glennw

Looks to me like it could be a Wall Covering strip. Open the wall dbx and see if there is anything specified on the Wall Covering panel (like Insulation Rigid).

Chopsaw, Chop, I can get this with most objects apart from a baluster (millwork) used in a railing. Is that any use, or do you specifically want to use it for balusters or newels in a railing? One proviso would be that you can't use the bounding box to resize. Can you describe how you want to use such an object and I can tell you if my method would work for you.

Michael, Yeah, it is the long way around, but should work.

I don't think you can do it directly as I believe the default plate material uses the default Framing material. So.....what you could probably do is assign different materials to studs, roof framing members, floor and ceiling framing, etc, and leave only the plates to use the default Framing material. In this pic I have left only the plates to use the default Framing material (Color - Gold)

I'm with you Larry. I would much rather have several individual screens than one large one. It is much easier to drag, maximise, locate child windows, etc, with separate screens

Diane, If I read you correctly, you can designate the wall on Level 1 as "Create Wall/Footing Below" This will build a footing and foundation wall on Level 0 when the foundation is built. Is that what you are after?

Steve, I am not sure what is wrong with yours, but it works for me. When you copy your deck railings from level 1 down to level 0, do you loose the Deck room definition and does it become an Unspecified room type? If so, you need to change it to a Deck type so that it will build the deck framing and decking. I also note that you are using level 0 for living area and the deck. I personally wouldn't do that (especially with a deck on level 0 - but we have all been through that argument before, so that's all I will say on that matter.

Ahh, yes, you missed that step in your post - you can only use the cross section slider in a standard view.

Michael, With the OOB settings how do you get Cross Section Slider to work in an Orthographic view (which defaults to a vector view) - perspective views default to render (standard) views and orthographic views default to vector. These can be changed in the defaults though. Cross Section Slider doesn't work in a vector view - only in a render (standard) view. To get the doors to display the openings in a vector view, I usually temporarily drop the ceiling height to just below the door height.

Unspecified is still a room type with a floor. Try making the attic room Open Below.

Done

Suzy, I can see that for that particular wall, it has a break in it near the right hand side. The wall on one site of the break has been reversed. First off, fix that. Then go up to the attic and delete the attic wall above that wall. It will regenerate correctly. The floor 2 wall and it's attic wall above should now be correct. What you are seeing is not Chief's default behavior, but user error.

In the 3D view, go 3D...Rendering Techniques...check Standard. You can also set the default camera types in Defaults.

Suzy, I'm not 100% sure of where your problem is. Is see a couple of manually drawn attic walls, but not too many other problems. The double attic wall over the closets and bath 2, for instance. Maybe you can point out some specific problems. In the meantime you could try a couple of things. At+Q and uncheck Auto Rebuild Attic Walls. Go to the attic level and group select all the walls and delete them. Alt+Q again and check Auto Rebuild Attic Walls. Rebuild Walls/Floors/Ceilings. The attic walls will all rebuild. Are there still problems?

Lew, I think you are over dramaticising building a terrain and are unnecessarily dissuading users from using the better technique. My suggestion would be to first try it all in one file, and if really turns out to be too difficult and beyond you, try Lew's method. You really don't have to be a "master of terrain" to make something that works - no more than you have to be a "master of roofs" to make something work. You shouldn't need to get someone else to do it for you or do something that is second best. EDIT: On second thought, if you have trouble with the terrain, don't use Lew's method. Post back here and I , or someone else will help sort you out.

Suzy, Post the plan

Diane, I am going to stick my neck out here and say that I don't agree with most of the advice you have been given. There should be no need to have 2 plans or create symbols, etc - that is just complicating things unnecessarily. it makes no difference wether you draw the terrain before or after the house. Just do it in the plan file in any order you want. Why would you ever want to create a symbol for the house? Even if I was to create a symbol (which I never would!), it would be the terrain and not the house! Sure, you need to keep things close to zero datum, but that is a different topic altogether. You should have your template plan set up close to zero datum. The zoom level will also save to your template plan so that the opening screen for a new plan is the correct location in relation to zero datum and at the correct zoom level to just start drawing. The easiest way to work is with suitable layer sets so that the plan doesn't get too messy with both the house and terrain being displayed and so that you end up with a suitable site plan that you can use in your layout.

Railing Specification dbx...Rails panel...Rail Profiles...scroll down to Beam: Default Rail...choose a profile if you want other than a rectangle and change the size in the Selected Profile Specification beneath.

You should be able to group select all the text boxes, open the dbx and change the size to 18". Can you explain why you can't change the size?

Are they Rich Text or Plain Text?

Probably either the layer "Room Labels"' or the individual room setting "Show Room Label".

Larry, I am not sure what you are doing wrong because it works for me. Do you have different Layer Sets for each Cad Detail? The start of your message sounds like you are just toggling layers in the same layer set. How about a vid or a skype session? Or post the plan.

Alan, Do you realise that those hotkeys can be sequential and not simultaneous? (you can do it either way) ie, you can use S and I in sequence, not at the same time.

Alt+Q and check Main Layer Inside?

Demonstrate by posting a plan that shows this.