glennw

This may be possible to do in the ML using a custom Unit Conversion. If someone can tell me how to round up to the next whole number in Ruby (I know zero about Ruby) I will try that and see if it works.

Tim, I see that you are using X7 which is a very old version. Chief used to have a tool called Print Model which was deprecated about X11 or X12. It would print out the walls, roofs, etc, (including windows and doors, etc.) which you could assemble to make a 3D model of the house. Probably not quite what you want as it doesn't do the site, landscaping, etc. Be prepared to pay a LOT for a full 3D model including the site and house. Maybe investigate 3D printing? My best advice is to forget the physical 3D model and spend some time getting everything correct in Chief (house and site) and then do lots of 3D renders, fly-arounds, virtual tours, etc. There are several people on this forum that can do wonders with that approach.

I assume you have used landings for the winder sections? I prefer to use curved winder stair sections that will snap together for the winder landings. This forms the one stair with 3 subsections:

This behaviour is controlled by the Auto Merge Collinear Walls setting.

Rebar (or mesh), Foam seal and Termite Flashing come from the Foundation settings - either the Foundation Defaults or Build Foundation.

Do a screen capture of the text, import the picture and use Point To Point Resize to stretch the picture horizontally. The top line is text, the bottom line is a stretched picture. It only takes a couple of moments to do.

Have a play with the Vertical Stacking option for the windows and see if that will do what you want. They appear differently in plan view and they won't pick up dimensions. They appear as usual in 3D views.

Going to the window dbx and unchecking Options>Recessed Into Wall will fix it, but that option may not be what you want.

Several ways I can think of off hand. Firstly, there are many line styles in the library. You can create your own line styles: You can use a Distribution Line and attach 2D cad blocks or 3D symbols to it:

First off, before I have another look... To draw a full 180deg barrel vaulted ceiling it is better to draw it using zero degrees for the Pitch. This way it is just the one curved ceiling plane for the full barrel instead of using two curved ceilings. You need to have look at some of the structure of your ceiling planes (framing layers, etc) You can then use Join Roof Planes to join the 2 roof planes.

I would start by only having the Blocks Running layers as the Main Layer. There are a couple of other settings that could be coming into play as well. It might make it easier if you post a plan so that we can test it out.

When you Lock Toolbars, the toolbars move slightly because the little 3 dot grip thingy at the left hand side of the toolbar title disappears and the toolbars move to the left to make up for the lost space. Lock Toolbars shouldn't reconfigure or change the order of any of your toolbars.

...or the Selection Line color could be the same as your Background color. If these 2 colors are the same, you will not see the door placement preview and when you select a wall, the dimensions will disappear. Go to Preferences and make them different colors.

Are you using auto or manual bay window and roof planes? Does the bay have short return walls either side or there only 3 walls forming the bay? I assume the side walls are at 45deg? Do the roofs have to meet at the same apex point? Just as a starting point tip though - you can use a negative number for the Curved Roof>Radius To Framing Top to achieve the concave curve. Here is a quick example:

You lost me! As Chopsaw said - you are overthinking it. It is really pretty simple but you seem to be making it really complicated. Do you know what a contour line is? A line that joins points of equal height. Google contour lines if you need clarification. So...all you need to basically do is draw contours using the Elevation Lines - forget Elevation Points. Drawing retaining walls, flat areas etc, come in the second lesson.

George, I just had another good look at the detail you posted and noticed that your winder stairs do come to a point. I know you have finished, but it looks like winder stair method would be suitable (as opposed to the landing method). Which method did you end up using?

If you need exactly that, then I think that you will have to use landings. The problem will be the separation between the flights and the meeting point between all the landings. The winders (or landings) show odd shape at their narrowest point which you will only get with custom landings. Chief stairs will only join the winders to a point or if you want a separation between the flights, it will be rounded, not square as shown.

I can't help without more information. Ah...are you using the U shaped stair tool? As I said, that only gives you 4 landings - not a stair. The way I describe above gives you 6 winder stair treads

Give me your phone number and I will give you a call.

What are you doing and what trouble are you having with the winders?

I assume it is the 6 winders that you are having trouble with? You can use the U shaped stair dbx, but that creates landings for the treads. Or you can start with a curved stair, but I think the following way is the easiest. Start by drawing an enclosed room the size of your stairs - you need to enclose the stairs so that the Winders have walls to extend to. Draw a straight section of stairs with about 4 treads (or you can start with a curved stair). Select it and use the end drag handle plus the Ctrl key to drag the end of the stairs around so they become curved and the start and end are co-planer. You may need to relocate the stairs and change the centre radius, etc, to clean things up. Open the dbx and lock the number of treads at 6 and check Winders. Add the straight sections as required.

Use Elevation Lines (not Elevation Points) that define the "constant elevations". ie, lines that are level - same as contour lines. I don't understand why you would do anything else. It sounds like you are trying to relate the ground slope to your site boundaries - they are two independent things. Ignore the site shape when drawing your Elevation Lines.

It sounds like you are talking about for 3D views. This is from a post of mine from a while back. This can be done fairly easily - with a proviso that the valley actually sits on top of the roof surface. This doesn't seem to be noticeable in the 3D views that I played with. You can make Chief draw the 3D Polylines that hold the valley profile - the same way that it builds Ridge Caps - but it takes 2 steps. Build your roof. Add a Ridge Cap to the valleys by selecting a roof edge and turning On, Ridge Cap On Selected Edge. Select the valley 3D Polylines and place them on their own layer. Rebuild the roof - Chief will build all the hips and ridges and also display the valleys you created. Quote

Post the plan

You can't build rooms on an Attic floor. You need to create another floor to build rooms. I think the errant walls showing through is caused by the wall definitions. Check your wall definitions - particularly the Main Layer/Exterior Layer settings.