Medeek

First look at some walls be generated by the House Builder. This is the easy part, next we need to add all the openings, and somehow make it very efficient.

I forgot to add in the temporary or construction dimensions. Working on that now.

I don't understand. Is there now way to set the size of your various framing members?

I've also add Common Truss Roofs along with Complex Roofs.

I know that I posted this video on the forum a few months back but I think the thread it was in was removed so I think it would be good to post this video on this thread. I know of a lot of CA users who download SketchUp models from the 3D Warehouse to augment their workflow in Chief. I think an even better option than just the Warehouse is to leverage the parametric abilities of the Truss plugin (in SketchUp) to create timber trusses that can then be imported into Chief. I'm not saying that you should use SketchUp as your primary design environment but for certain specific modeling tasks it is very good. Please take a look at this short tutorial on how to create parametric timber trusses for use in Chief:

Currently the various plan view tabs are treated as their own “sheets” or pages. In other words if you print that tab you get exactly what is in the viewport scaled to fit into a regular sheet size (letter, 11x17, Arch C, Arch D). You cannot add in other geometry from other tabs. This seems to work reasonably well for most of these plan views (ie. Floor Plan, Foundation Plan, Roof Plan, Floor Framing Plan etc…) However, when it comes to elevation views things typically get a bit more interesting. Some designers like to put multiple elevation views on one sheet and in some cases all four if they will fit ( I like to do this for small ADUs for example). So it is not as easy as assigning one elevation view to one sheet, or even assigning two elevation views to one sheet, there needs to be more flexibility. After giving this some considerable thought I decided what I really needed was a Layout system where the user can drag the elevations into the “workspace” and position them as they see fit, and then at that point add their annotations and dimensions. I have now created four additional Layout tabs where the user can do exactly that. The only major thing I feel like I am missing at this point is a sectional view or section tool.

I’m also adding gable walls as well as shed and hip.

I am now trying to wrap up stemwall foundations and the addition of windows, doors and blockouts, all within the elevation views. After further testing I'm noticing that all of this added complexity does potentially slow down the app/tool when enough windows, doors and dimensions are added. I will need to spend a few more days tightening up my "redraw" algorithms so that performance is maximized. The last thing we want is a sluggish interface.

I’ve also enabled the entry stair option for foundation door openings.

First look at column footings:

First look at internal footings within a Slab-on-Grade.

I haven't exposed all of the options in the House Builder that exist in the plugins, I am trying to keep this as light weight as possible, yet giving the user enough options to make this a viable design tool. To that end, I've enabled exterior trim for all openings:

The user will have the option to use the basic fill colors or the built-in textures. This feature can be toggled ON or OFF in the Settings.

Next is a test of the raised fascia offset: My question is what do we do in the field at this sort of corner?

And just for fun: I call this the "Mountain House". A sufficiently motivated framer (lots of money) could stick build this, I'm quite convinced.

Complex roofs is still a work in progress, no surprise there. The interface will mirror the Truss plugin since we already know how that works. When a roof is selected the "custom" roof planes (edges) will display in red rather than blue. A selected edge will switch to a solid color and the right hand menu will display the settings for that roof plane. The same settings that are available in the Truss plugin will appear for the selected "roof plane type".

First look at some complex roofs in the Roof Plan tab: I will need to stress test it further to see if we can break it. The solver algorithm is borrowed directly from the new weighted straight skeleton solver I implemented about a month ago in the Truss plugin, no point in reinventing the wheel.

Testing the reference underlays for the Upper Floor Plan (level 1 wall framing and level 2 floor framing):

I’ve only invested about a week’s worth of my time and energy into this new House Builder tool/app. I’m excited that I’ve been able to move it along quite quickly, thanks to the work I had already done with Garage Builder. I will need to circle back actually and add some of this increased functionality into the Garage Builder but for now my focus is on the House Builder since it is the more general tool. I am really hoping that this tool will be as useful and well adopted as I think it will be. To that end I am investing quite a bit of time into it and will probably spend at least a couple more weeks sorting out all the intricacies of wiring up complex roofs and multi foundation types. I think we almost have the floor framing portion completed. With the addition of more common drafting style tools (ie. dimensions, callouts, text, text /w leaders and lines) the tool has become much more interactive and the user experience or UI will be of paramount importance. I don’t want this tool to feel clunky so it may require a few iterations to fine tune these tools until they are a “joy to use”. I think I will probably release an update of the plugin even before I’ve waded into the foundations and roofs so that the power users can begin poking and prodding this thing and expose its weaknesses

We also now a have a rudimentary line tool to manually draw in extraneous geometry or create tables etc... The line weight, line type and line color can be set, very similar to AutoCAD.

I've also added a "visibility reference" icon/tool. This allows one to not only toggle off the grid but also to toggle on or off the 1st level walls below the 2nd level walls. This should aid in lining up walls on different levels.

We now have a few more options for arrowheads and as you can see the settings tab has grown signficantly.

I've added the ability to edit, delete and also move openings in walls from the various elevation views:

Duly noted. I will look into the arrow head style and the dimension to centerline of walls (interior). I agree that this is very important.

I still have some rough edges to work on in the UI but progress is being made: All dimensions are associative, there is no concept of an orphaned dimension, however I may eventually change my mind on that. The nice thing about associative dimensions is that when you change the location of a wall or opening all of the dimensions auto-update. Additionally the dimensions snap to the grid so it is easy to setup your dimensions and keep them all aligned as para-CAD has noted.