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Medeek Electrical

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  • M Offline
    medeek
    last edited by 13 Apr 2019, 17:42

    I think the real power in this plugin is not the ability to insert 3D components into your model, technically you don't even need a plugin to do this, just a bunch of pre-configured components (.skp files). The real strength is the automation of the 2D symbols and the parametrics of the plugin (allowing you to swap out devices types, colors, height and rotation). Now with the addition of a parametric symbols legend it automates yet another tedious task.

    I'm fairly happy with the way the legend has come out but for future work I may include a parameter in the global settings which allows the user to enable sub-titles (divides the legend into logical sections: outlets, switches, lights, etc...) as well as specify the number of columns that legend should be divided into, this becomes more of an issue when there are a lot of electrical symbols to display.

    I think some people would argue that I go too deep with my plugins (too many settings, parameters, options etc...) I would agree that if possible simple is often better. The goal is to make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.

    On the flip side the addition of more options and parameters increases the amount of data or information that model contains and hence makes it more useful (BIM). Options also allow the user to further customize their workflow with the plugin and tailor it specifically to their needs. Many of the options I have added have been directly requested by users of the plugins

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

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    • M Offline
      medeek
      last edited by 13 Apr 2019, 18:25

      For those that are interested I will explain how the new "Draw Legend" tool works under the hood.

      First the plugin finds all of the groups in the model (active_entities, if no group or component is open for editing then this will be the same as entities at the root of the model).

      It then checks inside each of these groups and identifies the electrical groups that belong to the plugin (based on the group instance name). Once it has collected up all of the electrical groups in the model it then divides them into their appropriate categories: Outlets, Switches, Light etc...

      It then examines each sub-category and dives into the attributes library for each electrical device (group). The attributes library tells it what 2D symbol is associated with that particular device. It then creates a new list of symbols to draw for the legend for each category at the same time discarding or preventing duplicates.

      The symbols shown in the legend are drawn, for the most part, using the same methods as the symbols drawn for the actual devices however some of them have been altered slightly in order to customize them specifically for the legend.

      As you can see there is quite a bit going on under the hood. When a model gets large with hundreds of walls and possibly hundreds of electrical components generating the legend may take up to 30 seconds.

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

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      • M Offline
        medeek
        last edited by 15 Apr 2019, 21:26

        Version 1.0.6 - 04.15.2019

        • Added additional NEMA 240V receptacles into the Outlet module: NEMA 6-30R, NEMA 6-50R.

        These additional receptacles (and symbols) were per customer request.

        http://design.medeek.com/resources/images/electrical_su56_800.jpg

        http://design.medeek.com/resources/images/electrical_su57_800.jpg

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

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        • M Offline
          medeek
          last edited by 16 Apr 2019, 01:33

          Tutorial 3: Electrical Symbols Legend

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

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          • M Offline
            medeek
            last edited by 18 Apr 2019, 22:12

            Since adding the symbols legend I've had a number of requests for a tool to draw a schedule (similar to how I am drawing the legend).

            Now that I've got a fairly solid routine for pulling the electrical data (I will use much of this same code for the estimating tool) it isn't too big of a leap to draw a schedule.

            My question is what information do you need or want in this schedule, how do you want it laid out? Every device listed with its parameters or do I group like devices?

            Please give feedback in this regard. Also feel free to send me any sample electrical schedules that I can utilize as references.

            If I know what I want to output I can probably knock this out in 2-3 hours, most of the underlying code is already in place.

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

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            • J Offline
              juju
              last edited by 19 Apr 2019, 18:12

              how do you currently handle the link (diagrammatic arc) between a light fixture and the relevant light switch?

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

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              • M Offline
                medeek
                last edited by 19 Apr 2019, 21:55

                @juju said:

                how do you currently handle the link (diagrammatic arc) between a light fixture and the relevant light switch?

                I don't, currently it is up to the user to add in the arcs between switches and fixtures, either in SketchUp or Layout.

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

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                • pbacotP Offline
                  pbacot
                  last edited by 20 Apr 2019, 00:56

                  Seems like the user drawing arcs for themselves in plan is the most direct and foolproof way to handle it. I can't imagine a method that would be faster.

                  MacOSX MojaveSketchUp Pro v19 Twilight v2 Thea v3 PowerCADD

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                  • M Offline
                    medeek
                    last edited by 20 Apr 2019, 01:31

                    @pbacot said:

                    Seems like the user drawing arcs for themselves in plan is the most direct and foolproof way to handle it. I can't imagine a method that would be faster.

                    I'm kind of thinking the same, however if enough people what me to do something about it then I can look into it further.

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

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                    • M Offline
                      medeek
                      last edited by 23 Apr 2019, 00:09

                      Looks like the listing is finally live in the Extension Warehouse:

                      Link Preview Image
                      SketchUp Extension Warehouse

                      Your library of custom third-party extensions created to optimize your SketchUp workflow.

                      favicon

                      (extensions.sketchup.com)

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

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                      • M Offline
                        medeek
                        last edited by 24 Apr 2019, 22:47

                        To celebrate the inclusion of this new extension into the Extension Warehouse and to further accelerate its uptake I will be running an Easter special.

                        This special is a little different than those I have recently done in the past.

                        In order to obtain a full license for the Electrical Extension at no cost all you need to do is renew one of your existing licenses for any other Medeek extension (Truss, Wall or Foundation). Purchase of a new license for any of these three plugins is also a valid option as well.

                        Once you have purchased either a renewal or new license of the Truss, Wall or Foundation plugin(s) then please send me an email and I will issue you a license for the Medeek Electrical extension. If you already own the electrical extension I will issue a renewal to your existing license, thereby extending it license expiration date an additional year.

                        If you renew more than one extension, only one renewal can be applied towards a free license or renewal of the Electrical extension.

                        This promotion is only valid for purchases and renewals from 04-24-2019 thru 05-01-2019, there will be no exceptions.

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

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                        • M Offline
                          medeek
                          last edited by 29 Apr 2019, 02:24

                          Version 1.0.7 - 04.28.2019

                          • Fixed the show_modal bug for macOS in the Materials tab of the global settings.

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

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                          • M Offline
                            medeek
                            last edited by 4 Jul 2019, 03:48

                            As a celebration of the 4th of July and the full parameterization of the Foundation plugin I will be offering an incentive on new purchases or renewals of the Truss, Foundation or Wall plugins.

                            If you purchase or renew any of the BIM plugins on the 4th of July (tomorrow) you will be entitled to a complimentary license for the Medeek Electrical extension. This promotion is only valid on the 4th of July.

                            I will be taking most of the day off tomorrow (finally) and eating some good food and watching some fireworks on the beach.

                            Happy 4th of July!

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

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                            • J Offline
                              juju
                              last edited by 4 Jul 2019, 07:11

                              @medeek said:

                              As a celebration of the 4th of July and the full parameterization of the Foundation plugin I will be offering an incentive on new purchases or renewals of the Truss, Foundation or Wall plugins.

                              If you purchase or renew any of the BIM plugins on the 4th of July (tomorrow) you will be entitled to a complimentary license for the Medeek Electrical extension. This promotion is only valid on the 4th of July.

                              I will be taking most of the day off tomorrow (finally) and eating some good food and watching some fireworks on the beach.

                              Happy 4th of July!

                              Very generous of you, done deal!

                              Joyous celebrations!

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

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                              • M Offline
                                medeek
                                last edited by 7 Sept 2019, 21:43

                                A couple of things worth noting after working with a customer via Skype this morning:

                                1.) If your custom walls have reversed faces this will affect the plugin. The solution is to jump into the group, right click on the face in question and reverse the face.

                                2.) The plugin calculates the bottom of the wall by looking at the origin of the group that is the container for the wall geometry. If the origin of this group is below or above the bottom of the wall then the vertical distance for positioning various electrical fixtures (ie. switches, outlets, data etc...) will not be correct. I may change this up to consider the lowest point of the face rather than the origin of the group, I will need to give this some additional thought.

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

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                                • M Offline
                                  medeek
                                  last edited by 13 Sept 2019, 17:14

                                  For the month of September I will be running the following promotion:

                                  If you purchase or renew any of the BIM plugins during the month of September you will be entitled to a complimentary license for the Medeek Electrical extension. This promotion is only valid until September 30th.

                                  Note, that if you already own an existing license for the electrical plugin then this promotion will allow you to further extend your license expiration of that plugin by an additional year.

                                  If you purchased or renewed one of the other extensions in the previous two weeks (Sept 1 thru Sept 14) you are also retroactively eligible for this promotion, please contact me via email to take advantage of this offer.

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

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                                  • M Offline
                                    medeek
                                    last edited by 29 Sept 2019, 01:59

                                    Version 1.0.8 - 09.28.2019

                                    • Fixed a critical performance bug that affects all the modules within the extension.

                                    *** CRITICAL PERFORMANCE UPDATE ***

                                    If you are noticing a slowdown of the plugin performance after multiple edits to an electrical fixture, this fix will resolve that issue. This issue affects all previous versions of the plugin.

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

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                                    • M Offline
                                      medeek
                                      last edited by 20 Nov 2019, 02:02

                                      I've had a lot of requests lately for floor mounted outlets. I've gone ahead and created some low poly models of the Leviton series:

                                      301 Moved Permanently

                                      favicon

                                      (www.leviton.com)

                                      View model(s) 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)

                                      If there is interest in other brands of floor outlets please let me know. The Hubbell-Raco (6224) also interests me but I haven't had a chance to create a model of it yet and I have been unable to find any detailed dimensional data on it:

                                      favicon

                                      (www.hubbell.com)

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

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                                      • M Offline
                                        medeek
                                        last edited by 20 Nov 2019, 05:51

                                        The second toolbar will now include an icon for floor mounted outlets:

                                        electrical_ii_su_menu_active.jpg

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

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                                        • M Offline
                                          medeek
                                          last edited by 25 Nov 2019, 04:34

                                          Version 1.0.9 - 11.24.2019

                                          • Added the "Draw Floor Outlets" and the "Draw Misc. Fixture" function to the secondary toolbar.
                                          • Enabled the ability to draw misc. fixtures with Medeek wall assemblies or any wall geometry. Enabled misc. devices include: Thermostats, doorbell buttons, doorbell chimes, and doorbell transformers.

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

                                          http://design.medeek.com/resources/trussplugin/images/truss_su599_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)

                                          Additional fixture components (ie. other manufacturer's doorbell models etc...) can easily be utilized by placing them into the appropriate sub-folder of the plugin's library/misc sub-folder.

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

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