Nicinus

Now I really can't seem to figure out how to deduct the space I was modifying above. Please have a look at the picture, it is kind of a loop on the driveway and previously selecting the road would respect the 'hole' in the center but I can't figure out how I did that after I had to convert it to a polyline in order to modify it's size? I've also defined it as a terrain feature floating on top, but that will screw up my driveway area calculations.

Thanks, that did the trick! That's one for the suggestions list I guess, to have lines, etc behave and edit the same in all states.

I'm now actually having trouble connecting this hole/terrain feature back into the road it came from.

So I have this rather odd shape, with the bottom a half circle curve whereas the upper is created of two curves for a previous shape design. I would now like to clean it up by deleting one of the two upper curve segments, and create another half circle, which I can't seem to figure out how to do?

The edit object parts tool did not as I would have expected let me choose segments either, and Chief does not seem to have a way to delete individual anchor points beyond moving them on top of each other.

How do I delete a segment?

I like them too, and it feels like just a few changes would make them even more useful, like stated above, being able to define your own name.

But then again, you never know:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFHhGflSgBA&feature=youtu.be

I think Chief has said they don't use Antialiasing at this point

Yes, I read that too, but when it comes to 'Rich Text' it is definitely antialiased. Have a look at the pic, lower example is Rich Text.

If everything is the same otherwise, ie the same version of Chief, I would then suspect either Cleartype or antialiasing has had slight adjustments between the Windows versions. I noticed myself that a room label in chief is not antialiased, but if I convert the text to a text block it is.

Is it the Chief Blueprint font or a Windows font? Perhaps Microsoft may have tweaked their kerning tables for Myriad, Cambria and the other Windows specific ones?

The problem though is that I have a 30" now, and with 2560x1600 my dpi is about 100. A 4K display would increase this to roughly 155dpi, and to get to the point where we at least pass 200dpi a resolution of at least 5,000x3,000 would be needed. I believe an iPad or Mac Pro is around 260dpi and iPhones even higher. Most magazines are printed at 300dpi but it is typically said that prints above 266dpi have no visible pixels.

I don't know how Chief is programmed or what graphics tech is used, but it seems as if antialiasing is the solution for the foreseeable future. Most graphics software today has it as an option that can be switched off if you have a weak or old display card. Take a look at these screen shots from Illustrator, one with AA active and the other without. The difference is substantial in a crowded scene with lots of details.

 

3) For performance reasons we don't use anti-aliasing to make the on screen display of lines look smoother. However, this is normally always done when we print.

 

Is this something that CA is considering for X7? Antialising in 2D plan views are now supported in Autocad, Revit and Archicad and given the speed of today's CPU/GPUs I think it should be an option. After all it is supported in 3D views and makes a dramatic difference on all angled lines. Text also looks much cleaner.

Ok, I take that as confirmation that if I open the file again I won't loose any changes, it is the same project as I have on the screen, I just open a closed view again. Thanks!

In the end I did but I think I lost some of my changes. I'm a bit puzzled because normally it asks me if I want to save when I close the last tab of the project. I think this has to considered a bug if there is no way of open a floor plan view again if they are closed with the project still being active.

It doesn't come up when I do that. Only the three views that I could see tabbed, a 3D, an elevation and a layout view.  :/ 

I'm a bit embarrassed to say but I accidentally closed my plan view and now I can't seem to get it back?  My layout part is still in the project browser but the plan part is gone, although the 3D view and elevations are still there so it doesn't seem as if I close it. I am now worried to open the plan again as I haven't saved my changes. 

4.  What I've found to be the most effective for me personally is to use polylines to "mask" the elevations as necessary.  Choose a solid fill set to Match Background and whatver line style and thickness you like (including the "clear" line option).  You can break lines, reshape, create polyline unions, etc. to cover whatever you don't want showing up in the view.  This way your view stays completely "live" and you have very little fear of anything getting messed up when you refresh a view.

This is the way I usually did it in Revit.

Not sure what is going on with your scale, what format did you use? My tests so far has shown dwg as a suitable route although I wish Chief would support FBX. The Sketchup/Collada route did not work and 3ds created issues. 

And I think that would make sense for a long term evaluation if one then was reimbursed the full amount, minus the monthly rental fee of $19.33, if one concluded that the software for some reason wasn't satisfactory. Otherwise it would just be the same, one pays full rental price while trying to learn and figure out if the software lives up to expectations and promises.

Anyway, just a thought to perhaps help uncertain people on the fence handle the investment.

It has to be a bit of a dilemma for software companies though. When I was in school I had access to most software for free on a yearly basis, and that way could pick the ones I found most interesting and see if it was for me. If you are a small company that is a very expensive proposition, and I don't think the typical 30 day trial period is enough. Many tools are good at the surface but it is not until you are starting to become proficient you really know it's capabilities, and it took me about a year to come to the conclusion that although Revit is an amazing program it wasn't for me in it's current shape. (I will most likely come back to it in 5-6 years though.) Now that I'm out of school I would never contemplate buying something like for example SolidWorks as I just wouldn't be able to evaluate it fully.

Perhaps it could be a compromise if the software companies of more advanced, expensive tools like in Cad would allow a one year trial without limitations. If they are confident in their product they know the user is going to stay. If the user is registered and identified it wouldn't be possible to renew without buying. Alternatively require a reimbursable deposit at the start of the year to sort out weed. Food for thought.

The difference would be to put a book on the photo copier I guess, as borrowing a book would still only mean one user at a time.

Joe, would love to hear which setting it was. I have similar issues with material dbx getting behind the main window until I click somewhere again. Sometimes my mouse cursor also disappears in the drawing area but is visible again when I'm over the icons.

I don't know how CA calculates things like this, but it would seem that all info is known. If Chief knows the terrain height, why can't it base the opening on the plan on that exact cut?

Why would it be dangerous?

I was once given the advice to un-check the 'Hide Terrain Intersected by Building' under Clipping in the Terrain dbx, and although that cleans it up on the exterior it has a drawback in that it now goes straight through your house.

Enterprise, I don't see an option to move my terrain up or down a level, otherwise I'd like to try that myself. I have the same issues in some places.

Perhaps Chief can make the plan available? After all it is used for marketing.

On a semi related note that may involve a preference somewhere. In my plan view I see the perspective cameras, and they are on layer Cameras. However, even if I turn that layer off they are still visible?

Their display does not get transferred to layout though so it seems like a preference somewhere that I can't seem to find.