Wishes
Post your wishes about Graphisoft products: Archicad, BIMx, BIMcloud, and DDScad.

AutoBeam..the mother of all wishes

Rick Thompson
Expert
Since we have a database and can enter components easily, it would be real nice to enter weights for roof loads, walls, floors etc... and enter info for what beam we are using, (Microlam, Paralam, steel sizes, #2syp (my favorite), spf...etc) and then know what size is needed. Of course we would need to run the roof wizard and the new (yes?) floor wizard to enter the right load tracking.

Now that would get the builders to buy AC, and many residential designers who use Autocad. I'll bet TrussJoist would kick in a few developmental bucks. Have those suppliers kick in and have auto pricing via the web.

I hope you guys make a lot of money off this:)

(You now have tip of the month, maybe you could add wish of the month)
Rick Thompson
Mac Sonoma AC 26
http://www.thompsonplans.com
Mac M2 studio w/ display
5 REPLIES 5
Dwight
Newcomer
But then you have to watch out for shear at the connections. That takes human judgment
Dwight Atkinson
Rick Thompson
Expert
It's actually a very small percent of the US that is impacted by wind or seismic risk factors, so it's not required for most permits, contributory beams are needed by everyone. It would be a boon to a builder wanting to price out different framing options. People who live and build in those high risk areas are required to furnish engineering, so yes, those would need the sensitivities of someone such as yourself.
Rick Thompson
Mac Sonoma AC 26
http://www.thompsonplans.com
Mac M2 studio w/ display
Dwight
Newcomer
I was actually joking, because in wood it isn't so important, but we just had a big building failure here because some duffus, correcting the joining point of a steel beam that was built too short, underdesigned the shear connection strength.

Opening day: voom, down comes the roof.

With the new composite beams and other engineered wood, adding shear blocks is getting more important.....
Dwight Atkinson
Anonymous
Not applicable
Amen to this, I run Virtual PC with free software from TrusJoist and Boise Cascade, but they don't calculate #2 HF...

I made a basic structural calculator in Excel, but it was 20 + years ago that I really studied this.

As to seismic/wind: I've been asked for seismic calcs on a 1 story 3,000 SF commercial building in Connecticut. Wind I can understand (we get hurricanes),....
Rick Thompson
Expert
So you got that to run on Virtual PC. It was 4 or 5 (maybe longer) years ago but I tried. The people at Truss Joist were very helpful, but could but make it work back then. There was some problem with the use counter. I once used it a lot on a PC, but missed had to convert to yellow pine all the time. I do wish the Mac had something usable.
Rick Thompson
Mac Sonoma AC 26
http://www.thompsonplans.com
Mac M2 studio w/ display