glennw

I assume that you are using Auto Detail to generate the insulation hatching. Auto Detail only works on the currently active section - it is just a cad that overlays the section. You need to explain in more detail regarding the incorrect insulation.

Another way is to change your Grid Snap setting to 6'. You can then just drag the wall and it will move in 6' increments.

Mark, In previous versions we had the setting to Zoom Using Field of View, which is no longer available. I think that was dropped in X8. The scroll wheel now zooms by moving the camera in and out unless Perspective Crop Mode is toggled on, in which case the camera does not move, only the screen image zooms in and out with the scroll wheel and field of view doesn't change.

Alan, Do you have the ALDO open when you are performing these actions? And is so, are you using it to perform any of these actions?

You can change the terrain height (and the houses relative floor height) to 100' without redrawing or starting again. Create a terrain and use some terrain elevation data that relates to your 100' reference - say across the middle of the site at 100', across the top of the site at 120', and across the bottom of the site at 80'. This will build the terrain 100' higher than the house. Open the terrain dbx and set the Subfloor Height Above Terrain to 100' (or as you want - 100' will set a flat terrain at the house floor level - Chiefs zero floor level). If you generate Auto Storey Pole Dimensions, the levels will relate to the floor level being at zero. This is probably not what you want - you probably want them to relate to your 100' which is your actual floor level. Go to your Auto Storey Pole Dimension defaults...Locate Elevations...Grade Level Marker...change this to 100' and change the Elevation Reference to 1st Floor Subfloor. Now all your elevation heights will relate to your subfloor at 100'. Using 100' as an assumed datum used to be the norm down here. 100' was used mainly to keep all levels around the site a positive number. We now mainly use an Australian Height Datum that is related to sea level. Most jurisdictions now require this as it allows for easy relationships to adjoining sites and other services. PS. You can also set Chief up so that the Absolute floor and ceiling levels are reported as relative to your 100' elevation which means that the Room Specification dbx the Absolute Elevations will use platform levels relative to 100'. But, from memory, I think you then need to set room floor levels on a room by room basis because the default floor level for level 1 is zero and cannot be changed. You would not need to redraw to use this method - depending on how complicated the design is, you should be able to change your plan through the dbx's. One advantage of using this method is that if you open a dbx for an object like a roof, the heights are reported as relative to your 100' height. ie, the roof ridge might report as something like 115' instead of 15' (relative to Chiefs zero floor level). This might be particularly important when you are using real world levels for your terrain. In short, there are many ways (probably at least 3 or 4) that you can use to relate the building platform levels to the terrain. If you are having trouble, post a plan and describe exactly how you want your terrain and building platforns to relate. Or, let me know and I will do a quick Skype session with you to explain as it can get a bit involved.

Thanks Robert, That's exactly the way I did it. Saved me doing a video.

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.