Michael_Gia

Sometimes when walls below or above are not inline they can produce all sorts of chaos.

Thanks for the in depth analysis. If you’re using Chief primarily for its precision in designing the home, why don’t you just simplify the model as much as possible before exporting to SketchUp? No wall or floor layers, no cabinets, doors or windows (use openings) etc…. Just the structure. You can use plugins in SketchUp for doors, windows and cabinets. I get that Vray is on another level, but there are a lot of real-time ray tracing programs that are getting close, not quite but close. Is the extra time really worth it in Vray?

No need. Just like the cartoon, after a while you’ll start saying, “I like it, I like it!”

You, my friend, are a genius. I must try this. Is there a limit on referenced plans?

Design your homes. Make a simplified version of them. (example, tun off most items on the inside) Convert homes to 3D symbols from a 3D overview (just the homes, no terrain) Create your terrain separately in a plan file and place all of your Symbol Homes on the terrain. For extra pizazz export everything to twin motion.

Yes, 3DS model.

Export as 3DS in the file menu. nevermind, I thought you meant model. she can always import the pdf or dwg version of the plan from Chief.

That’s Grand Prix weekend here. I’ll be at Saturday’s qualifiers myself. All of the smoke meat diners will be swarming that weekend. Thanks for not calling it pastrami…

Construction lines are also a great tool for this sort of thing.

I realize nobody reads the manual but it’s the first place to start, actually… ”Click on the Align With Wall Above or Align With Wall Below edit button. By default, walls on different floors are aligned by the outer edges of their Main Layers when using the Align edit tools. In most circumstances, the Main Layer should be specified as the structural layer of the wall, particularly when the wall is a framed type. If you do not want the walls to align based on the outer edges of their Main Layers, instead of using the edit tools, use the Reference Display as a guide and manually move the walls to the position you want them to be, relative to the floor above or below.

What I do is convert to road perimeter for roads and/or terrain feature. I start with lines and p-lines, of course. The sticky part is sometimes the curb doesn't always play nice when connecting to other terrain features when the curb is turned on. I sometimes have to resort to 3d molding polylines for curbs in those situation. Either way, your logic is correct, and so much easier and flexible.

Hey thanks for looking into it for me. I see that you used retaining walls to create the terrain cutout for the sloping driveway, I also used to use those. I guess it's the "proper" way to achieve that cutout, however you then need elevation data lines which then cause all kinds of kinks in the terrain which are hard to control. This is why I only use terrain regions which I lower to the basement level. This cuts a clean hole and normally plays nice with the doors at the foundation level. Unfortunately, X14 brought back those issues. (I think?) I'm sure there is a fix without having to revert to elevation data and the like. I've even gone so far as to simply put my terrain at the basement floor level and then use 3D solids to build up my landscaping and driveways... more work but easier to control.

I noticed today it happened only after I closed the startup window. As long as the startup window stays open then the menu glitch doesn’t happen. At least that’s what I noticed today so far. If I can reproduce it then I’ll post the issue.

In X13 the fix was to extend the terrain feature so that it extends into the building. This fix doesn’t work in X14.

I know I've fixed this before, but I can't remember how to fix these. I have a terrain feature and it "turns up onto the garage door". Even when I drag the terrain feature well into and past the exterior wall into the building it still produces that sliver of a concrete flap in front of the doors. Even when selecting "create hole" in the terrain feature it produces an artifact at the garage door. Not as bad but still there, but then I lose my concrete wall side around the terrain feature. Here’s a Dropbox link to the plan: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qug4nfc215coetr/Step 30-Plex V1.plan?dl=0

Yes, I have a plan open and the plan window is selected. It’s as if I’m getting the menu from the start-up window, even though that window is closed.

Every so often my menu bar will revert to some simplified version of itself? Where's the "save as" etc?... Or am I missing something?

often it’s interference by a room divider.

I think the simplest way is to draw a line between the two points you want to dimension. Then the dimension tool will easily snap to the end points of that line. The advantage of this approach is that you can see and adjust that line to make sure it’s where you want it, before dimensioning.

Download and use Twinmotion

Printers always ask for 300dpi which for us is actually 300ppi (pixels per inch). This gives a resolution that nobody even with 20/20 vision will be able to detect any pixelation. Now you have to do the math, but you first need to know how large the image you are sending will be printed, or displayed on a screen at. When it will only be displayed on a screen then you need to think about how much the end user will be zooming in to examin the image. So, keeping the 300 ppi in mind do the math of how large of an image you have to send so that when the image is stretched on to a sheet of paper or when the image is zoomed in on a computer screen, the resulting image will still have at least 300ppi for a monitor or 300dpi for printed paper. But, how can anyone calculate the ppi per image size, ie the density of pixels on a monitor if you don’t know what the resolution of your clients monitor is? (to further complicate things). You could play it safe and just send over a ridiculously large image with an insanely high ppi to make sure that no matter how much an image is stretched it will still retain a minimum of 300dpi or ppi but that would be irresponsible because your files would be insanely large for no reason. So, you have to do the math to send over the minimal file size for the production you want. When you print a pdf with Chief and chose 300dpi then Chief will print a pdf with 300dpi given the size paper you selected and the math will be done for you as long as the image contains only vectors but if there are raster images then those image may be stretched to a point where you lose the 300ppi threshold. So, we’re back to math again. There’s no way of escaping it. TL:DR…. Nobody, absolutely nobody ever does the math. Although you can look up videos on YouTube and learn but I don’t suggest you do that. The best way is to print to pdf at whatever size paper you think is appropriate. I use tabloid size. Then open the pdf and zoom to the “actual size” (command 0 on a Mac) so that the image on your screen is to scale. If you are happy with the quality but the file is still a little large then maybe try reducing the pixel density and do the experiment again until the file size is manageable and the image quality is to your liking. This procedure works because the resolution on today's monitors are quite high, so if it looks good on screen at scale then it will definitely print well.

I think all carpenters should do a compulsory 30 days training as an apprentice for a mechanic in a garage. That’s where you learn the concept of putting back tools in their proper place.

How realistic is this in our lifetime? Would be amazing.

Chief’s “export to 3D Viewer” is the closest we have to BimX. If you save enough plan views in there along with some notes then it approaches albeit in a limited way the BimX feature in AC. As for the separate layout file approach of Chief, it’s cumbersome but you are still able to reference plans and reference sets from multiple plans in the same layout. I realize AC does the same but doesn’t require you to keep a separate layout file but you won’t find anyone on this forum to even understand that concept let alone make a request for with Chief.

I guess nobody reads the tagline?… ”Share your favorite tried and true methods for solving custom problems using Chief Architect.”