Michael_Gia

3 minutes in TwinMotion. 
 

Import without any trees or bushes. Replace trees and bushes in TM. 

Apply new grass and mulch. 
Skydome and you’re done. 

13 minutes ago, vikiw_bend said:

Anyone have input on learning Twinmotion? Recommended tutorials?

Firstly the free TwinMotion is the full version of the program.  There is no abbreviation of any functions.

TwinMotion still sucks for interior renders, (Chief with realtime raytrace is way better). 

However, TwinMotion is definitely better for exterior renders, landscaping, video walkthroughs etc.

You should checkout René Rabbit's YouTube channel for tutorials on TwinMotion from a Chiefer's perspective.

example...

16 hours ago, AAInteriors said:

I can't seem to figure out how to get my balconies to attach to the correct area (floor is 24"). Any advice would be greatly appreciated! 

 

I'm suspecting that you are copying balcony railings from one floor to another.

That's a recipe for disaster in my experience.

It can be done but you often have to go back and select the exterior balcony room and reset it's floor elevation, like Alan said before.

1 hour ago, sea_lyons said:

That's the one I'm using. 

When this happens I try using "Open System Print Dialogue" at the bottom left of the Print Dialogue box.

Then I chose "save as pdf" (on a Mac, but there should be a similar option on a PC?)

This uses the system print to pdf feature instead of Chief's pdf printer.

I feel your pain. Maybe the software elves will hear our cries…

13 minutes ago, TrishB said:

Any updates since you've had your M3 pro for a few months now?

No updates.  Still stuck with crappy albeit fast PBR action.

I'm not really big on fancy realistic renderings.

My workflow is often just zooming around in standard 3D with shadows and reflections on, live, in front of my clients.

As long as I have no lag doing that, I'm happy.  It's been a great and worthwhile update in that respect.  It's a pleasure, actually.

When I want to do some sort of presentation, then I export to TwinMotion.  Much better workflow and better results, but only for exterior renderings.

For interiors, I would say TM doesn't have anything over Chief, but if you want exterior shots, or video or a 3D model to export to your client then TM is the way to go.

21 minutes ago, ArmanChahal said:

Well that's way to go. This should solve all the problems.

Thank you so much.

Were all waiting for the updated calibz... lol 

nice work and I'm too lazy

If you want to eliminate some variables I would recommend getting a monitor with either 254 ppi (pixels per inch) which is what the resolution of a 16 inch Macbook M1, or 1/2 that resolution, around 127 ppi.

Also, use either usb c or a display port cable to connect to the laptop.

Your particular monitor has 94 ppi.  It's just not a good match and requires extra work for your cpu to do and that work is done at 60 hertz.

57 minutes ago, GeneDavis said:

Why not just model the whole thing as a 3D solid, explode it so that each face can be separately textured, and then use the p'line you began with for making the 3D moldings to mock up the outside corner and inside beads?  Modeling it with walls seems more tedious.  You have the two-story-plus end wall that is shaped, two upper walls for the chimney, two lower walls for the fireplace, thus five walls to draw.  Then there are wall connections to deal with, plus whatever happens above the roof.

Some people want framing.

Of course, you need to verify what text style your assigned layer is for that item.

In "Defaults"

Change "Default Text Style" from list and uncheck, "use uppercase"

Minotaur

On 1/31/2024 at 12:35 AM, glennw said:

All these posts and still no plan posted!

If OP ever posts the plan he’s in for some real embarrassment. 
 

It’s almost always user error for these kinds of issues. 
 

Not that Chief doesn’t have issues, but this isn’t one of them, I’m willing to bet on it. 
 

Although, when using the save as method over and over a million times there “may” be instances where a “ghost” room definition can affect an exterior wall, and other ghost-in-the-machine issues.
 

That’s why Chief advises using a template plan instead of the s.a.m. method. 

1 hour ago, dldrafting said:

Under "General CAD" I clicked on the "Edit" button and then changed the current CAD layer to "CAD, Foundation."

This only temporarily changes the cad layer.  You use it when you want to add some items, for whatever reason on a specific cad layer that is not the default cad layer in you Saved Plan View.

To change it in your SPV, edit your SPV and select the layer set you want in selected defaults drop down.

The key is not to forget to hit "Save Active View" after you make your changes.  

In the beginning I used to always forget to hit the save button and any changes I made in my SPV would be lost or revert to the previous saved state, that is.

It was frustrating.  I suspect this is what you're going through right now.

And to add to your frustration, it looks like you found a solution to a problem you don't have.

On 1/2/2024 at 8:29 PM, Heather_Anderson said:

Not sure what has happened.

PC or Mac laptop?

Are you using an external monitor or just the laptop?

On 1/1/2024 at 11:22 AM, Chrisb222 said:

I use Never Save because I often make temporary changes that I don't want saved, and I dont want to be prompted. If I make a permanent change, which is rare, I simply save it manually.

I would just like to ask you if you also would like this behaviour for layer sets?

That is, any temporary changes to a layer set do not modify the layer set unless you specifically hit a "save layer set" button. 

We don't have a, save layer set, button yet but don't you think that this is how layer sets should also work?

Sometimes I just want to temporarily hide a layer but I don't want to alter the layer set and I don't want to create a new layer set for what I'm trying to do.

On 12/29/2023 at 5:09 PM, Ed_Orum said:

Thanks, that did it.  
Now I'll try the text.

I bet that after you went in and made changes to your saved plan view, you forgot to hit the “save plan view” button after closing the dialogue box. 
 

Also a good habit is to select “never save” at the bottom of the first panel of the Plan View dialogue box. 
 

you Americans are weird 

10 hours ago, MarkDi said:

Setting the label to "specified text"  - %scale%

Are you trying to set the size of your text with that?
 

Because that’s not what that dialogue box is for. 
It just returns whatever value the plan file has set for the scale at that zoom extant. 
 

Look up videos on setting print size in Layout. 
 

Chief has an arcane system for this so don’t get your hopes up. It’s a mess. 
 

Also, Americans see nothing wrong with 1-17/32 = 1 as a scale…. lol 

What I hope for in the future is that we could click on screen for a zoom level of 100%. So we can see what the printer size would be.

As it stand you have to print to pdf first, then View Actual Size in order to know what your print will look like. 
 

As a result even the, Show Line Weights, is pretty useless as you never really know if your looking at 100% zoom or 110% or 87%.

It’s ridiculous. 

5 hours ago, MN_JohnH said:

As long as I have worked with Chief I have had this problem with materials.

Try turning off reflections. 

On 12/17/2023 at 10:59 AM, Jake1976 said:

Does anyone know if it's possible to show an object on a different floor without moving the object?

Open the object and change the elevation reference to “absolute”

Now you can “ctrl X” (cut) and paste-and-hold-position to the floor you want. 

On 12/15/2023 at 11:50 AM, DaniellaZV said:

These are my current settings

click on “edit” next to your red arrow. 
 

All will be clear, then. 

4 minutes ago, Mackenzie said:

but your saying just draw a rectangle with the 3D solid tool and position it carefully?

That’s correct. As far as positioning, the solid will snap to most things in an elevation view. 
 

This method is the least elegant of the options but it is the most flexible, I believe. 
 

Wall coverings, as René suggested is quite simple, but I always run into problems wrapping or rather trying to keep the wrap off of certain surfaces. 

Option 1). Apply a slab or 3d solid in an elevation view. Just like a tile would be applied on top of your drywall. This gives flexibility and won’t fight with automated wall wrapping etc..

Option 2) wall material region and uncheck, “cut finish layers”

Option 3) make a pony wall.

36 minutes ago, CreativeDrafting said:

What size and quality monitor would you recommend?

You need to first determine what ppi (pixel density) your video card is sending to the monitor. 
 

Then buy a monitor that matches that or exactly half that ppi. Or your system won’t be optimized, that is you’ll have unwarranted lag. 
 

The formula is out there, but as an example a 34” monitor with 3440x1440 resolution = 110 ppi. 
So you would pair that with a video card that is sending out 110 ppi or 220 ppi., ideally. 
 

I actually returned a 4K monitor and replaced it with a lower 1440p monitor which increased not only speed but clarity. I was getting “fuzzy” characters with the 4K monitor.  This is what I learned from the googles after much research. And believe me there aren’t many people talking about this little known and bizarre predicament which effects both Mac and PC’s. 

Everyone wants to sell you the highest definition monitor and that’s all they know. And that’s not always the best choice. 
Many people have such beasts as machines so it’s hard to detect the lag if you don’t know it’s there.
 

You don’t know what you don’t know, like my grandpa used to always say…