Designers_Ink

I have to agree that charging for items that were previously covered by the SSA will not sit well with customers who purchase the SSA every year. I certainly would encourage others who feel the same way to express their feeling so that Chief does not use silence as acceptance of this new tactic and start adding to the list of things they want to charge extra for as a "specialty item".

Kohler's collection of symbols is now available to download as a Chief library on the Chief website if you have version X8 installed.  If not, I would suggest downloading the symbols from the 3d Warehouse (https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/) as .skp files.  They have a pretty good collection of Kohler symbols.

Chief knocked it out of the park with this new catalog.  It is huge and full of all kinds of goodies.  Since I have noticed we don't usually get immediately notified when a new catalog is available for download from the Chief website, I found a quick and free site that will send you an e-mail when a change is made to the catalog webpage.  www.visualping.io is the one I use, but there are several free services that will notify you when a webpage changes.  Just copy and paste the catalog webpage in, and set how frequent you want the site to check for changes.  I am kind of a symbols junkie, so now I don't have to go manually check the site all the time looking for new stuff.

Post a copy of the image file.  It could be several things.  Most likely, the resolution of the image is too small when scaled.

https://www.brick.com/architect/md-intro.htm

I use the Acme Brick Designer for brick patterns I need.  It works pretty well.  You can really customize the brick pattern and save it as a texture to be imported into Chief.  Pretty handy.  

I would just put in a custom countertop on top of the wall to cap it.

Increase the size and DPI sittings when you raytrace, which will produce a larger, higher resolution file.  If the file is too large for your e-mail server to handle, save the file into a Dropbox folder and just e-mail the link to the file.  

Not sure where I got this one.  Probably on this forum somewhere.

Wavy Siding.calibz

You should be able to look at the dates listed to see if it brought hours forward from the previous Save As plan.  If the hours start before the date you started the current project, then you know it did.  You can then select the top entry and delete each entry down to the one you started this project on.  

With over 25 years of experience, I have designed homes all over the United States.  My design philosophy is to get to know my clients by listening to their needs very carefully.  I can then produce a design that fits both their functional needs, as well as their style.  I also work with other design professionals when they need assistance meeting a deadline or just have too much work and not enough time.  Please take the time to view my website at www.designersink.us to view samples of my recent work.  You can also check out some of my work at www.facebook.com/designersink.  I can also send you examples of recently completed construction document plans sets upon request.  It is always my goal to EXCEED my client's expectations.  I look forward to an opportunity to exceed yours!

I haven't tried it, but I would think you could name the rooms Living Room 1, Dining Room 1, etc. for Unit 1 and Living Room 2, Dining Room 2, etc. for Unit 2.  If you add Room Name to your schedule, it should separate them out on the schedule.  If you don't want the numbers to show on the plan, you could manually place the Room Names you want and not show the actual room name in the dbx.  They would all be on the same schedule, but at least they would be separated.

You will also find this is common when you import a file from the 3D Warehouse and try to change the texture on it inside Chief.  The new texture will sometimes look pixelated.  If you check the Global Symbol Mapping box, it will fix the issue in most cases.

Select the wall you want to paint (you may have to break the wall so the paint doesn't extend into other rooms).  Then use the Wall Covering DBX to apply a wall covering from top to bottom.

You can just use the material painter to paint the windows white or whatever color you chose.  You can also go into the material definition and change the transparency to 0%.  In a vector, there is a setting in the Camera -> 3D Views settings to make the glass opaque.

I use Teamviewer to Remote into my computer.  It is free for personal use and fairly cheap for commercial use.  I haven't had any issues seeing anything on my remote desktop that I see on my computer desktop with this program.  I've been using it for years.  I also use it to remote into my mom and mother-in-law's computer to quickly troubleshoot issues they are having.  It is much easier than explaining things over the phone.  Great program.

I can print it to a .pdf for you to get you through until you get if figured out with Customer Service.  Just send me the files and page sizes you need them in.  If it hangs on me too, that might help diagnose the issue since we would know it is not your computer configuration.

I get that on longer videos pretty often.  The solution I found was to download free program from Anysoft called Any Video Converter.  I then just convert the video file to a "custom .AVI" at the higher resolution (even if the file is already an .avi file.  The file then opens fine for me.  For some reason, if I keep the video under 29 seconds, it opens fine without having to go through these additional steps.  

You can access your computer remotely from another computer using software like Teamviewer.  Basically, you would have the software on your office computer, then remote into that computer from a laptop or even your iPad or Android Tablet.  I've even pulled it up my cell phone to look at stuff real quick.  Obviously, it would not be optimal to design a home on your cell phone, but with a laptop, you can do anything you can on your office computer remotely.  The images on the laptop are just just images of what your main computer is doing, so you can use the horsepower of your desktop computer to run the software, but have the convenience of the laptop to take with you to see clients.  You just need a good internet connection.

I know this thread has been kind of hijacked at this point, but I think this is something the original poster should see.  

I just finished a complete re-do that a licensed architect with outstanding credentials (on paper) completed for a client for a fee of about $20,000.  They just wanted me to model it to give them a better visual of the project before they built.  While looking at the plans, I immediately noticed numerous items were not up to code, there was a wood burning fireplace in the basement, but he forgot to put in a chimney or any venting, the basement, 1st floor, and 2nd floor walls did not line up, and the list goes on and on.  The architect had worked with the client for almost a year before I got involved.  After unsuccessfully trying to get the architect to make the required corrections, the client finally just paid me to redraw the construction documents from scratch so he could get it permitted and begin construction.  After really taking time to connect with the client to understand their desires, we ended up coming up with a completely different layout.  The client commented that the architect was designing building he liked himself, and not necessarily what the client wanted. 

Just my opinion, but I think it is more about knowledge of the designer or architect than simply having a piece of paper that says you are an architect that makes you good at this profession.  As in this case, many licensed architects concentrate on commercial designs and have much less knowledge of residential design requirements and current design trends than a good home designer.  I think clients should see if you have a good connection with the designer or architect first, then let the portfolios and past client references do the talking as to if they are qualified to handle your project or not.  There are good building designers out there, and you can save a lot of money by using them and still get a quality product.  I know architects don't like the competition, but this is America baby!  I'm with Perry on this one.

I'm at 36 seconds.

It looks like you haven't placed any lights in the room.  Try adding some lights or even some light sources to the room and make sure they are turned on.

I sent you an e-mail with my contact information.  I am located here in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  Please let me know if I can help.  

Thanks,

I would image it will depend strictly on your computer setup.  Before my last upgrade, I would turn stuff on and off to keep my surface count down, but I don't seem to have those issues with my current setup.  After looking at your post, I looked down at the project I was working on and saw my surface count on an exterior view of the house was over 18,000,000.  I usually fill the house with furniture from the 3d warehouse, so that usually gets the surface count up there pretty high on my projects.  Chief handles it well, but only with the higher end computers.

I have done several apartment complexes with multiple buildings, parking lots, landscaping, cars, etc.  Chief has always handled it well for me.

The attached image is the view I was looking at.  

Go into the Default settings, then the General Cad Default section.  Uncheck the box next to "Show Arc Centers and End".  See if that solves the issue.

Go to 'Edit', then click on 'Default Settings', then select 'Camera' then 'General Camera'.  There needs to be a check mark in the box next to "Show lower floors in Floor Overviews".  If that box is checked, then post the plan, and I'm sure we can figure it out for you.