glennw

Nic, I'm not 100% sure what you mean by "elevation views". But, in Chief, you can control levels, room heights, etc in cross section views and even 3D views by direct dragging or through the dbx. This is great for massing studies. If you turn on auto roofs, auto foundations, etc, it is a very fast way to manipulate and visualise a concept. I did a video a while back on this, but can't remember where it is.

Mark, What does that mean?

Barrett, In your picture, it looks to me like you are using the Point To Point Dimension tool with Grid Snaps toggled on. The points are snapping to your grid - the way it is designed to work. You should be able to string a Running Dimension line across all the framing - it works for me. Do you have Framing checked on the Locate Objects panel of the Dimension Default that you are using? Maybe post a plan demonstrating your problem. I think the problem could be user error.

Perry, Are you 100% sure about that? I know in older versions that was possible, but that was a few versions back. It used to cause a lot of problems that way. Layers can have different names in different layer sets, but as I understand it, layers exist in all layer sets. How do you create a layer in only one layer set?

Shane, You first need to build the framing (I will let you work that out). Select the wall and on the Edit toolbar select "Open Wall Detail".

I don't understand what you are saying about the walls moving, but does this setting help? Wall Specification dbx...General panel...Lock: Start, Center or End? If not, can you post a pic or video of the problem.

Send it in as a bug.

What happens when you turn Print Preview on? What happens when you print? Is the same problem visible in the print?

Select the Room Divider wall and open it's dbx. On the General panel, change the thickness to whatever you want. The beauty of doing it this way is that Chief will automatically create a new wall type that is invisible room divider wall and the thickness that you specified. The new wall type is added to the will types list named something like "Room Divider-100". The 100 is the thickness - 100mm in this case.

Curt, End To End Dimensions and Point To Point Dimensions are 2 different tools.

This is because the garage floor is being supplied by the foundation room below.

Joe, No need to apologise. I was just pointing out a very simple way to get those totals. I personally don't want to keep track of and organise a multitude of macros to perform what are essentially fairly simple tasks. I would probably be a lot more enthusiastic about these sorts of enhancements when they come as simple plug-in or app that I can install with one click and control with a graphical interface. I admire you perseverance and the time you have put into the utilisation of Ruby though. I was just looking at your video. Can you easily control what particular roofs, areas or rooms are included in your tables, or do you have to have all roof planes, rooms and areas included?

Why even sum them when the information is already available. Here is one way of doing it for roofs without messing around with macros. This keeps it nice and simple (I like the KISS principle) by using the Polyline panel in the dbx's. Jerry - I guess this data is not available directly using Ruby? I note that Jerry was saying that his macros need to be redone after a close and reopen of the plan - I reckon it's easier to copy and paste. http://screencast.com/t/SOmJe4twc

You could use the built in label macros to show the area as a label. in the Roof dbx, go to Label panel...Specific Label...Insert...Object Specific. Select the parameter you want displayed. This way saves mucking around with custom macros.

Bob, Select the wall and use the Edit Wall Layer Intersections tool to pull the wall layers back to the corner. http://screencast.com/t/DyZT8bto

Johnny, It's not perfect, but you can use a Carpet Runner to simulate that situation.

Johnny, Here is another way to do those columns. You could also convert the final shape to a symbol and with appropriate stretch planes in place, you could stretch the thick or thin sections independently. http://screencast.com/t/S68P7LUN

Probably the Scene Clipping controls in the specific camera dbx and/or the same settings in the Defaults.

Johnny, You may want to kick yourself. You went straight past it. General panel...Height - (relative to floor).

Randy, Should I book a date?

Some funny things going on with this plan. Have a look at the heights of the screen in this pic.

There shouldn't be any need to download the libraries. It is probably your library filter. Open the Library dbx. In the Active Filter drop down, select Not Filtered. You have probably changed it to Filter at some stage. That should fix it. While you are there, you could clean things up by going into the filter and make sure all the libraries are unchecked - that is assuming that you don't need to use a filter.

Larry, I got them to work by going into the Auto Storey Pole Defaults and removing all the heights, then adding them back, and Resetting their names. I'm not quiet sure what did the trick, but they all seemed to work after that. They probably needed a spring cleaning.

This is only a stab in the dark, but have you tried toggling 3D...Options panel...General Options...Auto Adjust Default Glass Properties?

Todd, The Topo lines are the elevation data information that Chief uses to shape the terrain. If you delete that information, you will end up with a flat terrain. Better to use Elevation Lines or Elevation Splines than points - it is much, much easier to control the terrain with lines than trying to control individual points - that would be like trying to herd cats. To clean things up and to get things working, I think you need to trace over all the Topo lines with new Elevation Splines. On a fairly regular site like that, you could probably get away with tracing only every second or third contour - it shouldn't take too long. I still think that you don't understand the purpose of the Terrain Break and that you are using it incorrectly. I would delete it - although it doesn't appear to be doing much at all. Using a Terrain Break is the same as using a Retaining Wall. A Retaining Wall is just a wall with a Terrain Break attached to it. Ideally, what do you want your terrain elevations to relate to? Sea level (real world), floor level, assumed datum....?