Medeek Wall Plugin
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Note: To call the wall_regen method:
Medeek_Engineering_Inc_Extensions;;MedeekWallPlugin;;Wall;;MedeekMethods.wall_regen entitywhere the entity is the Medeek wall group.
The column update required modifying at least 10 files and took about five days of concerted effort, some of it quite tedious and I will say boring, but yeah, it is always worth it. Basically an entire rewrite of the in-wall column module, a lot of the code under the hood was reviewed and updated to bring it up to speed with the highly efficient beam module. Now all of the menus are HTML as well.
The addition of the API took all of 15 minutes to add.
The wall justification was only about another 1.5 hours of work.
Mostly it was me deciding whether it would muddy the waters too much to go from three options to four (front, center back → front, center, back, sheathing). You will notice that when you use the draw wall tool now it will show a small text near the wall length dimension letting you know which justification mode that you are in. The placement and the size of this specific text may yet require some fine tuning, I want that information to be available to the user but I don’t want it to be so obtrusive that it is annoyingly so. Feedback required…
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Version 2.5.4 - 11.26.2021
- Improved the organization of the HTML draw and edit menus for rectangular walls.
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Version 2.5.5 - 11.27.2021
- Updated the SSW draw menu with an HTML menu.
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Just a reminder that the Thanksgiving promotion (Black Friday/Cyber Monday) is still ongoing and will be active until Dec. 1st:
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Version 2.5.6 - 12.05.2021
- Added a "Posts" tab into the Global Settings.
- Added a Custom Post Library/Manager in the Posts tab of the Global Settings.
- Enabled custom sizes for Sawn Lumber, Timber and SCL(PSL,LSL,LVL) posts.
This should complete the custom libraries for beams, headers, column and posts.
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Tutorial 24 - Custom Libraries (17:49 min.)
A brief introduction and explanation of the custom header, beam, column and post libraries within the global settings.
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Version 2.5.7 - 12.10.2021
- Enabled opening and closing of single hung and slider windows.
From a design and rendering standpoint I'm not really sure how useful this feature is but it stands to reason that if you can open the doors and garage doors you should also be able to open the windows.
I have not enabled this feature yet for casement style windows.
This feature was added per customer request.
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Version 2.5.7b - 12.10.2021
- Enabled opening and closing of casement windows.
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Version 2.5.8 - 12.11.2021
- Added awning, fixed-awning and awning-fixed windows to the window module.
- Enabled opening and closing for all awning type windows.
The size ratio of the fixed to awning windows are 3:1. I currently don't have a way to customize this size ratio but I will be giving it some additional thought.
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Version 2.5.9 - 12.12.2021
- Fixed a minor bug in the shearwall draw and edit menus.
- Enabled shearwall panel and fastener callouts/labels.
This additional annotation can be toggled on and off with the Framing Callout option in the General tab of the Global Settings. Eventually I will probably setup a separate callout option in the Shearwall tab of the Global Settings so control can be a bit more granular.
The bug in the menus was a simple typo with the nail size (10d).
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Version 2.6.0 - 12.18.2021
- Converted the wall preset system to a Hash data structure.
- Wall presets are common to all wall configurations: Rectangular, Gable, Shed and Hip.
- The draw and edit menus for all wall configurations have been combined into a single, unified system.
- Walls can be converted between any configuration within the wall edit menu (ie. Gable -> Hip).
With some trepidation I release this update. Some very serious under-the-hood stuff is what this update is all about. I modified over 25 files with this latest upgrade and even after a full day of testing it is still impossible to for me to say whether I might have broken something inadvertently. Only time and more testing will determine if further bug fixes might be in store.
!!!! CAUTION !!!!
Before moving to this latest version of the plugin you will want to first delete all of your Rectangular Wall Presets. The new system is not compatible with prior wall presets (wall presets only). Also all of your wall presets stored for Gable, Shed or Hip walls will simply be ignored with this update since wall presets are now shared among all wall configurations.The really good news is that one can convert walls from gable to rectangular and any other combination and back again. The plugin just got a lot more flexible and powerful.
The even better news is that if I do add more features to the walls the new preset system should allow for backwards compatibility, which means we no longer have to keep deleting and recreating wall presets when new features are added.
You will also notice that you can now create all wall configurations in polyline mode and switch back and forth between wall configurations as you are wrapping around the exterior of the structure.
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Version 2.6.0b - 12.18.2021
- Updated the Wall Copy Tool to include gable, shed and hips wall types.
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Version 2.6.0c - 12.19.2021
- Fixed a bug with the Wall Copy Tool.
This addresses a bug wherein you cannot sample the properties of a non-rectangular wall with the Wall Copy Tool.
!!! Attention !!!
Recommended update if you just installed 2.6.0 or 2.6.0b. -
So I've decided to enable another option/parameter so that the standard window callout can be replaced by any custom label or text the user wants to display:
If you leave this option blank then the plugin will automatically display the standard callout. If you enter in any text/numbers etc... it will then replace the standard callout with whatever is specified here.
This parameter will not be saved with the window preset however I may change that depending on feedback.
I will enable this same feature for doors and garage doors and then release it.
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Version 2.6.1 - 12.21.2021
- Added a Custom Label option for Windows, Doors and Garage doors.
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Version 2.6.2 - 12.21.2021
- Added fixed - twin awning and twin awning - fixed windows to the window module.
Two more window types per customer request.
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Version 2.6.3 - 12.22.2021
- Added an additional vertical offset parameter for symbols that are positioned on the top of walls.
This update applies to the top-of-wall symbols for doors, garage doors, windows, in-wall columns, SSW's and shearwalls.
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Version 2.6.4 - 12.23.2021
- Added an "End Wall" dimension option for Construction Dimensions within the General tab of the Global Settings.
- Enabled "End Wall" construction dimensioning for the window, door and garage door draw tools.
There might be a better descriptor for this parameter but "End Wall" dimension seemed to fit at the time. Basically this will allow the user to view the distance from both the start and end of the wall while inserting openings. This option is turned off by default.
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Note the dual construction dimensions with the End Wall parameter enabled:
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Version 2.6.4b - 12.23.2021
- Enabled "End Wall" construction dimensioning for the in-wall column, shear wall and SSW draw tools.
Just squeezing in a few last minute updates before the Christmas holiday begins.
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