Trussmaker: wood trusses with steel connector plates

[Erika Epstein]

I would like to use trussmaker to create wood trusses using 2x4's and 2x6' for its members and have it add in steel plates. This is for houses that use trusses exclusively for roofs.

The regular truss in the library does have them, but some of the trusses I need the bottom chord steps up where the ceiling is higher at one end. A workaround is to cut with the marque tool the library part and put 2 together, but this is not a parametric solution.

Using trussmaker, the wood member and rectangular steel options do not seem to offer the option of adding steel connector plates, or am I just not seeing where to do this?

The 3rd option allows you to use various steel shapes but not a rectilinear sectioned one so using it to get the connector plates ends up with an extra line by foreshortening for example 1 leg of an 'L' shape to approximate a rectilinear section. I can fudge what I want reasonably well, but still it is not ideally what I would like.

Has someone come up with a way to accomplish this?
Thanks

[__archiben]

Erika wrote:
I wish other archicad users would chime in on this.

yep - we had to send a dongle number for our version of archiTerra - ralph is right: cigraph then sent back the full registration code . . .

. . . what can someone do with your dongle number anyway, besides register lots of new software to it that they can't use because you have the dongle?

~/archiben

[Erika Epstein]

Ralph,
I just checked how I installed my Cigraph add-ons and as Ben said they ask for the dongle number. Here in the US purchasing their products is through our ArchiCAD reseller so I had never given it a thought.

As to what someone can do with the dongle number? That's probably a subject for the pub.

Sorry for the furor

[Ralph Wessel]

Erika wrote:
I just checked how I installed my Cigraph add-ons and as Ben said they ask for the dongle number. Here in the US purchasing their products is through our ArchiCAD reseller so I had never given it a thought.

I don't blame you for being cautious - issues like identity theft and misuse of electronic information make it necessary

Erika wrote:
As to what someone can do with the dongle number? That's probably a subject for the pub.

Think of it in the same way as the number on your car's licence plate. You may be asked for the licence plate number when you park in a private car park, but only so they know your car is supposed to be there and not because they have any interest in collecting numbers.