glennw

Larry, If you have the time and inclination, I would really like to have a Skype session with you so you can show me when these problems occur. We both may be able to learn something. Or, better still, it would be great if Scott could host a GoToMeeting.

Matt, Probably because you had the same material for both the ceiling attached to the roof and the room's default ceiling material. Thus, when you changed that setting, you couldn't see any difference.

Or, if you want to do it directly in the dimension default, you can select Use Custom Text Style and then Transparent. This sets the Text Style directly with the dimension default and doesn't rely on a separate text style to set the dimension text. I have all my dimension default text styles setup like this.

Lew, OK. In the above scenario, could you please tell me how many warnings you would want and where they should be and what they should say. I suspect that you will dodge the request. But why not spend some time and come back with an answer that may help.

Johnny, There is no conflict. Chief is doing exactly what Larry is telling it to do. Larry is choosing a setting which is not the default and then expecting Chief to build to the default setting. In his first video, he fails to change the floor structure and thus the foundation doesn't build to the default, it builds to the setting in the room dbx. In this particular case, it is somewhat complicated by the fact that when the room is deleted and redrawn, Chief is rebuilding the room to the "remembered" settings and not the defaults. If we had warnings regarding every situation, we would never get any work done. This is complicated stuff, and I think Chief mostly gets it right by giving us as much flexibility as possible for these automated functions. If you don't want the automation and the complexities it entails, by all means, do it manually.

Larry, You hit the nail on the head. Chief has a "feature" whereby it remembers the settings that apply to a room so that if you edit it (or delete a wall), the settings will then be applied when the room is restored. When the room is restored with the old settings (and you don't want those settings), you need to go into the room dbx and check Default for the various settings (or in this case, change the Floor settings). This is what you missed doing in your vid.

No worries Chop. That is one little trick I dragged up from the depths. Finesse, yeah, that's me!

This vid may help. http://screencast.com/t/NOEMW0y6

Ah, just discovered that you have "hang Floor Platform Above On Wall" checked for your Exterior Wall Default. I am not sure it is doing much, but probably shouldn't be checked.

As far as I can tell, the thing that is stopping those attic walls from building correctly is that they are designated as "Hang Floor Platform Above On Wall". Make sure Auto Build Attic Walls is toggled on. Select the offending attic walls and uncheck "Hang Floor Platform Above On Wall". The attic walls will build correctly. I can't image how this setting was caused by Chief, so I am assuming it was set by the user. In fact, a lot of your walls on level 1 and the attic have this setting checked. I would go through and uncheck this for ALL you walls. One other weird thin that is happening is when I double click those offending walls, the wall dbx does not open. I have to open the wall dbx by going to the Edit toolbar and Open Object.

It could be best to move the terrain and leave the structure as is. Depends on how complicated each is.

Scott, Depending on your exact situation, you could try using a railing and then define it as a Foundation Wall. The footing then becomes your solid wall, with the railing on top.

Johnny, When you drag the wall, and hit Tab, I think you will see that the Angle has changed (because of how you dragged the cursor?). So you need to specify the angle (180deg in this case) as well as the distance. I assume that you have Orthogonal set as your Primary Movement Method which is restricting the movement of the polygon to up and down (Orthogonal), even though your cursor is sliding sideways as well as down. Walls work a bit differently The resolution of your vid makes it hard to see, but I am pretty sure that's what is happening.

If you use saved cameras in you default floor plan, you can toggle this setting on for each camera and then save the template plan. This is a per camera setting, so it will stick to the saved cameras in the template plan. Because it is a per camera setting, it will stick with any saved camera in your plan. But, yes, I agree, this should be a default setting.

Because you have them toggled on to display - makes no difference whether they have entities on them or not. Now, if you click on the Used column, you will see the layers that have entities on them at the top of the list.

CJT1963, I know nothing about HDP, only CA. Those wall types are EASILY achievable in CA. In fact, those dbx's look like they are from at least 3 or 4 versions back - there have been many improvements since then. Here in Oz, we use timber stud frame, cavity brick and brick veneer ALL the time - no problem. You could probably specify just about any type of wall you could want or ever think of - defining a wall type is the last thing you will need to be concerned about. I would be interested to know, more specifically, what the UK users are dissatisfied with.

Michael, Yes, this setting is view specific - so you can have a different default for each CAD Detail. Similar to the way that sun settings in 3D views are view specific - ie, per camera view.

It's important to note that the Display Line Length Format setting only applies to lines that have Show Length and Show Angle checked. Also, the Display Line Length Format setting is view specific. ie, it can be set independently for floor plans (different on each floor), elevations (different in each elevation.

Mark, It seems that you may be a little confused as to how materials work. The Alder(blonde) material performs the same function as your white paint. The white paint is replacing the timber finish. These materials have nothing to do with the structure of the door - only how they appear in a 3D view. The best way to control how your door will appear in the Material List is to use the Components dbx. Here, you can change entries like the Description, or you can add Sub Categories. eg, you could change the Description of the standard Hinged-Slab door to Flush Timber Door.

1. In an elevation view, you can use either temp or permanent dims to size and locate a MR. 2. A polyline, a polysolid, circle or ant enclosed cad shape. 3. Edit the MR shape or draw what you want with cad and then convert to MR. Maybe it's time to start helping yourself by reading the manual and trying a few things.

Russell, It should open within Chief with File...Open Plan. Or, Control Panel..Default Programs...Associate a file type or protocol with a specific program.

You need to check "Cut Finish Layers of Parent Object" - then the Material Region will cut into the wall thickness and give you a recessed shadow line. I think you are going to have problems at the vertical wall edges though. The MR will not wrap around a corner.

Drag a Room Divider wall perpendicular to, and at the end of the thick cavity wall. Then drag the Room Divider wall up to the cad line - the end of the thick wall will move with the Room Divider wall.

Joe, You beat me to it.

It is probably Chief writing an undo file.