Michael_Gia

Panels of any sort don't curve unfortunately, which is what DBCooper predicted.

Ok thanks Eric, and as @DBCooper mentioned I was only able to get 2 rails but then I checked, "include bottom rail" and was able to get at least 3 horizontal rails that follow the spiral staircase. Not to code yet but maybe close enough to give the client a visual.

I want to achieve this style railing. This is what I have created so far. How to get the spindles to go horizontal? If I apply a horizontal tube railing style from the catalogue it does not want to curve and follow the staircase. Is there a style of railing in the catalog that can produce a horizontal 1/2” tube that spirals to follow a spiral staircase like this?

Cumbersome as it is just give your materials easily recognizable names. Set up your template or your latest plan that you want to use for a save as method, with materials that are easy to pick out from a material list. Ensure that your wall definitions, floor and ceiling structure have those materials that you’ve customize the names for. to double check I use the perspective floor overview and run around with the rainbow tool to make sure all the materials are what I expect them to be, and that they are set to “area” in the material list tab. then what I do is just export a comprehensive material list to excel where I sort the table by the material name. One list to rule them all. I also use the “generate report” feature and enter a price of $1 to get the total for a specific material. Both work. I have to thank @robdyck for these tips and techniques.

If you go into your wall definition and chose or add a new material for the drywall that's easy to spot, like "para-CAD drywall 1" or whatever. Then go into > 3D > Materials > Plan Materials (or use the Rainbow tool) Make sure to adjust the "Material List" tab in the material dialogue box to "Material List Calculation" and set if to "Area" Then re run your Material list. If the Material list is still not giving the area in square footage then you have to click into the line item on the material list, click on the number in the "Count" column and hit the Wrench icon to update that material to "Area" (Unfortunately Chief doesn't always do this automatically) If you do all that then you can add a "1" as a price to give you the total cost which will be your total square footage of drywall in the Total column at the bottom. That's a little cheat as long as you don't mind $463.76 as your total square footage. Or Chief could ask their software engineers to spend a total of 46 seconds to fix these and other ridiculous quirks in this very unfinished aspect of the software. such a shame, it's not far from being a truly great tool. Oh well, maybe X18?

Reminds me of a quote; "There is no royal road to geometry" You gotta do the work. Buying someone's template cheats you out of the very important exercise of how to create one yourself. There's no point to using a template you didn't create, UNLESS! You are past the level of being able to create your own and want something more sophisticated like those created by the very splendid dudes referenced here.

They want us to use templates and Project Management. For our own good?

You're over thinking and working. @DBCooper gave the correct answer. I would not mess with terrain on floor 0.

Don't try and "connect" When you select a stair section, press SHIFT + select, to select only 1 section at a time. 1) uncheck "automatic heights" 2) choose "lock bottom 3) enter the bottom and top height (in that order). The riser height will adjust automatically.

Just draw your stairs individually from landing to landing. Here I just edited the staircase that you had drawn spanning both floors. I opened the dialogue box for the stair. - Uncheck automatic heights - Lock bottom (or top) just make sure you know the height of your landing before hand. - Set to 7 steps and adjust height of riser to fall on landing.

I have the same problem in X17. it used to work. I hope it’s just some setting?

I would much prefer that Chief just incorporate an AI enhancement tool built into the rendering technique options. Like a radio button for lighting. "Enhance lighting with AI" And maybe a prompt to input something like, "replace landscaping" so we can draw where we want shrubs and trees but the AI option will just enhance what's already drawn without too much alteration of placement and sizes. That's all I want for Christmas.

Make sure that when you line up your windows they are properly spaced. When you select them to block them together, make sure only the windows are selected and nothing else, then you will have the Arch tab available.

Anyone else having problems with snapping in general since the latest update? Cabinets are not bumping reliably. adjusting wall material regions in 3D are a hit and miss when trying to resize by dragging and snapping to existing edges etc... Anyone else having these issues? It's pretty clear form my last post that not many of you use Chief's material lists, lol. I know it sucks.

Why is this list so short? Is there some other way to tag the materials so it's easier to find in a material list? At this point I would settle if I was able to sort a material list alphabetically by material name.

Its actually File > Import > Legacy Settings Import. Then you get the options to import the traditional, layer sets, default sets etc… Why did they burry this? Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, Rob.

I somehow don't know how to do this anymore? I've been using the, "save as" method for so long that I can't figure out how to export layer sets from one plan and import them into another. It's sad to admit, but what am I missing? I thought this was always in the file menu under export? Help!

This can happen if you go into file explorer and make a change to the file name or move it to another location while the file is still open in Chief. Then when you go back to Chief and try to save it, you will get that error.

Thanks for the warning!

I just use a wall cap on a pony wall and set the width to the reveal I want and adjust the proper height above floor. This works for interior walls, but for exterior walls I have to use a material region with insulation air gap as material. Here is an example for a typical interior 2x4 division.

You just have to open the dialogue box and close it again and it will update. At least that’s how it’s been working for me.

3D Solid + paint with same material. Get used to doing this on a regular basis and have layers assigned to those 3D solids so they only show up where you want to see them. I have a layer called "_Healing Solids" because my 3d models always seem to be missing flesh.

Don't try to line up as it is on the field. The important thing is that the exterior of your brick lines up with the exterior of your stemwall to make drawing plans easier. It's more important to line up your framing so that it sits on the stemwall at the proper position. (which is the middle of your stemwall, probably) In the field your brick actually overhangs past the stemwall at least 5/8" but this would be a problem in Chief. Just adjust the brick depth to aline with the stemwall exterior when making your wall composition and life will be simple.

Well this is exactly what I was looking for. It has not been clear in the videos or information up to now so I was apprehensive to try Project Manager. I will give it a go. Thanks, for the explanation! (if it doesn't work I'll be back with my usual petty cynicism. lol )

I always have several excel spreadsheets and pdf's included in my layout files. With the current way of working prior to Project Manager, when I make a change in Excel and re-save the file, all I have to do is open the DBX for that imported spreadsheet or pdf,(so it updates) in the layout page and the recent changes made in excel will be up to date without having to re-import the file. From what I've understood in the new Project Manager. I would have to delete the old excel or pdf file and re-import the changed version.