Michael_Gia

Someone please post a demonstrational video for op...

Personally I have my default "locate elevations" down to the bare minimum - top of footing, highest rough ceiling and highest ridge. 

My "top of footing" is set to 0, as this is the accepted  "0" point in our neck of the woods. 

Then I just add in the other floors and elevations by dragging new points to wherever I want. I find it quicker than picking off unwanted points. 

..."but once you get to a point where pre-scripted options dont work you have the ability to explode any 3d object and finish with basic (but robust) generic shape tools."

Can everyone please hit the like button on Johnny's comment please?

I feel Chief put this "like feature" in order to be able to quickly sift through all of our regular day to day wining with something significant.

So more likes and it gets priority. 

I would love his ability.  Imagine having the option of exploding any object and being able to modify and nudge things into precisely what you need?...

Great comment!

Get real comfortable using molding polylines and p-solids to cover up these and many more issues in Chief. 

I had a plan once that, I swear, would've been quicker to build entirely out of soffits or cabinets instead of walls/floors/roofs. 

I'm exaggerating only slightly. 

On 2017-04-13 at 11:33 AM, CJSpud said:

I don't know why I haven't brought this up before but - Why doesn't Chief's electrical panel from the library include the box buried in the wall for 2D plan views?  The box is there in the 3D views of the symbol.  I would very much like to have it shown in plan views as it isn't very obvious in plan views the way it presently displays.

Late to the party, but I place the "Electrical Meter Socket" symbol and adjust its dimensions to roughly the size of an electrical panel box and then block it together with the Electrical Panel symbol. This gives what I think you're looking for. 

(If I was more experienced I could figure out how to make the opening on the top look circular again after it was stretched to an oval as a result of adjusting the dimensions for the symbol.)

Thanks for mentioning the "open symbol" approach. I always forget that's there.

I've become programmed to always "open object" instead. Then when I don't see any parameters that can be adjusted I assume there's no other option. 

Nevermind, use a soffit. 

Is that the "proper" way?

Is it only possible to place exterior light fixtures on exterior wall types, or can I place them somehow on other objects such as p-solids or soffits etc...?

They don't seem to want to snap to anything but exterior walls. 

I'm trying to place an exterior wall fixture on a brick column that I made out of a p-solid.  

Front porch stuff. 

The man has a way of dumbing things down so the rest of us can understand. 

Really appreciated.  

1 hour ago, Greg_NY61 said:

Here is what you have to do before you import >click options>check mark merge coplanar faces 

That was easy. Takes quite a bit longer to import, but it cleaned up nicely. 

Hey thanks!

I'll give that a try. 

Or maybe I can cheat and simply tell my customer to do that himself. 

If he's as proficient in Sketchup and 3DS as he says he is, it's probably a no brainer for him. 

Is this triangulation phenomena a common thing when exporting from most 3D modeling programs or is it a CA issue? 

I've exported a model successfully into Sketchup by way of exporting from CA as .3ds and then imported in Sketchup. 

Works great and I can zoom around, and all my textures are there, however all the wall surfaces etc are composed of multiple triangles as if they were facets of a cut diamond. 

Anyone know how to get rid of this?

I know that I can go through every surface and explode, heal and so on but it seems this would take an eternity. 

Is there a magical one button solution?

The reason for the export was so that a customer who uses sketchup could work/play with the model. 

"Dynamic cad detail from view", would be amazing. 

Use "cad detail from view" from the CAD menu. 

First generate a vector view that's closest to what you are looking for, maybe even click on cad detail (for some extra detail), then remove or add lines and patterns to your liking.  

This also dimensions quite well. 

1 hour ago, Joe_Carrick said:

Michael,

 

Don't move the library or any other individual files.  Move the entire Data Folder and set the Path to the Data Folder in Preferences.  Then it works fine - no problem.

Thanks Joe, I will try that on maybe my laptop first to see how it goes. 

I think I'll wait a few days to build up the courage though.

I should've come here first instead of calling tech support? That's a sad state of affairs isn't it?

iCloud works the same as Dropbox or any other cloud service. 

But if you want your user library to be available on other devices then it must be placed in your iCloud or Dropbox drive, which sits on your hard drive and is mirrored in the cloud. 

When I say that I move my user library to the cloud I mean I place it in the folder that is in my iCloud directory. I don't put it in the cloud myself obviously. That's an automatic feature of iCloud/Dropbox. 

I don't know why everyone keeps drawing attention to this distinction.

The point is, if you move your user library to the cloud (the drive sitting on your local hard drive which represents the cloud drive you are suncing with - much longer to say) then you might have a problem on your hand with Chief not being able to locate your plan/layout files on that same cloud drive. 

Yes, you are correct. The cloud files are simply local files that have the added functionality of automatically beaming up to the cloud when your computer is idle. 

However, Chief as most programs add whatever line of code into each file so it can find the bloody file (I'm clearly not a programmer) but this file id tag becomes messed up when you play around with the location of your user library location setting in preferences at least when it comes to that location being in iCloud. 

Maybe the problem is only with iCloud, but the support guy said it was a problem or can be a problem with any cloud storage option. 

I moved my user library calibz file based on instructions from tech support. 

The way that I was told was to move your user library to the new location first.  Then open Chief and change the "My Data Folder" to point to the new location. 

Then shut down Chief and re-open.

It worked at this point and was able to work on a plan located on iCloud. 

The next morning I tried opening a different plan (on iCloud) and I got the error message "unable to locate said plan". 

I could still open any plan and work with Chief so long as that plan was not located on ICloud (where I keep all of my projects).

So I could open old plans sitting on my local hard drive or even Dropbox but not any plans located on iCloud. I appparantly "broke" Chief's ability to find iCloud plan file paths.  And it's irreparable apparently.

Soooo... I changed my "My Data Folder" in preferences back to its original OOB setting to the local drive that Chief is installed on, moved all of my projects from ICloud to Dropbox and everything works except for my ability to ever use iCloud again to store plans. And I'm back to exporting and importing my user library back and forth between desktop and laptop. 

...and I'm too chicken to try anything else such as deleting Chief and re-installing, or as Joe suggested, move my entire Chief X9 data folder to Dropbox. Which again is not advised by Chief. The program actually automatically creates or re-creates all of its pertinent sub-folders automatically in the new "location" for user library that you set in preferences, and not the other way around. That's why they tell you to close Chief right after you change this preference, and re-open. 

Of course I'm retracing my steps from memory of the instructions from tech support, so it's impossible to be sure 100% that a) I followed or understood the instructions correctly or b) I did everything right but can't remember exactly what the hell I did. That's why it says "Note: For Advanced Users Only" in the preferences dialogue box under the "Folders" tab. but I do know that it worked at first. I also know that when I called back tech support they told me they are aware of this issue and it happens on occasion which is why they recommend we don't move our user library to any cloud service for now.  I spent some time with him on the phone trying a few different things with no avail. 

Hence my cautionary post. 

In short, if moving your user library to the cloud worked for you, you're lucky, otherwise don't try it, for now. 

Yes, that's what I mean as well. I place the files in the local Dropbox folder on my hard drive and Dropbox uploads as an automatic feature. 

It's the same thing. 

I'm probably not being clear but this isn't about me not placing files in the right place or not updating my preferences for Chief to save files to proper directory. 

I don't have a problem with any of that. 

What I am saying is that, if you move your user library into the cloud where you've already saved your plan files and where you've told Chief to look for your template plans/layouts etc, then Chief WILL lose its ability to locate or find those plan files on the future. This moving of your user library to the cloud will screw things up for you in the future. 

Go ahead, give it a try and see for yourself, but don't tell me I didn't tell you so. 

Perhaps as Joe has mentioned already the proper way is to move the entire Chief Data Folder to the cloud and not just the user library. I don't know, I haven't tried it. 

Also, this isn't a Mac vs PC thing. 

As the guy in technical support said, Chief doesn't have all the bugs worked out with Chief's ability to work over the "wire" as he put it. 

Maybe one day. 

8 minutes ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

Michael - With Microsoft OneDrive you don't move, rename or duplicate any folders; you just tell OneDrive what folders you want synced to the cloud and it takes care of it all. You can change this at any time and it can be set differently for each of your computers and devices that are connected to your OneDrive. You need to be aware that none of these consumer cloud services are designed to allow you to run programs from, programs should always be left on your drive and in the directories defined during their installation.

 I have no problem syncing.  

My problem is Chief losing its ability to locate plan/layout files after I move my user library to the cloud. 

That's great Joe, I'm glad to hear it does actually work for some.

I'm assuming you just simply grabbed the entire Chief Data Folder and dragged over to the cloud.

I would be to chicken to try that out at this point, myself.

I guess that was my problem - I had moved folders over piecemeal.  

I never thought of boldly dumping the entire Chief Data Folder in one fell swoop.

However, you are aware that Chief strongly advises against that practice, right?

Just to reiterate.  Putting the user library in the cloud, could cause problems for chief's path to plan and layout files in the future.

The cloud works great for saving plan and layout files, but not for a location of your user library.

I totally accept responsibility, and I was just making everyone aware of the possible and most likely pitfalls inherent for anyone else considering the same course of action.

I apologize if my tone seemed like I was directing any criticism towards Chief.  I knew better anyway and took a gamble at moving my user library.

On the other hand, it is 2017 version X9, why is working in the cloud even an issue?  For that I don't apologize and Chief must do better.

8 minutes ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

From what I have been able to deduce through experimentation is that the Library files seem to be accessed from the disk drive by Chief as you access the Library menu, in other words the Library files do not appear to be preloaded into the program/memory when Chief is initially started. This could create a conflict with cloud syncing as there could be times when the syncing program is syncing the library files and Chief is trying to access them. Plan files seem to be a bit different, when they are open in Chief the syncing program can see this and as such it skips it until it is closed, thereby avoiding the issue of two programs trying to access the same file at the same time.

 

One solution might be to turn off the cloud syncing program while you are using Chief and then turn it back on once you are finished. Microsoft OneDrive has an icon in the taskbar that provides quick access to sync pausing so it is a simple right click to engage or disengage syncing, there is also a menu that allows you to pause syncing for 2, 8 or 24 hours and then it will automatically resume syncing after the selected period. Not sure what options ICloud offers, from my understanding ICloud is not as sophisticated as OneDrive or DropBox.

iCloud does not have this feature as far as I know, regardless it would be a volatile solution since the minute you forget to turn off syncing you're toast.

I was really surprised that there isn't a preference setting for choosing where Chief goes to locate the user library as it has for template and plan file locations.

It seems all would be solved with this simple preference feature.

Then again, I'm no software developer so "easy" is from my vantage point.

This is a warning. 

If you're like me and use either Dropbox or iCloud or any other cloud storage solution then this is for you. 

As you know Chief actually works well for keeping your plans/layouts in ICloud or Dropbox folders.  Great for road warriors, and I've never had a problem. 

The only downside is that your user library should NOT be relocated to the cloud. Although this would be great as it would eliminate the added step of continually exporting and importing your user library back and forth between your desktop and laptop. 

Well,... yesterday I decided to give it a try. I called Chief technical support first and they told me that they don't recommend it. They also said that if I've been using iCloud with success for some time then I could give it a try and the gentleman gave me the how-to. 

So I took the plunge and ported my user library with success to my iCloud folder. 

It worked for the first plan I opened up.  

The next plan I tried was a disaster. 

From that point on Chief was not able to "find" or "locate" any of my plans in iCloud. I apparently broke Chief's path to iCloud. I called support and they then said, yeah, we are aware of this problem, but don't have a fix yet. 

My first point is that Chief should have told me DON'T move your user library to the cloud - period!, - and not the nonchalant, give it a try....

I can still open plan/layout files that are stored on my hard disk locally or even on Dropbox but iCloud is broken for chief now, aparantly forever.  

My solution was to move all my files from iCloud to Dropbox so it's not the end of the world but it was a pretty bad experience. 

Wanted to share in case anyone had plans to do the same. 

Yes, I even tried using time machine to go back before the point where I had moved my user library, no luck. 

At this point I would also say that it's about time Chief offers its own Cloud storage solution and plan sharing capabilities for sharing and collaborating on projects. 

I would not mind paying the same amount I already fork out to Dropbox and iCloud, to a new ChiefCloud bundled with SSA. 

1 hour ago, lbuttery said:

You don't need carbonite if you understand how to use iCloud. 

 

Michael:

 

I suspect not - as I have 30,000+ files - almost 400 GB - for my history research

as Perry stated Carbonite seems to be the way to go for massive backups

 

Lew

I agree for massive backups, such as yourselves and possibly the Smithonian, Carbonite and the like are necessary, but it doesn't give you the kind of seemlwss portability of a cloud service like Dropbox or ICloud. 

Using both would be ideal. Each has its strength.