glennw

Turn on auto build roofs and use the roof directives in the wall dbx's, along with the correct ceiling heights.

You can sometimes find a particular material in a plan by generating a material list and then looking for that material in the Description column. Select that row and on the Edit menu select Find Object in plan.

Mark, I was just trying to demonstrate that there can be many variables when building a hip roof over a bay - pitch, baseline height, overhang, location of baseline, proportions of bay........ Changing any one can result in a change to the roof configurations. More often than not, it is a not a question of being correct, but more what result do you want. I, for instance, would probably try and keep everything (pitch, overhang, height etc) the same. PS. this picture might better demonstrate the relationship between the colored roof planes and their corresponding Baselines.

I think that roof configuration (with the single ridge) will only work for a bay of a certain width/depth ratio. Once this ratio is something different, the roofs build differently. Have a look at the differences between the 2 pics below. Also notice the very small baselines (circled) that define the roofs outlined in red on the previous posts. All pitches, overhangs and baseline heights are the same for all roofs.

There are a couple of ways that you can generate a ML for/in a room - depending whether you want the materials IN the room or including the room itself: "Select one or more objects and click the Calculate Materials From Selection edit button to create a Materials List that calculates only the selected objects and their components. When the selected object is a room, its moldings and wall, floor, and ceiling finish materials are counted, as is its subflooring; but doors, windows, and structural materials like framing and other structural materials are not. Calculate Materials in Room To create the Materials List for a room, select the room and then select Tools> Materials List> Calculate Materials for Room. Calculate Materials in Room is also available on a selected room’s edit toolbar. See Editing Rooms. A Materials List calculated from a room is created for only the contents of that room: wall materials are not included." Although, for me on a mac, the Edit toolbar tool, Calculate Materials In Room, also includes the drywall. I will look into that a bit more - it could be a bug. Does anyone else get the same?

Wall Material Region to cut away the outer layers.

You need to change the Character Height in the Camera Label Style text style. Select the camera Go to Object Layer Properties on the edit toolbar Go down to Text Style - it will probably be Camera Label style Click Define Click edit Change the Character height

This is the OP's second post in reference to Scotts suggestion to draw a cad line to the correct length, so it would be safe to assume that he wanted the focal point distance from camera. Chief refers to this line as the Line Of Sight.

Chief is seeing your wrap around deck as the exterior. Deck railings default to No Locate - which means they don't get dimensioned with auto dimensions. You could try unchecking No Locate for your railing walls, auto exterior dimension which will pick up the deck railings. You could then try auto interior dimensions with the deck selected. This will probably result in the need to clean up some dimensions. In this pic the auto exterior dimensions are red. The auto interior dimensions for the deck are blue.

Click to place the camera and start dragging out the focal length. Hit tab and enter the distance - same as drawing a cad line using Tab.

You can do that in the window's dbx by using the Lintel option along with Extend and Wrap PS I posted at the same time as Eric

Scott, Open the filled object and go to the Fill Style panel. Set up your fill the way you want. At the very bottom of the panel, click Add To library.

How do you do it? Can you be a bit more specific. If you are talking about type of measurement (area, count, linear, volume), they are defined in the materials definition. If you are talking about units of measurement, you can control that in the Materials List (in the Count column).

On the lower concrete wall, what is that bit of vertical concrete on the left hand side that looks like it is splayed at about 45deg? There is also something wrong with the right hand side - the end of the footing is not at the correct angle and the upper wall does not line up with the lower wall. Can you post a plan with that wall definition in it.

Search the help file for Drawing Groups.

Either with 2 different wall definitions or use a Wall Material Region that cuts away the masonry wall layer and displays the cladding.

They are not really shadows. The effect is caused by Chief distinguishing surfaces as they face different angles to the render camera - this happens in real life. The colors are same on both walls. Even though both walls are in direct sunlight, they appear (in real life and render) different because they are at different angles to the sun. You can get rid of the effect (but I really don't know why you would want to), by using a vector camera (as opposed to a render camera) and changing the materials Shading Contrast to zero. This is a vector view with Shading contrast set to 90%: Note that shadows are on in both examples - you can have them on or off, makes no difference. This is a vector view with Shading Contrast set to 0%:

That could be possible - it was a long time ago. Either way it was a big headache.

You can always use a text box and arrow with the %ObjectProperties% macro (does Chief still include this OOB?). Or there are macros that will only return certain properties if you don't want the whole list. This will return just about every property of the object - maybe too many properties. Once you have the text box, arrow and macro set up, you can drag the arrow from one object to the other and the object properties will change according to the object type.

I am also on a mac and it works for me. Select the layer you want to track. Tab so that the Layer Set drop down has the focus. Use the arrow keys to scroll through the layer sets.

That setting only applies to a layers attributes - not the layer itself. You can't add a layer to just the current layerset or any specific layerset - you add the layer to all layersets. Think about the problems you would encounter by adding layers to only certain layersets. Way back, many versions ago, Chief would allow you to create new layers in only a certain layerset(s). The problems it caused were significant and they changed the behavior - that was many versions ago.

A layer should be available in all your layer sets.

You could probably do what you want using referenced plans and saved plan views. ie, you could have you master plan that contains your basic floor plan. You would also have seperate plans for each of the plan variations. Your master plan would be the primary plan that you work with - this plan would reference all of the other variation plans. You could choose what you want displayed by using saved plan views. You may have to use things like room fills in your referenced plans (to hide, say, and existing bathroom), along with other tools like Move Up and Move Down (to control the referenced plan display. This would also allow you to open the referenced plan for edit and those changes would be displayed in the referenced plan used by your master plan. In theory, it should work.....

I thought there was a way to set the increment, but I can't remember!

You can use the left or right arrow keys (or up and down) to move the slider in set steps. I am trying to remember how to, or if it is possible to change the interval - I will have a play (was it Distance Moved By Arrow Key?). I know you can change the height of the cutting plane on an interval by interval basis, but that may get tedious. Hi-lite the distance input box on the right and enter a distance. Press Tab (not Enter). The cutting plane will move. You have to go back and hi-lite the input box again and enter the next height.....