Version 0.9.8j - 10.30.2018
- Advanced layers (headers, kings and trimmers) enabled for door, window and garage door framing.

Somehow along the way I setup advanced layers for the framing however they did not get fully implemented until now.

The current Wall Plugin ToDo list as of 10/29/2018:

1.) Gable Walls (Standard and Shed) [in progress]
2.) Stair Module (straight run then landings and complex shapes) [in progress]
3.) Estimating [in progress]
4.) Adv. Gypsum (multi-layer gypsum both sides of int. walls)
5.) Custom width of king and trimmer studs for doors, windows and garage doors.
6.) Transom windows above doors (rectangle and arch)
7.) Additional door types (bifold, sliding glass, pocket doors)
8.) Join/Split Wall Tools
9.) Wall Stretch Tool
10.) Wall Grouping
11.) Wall Dropper
12.) Engineering
13.) Levels/Stories Manager
14.) Interior painting of gypsum
15.) Wall justification in draw wall tool.
16.) Gypsum backer studs at tee intersections
17.) Interior Trim (crown molding, baseboard, chair rails, wainscoting)
18.) Global Settings (8 new tabs) [in progress]
19.) Shear Wall Module

Some of these are extremely high priority and some of these are much lower on the list.

Version 0.9.8i - 10.28.2018
- The following tabs added to the global settings: Garage Doors, Beams, Columns, Stairs, SSW, Shearwalls, Estimating, Engineering and Updates.
- Enabled custom materials for gypsum in the HTML wall draw and edit menus.
- Felt + OSB material added to the pre-installed plugin materials.



Felt + OSB is similar to Tyvek + OSB where the outer face of the OSB has the felt material applied.

The felt material application depicts a typical 36" roll with 2" of overlap.

The change to the way I'm handling the gypsum material is a significant upgrade and allows for usage of custom materials from the material library within the global settings.

The next release of the plugin will have an arrow as shown to the right of the tabs in the global settings which will take the user to the next set of tabs:



Currently there are nine new tabs planned, most of which will have an under construction sign until I fully flesh them out:



The Updates tab will display the current changlog which is paralleled on the website as well.



Clicking the left arrow will return the user back to the first set of tabs.

If required an additional right arrow can be added to the second set of tabs taking the user to the third set of tabs.

In total there are 12 tabs in the first set and 9 tabs in the second set, for a total of 21 tabs in the global settings.

*** UPGRADE WARNING ***

One thing that has come to my attention is that when upgrading to the latest version of the plugin (0.9.8h) and you are upgrading from a previous version that did not have the new dimension layers (dim2 and dim3) added, you may encounter this error:

Error: #<TypeError: no implicit conversion from nil to integer>
c:/users/dscott/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2018/sketchup/plugins/medeek_wall_ext/medeek_wall_globals.rbs:1445:in `[]'

The quick fix for this error is to reinitialize the layers by clicking on the global settings and then navigating to the Layers tab.  This alone will reinitialize any missing or newly added layers.

In the next version I will add some additional code that checks for this type of situation, so that it is no longer an potential issue in future releases.

Todo list for the foundation plugin:

- Parametrics (things get a little tricky for complex footprints [non-rectangular slabs and stemwalls], this will take some thought)

- Window and Door openings in foundation walls.

- Ability to cut holes into slabs

- Isolated Post/Footing Module

- Blockouts in stem walls for doors/garage doors

- Floor drains in slabs.

- Switching to all HTML menus with tooltips/thumbnails

- Custom materials (similar to the truss and wall plugins)

- Step down foundation stem walls for sloping sites (fully parametric, this will also be a challenge).

- Adding more defaults into the global settings.

- Raft and Waffle foundations.

- The current method of inserting (one) strip footing is very limiting.  This whole methodology needs to be reworked into something which allows any number of strip footings.

Let me know if I am missing something on this list.

The potential complexity of this plugin could easily rival the wall and truss plugins the more I think about it, again lots to do and never enough time to accomplish it all.  Sometimes I think my ideas are much too big for my capacity.

Version 2.2.3b - 10.26.2018
- Fixed a bug in the attribute library for common trusses.



For this type of cladding it might be useful to have a parameter which allows one to have the cladding project beyond the fascia a specified amount.

Wow, that is weird, its like you are getting some sort of cross pollination between the wall plugin and truss plugin.

I just uninstalled and installed the truss plugin and could not duplicated either of these errors.

My suggestion would be to uninstall the Truss plugin and then reinstall it.

P.S. - Actually strike what I just said, I enabled battens and I'm able to duplicate the error below, looking at it right now, I will issue a fix very shortly once I get to the bottom of it.

Version 2.2.3 - 10.26.2018
- Added a Custom Material Library/Manager in the Materials tab of the Global Settings.
- Enabled custom materials for wall sheathing, wall cladding, roof sheathing and roof cladding in the HTML wall draw and edit menus for common trusses.
- Enabled the ability group materials and control which drop down menu they will appear in.
- Added an SKM file import utility to the Material Library.
- Default wall sheathing and wall cladding materials brought in line with options available in wall plugin.





Note the various wall sheathing options that are brought over from the wall plugin (ie. Tyvek, Zip Systems, Plywood, Densglass etc..) 

Also note that the custom and expanded materials selection is only available for common truss shapes (ie. common trusses, scissor trusses etc...).  I have not yet implemented the new system for other truss shapes and rafter roofs, that is work for yet another day.

There is still a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done with this plugin.  Many of the specialty truss shapes do not even have advanced options available to them yet.  All I can do is keep hacking away at it and maybe one day I will have the resources to really push this thing along.

As a follow up discussion to the multi-story tutorial I was asked a question by a designer regarding installation of a band board between the two stories as shown below:



To be honest I hadn't tried this before but the band board is provided by the 1st level walls and then its height is actually set such that it is actually above the sheathing, cladding and wall height.  It seems this is possible.

On the same token one could use the 2nd story walls to specify the band board and input a negative number to set the band board below the actual wall itself.

In this particular design case, there is more than one way to solve the problem.

The frieze and skirt boards are a little more static, in that they will always be positioned at the top and bottom of cladding respectively.

On a slightly different note you will notice that we are already at revision "h" of version 0.9.8:

http://design.medeek.com/resources/wallpluginchangelog.html

Quite a few updates to this version.  The reason I haven't rolled to 0.9.9 is because I am saving that version for the stair module roll out and then version 1.0.0 will be when I roll out the gable wall module.

At that point I will be taking the plugin out of BETA which in all reality means that I am then paying attention to backward compatibility issues and actively trying to maintain it so that new upgrades do not cause problems. 

Version 1.0.0 also means that I will be further reviewing my pricing structure and my licensing system.  There has been some pressure from various quarters to move to a subscription based licensing system even though I have resisted this move.

If I do move to a subscription system the good news is that all currently licensed users will be grandfathered in so that they will not be required to renew a yearly subscription, their licenses will always remain permanent. 

As an incentive to encourage more early adopters I will be running a "Thanksgiving" promotion on all of the plugins until Nov. 23 (Black Friday).  For all plugins purchased between Oct. 15 thru Nov. 15 your typical two year license will be doubled to four years and your one year foundation plugin will be doubled to two years.

For those who have recently purchased any of the plugins please send me an email and I will honor this promotion by extending your license exp. date.

Version 0.9.8h - 10.25.2018
- Fixed a bug with the blocking parameter for metric templates.

If your using metric templates you will want to upgrade to this version otherwise your blocking will appear too large as it will not be converted from millimetres to inches in the final drawing step.

A critical fix for clients using metric.

Medeek Wall Plugin Tutorial 5:  Multi-Story Construction



View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/c06052c5-ed71-40b6-a1b7-e9bdde6f8b37/Tutorial-5-Medeek-Wall-Plugin

Version 0.9.8g - 10.24.2018
- Corrected a bug in the Walls tab of the global settings involving the wall presets selection field.
- Added a blocking thickness parameter in the Walls tab of the global settings.



This particular bug in the Walls tab only became an issue when a previously selected default preset was deleted and then the user navigated to the Walls tab after the deletion. 

Now the javascript checks first for the existence of the default preset before trying to assign it in the drop down menu.

Not a really big issue but in a certain state it will lock up the form and not allow the user to save their settings.

The blocking thickness parameter was a quick item to add per a user request.  Note that this is a global default and cannot currently be adjusted per wall panel.  If we need more granularity I can do that but it means an additional parameter in the attribute library of the wall panel which means it will break backward compatibility with previous versions of the plugin.

Version 0.9.8f - 10.23.2018
- Critical fixes in the following modules: Auto-Corner Config, Shutters, Sheathing and Cladding.
- Loading wall presets changed to a two step process.  Clicking the update button is no longer required to activate a loaded preset.
- Wall edit menu updated to allow for sequential selection of wall panels for quick editing.

There are even more minor fixes that are too numerous to list.

The wall edit menu update should be a welcome fix.  If you are right clicking on each wall to edit them then each time you right click and "Edit Assembly" the wall settings will appear in the edit menu for that wall.  Previously a separate window would open up for each wall panel but only the last edit window actually worked. This resolves that issue and makes it more intuitive and robust.

If you are using the edit icon to edit walls this is even a quicker method of selecting and editing walls.  After you select a wall the tool remains active and you can continue to select and update walls by clicking on your target wall panels.  To terminate the tool, close the edit menu and hit the space bar.

Both methods of editing are now faster and much more intuitive and robust. 

Now I just need to do the same thing for editing windows and doors, beams etc...

In the global settings I am calling the (three) layers that I use for labels and annotations "Dimension" layers.

Technically this isn't quite correct since I am not placing dimensions on this layer rather annotations, text and labels as well as some symbols (windows, doors, holdowns, straps etc...)

What would be a better name to give these layers?