Virtual realitytruss design

It's like Nascor meets Nintendo. Engineered wood component makers, retailers and architects can now design trusses with software featuring the same stunningly realistic displays used by the video game industry.

Tee-Lok Layout I software is, according to Frank Powers, national sales manager, Tee-Lok Corp., Edenton, N.C., "the first system to be 3-D all the time. You don't just view it in 3-D, you work in 3-D. Objects have realistic-looking thickness and lighting, making for easy understanding of even the most complex framing systems."

Drag and drop features make once-difficult tasks easy. "Smart Screen Technology" speeds up input by eliminating the hunt for foolbar icons.

Multi-level buildings are no problem, since roof and floor systems are eombined in a single layout. Working in 3-D facilitates proper alignment of structural items from level to level.

Inputting complex hip system$ or lastminute layout modifications also are reportedly easier than ever. In addition, the software can split the display screen into multiple work areas, each with a different view and different visual characteristics, such as see-through exterior walls and solid interior walls-and all active.

The National Design Specification for Wood Construction lists two broad classes of mechanically graded lumber, Machine Stress Rated and Machine Evaluated Lumber.

Rfl?::*?T',i.'ift ii,?t?L'iii forest products distribution havJ also altered reloaders' roles as customers expect new services.

Reloads are not just brokers of transportation. Transloaders own, lease and operate warehouses, lift trucks and tractor-trailers. or contract for their use. Many transloaders participate in seamless, single factor, joint-through freight rates, which may or may not include transloading charges bundled as a division of the through revenue. Transloaders may also inventory and store merchandise at rest or in transit, caring for merchandise of the shipper, receiver or beneficial owner of the goods.

Reloads can lower costs from mill to retailer by reducing handling by middlemen and distributors, decreasing transportation costs and time and