glennw

Bob, I'm glad to see that project underway. You certainly put a lot of effort into the design and documentation.

Hi Perry, No, not on the payroll - I wish. With Chief, I have learnt most things the hard way! I wish they would change this. You turn on all layers and some things get turned off!!! I wanna know,.....- whooooooo's responsible?

Mark, That is not changing the pattern fill that displays in section with Auto Detailing - that is changing the pattern on the objects faces that will display in a vector view. In your Define Material dbx, change your preview from a Standard to Vector view and you will see what I mean. Johnny, You can only show pattern fills that display in section with Auto Detail for structural objects like walls, slabs, floor/ceiling platforms and Material Regions. Cut fills used by the Auto Detail, use the fill style used in the material definition for that object. Additionally you can also specify Insulation (which is not a standard fill pattern) for wall layers (wall definition dbx) and platform layers (Structure definition dbx - Check Auto detail as Insulation) instead of the material fill pattern.

When you turn on all layers, you are turning on the "Walls, Main Layer Only" layer. If you have a brick veneer wall or similar, you will only see the main layer and not the brick veneer layer. To see all your wall layers, this layer needs to be turned off. I think this option needs to be changed and not controlled by a layer - it's not logical.

Johnny, Isn't that the same as Print Preview, but without having to manually place a white sheet? Print Preview is the tool that comes with Chief to do this.

Johnny, I don't think that you can have different background colors in plan and layout. BUT in layout you can go to File...Print Preview and check it on. This will give you white sheets for the printed page size which I think is what you are after.

Mick, Just be aware that there is a setting in Preferences to apply Bumping/Puishing to typed in movement, so that if that option is toggled on, you get the same behaviour as dragging.

or...View menu...Toolbars

Johnny, The best way would be to set your Maximum Bump Distance to a low value that works well to just continue dragging through objects without using the Ctrl key and yet still gives you the ability to use bumping effectively.

Rusty, Not sure if this will help or not, but in Windows there is a .ini file that controls the spell check preferences. In Windows it is: C:\Users\"your name"\Documents\Chief Architect Premier X7 Data\lex\ssce.ini There are a couple of settings in there that may help: IgnoreCappedWords=0 IgnoreAllCapsWords=0 and possibly CaseSensitive=1 If the mac method is the same as windows these (the first 2) may be set to =1 which means that option is enabled. 0 means disabled. If they are set to 1, you should be able to change them to =0. I think you will need to start Chief AFTER changing these. From the help file which you can find at: C:\Program Files\Chief Architect\Chief Architect Premier X7 (64 bit)\lex\ssce.hlp Keep in mind though that this is all in windows - I haven't got a clue about a mac. Also keep in mind that I believe that Chief is using a stripped down version third party spell checker which hasn't been fully implemented and is missing a lot of the interface and features described in the help file. And...also keep in mind that Chief probably doesn't sanction this sort of messing about and neither do I. So proceed at your own risk. Chief may have just gotten the OOB settings for the mac incorrect as indicated above - or on the other hand, it could be something completely different.

Michael, That tells me that the Material itself (.jpg image) is stored in the library whilst the material properties (size, color, rotation, etc,) are stored with the object. ie, you can have 2 different objects with the same material, but make them look completely different by changing the material properties differently on each object.

Isn't the real question here "can we build and display these foundation variation types in Chief" - and the answer is yes. Although I still haven't figured what trouble Joe is having as he still hasn't explained the problem fully.

Joe, Is the plan you posted giving you what you want or are there still deficiencies with that system? Why do you have to draw a manual slab, why doesn't Chiefs slab work for you? This is incorrect, I have no problem getting a slab on (or inside) foundation walls.

Scott, I amended my post a bit whilst you were posting. After going through this exercise, I think there are more complexities in displaying the various types of footings, foundation walls and slabs than there is in building them! Joe, how about posting a plan which covers the situation you asked about. I aint doin any moor widout a plan.

I was assuming that Joe had built a foundation with Walls With Footings and a slab. Maybe I assumed incorrectly. Scott, assuming no foundation has been built, and if that is a " virtual slab" or a manual slab drawn with one of the slab tools, then it will be on the Slabs layer. And yes, I missed the Foundation layer which controls the foundation walls and footings AND the mono slab - but not the slab built on foundation walls. It all seems a bit confusing

Joe, It doesn't - as I said, it's on the Floor Surfaces layer This is the way it works for me: Monoslabs are on the Slabs Layer. Floor slabs on foundation walls are on the Floor Surfaces layer. Floor finishes are on the Rooms layer. Here is a video: http://screencast.com/t/DULo8pwg EDIT: I think what is also happening (which I didn't show in the vid) is that the Floor Finish is controlled by 2 layers - the Rooms layer AND the Floor Surfaces layer. So that if you turn off the display of Floor Surfaces whilst Rooms is toggled on, both the floor finish AND the "slab on foundation walls" will toggle off together - but the mono slab won't toggle off. I assume that's because you cant have a floor finish on that type of slab without the slab itself - don't forget they are both being supplied from their own floor. I further assume that it doesn't work that way with a mono slab is because the mono slab is supplied from the floor below whilst the floor finish is supplied from it's own floor. Clear as!!!

Joe, Do you have the Floor Surfaces layer turned on in the framing overview? The mono slab is on the Slabs layer.

Or right click and "Stop Raytrace".

You get half a point each! You need both of those settings toggled on.

Larry, The Material Painter opens up the library for material choice. The Material Eyedropper requires you to select an existing on screen material.

Michael, The problem isn't that the .jpg isn't visible in plan and elevation. The problem is that the .jpg won't print. I thought that it may not be printing because Chief can't find the image and that setting may help. It was only a guess.

There is a setting in the picture dbx to Save In Plan. Try checking that and see if it helps.

Johnny, Select the countertop and make it the Back Group. Or, use the transparency setting for the countertop fill. Another tip: You can do away with the guide lines you have for the Dining and Living room centres. Use the Centre Object tool to locate the windows and room text.

Johnny, You should know better by now. Can you give some examples?

Using the right mouse button (which is really Alt mode) is the easiest way to do all this. Escape or click both mouse buttons to finish. I am pretty sure that does all you are asking for.