I might actually designate the initial release a BETA number but I'm still not decided on that yet.

Right now the plugin is all torn apart as I continue to add in a few additional features like presets and the "remove joist list" option:

This is my current desk setup, I've just added the big monitor to my left which gives me more screen real estate and improves my coding efficiency.  This is where all the magic happens, at least for now.

I also initially used the slab-on-grade code for moving edges of the floor perimeter but now that I'm testing it more extensively it appears that I should probably switch to the code I use for the complex roofs, so some additional adjustments required there as well.

This is how the sausage is made, one line of code at a time.

My wife said my design was boring so I saved a new version and let her try to come up with something a little more interesting…

I'm not sure if I want a basement or a second story but this is already bigger than I initially wanted. The water heater (and possibly furnace) will have to live in the basement or second floor (attic). The cut out for the stairs isn't final yet since I don't know what the basement depth might be.

The rectangular outside dimensions is 28'x40', which already puts me at 1,120 sqft for the main level. The bedrooms are quite large, but I prefer larger bedrooms than smaller ones.

Its good for me to use my own plugins once in a while, it helps me find the weak spots or should I say the annoying things about it. One of those things is the placement of doors along a wall when there are other walls that tee into the wall you are trying to place the door into. I need to have some mechanism for snapping or measuring from these other walls. Once can always go back in and adjust or move the doors to fine tune the placement (which is what I had to do) but it does burn too much time. I guess I learn something new everyday.

Most of my time was actually spent trying to space plan and figure out what made sense, its kind of like playing Tetris. For this sort of thing a rough layout tool might be useful, but just the native tools at this stage is adequate for most of it. The biggest aid was using the grid to help me find my way. Once my initial layout was more or less final, I popped in the walls in less than two minutes.

Fussing over the windows and doors probably took another hour, and then another hour grabbing fixtures from another model and placing them and then mocking up the kitchen cabinet layout (counters, sink, range, dishwasher and fridge). At this stage I'm not too worried about rendering or making my fixtures all that amazing, so mostly they were added just to make sure my space planning was still logical.

I don't design houses professionally (I've only ever really designed three actual residences and a few detached garages) so if this design is a bit of a cludge please forgive my lack of experience and designer feng shui. Most of my professional work was as an engineer and to be honest that type of work is less about creativity and more about the numbers. I find this type of work far more challenging and invigorating.

Version 1.9.7 - 04.23.2024

• Fixed a compatibility bug with SketchUp 2024 (Fixnum & Bignum) while maintaining backward compatibility with previous versions of SketchUp.

Version 3.4.3 - 04.30.2024

• Added ceiling gypsum for tray and coffer trusses.
• Enabled the "Edit Truss Assembly" function for tray and coffer trusses (imperial and metric units).
• Enabled labels for tray and coffer trusses.
• Updated the license verification system with a more secure and improved algorithm.

The original 3D cladding tutorial showed the following four materials:

• Board and Batten
• Shiplap
• Log
• Lap

The three additional ones added since this video are:

• Metal
• Shiplap (Vertical)
• Dutchlap

There are now seven different types of 3D cladding materials one can configure within the Custom Material Library.

Version 3.5.0 - 05.26.2024

• Enabled "flat" ceiling gypsum for dutch gable rafter roofs.
• Enabled "flat" ceiling gypsum for hip rafter roofs.
• Fixed a bug with the global settings for rafter and truss roofs when the layer/tags option is turned off.

CRITICAL BUG FIX!
Version 3.4.7 introduced a bug for both rafter and truss roofs when the layers/tags option is turned off. This release fixes that bug. I highly recommend that everyone download this latest update to correct this bug.

Double sliders are kind of interesting windows.

Sometimes I forget how cool it is to be able to create something like this in SketchUp and have it animate like it does. Can I say I love my job?

The new Rafter Roof menu should be a bit more visual and intuitive for selecting the appropriate roof type:

Version 3.5.6 - 07.03.2024

• Enabled a graphical user interface for Rafter Roof selection.
• Enabled a graphical user interface for Floor selection.
• Fixed a bug introduced in Version 3.5.3 for all I-joist, lumber and truss floors (when adv. floor options disabled).

Version 4.6.8 - 07.06.2026

• Added a new "Custom" wall option in the Gable Wall tool.
• Added Doors, Windows and Garage Doors for Custom walls.
• Created a new interactive Custom Wall profile editing tool.

This new "custom" wall is still not quite ready for prime time, however I want to put it out there so that the power users can BETA test it for me and tell me what works for them and what does not. I still need to add in all the advanced options and I'm sure there are a few holdovers from the previous wall menu (ie. Wall Height and Wall Length) that are not relevant to this wall type.

Please be advised that this new wall type is not production ready. Right now it is for testing purposes only.

Custom or "complex" walls are really no different than complex roofs or floors. They are defined by an array of points. I was just going to adapt my current "Outline Edit" method for Custom walls but I felt like it was time for a bit of an upgrade. I'm hoping people will find this new tool a bit more intuitive. After I fully test it I may incorporate the same logic/tool into the other plugins for the following: Complex Roofs, Floors, Slab-on-Grad foundations, Polyline Stemwalls and Railings

Testing garage doors and doors:

Progress is steady but these types of irregular walls present a few more challenges than normal:

The custom wall "draw" tool is going to be a little bit different from the existing wall tools. Currently I have it so that can select a face (grouped or ungrouped). The face has to be vertical, in more precise terms this means the face normal vector must be perpendicular to the Z axis. Also note that as you hover over the face the nearest vertex is highlighted with the light green circle:

This indicates where the "origin" or start point of the wall will be drawn from. Once you select the face, the tool then goes to phase 2, which allows you to project along the face in one of two directions. This will determine which side is the interior or exterior of the wall:

The thick blue line indicates the ray or vector that is being used to determine which way the wall is facing, also the 3D wireframe indicates the wall's general envelope or geometry.

In commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the Unites States of America I am running a month long promotion for the mdkBIM suite. This promotion applies to new customers as well as existing customers, and with the coupon code USA250 gives a 20% discount on the purchase of the mdkBIM suite.

This promotion runs from July 1, 2026 to July 31, 2026. All purchases of the mdkBIM suite prior and after this time frame will be at the regular price. This will reduce the regular bundle price from $330.00 USD to $264.00 USD. This promo code does not apply to any of the extensions purchased separately, subscription licenses or to permanent license renewals.

Now the important part, and why I think this promo is also a decent value for existing customers who might be thinking about renewing their licenses. As part of this promotion a permanent license for the Electrical, HVAC and Engineering plugins will also be included (upon request) at no additional cost. This offer ends on July 31st and no rain checks will be given thereafter.

During the last few weeks I have been focused primarily on the stair and railing modules within the Wall plugin. I am happy to announce that significant progress has been made on that front and I strongly encourage everyone to check out the new updates and watch some of the latest tutorial videos which demonstrate these new capabilities. A huge shout out to Patrick O'Brien and Larry Belk for taking the time to encourage me and push me even further in this regard. Without their feedback and insistence I might not have progressed these two modules as far as I did.

I would also like to take the time to thank everyone for their support of the plugins these past 10 years, it has been quite a journey and I am very much looking forward to another 10 years of productive improvements and many feature additions, and who knows, maybe a few new plugins.

Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
nathan@medeek.com

I have a specific request for users of my extensions and those who would like some free advertisement on my website. The front page of my website is in desperate need of an upgrade or at the very least I need to switch focus to the extensions and less focus on my plan sets.

If you have any screenshots or renders that you are particularly proud of that you have created with any of the Medeek extensions please submit them to me via email. Please limit the number of submissions to no more than 10 images. Your image should be no more than 2Mb in size and the dimensions should be a minimum of 1024 x 768 pixels.

If I decide to use an image I reserve the right to trim or crop the image so that it fits within the targeted position on the website. If I do decide to use your image on the front page of my website I can optionally include a small footer that credits your name or the name of your business and the extension used. Also if I do feature your image I will also apply an additional year to the license of the extension you created the image with.

I will probably only need about 20 to 30 images so not every image submitted will be utilized or selected, however all submissions will be retained. I will select the best submissions and then notify you if your were selected via email. I will also probably limit my selection to a maximum of two images per person who submits images so as to give everyone a fair chance at being selected. If at a later date I do consider one of the (non-selected) submissions for inclusion I will notify you before posting it to the front page and also offer you the same license extension as mentioned above.

I’m hoping to get an eclectic mix of images that I can spruce up the front page of design.medeek.com with, and hopefully put a new face on the website.

Back in 2023 Matt Donley reviewed the Wall extension and put it through its paces. One thing he pointed out was that there were cases where none of the existing wall types fit the bill. I call these irregular or “custom” walls.

I’ve now started working on a solution for those “custom” walls that don’t fit neatly into one of the four categories:

Tutorial 91: Curved Stairs II - (17:37 min.)

Version 4.6.7b - 06.26.2026

• Enabled deck railing for spline railing assemblies.
• Added a "GLASS" baluster option for spline railing assemblies.
• Added a "CABLE" baluster option for spline railing assemblies.