glennw

Open the Auto Storey Pole Dimension Defaults. On the Locate Elevations panel set the Grade Level Marker to a negative number equal to the Subfloor Height Above Terrain - or the distance between your ground line and your floor 1 level (usually zero). In the picture below, this is set to -300mm. Set the Elevation Reference to Grade Level Marker. Generate the auto storey pole dimensions. Is this what you want?

In the 3D view.... 3d...Lighting...Adjust Sunlight...Sun Follows camera

Are you 100% sure about this?

Why wouldn't you use auto roofs on a house like that and cut your time down by about half? Auto roofs are perfect for a simple roof like that, and once you have the auto roofs set up properly, if you make any changes to the plan, the roof is rebuilt correctly.

Here is the video: This is a special case - a bit more complicated than normal. If the porch was the same width as the foyer, all that you would need to do is increase the height of the foyer ceiling to match that of the porch - you may then need to build some sort of false ceiling in the foyer or turn of auto roofs and drop the foyer ceiling down, etc....... But in this case, the porch is wider than the foyer - hence the need to build the 2 high ceiling rooms either side of the foyer.

Chopsaw, You are on the wrong track. Have a good look at your roof and you will see the porch roof is not correct. The porch roof needs extra information provided by the internal room it is building over - which makes sort of sense when you think about it. Have a look at this screen shot and you will see where I have built the invisible walls either side of the foyer. These rooms have to have the higher porch ceiling height so that Chief can build it's baselines at the higher level, back over the foyer. video comming

Ray, When I said fly out, I meant leave the office in a hurry. Yes, the problem is the higher porch ceiling. I have come across this before. You have to build some rooms inside the house with the same ceiling heights as the porch. The foyer and some narrow rooms with invisible either side of the foyer, the same width as the porch are needed. The roof then builds auto. You need to do the cleanup as necessary. Let me know if you want me to do it on your plan and post it back.

Ray, It has something to do with the Front Porch. If you uncheck roof over for the front porch, the roof auto builds OK. I have to fly out now, but will look further when I get back.

Mick, As per my previous post, the Z fighting (now fixed) is a different problem than the one shown in the .pdf. As I said, I could not find that situation in the plan posted.

Michael, I did not address the problem with the footing/post/wall shown in the .pdf. I should have made it clearer that my advice regarding the Z fighting related to the first part of the first post: Did you look the posted plan and see the "glitching" - which certainly is Z fighting caused by the model being too far away from 0,0,0! The .pdf indicated a completely different problem than that of the Z fighting. I was clearing up the first problem before tackling the second problem to do with the footing/post/wall. As the OP did not come back and ask again about this problem, I assumed that he had found a solution. In any case, in the posted plan, I could not find the situation demonstrated in the .pdf. I am not surprised though, that there is a problem with those columns as they seem to be constructed with bits of brick veneer walls - not the way I would do it. So...the Z fighting is now fixed. If OP wants further help with the footing/post/wall, please post again.

The easiest way is to not use a Chief retaining wall. Use a Terrain Break to get the change in elevation and then just use a normal wall for the retaining wall.

Usually close enough is good enough. That's why I only have the zoom level set in my template plan and I don't worry about the point at 0,0. You have to be a long way off 0,0, before you get z fighting. Be aware that the Clip Surfaces Within distance can also influence z fighting in some situations.

You really don't even need to place a point. Set up your template plan view so that the zoom level is about correct for the size you want to start drawing and make sure it is close to 0,0. You can do this by drawing a couple of walls, move and zoom to the size you want and then delete the walls. Save your template plan. Next time you open a new plan, it will open at your saved zoom level and location.

There is a Bonus library catalogue called "Sliding Barn Doors" They are not intelligent doors as you need to manually cut the wall hole using a Doorway and then place the door symbols - better than nothing though.

The 3D problem is called "Z fighting" and is caused by your model being a long way from 0,0,0. Relocate your model as close as you can to 0,0,0. The best way is to use Edit Area All Floors, Transform/Replicate to Move the model to absolute zero.

Select the row by clicking the line number. Hit the Delete tool button.

Michael, Unfortunately, you won't change the opinions of the dinosaurs in relation to the use of metric. One small point - we do not use a comma separator for meters - we use a full stop.

I have some 3D people which I can post when I get back home in an day or so. You might find them with a search as I am sure I posted them a while back.

Maybe look at the dimension defaults?

Defaults...Text Callouts and Markers...Arrow...Edit..uncheck Auto Position Head. Or for an already placed Leader Line, open it's dbx and make the same change.

I think I would make a new kitchen off to the side of the main plan using copy and paste for the area in question. You could even use a copy of the whole house if you want. You could use different layers for the copied walls and kitchen details to give yourself more control. Then you could use the new X10 Save Plan View feature to quickly switch between the various kitchen options, floor levels, zoom levels, anno sets, layer sets, etc. to show the alternative kitchen layouts. I think that keeping it all in the one plan is easier to keep track of instead of copying and switching between various plans all the time. Save Plan Views gives you the best of having things in one plan and having them in different plans.

Assuming auto roof build. If you want the front roof and the garage roof to line up, you have to make the absolute ceiling heights the same. To get the roof to auto rebuild, make the front porch returns the same width as the front porch.

If you post the plan with a better description of what you want, you may get a better answer.

Instead of hiding the layer, have you tried making them invisible walls?

or, it may mean that Chief does it's own ambient occlusion and doesn't rely on the card?