glennw

Stephen, There is another way to do this if the Allow Wrap setting is not working. I haven't had much success with internal corners with that tool. I will do a video using your plan when I get time - easier to do a video than try and describe it. This is done with stairs.

Chris, This seems to work OK for me. Can you post a simple plan where this isn't working correctly.

Mine only has the Cameras, Inactive. I suspect that what has happened is that Chief has at one stage changed it's default layer setup and changed the layer name from Cameras, Inactive to just Cameras. I checked on of Scott's plans and his only has Camera's, inactive as well. I think we have both carried forward with old template plans.

be aware that there are active cameras and inactive cameras. If an unsaved camera view is closed the camera is deleted. As long as the unsaved camera view is open, it is an active camera. If a saved camera view is closed, the camera becomes inactive and is on the Cameras, Inactive layer, which can be toggled off. You can save your cameras in your template plan. Draw the cameras in your template plan, save the camera, save the plan and then they will be available every time you start a new plan from the template. PS Eric, I only have a Cameras, Inactive layer - no Cameras layer. Do you have both or only the Cameras layer? Is that a layer you have created or am I missing that layer?

If you were building auto roofs, the Allow Low Roof Planes option is usually the setting to use. Otherwise, I would designate the upper floor patio to be either Open Below or uncheck Floor Under This Room. Then use a polysolid or slab and build the floor manually.

Chopsaw, Post the plan.

You don't even have to convert to a Word document. Open a .pdf in Acrobat Reader or any other .pdf reader. Hilite the text, right click, Copy. Paste into a text box in Chief. In fact, you really don't even need to paste the text into a text box. Just Paste it directly into the plan and Chief will automatically paste it into a plain text box. You can then convert it to Rich Text with one click if that's what you need. But wait!.... There's more. If it's a .pdf of a drawing (like a survey, detail, etc) you can copy and paste directly into Chief. During the Paste, you are asked if you want to paste it in as a Backdrop, Image, Material or Picture.

David, Ah..., so you are using a custom countertop. You can report those in the ML as either square feet or cubic feet, depending on the material definition that is assigned to them. You don't make it a material, you create a material and then assign the material to the object. The ML list then reports the quantity of that material used. So if you assign that material to multiple objects, the ML will total the materials (either volume or area) depending on the material type (Volume or Area). https://www.screencast.com/t/6iep6YllQN

It's not clear from your post whether there is a lag between your cursor and cross hair or you are trying to describe some other behavior. Have you tried playing with the Synchronize with Cursor toggle?

David (Scogg), Yes, this easily done. I use a similar technique with polylines to get site areas and coverage, etc. You just need to create a material using the Volume Type (I am assuming you want the material listed as a cubic area) in the ML. Assign the material to your objects and create a ML. You can create different materials to track different objects or actual building materials. ie, if you want your benches calculated separately from your shelves, create 2 different materials - one for the benches and one for the shelves. David (Potter), How does that work? The polysolid will display it's volume in the dbx, but then multiply by it's length??? Sorry, I don't get it. To get the volume of multiple polysolids without using the ML, multiple select the polysolids and open the dbx. The total volume of the selected polysolids is listed on the Polyline panel - even if they have different materials.

The settings at Build Roof...Roof panel...Roof Height...Same Roof Height at Exterior Walls and Same Height Eaves can come in handy at times for these types of situations.

Thanks for pointing that out. My apologies - I got a bit muddled and have deleted my post.

I assume that you are referring to the numbered paragraphs. In the Rich Text dbx, hilite the text you want the formatting to apply to. Select Paragraph Options...Bullets...Type...select Numbers. There is a way to do columns in a rich text box. The text can also be formatted in many different ways. Open Excel or another spreadsheet program. Copy the number of blank cells you want. Paste into a rich text box. Or...you can do all the text in Excel and copy and paste the cells into a rich text box. I don't know of any other easy way to get editable columns into a text box. This is a rich text box in Chief after copying 3 rows and 2 blank columns from Excel and then all the text and formatting in Chief.

Joe, Yes, can be done in perspective view. You need to select the room by the back wall, not the floor. And it really gets hard to manipulate things, especially if they are internal rooms. The ability to edit platform heights (along with being able to edit location of walls etc) in a perspective view can be useful for massing studies, but I don't really think it is practical for day to day work.

Larry, I really hope it helps because I know that at times you have struggled with the dbx. Here is a little bit more https://www.screencast.com/t/mFdmC0nLjh7o

This is easy to do with Chiefs Paragraph Option settings. Columns of text are a little harder.

I assume Interior doesn't have Material List tool. If you had Premiere, you could do all of want you want with the Materials List.

I forgot to mention that you can also snap the floor of ceiling platforms to other platforms, or you can draw a cad line at a particular height and snap a platform to the cad line. You can also open the rooms dbx from the section and adjust any of the values in the normal manner. It's really just like manipulating the graphical section on the Structure tab which has been requested for years

Larry, It does if the clipping plane goes beyond the back wall of the room you are in - you need the back wall to select the room. So it's not really a function that's missing from the back clipped cross section.

You can do this pretty easily using the additional invisible wall layer that Perry mentioned. The corners may need a little work to get them the way you want.

Modify All Layer Sets does not apply to the creation and deletion of individual layers - these apply to ALL layer sets. Modify All Layer Sets applies when any of a layers properties are changed (like color, weight, line style, etc) This allows us to display (when MALS is toggled off - the default) an object's properties differently in different layersets.

Yusuf, Just to add a little to what you have said. It is quiet possible to change the floor/ceiling heights in a section view (similar to changing room sizes in a floor plan). Make sure Select Room Before Wall in 3D and Temporary Dimensions are toggled on. Generate a cross section. Select a room and you will see its floor/ceiling platforms and a ceiling height dimension. You can drag the floor or ceiling up or down and see what is happening. Although you can't use the Temp Dimension to move the platforms accurately, you can start dragging and use Tab and specify a Distance to move. Making these changes in section may make it easier to see what is going on instead of trying to change horizontal platforms (floors and ceilings) in a floor plan.

That makes sense because the Align tool doesn't use the Build To settings to align the walls - why would you think it does?. The Align tool aligns walls to the outside of their main layers. If you want to align walls to some other wall layer, use Alt+Q and choose a Resize About option and then manually drag the wall where needed.

Chopsaw, A bit more info on the ALDO problem. Create a new layer with the ALDO. Change to a different Layer Set - the newly created layer does not display. Open the normal Layer Set Management dbx along side the ALDO. In the normal Layer Set Management dbx, select any Layer Set, select Define, click OK without changing anything. Notice that the ALDO now updates and the newly created layer now displays in all the other layer sets. It's like the ALDO just needs a refresh. Also, if you create the new layer in the normal Layer Display Options dbx, the ALDO problem does not occur. I am thinking that this may be by design in that the ALDO is the ACTIVE layer display options and is only reporting the layer states when the dbx is first open and any subsequent changes made in the ALDO (ie, the ALDO does not update program wide, just locally in the ALDO), although my thought process is starting to get a little fuzzy! Anyway...the lesson is that if you have the ALDO open and want to create a new layer that is seen by all the layersets in the ALDO, create the new layer in the normal Layer Display Options dbx - you can do this even when the ALDO is still open and the ALDO will update so that the new layer is seen by all layersets in the ALDO. If I can get Jing working I will do a vid.

Chopsaw, I don't think that is a layer issue. Move the post label to reveal the post underneath. Or...turn off the Framing, Labels layer.