Wood Framing Plugin?

[Anonymous]

Around a year ago i read about a wood framing plugin for Archicad, and didnt see any threads out here discussing it. Is this still around, and if it is, is it any good?
If not, how do i go about creating accurately framed residential buildings without having to create each stud individually?

[Aaron Bourgoin]

Platform stick framing can be done inside ArchiCAD right out of the box. Timber frames can be put together using ArchiCAD's built-in Roof Maker or a 3rd party product. Check out Encina, for example.

[Steve Jepson]

keithg wrote:
... how do i go about creating accurately framed residential buildings without having to create each stud individually?

Have you tried the ArchiCAD wall accessary tool?

[Anonymous]

Steve wrote:
Have you tried the ArchiCAD wall accessary tool?

Excuse me for jumping in here, but apparently the time has finally come for me to try this tool out also. And so, after some testing, the questions that I have are as follows:

1. How do you get the framing to align with the actual framing in my walls? All my walls include drywall, but the framing aligns to the face of the DRYWALL, not the face of the stud framing. Having the reference line in the middle of the walls does not help any.

2. I see that the framing does not care much for any active SEO operations. Trimming to roofs erases the entire framing for the selected wall (not to mention offering some very clear errors, as in "Warning! 0.01905 0" and "Warning! 16.0211 0" etc)

3. Is there a way to get the framing to show correctly in section (using the proper blocks or having a fill with an 'X')?

4. (maybe this should've been the first question) Has anybody actually been using this feature successfully in their CDs or is it just nice icing on the cake?

[Steve Jepson]

Icing on the cake. CD's that show "how to build it" rather than just "what to build" have crossed a dangerous line.

I find them very useful for the projects that I build myself but if the plans are for another framer its better if he thinks the "how to" has been left up him. I don't tell him how to hold his hammer or mark his layout either. Even though I can do it better, faster, and save more material. Framing diagrams are often perceived by the framers I have used as disrespectful to them. They take away the only reason they have for being able to charge me $28.00/hr instead of $8.00/hr.
They resent plans will reduced them to just nail pounders. They have no joy, and take no pride in their work if they can't pretend to be craftsman. When I provide them with all of the side cuts for the hip and valley jacks, depths of the heel cuts, ect... they are never happy about it.

Just some food for thought.

[Anonymous]

Oh, I agree 100%. I don't think I'd ever provide complete framing diagrams.

What I was thinking to use this tool for was mainly for the sections, so I wouldn't have to go back in and spend hours detail the same details all over the sections. I was hoping this framing tool would automate some of the required details, such as the top & bottom plates, door and window headers, etc. It might not be worth the headache, but that's what I was trying to see - the tool's feasibility.

[Anonymous]

Steve wrote:
Icing on the cake. CD's that show "how to build it" rather than just "what to build" have crossed a dangerous line.

The wall framing accessory is potentially a very valuable tool and much more than "icing on the cake."

The real purpose of this tool should be to develop intelligent 3D data that can be used for automating or panelizing wall framing. Its not quite there in its current form, but I do hope Graphisoft will extend its functionality in the near future. Ideally we should be able to automatically produce cut sheets for each panel with dimesioned panel elevations and cut lists. Also, we should be able to write out a file format that can be read by automated sawing equipment, etc.


I don't believe many people are using it right now because it currenlty lacks full the full functionality a tool like this should provide and because their business operations don't require this kind of automation.

I've noticed a few quirks that need to be ironed out:

- It doesn't like walls that have doors in them when manipulating a model set to a scale smaller than 1/8"

- It doesn't Like SEO's but works fine with trimming to roofs

- Its hard to tell where "added" studs are added - manually added studs should be a different color or something.

- It needs to place more or better graphical hotspots for added "connections"

- It doesn't allow for additional jacks or trimmers on wide openings

- It doesn't allow for different header types for multiple openings in a wall

- It doesn't allow for "full height headers" placed all the way up at the top plate

- It should have better or more customizable corner and connection conditions

- It doesnt automatically create true rough opening sizes unless the user has set the doors and windows with the proper oversize parameters

I really have high hopes for this add-on and look forward to an even more intelligent version in the future.

Dan K

[Steve Jepson]

Good post Dan. You are exatly right about what the automatic framing add-on will be good for when the bugs are worked out of it.

If its my project, I like to model every stick of wood in the house. Including the blolcking.

[Anonymous]

Steve wrote:
If its my project, I like to model every stick of wood in the house. Including the blolcking.

Wow! Steve that's a very impressive 3d framing detail. I'm sure we could start a whole new thread about "Roof Framing"

I'm curious how you created your trusses - it looks detailed and time consuming.

[gpowless]

If its my project, I like to model every stick of wood in the house. Including the blolcking.

I agree. I do some work for a timber framer. I won't model his joinery but he is certainly impressed with the framing visuals.



However, I would like the ability to dimension and label such a work, as it makes for a good reference in how things come together.

[Steve Jepson]

Dan wrote:
I'm curious how you created your trusses - it looks detailed and time consuming.

I posted some info on this forum about how I make the trusses but I couldn't find it doing a search. I think I used some good pictures too. Anyway, it is very simple. I get the truss diagrams from the truss manufacture, import them into ArchiCAD, then I use the magic wand to make slabs 1 1/2" thick between the lines. View them in 3D from the top and save as a .gsm object. I use the same method to make lots of special framing members. Draw it in 2D, view it in 3D and make a .gsm object out of it.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

We at Cadimage in Auckland New Zealand are releasing a Wall Framing Addon for ArchiCAD 9 in late January that provides complete 3d interactive wall framing along with complete elevations views with complete cut lists (which are also interactive eg change a stud position in elevation view and the floor plan and 3d model update) for production.

If you are interested in such an addon please email me off post so I can find out any localisation issues I may need to take account of.

Regards,

Campbell Yule
Operations and Development Director
Cadimage Solutions Limited
campbell@cadimage.co.nz
http://store.cadimage.co.nz

[Anonymous]

Campbell wrote:
Hi,

We at Cadimage in Auckland New Zealand are releasing a Wall Framing Addon for ArchiCAD 9 in late January that provides complete 3d interactive wall framing along with complete elevations views with complete cut lists (which are also interactive eg change a stud position in elevation view and the floor plan and 3d model update) for production....

Campbell,
This is great news!...look forward to seeing it. Please consider the following:

1.) All load bearing walls should somehow automatically place studs in relation to a "user defined" common start point. This is important if you are trying to do "in-line" framing. At a minimum, the user should be given the option to use a start point.

2.) After the framing is placed, it would be nice to be able to move/adjust all studs simultaneously in a wall. Currently you have to adjust them all individually.

3.) Please make all opening conditions independantly adjustable. Example: sometimes header conditions need to be different sizes/types on openings within the same wall.

4.) Please consider making the framing accesory capable of automatically sensing a defined core for the stud space in a composite wall and placing the framing within that core space. Please also consider making the framing capable of automatically sensing a wall or a core thickness and sizing the stud accordingly.

5.) I, personally, model all stud framed walls to the actual plate heights...some people, however, will include the depth of the floor framing within the wall height. Realizing this, you should give the users the ability to specifiy the plate height for the wall framing in cases where modeled walls are a different height than the actual plate height.

6.) Please consider giving the users an interface to define company specific "default" rules for various conditions:extra trimmers at wide opng's, ladder connectors at wall intersections, etc,etc,etc

7.) It would be nice if the accesory could read the name of a user defined wall composite and set all parameters for that type of wall automatically. example: If I have a wall composite "2x4 int wall" the accesory might already know to set the stud size to 2x4 and the spacing at 24" O.C. - If I have a wall composite "2x6 ext wall" the accesory might already know to set the stud size to 2x6 and the spacing at 16" O.C.

8.) For companies that are panelizing, it would be nice if the accessory could automatically break long walls down into prespecified maximum panel widths. (one wall after applying the accesory would have multiple panels) Currently the user has to manually split a wall if it needs to be more than one panel.

9.) How about giving the user good control over the panel numbering and automatically creating a schedule of all the panel cut sheets. Ideally the cut sheet views would have default basic dimensions.

What do you think?...is this doable?

Thanks,
Dan K

[__archiben]

Campbell wrote:
If you are interested in such an addon . . .

most definitely. as already mentioned above and in several other threads here, the wall accessory add-on is lacking when it actually comes to construction documentation (as well as some really silly usability quirks).

Dan wrote:
4.) Please consider making the framing accesory capable of automatically sensing a defined core for the stud space in a composite wall and placing the framing within that core space. Please also consider making the framing capable of automatically sensing a wall or a core thickness and sizing the stud accordingly.

this is by far one of the most important considerations for a tool that is competing with the current wall accessory add-on.

as already discussed above somewhere, placement relative to core/reference line/etc, etc makes the current tool painstaking to use when it should actually be the most important thing to get right first time. everytime i modify settings i have to check and double check the position of the [censored] thing!

somebody else has also mentioned here that they use this only for the creation of quick, accurate and more detailed sections rather than telling the framing subbie how to do their job. i am 100% behind this approach, but i do like to produce good detailed drawings - even if it is purely contextural information. for this reason i would love to see just one commercial add-on/object available for (or with!) archiCAD to actually have a good, flexible, scalable 2D representation in ALL window types. i get fed up having to modify just about everything i use to look the part on paper.

go surprise me!

cheers
~/archiben