Medeek Wall Plugin
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Two new plugins that will then bring the total number of the plugins in the mdkBIM suite to five will be:
Medeek Project
Medeek EngineeringThe engineering plugin is still a little ways out but the shearwall module (not for calcs but for adding the actual shearwall into the wall panels) will actually be part of the Wall plugin.
Initially I will allow the user to create segmented or perforated shearwalls. I am actively looking for practicing engineers and engineering firms who would like to become involved a chance to become a development sponsor and be listed in the sponsors section of my plugin pages. Primarily the role would involve testing and feedback and any additional comments that they feel should be voiced.
I realize that many aspects of the architectural elements and estimating are far from finished and I am not taking my focus off of those in any way however I do want to lay out the template/foundation for where I am hoping to take all of this.
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The Shearwall Module icons and toolbar:
A good portion of the necessary code for this module will be borrowed from the Simpson Strong-Wall module with some distinct differences.
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Please take a look at the latest Podcast by Aaron (SketchUp) on residential construction:
I agree 100% with John Brock, there is no need to go to Revit, we should be able to design, engineer, estimate and construct a building using only SketchUp
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Are brick and block walls a possibility yet Nathaniel? Other multi layered wall types would be great. I had a go at tweaking configurations a while back but couldn't seem to get anything to work as I wanted. It would be a great addition to the traditional framing wall types
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@gameongrant said:
Are brick and block walls a possibility yet Nathaniel? Other multi layered wall types would be great. I had a go at tweaking configurations a while back but couldn't seem to get anything to work as I wanted. It would be a great addition to the traditional framing wall types
I haven't done as much work on alternate wall types yet but you should be able to switch to "CMU" framing now and represent block walls in a simplistic fashion.
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After listening to Aaron's latest podcast on the state of the residential construction market and how it relates to SketchUp I think I have at least a few points that I would like to add to what has been said.
The residential construction industry has been notoriously slow to change I think many of us can agree on that but I also do see a paradigm shift and the industry appears to be on the the verge of upgrading to the "high tech" world of BIM and 3D modeling like its commercial and industrial cousins already have.
The reason for this shift seems to be three fold in my opinion. The first reason is that the 2008 financial crisis caused everyone to tighten their belts just a little more. Methods that worked before were just not good enough anymore. Further increasing efficiency and eliminating waste became the necessity. This need for more control of the process requires better models and a better understanding of the actual amounts of materials being used. As Brock noted, 2D plans only get you so far, they leave a lot of the structure undesigned or unaccounted for. An accurate 3D model eliminates waste and requires the designer to fully understand and contend with the structure. Clashes and potential flaws are much easier to identify and fix prior to the actual construction in the field.
I see a big push by production builders to pre-fab wall panels in a controlled (shop) environment. This allows for better quality control and also for less skilled laborers since all of the thinking has already been done for them. Each wall panel has an accurate framing plan associated with it and it is no longer up to the individual carpenter to decide how to build the structure. The skilled carpenter has and will become a thing of the past. The new construction laborers will be more like worker bees and less the skilled craftsman they once were.
This brings me to the second reason for the shift. The upcoming generation (millennials and Gen Z) are less savvy when it comes to the trades and using their hands. These are the generations raised on Angry Birds and Pokemon Go. For some reason they seem to lack some of the skill and craftmanship associated with the skilled laborers and carpenters of the past. Asking them to cut stair stringers and hip rafters/jacks makes their head spin. This lack of skilled laborers in the field further necessitates the need to further automate the design and build process and take the thinking out of the hands on the job site.
Finally the third biggest reason for the paradigm shift is the moving on of the Baby Boomer generation (the old guard). Most of the boomer generation saw a major point of inflection at the crisis in 2008 - 2012. A lot of retirement happened and continues to happen. Before the crisis even in my own family my Dad was building spec homes in Utah like their was no end in sight. The crisis completely took the wind out of his sails and even though the housing market has recovered he did not. At 72 years old he doesn't have the energy or the drive to start over and so has consigned himself to retirement. I think this same story is not unique to just my family but to many other small and medium builders out there as well.
The industry is now run by my generation (Gen X) and maybe some day by the millennials (perhaps somewhat of a scary thought still). With the changing of the guard comes new ideas and new methods. My generation was raised on computers and tech, we are not afraid of bringing this new beast into the workplace and finding ways to leverage it to our advantage. Working from emails, screens and PDFs come naturally, paper is nice but not a necessity anymore. Resistance to change will always be there but BIM and other "technological concepts" are far more likely to take hold among this newer generation of construction professionals than the previous one.
So yes, the residential construction industry is on the verge of change in my honest opinion. In fact, I think many professionals are actively seeking the vehicle of change (eg. Revit, Chief Architect, ArchiCad, AutoCad, SketchUp), based on my many conversations (email and phone) with various players in the field. Unlike the commercial industry, no single player has taken a firm hold of this market yet, its still too early and the smoke and dust literally has not settled.
This is why there is such an urgency by myself and other developers (PlusSpec, John Brock, etc...) to try and put together a system(s) which would allow SketchUp to become a significant player in this emerging market. In the next few years the battle lines will be drawn and someone or something will emerge from the fray to dominate the residential (BIM) design and construction market. My goal is to make sure that SketchUp is able to capture that prize. I am hopeful that Trimble/SketchUp can also recognize the seriousness and magnitude of this paradigm shift and their potential role within it. As such increased development and efforts on improving the performance of Layout will go a long ways in cementing their position of strength within the marketplace.
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I've been putting out a few fires the last couple of days and one thing that I would like to provide some clarity on is the current system that handles custom data from the User.
Specifically I am talking about wall presets, custom materials and custom headers.
Currently this user generated data/settings is stored within the plugin subfolder within the following three sub-folders: preset, library_mats, library_headers. Within each of these sub-folders is a simple text file that acts as the database and where all of the parameters are actually stored.
When the plugin is uninstalled SketchUp deletes the entire plugin subfolder and hence any custom settings stored in these files/folders are removed as well. The long term solution to this problem is to store this information in a folder that is outside of the plugin folder itself (change up the way the plugin is storing this information). The short term solution is to simply copy these three sub-folders to a different location (back them up) and then uninstall the existing plugin and then reinstall the new version. Once the upgrade is complete then you can simple drop the contents of the backed up sub-folders into the plugin sub-folders overwriting the (default) config files and you get all of your wall presets and custom materials and headers back.
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Initially the gable wall matrix will look like this:
Since only one gable wall type will be enabled. It has been nearly six months since I started working on the gable walls and unfortunately it has been quite a bit more complicated and problematic then I originally imagined.
Gable walls change up almost every aspect of the wall from connections to other walls to trim and wainscoting. The differences between rectangular walls and odd shaped walls is so drastic that I've basically had to write completely new modules for windows, doors, garage doors, trim, wainscoting, advanced options etc... its almost like there are two plugins running side-by-side.
To get to all the other gable variants is going to take some serious coding but the leap is less than from the initial leap from rectangular to gable so I am fairly optimistic that it will be manageable.
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Version 1.0.9 - 04.01.2019
- Fixed a bug with exterior wainscoting.
- Fixed a bug with midspan blocking and wall presets.
- Added the Shearwall toolbar and icons.
The fix with the midspan blocking and the wall presets is a critical fix if you are using wall presets and I would highly recommend upgrading to this latest version of the plugin.
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Version 1.0.9b - 04.03.2019
- Fixed a bug with the data logging module.
Not exactly a critical fix, just another box to check off. Some of you may have noticed an occasional pop up that warns about an error connecting to the Medeek server. This fix should resolve that minor annoyance.
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Version 1.1.0 - 04.26.2019
- Fixed the show_modal bug for macOS in the Materials and Headers tabs of the global settings.
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Has anyone loaded up the new version (1.1.0) in macOS yet?
If you’re on a Mac, please check the Material tab of the global settings, try to add a material or try to edit a material.
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Okay, let's try this again. I've uploaded a new version of 1.1.0 with all the show_modal calls replaced with non-modal calls. My conclusion is that show_modal is a complete disaster when using macOS, realistically one can only use non-modal html menus. I'm just hoping now that this does not somehow create issues for users in Windows. I don't think it will based on my limited testing thus far.
If it does then I simply add some logic which switches to non-modal html menus if macOS is detected. However, I would rather that the plugin behaves in a similar fashion for both operating systems.
Please re-download Version 1.1.0 and let me know what you get.
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SketchUp Essentials latest video:
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Has anyone ever seen or tried these type of studs?
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Version 1.1.1 - 06.19.2019
- Corrected the code for raising and logging exceptions.
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Version 1.1.2 - 06.25.2019
- Fixed an HTML/javascript bug with the wall edit menu (specific to Internet Explorer).
- Fixed an HTML/javascript bug in the General tab of the Global Settings (specific to Internet Explorer).
These two fixes were prompted by problems being encountered by users of SketchUp 2015. I haven't quite decided yet but I will probably end support for SU 2015 and 2016 in the very near future as I have already done with the Truss plugin. At some point the effort to maintain compatibility with older versions of SketchUp is no longer feasible or profitable.
If you are a registered or even trial version user of the plugin and still using SU 2015 or SU 2016, please contact me so that I can get a better feel for how many users are still requiring this compatibility.
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Excellent live modeling session by Aaron this afternoon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL9JuKZ8Nx8
After spending quite some time modeling this very simple structure it quickly becomes clear to me why extensions are so important.
I am hoping to get the gable and shed walls out shortly to close that gap.
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As some of you are aware the Wall plugin includes a number of connectors and hardware, primarily Simpson Strong-Tie but a few others vendors as well. The full list is available here:
http://design.medeek.com/resources/wallpluginvendors.html
Mitek also provides a comparable line of hardware with their USP Structural Connectors. I'm considering adding in the equivalent product lines from Mitek and then allowing the user to specify in the Global Settings which vendor they prefer so that the menus populate with the appropriate vendor's products and thereby give the user more options and control over their hardware choices.
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SketchUp Essentials latest video on the mdkBIM suite:
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