I will also be including a new series of hand rail fittings that is compatible with the LJ6000 handrail profile.

After some more fiddling with the code and some additional logic, here is an OTP rail with various fittings and various corner conditions:

@Luke147ll

Wow, very impressive work. The level of detail in your models is something else.

It looks like you have a very diverse workflow, using not just SketchUp but various other design softwares.

Version 4.5.1 - 04.22.2026

• Enabled custom components as baluster shoes for vertical and OTP handrails.
• Added the following (L.J. Smith) baluster shoes into the baluster shoe component library: LI_ALFSH01, LI_ALR010, LI_ALRD201, LI_ALSQ301, LI_ALSQPL1, LI_PROCOL.

I took the time today to carefully model a few of these baluster shoes since they are fairly simple geometry and it is always fun to get my hands dirty with some actual modeling and take a small break from the code.

Well... I thought I was done with balusters and newel posts, but I'm not quite there yet.

The problem is that with metal or iron balusters they are often installed with a shoe as shown below:

My current algorithm installs balusters just like they are installed in real life:

First I trim the top of the original baluster component/group and then I have to trim them individually for each of their bottoms because the balusters may intersect the treads at different heights hence their heights/lengths will be different.

Because of this a predefined shoe positioned at the base of the baluster component may work for one location (ie. no trimming required) but then it will be removed in subsequent baluster locations.

What this means in practice is that a shoe (if that option were enabled) needs to be a completely separate group/component just as it is in real life. My algorithm needs to position it individually in the Z-dir just as I trim each baluster bottom individually.

Arguably, there is a lot going on with stairs, the guys that install these must be real craftsmen, I certainly take my hat off to them.

@Luke147ll

Wow, now I'm curious. Please post more as this build progresses. I am especially curious to know how it all comes together for you and what if any issues arose. Also if you don't mind and are comfortable with it, I would love for you to post a screenshot or two of your model.

This is very cool stuff, to see the plugin translating into real world wood. Impressive!

Version 4.5.0 - 04.20.2026

• Enabled custom components as posts for OTP handrails.
• Enabled "profile cutting" of posts for OTP handrails.
• Modified the bottom trimming algorithm for balusters to better accommodate complex baluster components.
• Added one additional ornamental iron baluster into the baluster component library.
• Added one OTP newel post into the newel post component library: LJ4270_43

I will readily admit configuring OTP handrails with their associated posts and fittings is a bit tricky, adjusting the various offsets takes a few iterations to really hone things in.

I appreciate everyone who has pushed me to flesh out the newel post and baluster capabilities. I feel like the stair module is a bit complicated now and perhaps even a bit clunky with so many options and variables but at the same time it is much more configurable and flexible and can I say with these new capabilities more powerful.

Obviously it would be optimal if I could spend some serious time and create many of the standard balusters and newel posts found in LJ Smith’s general catalog so that the user would have a bevy of options to choose from without having to exert additional effort in creating their own. However, such an undertaking could easily consume two to three weeks and my development time is probably better spent elsewhere at the moment.

Version 4.4.9 - 04.19.2026

• Enabled a secondary custom profile/component parameter for balusters.
• Added additional ornamental iron balusters into the baluster component library.

I think I've beat this horse to death. Hopefully with this added option we can configure most of the common baluster layouts, however there will always be a few that will be beyond the scope of the plugin (ie. three or more baluster types in various repeating patterns).

Version 4.4.8c - 04.19.2026

• Fixed a minor typo in the stair module.
• Added a ornamental iron baluster into the baluster component library.

The limitations of profile cutting balusters can be overcome by using a predefined component instead, which allows for much more intricate baluster geometries.

However as I have been researching various baluster layouts I've noticed that with iron balusters usually more than one baluster style is utilized. The typical scenario is two or three different baluster geometries are alternated along the run of stairs. I will need to give this some more thought.

Stairs can be a "rabbit hole".

Version 4.4.8b - 04.18.2026

• Enabled custom components as balusters for vertical and OTP handrails.

Th sub-folder structure is the same as for newel posts, so Tutorial #85 is applicable to balusters as well.

Tutorial 85 - Profile Cut Newel Posts (9:04 min.)

Version 4.4.8 - 04.18.2026

• Enabled custom components as posts for vertical handrails

Version 4.4.7 - 04.16.2026

• Fixed a bug with custom door positioning for metric templates.
• Enabled "profile cutting" of posts for vertical handrails.
• Fixed a bug with the bottom trimming algorithm for balusters

.

Version 2.1.4 - 04.13.2026

• Enabled quantity 4 and 5 bars of footing rebar for strip footings.

Version 4.4.6b - 04.12.2026

• Added custom door positioning offsets into the Door tab of the Global Settings.

Version 4.4.6 - 04.11.2026

• Added a "Style 6" (Schlage - Camelot) to the built-in door hardware options.
• Configured the "Ctrl" hot key within the draw door tool with additional justification options (x-dir).

Tutorial 84 - Positioning Doors (7:19 min.)

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.

I've been meaning to add in a "Style 6" door hardware option for quite some time. Basically something for your entrance door, and I haven't had a good option for this until now. This low poly entrance hardware and deadbolt (handleset) is loosely modeled after the Camelot series by Schlage. I will include this in the next roll out:

Version 4.4.5b - 04.08.2026

• Added a tooltip for the Corner Treatment option into the Global Settings, Draw and Edit Wall Menus.

I didn't realize that the term "California Corner" was not well known in the industry. To that end I've added a tooltip for "Corner Treatment" which shows a typical (2x6) California Corner and a U-Corner. Hopefully this further clarifies this parameter for some users who are not familiar with this term. The other corner treatments seem fairly self explanatory.