glennw

I am not quite sure of what you are trying to do here. Are you trying to change the dimension text size in relation to zoom level? But taking a stab in the dark... Would the Minimum Display Size>Dimensions do what you want?

You can even do this in a Cross Section Slider View and use Tab to enter a platform move distance.

Kevin, You can add someone to your Ignored Users list. Click on your logon name in the top right hand corner. Select Ignored Users.

I would change the defaults. Go Default Settings>Floors and Rooms>Floor Levels>1st Floor>Absolute Elevations>Ceiling - change it to 11'. This is the beauty of using Defaults. This will also change the garage ceiling height as well, but just open the garage dbx and change it back to the original height. Auto rebuild the roof as the existing ones will be too low - or you could raise the existing ones, but I would prefer to use auto roofs which would be left on all the time. It looks like you may have used auto roofs and then turned auto off. You can auto build a roof over the front colonade - make the front wall a hip wall and the end walls High Shed/Gable. There are many ways to do what you want, but this should get you going pretty easily. You will probably have a bit of cleaning up to do and maybe things like rebuilding the framing, etc.

You don't need to explode anything. Select the bay by one of it's walls. Hit Tab and the window in that wall will be selected. Open the window for editing.

To change window size, select a wall of the box and then Tab to select the window. I think you will need a manual roof (or something else like a polysolid) and a solid or similar to do the bottom shape.

I think you may need to post the plan. The easiest way to hide walls is to use layers to hide or display. Do not use the layout to do that.

Michael, I lose my selection with an Esc. OOB Esc cancels selection, cancels the current action and activates the previous tool.

Are you aware that you can select any object with a right mouse click no matter what command is current. No need for any shortcut or keyboard entry.

Ah, So you are using simultaneous keystrokes - not sequential. I don't use any simultaneous shortcuts - too hard to use.

Have you thought of moving the keyboard a little to the left (assuming you are right handed).

Scott, You have to take what I said in context. I was talking about using a single keystroke WITH the Spacebar. I can have a single letter (well...a single letter and the spacebar) cabinet shortcut "C Space" AND I can also have a shortcut "CB".

Mark, What you say is correct. My point is that you were originally saying that you wanted a single keystroke shortcut and using Enter (or Space) to complete the shortcut. This can be done. In your case it is complicated by the fact that you have reassigned the Spacebar (I assume). This also does not preclude you from having a shortcut like SS or SSS (one or the other). The vast majority of my shortcuts are 2 letter which is almost enough to cover the majority of the most used commands. I also have several 3 letter commands which I hardly ever use. The beauty of the 2 letter commands is that they can be logical, like: ZA zoom all ZP zoom previous LI draw line IL input line HD hinged door SD sliding door

Mark, I am not 100% sure that we are understanding each other - but I could be wrong. When I say you can have a shortcut using "A+Space", this means that when creating the shortcut, you press the Spacebar this still requires you to press A and then the Spacebar when executing the shortcut. This does not preclude you from have shortcuts like "AA", "AAA", "AAB", "AAC", "ABB". Is the one thing that is precluding you from doing this, the fact that you have mapped your Spacebar to your Escape key? I guess that means that you don't use you Spacebar as Select. If so, and if it were me, I would leave the Spacebar as the Spacebar. How did you add the Shift key to your shortcuts without using a simultaneous shortcut?

Mark, You CAN do this. You can have single letter shortcuts followed by the Spacebar. You can then us that single letter shortcut in another 2 or more letter command. ie, you can have "A,Space" for one command and "A,X" for another command. Is that what you want? Shortcuts can get quite complicated. You can use either sequential shortcuts or simultaneous shortcuts (using the Control Keys+letters). Or... you can even use a combination of both in the same shortcut.

It's amazing how fast you can things built by just using the auto features of Chief . ie, my template plan allows me to draw 3 or more closed walls and without doing another thing I get a 3D model that has floor and ceiling platforms, a roof, external dimensions, the room has a fill (confirmation it is a closed room), wall, ceiling, floor and roof framing, foundation, attic walls, etc...etc, as well as things like auto elevations......and these are just the basics..... As I start to edit the basic plan, things auto update and rebuild...like external dimensions, foundation, roof.......

A quick fix is to select those text boxes on Page 1, and on the Line Style panel, uncheck Bumping>Cad Stops Move.

Or use the cabinet tools to make the vanity and insert a sink from the library.

Kurt, I think I have the answer. Working in X10. There is a little triangular room attached to the upper right hand corner of the circular wall near the centre of the building. Select one of the walls and designate it as a No Room Definition wall. Delete the 2 room divider walls in the big room at the top of the plan. Chief doesn't like island rooms. In this case, the island room is connected to the exterior wall with a room divider, so I am not sure of the exact reason for the odd behaviour. You are using an older version, so it just might be a bug that was fixed in later versions.

Define Material dbx for the brick material>Material List panel>Material List Calculation>Area. Generate ML. Similar for the lap siding if you want that to report as sq ft instead of linear feet. If you want to change the units in the ML, double click the line item in the Count column. Click on the dropdown and select an area format you prefer.

This can happen when placing a wall from the library when a wall type with the same name already exists in the plan and both walls do not have the same wall definitions. You can tell when this happens by the way Chief appends and underscore and number to the wall name - ie "_2". This means that if you place a wall from the library and then open that wall and change any of it's definition parameters, and then try and draw another wall of the same type from the library, it will be automatically renamed. Renaming wall types can get a bit messy because you can change a wall name directly in the library, BUT, doing this will not change the actual name of the wall definition. You can also rename a wall type in Wall Type Definitions dbx - this will not change the wall type name in the library. I tend not to keep wall definitions in the library, but rather keep them in the drawing (my default plan). I am not sure what process you have followed to get your results, but the above may help a little. I am not sure about the material changes - I haven't had time to look further.

If you end up with an angled dimension and you want it to be orthogonal, and you don't want to muck around with dimension settings you can always use the Make Parallel tool and click on an object that is drawn orthogonal.

You can make interior or exterior walls go to a custom layer by specifying that layer in the Interior Wall Defaults dbx, or the Exterior Wall Defaults dbx - on the Layer panel. Also applies to the other wall types like foundation walls, deck railings, pony wall, etc.

Don't the settings on the Jamb panel of the Door Specification dbx do what you want (there is an Inset setting amongst others). Similar to the window settings on the Frame panel in the window dbx. The big problem is that the door jambs are a rectangle and can't be changed to a different shape as is needed for things like rebated door jambs.

Graeme, Why so? The rotate plan tool is the dangerous one!