Foundation Plugin

medeek

A new tutorial by NSM Construction.

Youtube Video

pbacot

Nice!

medeek

Version 1.1.6 - 07.10.2018

Updated the licensing and registration system, added a license tab to the global settings.

medeek

Version 1.1.6b - 07.18.2018

Fixed a bug in the updated registration system.

This is a critical update, the recently release version 1.1.6 will not allow the registration of the serial number.

juju

@medeek said:

Version 1.1.6b - 07.18.2018

Fixed a bug in the updated registration system.

This is a critical update, the recently release version 1.1.6 will not allow the registration of the serial number.

Are you sure? I didn't seem to have any trouble with it when I updated on 10 July 2018? Although I have not used it since. New version / upgrade will have to wait until, well whenever, access expired on 17 July 2018! Oh well...

medeek

If you have previously entered your serial number you will probably not have this issue however the bug is still there and if you ever change or replace your serial number you will probably encounter this issue.

medeek

Version 1.1.7 - 10.15.2018

Name of plugin changed to "Medeek Foundation".
Updated the licensing system to include a 30 day limit of the trial version.
Updates to the HTML pages of the global settings.

I haven't spent much time on the foundation plugin in the last year and a half and it is beginning to show.

I have however determined that I can now devise an algorithm for step down foundation stem walls. A big shout out to Christina Eneroth whose excellent coding and generosity will make this feature possible in the near future.

Making the step down feature fully parametric may be a bit more of a challenge. I will need to give this some serious thought.

medeek

Todo list for the foundation plugin:

Parametrics (things get a little tricky for complex footprints [non-rectangular slabs and stemwalls], this will take some thought)
Window and Door openings in foundation walls.
Ability to cut holes into slabs
Isolated Post/Footing Module
Blockouts in stem walls for doors/garage doors
Floor drains in slabs.
Switching to all HTML menus with tooltips/thumbnails
Custom materials (similar to the truss and wall plugins)
Step down foundation stem walls for sloping sites (fully parametric, this will also be a challenge).
Adding more defaults into the global settings.
Raft and Waffle foundations.
The current method of inserting (one) strip footing is very limiting. This whole methodology needs to be reworked into something which allows any number of strip footings.

Let me know if I am missing something on this list.

The potential complexity of this plugin could easily rival the wall and truss plugins the more I think about it, again lots to do and never enough time to accomplish it all. Sometimes I think my ideas are much too big for my capacity.

medeek

I've been giving this plugin some more thought now that I well versed with making my other plugins parametric.

The one area that is intriguing to me right now is the ability to make a complex outline parametric.

My concept or idea on how to make this work would be to have a context menu item which allows the user to right click on the foundation (ie. slab-on-grade) and choose to edit "foundation outline". A html menu would open up with the option to cancel or save changes.

The points that define the foundation outline are actually stored in the attribute library. The tool would create a temporary group and then create a temporary outline (edges) within that group, while greying out the rest of the model.

The user could then modify, delete or create any edges (lines) they like, so long as the edges (points) form a complete, closed loop. (When the user clicks save the plugin would first do some error checking to make sure that the updated outline forms a valid loop.)

Once the user is done editing they can click the save button and the new points are saved into the attribute library, the temp group and its contents is deleted. The user is returned back to the root of model and the foundation is regenerated.

medeek

Version 1.1.8 - 12.21.2018

Enabled temporary (construction) dimensions for all foundation types.
Added a section in the General tab of the global settings for configuring construction dimensions.
Licensee name now appears in the License tab of the Global Settings when plugin is registered.

medeek

Version 1.1.8b - 12.28.2018

Fixed bug in the registration/licensing module.

juju

Will this info be available in the native SU Entity Info as well? This will make it available for the native SU / LO labelling functonality.

medeek

@juju said:

Will this info be available in the native SU Entity Info as well? This will make it available for the native SU / LO labelling functonality.

The data is currently stored in an attribute library of the main group. How do I make it available in the SU Entity Info?

medeek

Callouts (label, area, volume) are now working for the Slab-on-Grade foundation type (rectangle, polygon and face):

Now I just need to add the stats table into the attributes and then we can also bring this data into the Medeek Estimator module.

I think it would also be useful to quantify the rebar and provide the size (dia.) and total lineal feet for each size used. For the wires mesh I'm assuming that number would be a sqft (area) but I'm not sure whether to provide the area which includes my (inside) offset or just the total area of the slab itself.

Anchor bolts are easy (size and qty.)

All also have the FPSF option which includes foam around the perimeter of the foundation. I'm assuming this number would probably be the thickness and sqft (area)?

Note that the area dimension is the total area of the slab per its outer perimeter, so a garage curb will not change this number.

medeek

Version 1.1.9 - 01.03.2019

Foundation and Footing labels option added to the General tab of the Global Settings.
Foundation and Footing label prefixes can be customized in the General tab of the Global Settings.
Foundation labels enabled for slab-on-grade foundations.
When construction callouts are enabled the overall area and volume (concrete) of the foundation is displayed beneath foundation label (currently only slab-on-grade foundation assemblies have this feature available).
Added customizable colors for lumber, PT Lumber and labels within the Materials tab of the Global Settings.
Added additional layers for dimensions, annotations, 2d geometry, building code and engineering.

The customizable colors for the lumber (PT) will not take affect until I update the stemwall module. Currently the color of the lumber is still hard coded into this module.

I am also working on an update to the Medeek Estimator which will then allow the user to quantify foundations as well as roof and wall assemblies.

So far I have the concrete, rebar, and anchor bolts queued up for analysis in the estimator module. I will need to still work on adding in the insulation (foam) for the FPSF option. The first foundation type that will be made available in the estimator is the slab-on-grade. Once I am satisfied with the integration between the two plugins I will continue to flesh out the rest of the foundation types.

The bigger issue right now is the lack of parametrics for this plugin. With the addition of the attribute library I am one step closer to making this happen. There is really nothing special that needs to happen it is just a matter of pulling together the HTML menus and other tedious tasks within the Ruby code.

I apologize that it has taken this long to begin to address the parametrics issue. As can be seen in the changelog I had a burst of activity in 2017 and then only recently began to slowly process other updates.

http://design.medeek.com/resources/foundationpluginchangelog.html

Most of my time has been spent on the other two plugins but it is my goal this year to bring this plugin up to par with the other two.