in that regard.

Even solid modeling in SolidWorks seems really slow and awkward now, and that used to be my goto for anything 3D.

medeek · 16 Nov 2017, 16:29

Version 2.0.7 - 11.16.2017

Added license tab to the global settings.
Minor updates to the licensing system.

I've spent a couple days on adding language support but was unable to roll it out with this latest release. I will keep working on this in the next few days and hopefully have something to show for my efforts with the next major release.

As far as languages go I am planning on producing language files for each of the SU supported languages.

Any help with translating some of these very construction specific terms and phrases would be greatly appreciated. Google translate seems to work quite well but I don't completely trust some of its translations.

medeek · 17 Nov 2017, 07:00

Starting to make some head way on the translation / language support:

I've decided to devise my own language handler since I could not get the built in one to work.

The upside is that this allows me so support any language I choose, not just the languages supported by SketchUp. I will be adding in an option in the general settings where the user can select their language of choice.

I will also be storing the language data in a new sub-folder "lang". My intent is to be able to make it possible for the user to add their own language file and translations if they need to.

medeek · 17 Nov 2017, 16:02

I've identified a couple of major bugs with the gutter module when using metric templates. I will address those later today and roll out a sub-release. I apologize for not catching those earlier.

medeek · 18 Nov 2017, 07:21

My first menu in Japanese:

Fortunately, I know a little Japanese so I think I've got these more or less correct. I will probably need to have a native Japanese speaker who is familiar with the construction industry check these over for me.

medeek · 18 Nov 2017, 18:57

I've added in a language option into the General tab of the Global Settings:

I currently have nine languages that I will support however if there are any others that you would like to see added please feel free to suggest one.

I think this method is preferable over using the locale of the installed plugin since someone that is running a french version of SketchUp may want to run the plugin in English or some other combination. This allows the user to customize their user experience exactly.

medeek · 19 Nov 2017, 07:29

Version 2.0.8 - 11.18.2017

Added language support for the following languages: French, Spanish, German, Russian, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese.
Added a language option in to the "General Tab" of the Global Settings.
Fixed a bug in the gutter module for metric templates.

There is still a huge amount of work to get all of the menus translated into the eight languages given above.

medeek · 19 Nov 2017, 17:48

I apologize Version 2.0.8 had a fatal flaw in it that thankfully someone pointed out to me this morning. Please re-download sub-rev. 2.0.8b which addresses this issue immdediately.

The problem is that I am encrypting the .rb files into .rbs when I sign the plugin. I don't want to encrypt the language files in the "lang" folder however the signing page did not know to discriminate so it encrypted those files as well and hence broke my links to them from the plugin load module.

Once I sign the extension and encrypted it I had to re-open the .rbz and put back in the unencrypted language files, problem solved.

medeek · 19 Nov 2017, 18:24

Found this image on Mitek's South African Website, its insane how big that truss assembly is:

This one is enlightening in that is shows the system of battens being used on the roof:

medeek · 19 Nov 2017, 18:45

Based on Mitek's worldwide coverage alone I should probably also support the following additional languages:

Czech
Polish
Portugese (Brazil)
Finish
Romanian

medeek · 20 Nov 2017, 06:46

Web based (HTML) user inputs will also require translation. These are a little more challenging than the regular (non-graphical) UI but nothing a little javascript could not overcome.

Here is the gutter tab of the global settings translated into Japanese:

The translation (creation of language files) for each menu and alert will take some time and effort.

medeek · 20 Nov 2017, 20:05

I'm not really happy about SketchUp's move to discontinue its Make version. I've already posted my thoughts on the SU forum about it in another thread but to reiterate my points I will post it here as well:

@unknownuser said:

I’ve invested a lot of my time (the last two years of every free moment I’ve had) and effort into developing a couple of plugins for SketchUp. Granted my intended audience is the PRO user by in large but I think SketchUp is really shooting itself in the foot and also negatively impacting its many plugin developers like myself by pushing a web based platform that does not allow for the installation of extensions and is completely missing the Ruby engine.

As far as doing anything productive I have never used a web based app except for the simplest operations. Even email, I still check with Mozilla Thunderbird or Outlook, I can’t stand web mail. Web based apps and the web in general is great for online maps, simple games, news sites, Wikipedia and disseminating information. Name one other major CAD platform that has a significant amount of its users using some sort of web based CAD utility, they don’t exist, and probably for a good reason.

I really think SketchUp and Trimble should reconsider this move. If you push people like myself away, that help make SketchUp more useful, you will lose it all. Yes, your established user base will stay, but its your new incoming user base that will fall off. Without a solid full feature free version the new kids coming up through high school and college will find something else. No one is going to seriously use the web based version, it’s too slow and limited. Other software will spring up to fill the void, and you will slowly loose whatever market share you might already have.

medeek · 20 Nov 2017, 20:58

and...

@unknownuser said:

I think I can read between the lines. Trimble is wanting to squeeze more of the casual-pro users into upgrading to a Pro license by eliminating the gravy train known as Make. The vast majority of the customer base is probably Make users with a small percentage of Pro (paying) customers. To make SketchUp viable they need a larger volume of paying customers, I get it, I have the same problem with my own plugin income, the volume is too low.

The problem is that in order to charge a Pro price you really need to offer a full fledged “Pro” product. This is where I feel that SketchUp has let itself and its user base down. Only recently has layout become a more serious tool. Without the ability to seamlessly produce production drawings (the real world product of designers and engineers) SketchUp is merely a conceptual tool that no one takes too seriously.

The reason the Pro user base is too small is because it is not full featured enough. The solution is to beef up Pro even more so it can really compete in the marketplace against the big boys. A better product will draw more customers, build it and they will come, as they say. Trying to squeeze your customer base is never a great idea, its only a road to a slow demise.

faust07 · 20 Nov 2017, 21:42

Thank you for your incredible efforts to develop plug-ins for building construction solutions. Even the renderings are getting better and better. I'm thinking about whether the techniques are also suitable for the requirements of building constructions in Germany... Keep up the good work!

pbacot · 20 Nov 2017, 22:11

Good points. Thanks for your work on these applications!

medeek · 21 Nov 2017, 05:54

@faust07 said:

Thank you for your incredible efforts to develop plug-ins for building construction solutions. Even the renderings are getting better and better. I'm thinking about whether the techniques are also suitable for the requirements of building constructions in Germany... Keep up the good work!

I'm not familiar with the building industry or codes in Germany but I would interested in learning more. I've also been working on translating the plugin into various languages this last couple of weeks and German is high on my list to get incorporated into the new language files. Please feel free to message me or send email if you have any specific questions, requests or resources on building in Germany.