Medeek Wall Plugin

medeek · 25 May 2022, 16:58

Most Common Licensing Question - Why do I have to renew a Permanent License?

I actually get asked this question quite a bit lately and usually it is a very angry or frustrated customer I am dealing with, so I think it is worth my time to clarify this subject and hopefully help everyone better understand what is meant by renewing a permanent license.

At first glance it would seem oxymoronic that one would need to "renew" anything that is "permanent" however it does make more sense when you fully understand how the permanent licensing system of the Medeek plugins work.

When you purchase a permanent license of any of the plugins you are given a serial number and a "License Update Expiration Date". The expiration date indicates which versions of the plugin you are allowed to operate with your current license/serial number. One will quickly note that the exp. date is usually one year out from the purchase date. This means that your license will work with any versions of the plugin that are released up to or prior to this date.

Effectively what this means is that when you purchase a permanent license you have free upgrades for a year from the date of purchase. Once this date has passed any future updates/versions of the plugins will not work with your license. To enable your license to work with versions released after your license has "expired" you simply need to "renew" it for another year. This will then push your "Update Exp. Date" out another year, giving you another full year of potential upgrades.

One can also renew at any interval they choose, there is no requirement to renew as soon as your license exp. date is reached. You may choose to renew and upgrade two or three or even five years down the road from the date of your original purchase.

There is also no requirement to renew your license(s) or update to the latest version of the plugins if you so choose. You can download the latest versions of the plugins when you originally purchase them and use them that way forever. Permanent basically means that the currently license plugins will continue to work forever (unlike a subscription license - which actually stops working once your subscription has ended).

However, to be clear, a permanent license does not mean "free upgrades forever", and I think that is where some confusion exists for some customers and some frustration exists.

I have considered doing a "Lifetime" license which would be a permanent license with "unlimited" upgrades, however I would probably need to charge significantly more for that and the bar might be too high for most SU plugin customers.

If you have any questions with regards to how the licensing system works please feel free to email me specific questions at any time.

medeek · 29 May 2022, 18:28

The current system of setting the wall framing material in the global settings is not flexible enough. Let's assume you want to have some steel framed walls and also some wood frame walls in the same model/file, the current system really does not allow for this concurrent use of different wall types as it stands now. The wall framing material needs to be on a per wall basis... working on it.

medeek · 30 May 2022, 16:07

Version 2.8.7 - 05.30.2022

Added the "Wall Framing Material" option to the Draw and Edit menus for all wall types.
Added "BRICK" as another wall material/texture type.

Previously the wall framing material or texture was set in the global settings, only allowing the user to specify this parameter for the entire model and not on a per wall basis. Now the global setting will set the default value but each wall can be customized to a specific material.

Note that this update does not change the way the pressure treated lumber (texture) is applied. This parameter is still set globally (per the model).

I've also added on additional texture/material for the wall framing and that is brick (red). I had a number of requests for this material recently so I thought it might be useful to add it as another option. Unlike the CMU options the way to correctly use the brick would be to set the Wall Framing parameter as "NO" and the Wall Framing Material parameter as "BRICK". This is really no different than the regular no framing mode other than the brick material gets applied to the wall solid/primitive.

In all actuality the CMU modes are also very similar to the no framing mode as well however there is a bit more logic required for applying the materials and some minor adjustments for window openings (non-rectangular).

What I've shown in the screenshot above is a "brick" wall with a 1" air gap and brick cladding, effectively giving me a double brick wall.

medeek · 2 Jun 2022, 22:13

There entire WSWH Strong-Wall series is now available in the warehouse:

3D Warehouse

3D Warehouse is a website of searchable, pre-made 3D models that works seamlessly with SketchUp.

(3dwarehouse.sketchup.com)

medeek · 3 Jun 2022, 05:21

Version 2.8.8 - 06.02.2022

Added Simpson Strong-Tie "High Strength" wood shearwalls to the SSW module: 24", 18" and 12".

I don't think the older Simpson wood shearwalls are available for purchase anymore from Simpson but I left them in just in case someone has a need for them.

gullfo · 3 Jun 2022, 14:49

good idea to leave the deprecated products in place so if someone is drawing an as-is, they can use them to represent it.

wondering how complex it is to add new/old components - if this is something only you can do, or if you have some key mapping points on components which could be dropped into the plugin component folder and some text updates to reflect the component anchors, default sizes, rotation point relative to x-y, etc etc. as a means of expanding.

medeek · 3 Jun 2022, 18:38

I had the same thought when I thought about removing the old hardware, so yes, keeping them in the plugin is probably the right thing to do for now.

With some components I could make thing user extendable and allow for uploading custom components however with these type of prefabricated shear walls it is a bit more complicated since they are "trimmable" and they need to carefully setup/modeled so that my logic can deal with them in a systematic and predictable fashion.

medeek · 6 Jun 2022, 02:42

Version 2.8.9 - 06.05.2022

Added a "resolution" parameter into the General tab of the Global Settings for adjusting the smoothness of annotation text.

By default this parameter is set to 0.5 which may be a bit choppy/pixelated for some. For maximum smoothness set this parameter to zero (as shown above).

medeek · 6 Jun 2022, 02:42

Version 2.8.9 - 06.05.2022

Added a "resolution" parameter into the General tab of the Global Settings for adjusting the smoothness of annotation text.

By default this parameter is set to 0.5 which may be a bit choppy/pixelated for some. For maximum smoothness set this parameter to zero (as shown above).

medeek · 6 Jun 2022, 22:57

Version 2.8.9b - 06.06.2022

Fixed a bug with trimmer studs for garage doors.

!!!! CRITICAL BUG FIX !!!!
Note that if you are using more than two trimmer studs on your garage doors you will get an error and your garage door will not be drawn. Update to this latest version to fix this bug with the garage door module.

This bug has existed for some time and I was probably not aware of it or made aware of it until today because most garage doors don't use more than two trimmers/jack studs. However, it is still strange to me how long it was able to slip by unnoticed.

medeek · 10 Jun 2022, 19:18

Tutorial 30 - Double Brick Walls (9:32 min.)

medeek · 4 Jul 2022, 19:26

I've decided to kick off the holiday in style and offer a new mdkBIM promotion for the rest of the month of July:

Note: There will be no rainchecks on this promotion and there will also be no discounts on subscription licenses or permanent licenses purchased separately.

medeek · 7 Jul 2022, 19:06

Version 2.9.0 - 07.07.2022

Added the following window types to the window module: Double Hung, Twin Double Hung, Triple Double Hung.

Technically these windows are no different (geometrically) than the single hung variants however the callout indicates that they are "double" hung instead of "single" hung. This addition was per customer request.

medeek · 9 Jul 2022, 02:38

Version 2.9.1 - 07.08.2022

Added additional grille options for windows and doors.

The additional grille options are all GRID options. The "FH" appending the window grille options stands for "Farm House". When this option is chosen the grille is only installed in the top window of a single or double hung type window.

medeek · 24 Jul 2022, 23:25

Version 2.9.2 - 07.24.2022

Added one additional raised header configuration for windows and doors.

The "RAISED2" configuration removes the plate directly below the header. This update per customer request.

medeek · 29 Jul 2022, 19:49

Version 2.9.3 - 07.29.2022

Enabled independent control of exterior and interior stud depths for staggered stud walls (rectangular only).

Previously staggered studs were auto-calculated and one could not independently control the stud depth for the exterior and interior studs. This latest update allows for granular control of the stud depths and makes the staggered stud feature more flexible and useful.

medeek · 3 Aug 2022, 00:11

After some further thought to window and door casings (interior trim) I realized it would be useful to enable a system whereby the user could essentially create their own profiles and add them into the plugin (library folder) themselves.

I will probably include some pre-added profiles like the 365 and a few other common ones, but this way it will be much more flexible for the user and customizable.

I will start with the door casings first and then add this feature to the window module after.

medeek · 5 Aug 2022, 04:39

First look at custom casings:

Notice that when CUSTOM casing is specified for the Casing Style, the edit or draw menu will provide a preview of the profile as shown.

Now I need to work on enabling this for arched doors and also updating the global settings with this new option.

medeek · 5 Aug 2022, 07:52

Version 2.9.4 - 08.05.2022

Enabled CUSTOM door casings for rectangular doors.
Added a thumbnail preview into the edit and draw door menus showing the custom casing profiles.
Added a thumbnail preview into the Door tab of the Global Settings and added the custom profile parameter.

Additional profiles can be added into the "casings" sub-folder of the "library" folder within the plugin folder. Placement of the profile is important, so best practice is to open one of the two examples within this sub-folder and duplicate its positioning and grouping.

I will still need to enable this feature for arched doors and all window types, so much more work is yet to be done in this regard. It seems there is never a lack of work when it comes to this plugin.

medeek · 6 Aug 2022, 08:34

Version 2.9.5 - 08.06.2022

Enabled CUSTOM door casings for arched doors.
Added CUSTOM D and CUSTOM F door casing options for rectangular doors.