Nicinus

Are your customers really going to choke down the costs associated with fully detailed MEP plans when the local residential code authority doesn't require them?

I would love to see a residential level ductwork tool so that I can give the HVAC guys my view before they start to build soffits everywhere. I wouldn't mind if it could do basic Manual J calculations either. And while I'm at it it would be great to have simple load/span tables as well. 

I hope Chief continues to focus on making their program the most versatile residential tool on the market, it will take them a long way for the foreseeable future. The commercial race is over. If I was in marketing at Chief I would interview as many of their architect clients as possible to find out what they really need in terms of the occasional restaurant/store, and see if that can be accommodated (curtain walls I would assume) and then leave it at that. 

No need to. IFC is an open standard that is now ISO and required for bidding by many governments in Europe on public projects. Autodesk was originally involved in development if I remember correctly and although they have been a bit slow on it in the last decade (probably due to having such a grip in the US with their own formats) they now seems more active and Revit is getting better and better support with each version. 

Again, probably not critical for Chief in the next couple of years but definitely crucial that they are aware so that it may be implemented down the line.

This means that IFC support will be adopted faster in the industry, so something for Chief to keep an eye on long term. For now I would personally benefit more from FBX.

I spoke to soon, original X5 has been overwritten so this is all that is available. X5 was used very briefly in the beginning of the project.

I sure hope its ok though, I've been continuing working on it, adding materials where missing and it has been ok so far. Will upload original X5 file.

Another thing that seriously bugs me is that when I want to change materials in the dbx tab, and there are say 7-8 materials and I would like the same material on perhaps 3 of them, I can't just drag and drop copy them onto each other. I have to go back into the library for each one and find the same material several times.

I asked support about this and he said the best way is to make a copy into the user library, but if you have any kind of structure in your user library that is only going to be moderately faster.

I actually did call support, but it took a while to get someone on the line, and after getting the guy to understand the problem it ended with him wanting to uploading it to take a look, which he would have time to do tomorrow. 

Anyhow, it appears as if stuff changed a lot on the material side in those versions, and having a backed up version would most likely have helped on the stuff that became black. However, there seems to be no reasonable explanation as to why materials completely disappeared and says Nopattern and No texture, so I'll upload to support.

Can you elaborate a bit? I do not have X5 installed...

I've taken an X5 file into latest X7 version and many of my objects has materials with 'No pattern' and No texture', making them invisible in the 3D view. All these material definitions somehow got lost.

A similar issue happened to all electrics, which turned black. The 110V outlet object in the electrical defaults refer to a symbol named '¨7.0 & Prior Compatibility:Outlets/Wall Mounted/110V/Duplex (low res)' if this is somehow a clue.

Has anyone encountered this issue or something similar? Advice?

Interesting dilemma, I can't remember ever printing a drawing in color so I've never thought about it regardless of using Chief or Autocad. As far as I know there is no plotstyle in Chief the way you have in Autocad or Archicad.

Yes, I assumed it worked that way. However, I occasionally work with more than two plans in the same layout so not sure if I would like them all to show up in the project browser, but it would admittedly give a better overview. Well worth considering.

Of course, the best solution would be if Chief somehow allowed a way to handle as-is and multiple design options in the same plan, so we wouldn't have to link more than one plan in general. At that point the plan and layout files could be merged to a single file format like Revit's.

My policy is to open the Layout and to use it as a navigation tool to the Plan(s).  I understand that opening a Layout "automatically" opens the Plan file(s) ....... but those Plan files don't appear in the Project Browser unless you specifically open them.  Consequently I do open them specifically.

I've noticed that if I open a CAD detail from Layout, the plan it belongs to doesn't show up in the browser. As soon as I open a floor plan it does.

I like Joe's suggestions about a 'project' umbrella keeping track of plans and layouts, but I'm not sure about how it actually works today. A Layout always knows what is linked to it, but does a plan know where it has been sent? I know it asks it I want update the layout when I close a plan, but I believe that only happens if a layout is open as well so it could be functionality on the layout side.

Either way, my workflow is based around layout and the 'Referenced files' command has so far been helpful.

Thanks all, I've studied all comments but nothing seems to apply. I will call support, this is work for third party so unfortunately I can't share this plan on a public forum.

My backsplash refuses to show all the way to the end of the wall. The backsplash is pulled all the way but the last inch or so is not showing?

Agree with Joe on the above, for me too the layout file is the mothership.

I've also encountered the issue, and I did save both my plan and layout to a new place, but can't remember whether this was before or after I ran into problems.

However, assuming I did, it is interesting what happens once you do this. Layout is now saved to a new place together with the plan, which typically looks for layout in the same folder first, but is the link still looking in the old place?

Never mind, this is apparently a known issue. I've seen it before but never this blatant, had one layer that refused to show and one that refused to turn off.

https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/4037-layout-pages-still-not-updating-x7/?hl=%2Blayout+%2Bdefault+%2Bset+%2Bdoes+%2Bnot+%2Bupdate#entry34844

I think I'm having a bit of a brain lapse here, but I have an electrical plan that I've sent to layout next to a regular floor plan sent earlier. I now want to get rid of a floor pattern cad detail from the electrical plan and changed it to 'Cad, Plan', a layer not previously used and not visible in the electrical set.

However, when I open the regular plan via Layout and turn this layer on I see it in plan, but Layout does not update? Default Set adapts to new layers and changes in visibility, right? Bug?

Where I'm at it is coverage of all buildings including garage and guest houses. Second floor has it's own rules, max 7.5% of the lot size. The first 500SF of porches open on 2 sides or less are excempt.

We don't currently have any tools for selecting just interior or exterior walls or selecting walls by wall type.  These both might make good suggestions though.

 

As for cabinets, if you are in full height cabinet mode, marquee select will allow you to select all cabinets.

Thanks Dermot, good to know.

3) Am I also correct in that there is no way to set a wall default and then have walls follow it if I change the default? whatever wall you change the default to will follow the default . Can you elaborate on that? How do I set a wall to always follow the default? Is there a default check box for wall type somewhere?

 

 

4) If I place all my exterior walls on a new layer (like 'Walls, exterior'), how can I select all objects on a layer? Use the all off layerset and turn on whatever layer your exterior walls are on. Well, that was certainly easier than my way of creating a separate layer set

Thanks, Perry!

Yeah, I actually do the same, but the only way I've found to easily select all my exterior walls seems to be to create a layer set that only shows them so that I can select them.

I don't understand why I can select the wall cabinet icon and then shift-select in order to only select wall cabinets, but if I select the interior wall icon and shift-select I get all walls, both interior and exterior. I would quite frankly prefer it the other way around, a way to select all cabinets and a way to select only exterior walls.

Am I to understand it that none of my four questions above are possible?

Yes, but my questions are more about the actual selection process, and quickly changing a ton of walls to a different look.

I'm doing a number of design options on the same building and am trying to speed up my workflow. Would be grateful on some feedback on below questions:

1) Am I correct in that neither the Object Eyedropper nor Match Properties work on walls?

2) Is there a way to select only a certain wall type, or only the exterior walls?

3) Am I also correct in that there is no way to set a wall default and then have walls follow it if I change the default?

4) If I place all my exterior walls on a new layer (like 'Walls, exterior'), how can I select all objects on a layer?

Very funny! Logic would dictate the OP as the prankster. 

I.P. Freely