Medeek Project
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First look at the Floor Plan printed output (11x17 Ledger):
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The API connector/bridge seems to be working, just need to do some more testing and also add the roof:
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First look at a very basic DXF export of the Floor Plan. I now have my own DXF export engine, it may prove useful.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
Medeek Engineering Inc
design.medeek.com -
The first attempt was a bit crude in my opinion. After some fiddling with fonts and dimensions things look a bit more presentable:
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I'm trying to get it to slow down so you can see the step by step build process.
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Version 1.2.7 - 07.29.2026
- Added the Medeek Builder toolbar
- Added the "Draw Garage" tool to the Medeek Builder toolbar.
- Added a print option (floor plan only) to the Garage Builder Tool.
- Added a DXF Export option (floor plan only) to the Garage Builder Tool.
Enabled the Garage Builder so that it can fully interact with the Medeek API calls: Wall, Truss and Foundation.
Note that in order to use this new feature the latest versions of the Wall, Truss and Foundation extensions will be required.
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Tutorial 7 - Garage Builder (16:14 min.)
This tutorial introduces the new Garage Builder tool for the Medeek Project Plugin. The tool provides an intuitive floor-plan interface where users can configure a four-wall garage, drag and position garage doors, man doors and windows, preview each elevation, and adjust basic wall, roof and slab-on-grade options.
Garage plans can be saved and reused along with their project data and additional wall settings. The Garage Builder also supports architectural-scale printing, PDF output, adjustable grid snapping and 2D DXF export. Once the design is complete, the tool uses the Medeek Wall, Truss and Foundation APIs to generate fully editable native Medeek assemblies directly within SketchUp.
This initial release is intended as a proof of concept, with additional roof, foundation and advanced configuration options planned for future updates.
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From the get go the Garage Builder was a proof of concept, and it does seem to work reasonably well. However, I'm now contemplating creating a slightly more complicated version of this tool called the House Builder. I will probably initially not include the roof or foundations for the first iteration and primarily focus on the wall layout engine (that is what is most important).
Thoughts? Is there any interest for such a tool?
In some way it may resemble what Chief Architect does, you create your layout in 2D, fully dimensioned and then like the Garage Builder it can with the push of a button translate that into a full 3D model on demand.
The current algorithms that produce the DXF or printed drawing (PDF) will need to be further developed and augmented so that we can auto-dimension a much more complex floor plan, this should become very interesting.
The goal is to be able to create, at a minimum, something like this in the House Builder tool:
I've also been giving the auto-dimensioning some serious thought and even as attractive as this may seem, there will always be cases where the user will need to manually intervene and add or subtract dimensions. So I will need to build some sort of user driven dimensioning system that will allow manual override but somehow coexist with a fully automated dimensioning system.
In addition to dimensions we will also need to enable some sort of annotation system with text blocks and text with leaders (this is giving me AutoCad vibes).
This in and of itself is a full on project, we may have to take this in stages.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson PE
Medeek Engineering Inc
design.medeek.com -
The House Builder is a fair bit more complicated than the Garage Builder so I have my head buried in the code for a few days with little to show for all my work. Here is a first look at some of the interface with a few random walls arranged for testing.
Notice the Start and End markers, similar to the Wall plugin. These will be an optional feature that can be toggled on or off. This is turning out to be a very interesting project and also quite challenging.
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First look at some walls with dimensions added:
I was going to setup an auto-dimension algorithm. However after building the manual dimension tool I found it so easy to use that I don't really see a reason to bother with auto dimensioning. What you see here I was able to do in about 2-3 minutes.
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I still have some rough edges to work on in the UI but progress is being made:
All dimensions are associative, there is no concept of an orphaned dimension, however I may eventually change my mind on that. The nice thing about associative dimensions is that when you change the location of a wall or opening all of the dimensions auto-update.
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Starting to work on the updated Elevations tab. Remember this is simply for preview purposes and not really designed to give a high fidelity (rendered) views of the structure/house.
Also I haven't even started with the roof yet. I'm still trying to figure out how involved I want to make that. I could just have it take the wall perimeter and build a complex roof (all hip) using my weighted straight skeleton algorithm. Additionally I could also allow the user the ability to modify certain roof planes (ie. gable, dutch gable, half hip etc...) I will need to give this some additional thought.
The same applies to the foundation (SOG vs. Stemwall) and then if a stemwall we need a floor framing plan. Also what do we do with a multi-story house? I think I've opened another can of worms.
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I've also added a "visibility reference" icon/tool. This allows one to not only toggle off the grid but also to toggle on or off the 1st level walls below the 2nd level walls. This should aid in lining up walls on different levels.
I'm also working on multi-levels, so things are getting interesting.
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Adding the ability to move edges and vertices:
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We can also add and delete vertices:
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After adding some geometry: Rim Board, Sill Plate, Opening Headers and Joists.
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We also need to be able to create annotations with and without leaders.
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We also now a have a rudimentary line tool to manually draw in extraneous geometry or create tables etc... The line weight, line type and line color can be set, very similar to AutoCAD.
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Is this a standalone app?
Download the free D'oh Book for SketchUp 📖
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I’ve only invested about a week’s worth of my time and energy into this new House Builder tool/app. I’m excited that I’ve been able to move it along quite quickly, thanks to the work I had already done with Garage Builder. I will need to circle back actually and add some of this increased functionality into the Garage Builder but for now my focus is on the House Builder since it is the more general tool.
I am really hoping that this tool will be as useful and well adopted as I think it will be. To that end I am investing quite a bit of time into it and will probably spend at least a couple more weeks sorting out all the intricacies of wiring up complex roofs and multi foundation types. I think we almost have the floor framing portion completed.
With the addition of more common drafting style tools (ie. dimensions, callouts, text, text /w leaders and lines) the tool has become much more interactive and the user experience or UI will be of paramount importance. I don’t want this tool to feel clunky so it may require a few iterations to fine tune these tools until they are a “joy to use”.
I think I will probably release an update of the plugin even before I’ve waded into the foundations and roofs so that the power users can begin poking and prodding this thing and expose its weaknesses
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