Michael_Gia

On 12/23/2022 at 4:28 PM, Marr2000 said:

Here, buildings are usually simpler in form, with simpler roof forms (often flat)

You’ll eventually build your template and library to suit your needs, but the first thing you need to figure out is the proper way to handle flat roofs in Chief. 
Easily done, but not obvious at first. 
 

There are quite a few videos, just search flat roof or parapet. 
Since most homes in Europe, even when they have a flat roof, there’s always some sort of parapet however small it is. 
The trick is to build a floor level where you want your roof to be, Then the ceiling height of that room will determine the height of your parapet walls. 
You can add a cap to the wall/parapet and put a finish on the flat roof. 
If you want to show a pitch or even a central drain with a four sided slope than you can use roof planes to create this on your flat roof. 
 

15 hours ago, 5Design said:

Guess we'll just have to stick with the ray trace static images.

If you download TwinMotion you’ll have a much easier time sharing detailed models with your clients with their TwinMotion Cloud service. 
It’s all free and easy to use. 
Very quick to upload your models and quick and easy for your client or anyone to view. 
 

It’s worth the time to learn this very user friendly software if only for this sort of thing. The interface is a little quirky and off putting only because it’s not familiar but it doesn’t take long to get use to. 
 

Chief is the quickest path from idea to 3D Model and construction documents, hands down but it needs a little help for sharing work with clients and that’s where TM comes in. 
TM is also the place to create videos and a static renderings of your work. 
I usually send a complete model including furniture and cabinets and I only add grass, trees and shrubs, vehicles and people in TM, so there’s not a lot to do. 
 

In your case where you’re worried about a lot of surfaces I would export as Collada and not 3DS. Collada is quicker and more compact. I’ve exported entire site plans with 98 condos across 8 buildings into TM and then shared it on TM Cloud and clients are able to view the model which takes about 1 to 2 minutes to load which is pretty quick for a file of that size. Keep in mind the multiplex buildings were full models in Chief that were converted to symbols but have all the cabinetry and furniture in every single condo. 
 

7 hours ago, Electromen said:

 

I switched from Mac to PC

 

No! You went to the other side?

seriously though, how is it?

I’m not really interested in real-time RT so besides that is there any benefit?

The reasons I had switched from PC to Mac about 12 years ago was because I was tired of how dramatically slow a new computer would get only after a few months of purchasing it. 
I was constantly upgrading various components to improve performance. 
Constantly upgrading drivers and software updates. 
Having to pay for all software, word, excel and pdf editors etc. 

Is all that still a thing on PC?

I have a very modest MacBook Pro and based on video demonstrations on this forum and even Chief’s training videos I don’t see a speed difference. 
Everyone it seems complain about the same stuff regardless of system. 
 

Anyway, I realize I just hijacked this guy’s post with my questions to you but if you have the time I’d love to hear how it’s going. 
 

Cheers!

I use the lazy man's approach of a screen recording of me spinning the model.

low effort

2 hours ago, LightHouse_Doug said:

Interesting, thanks, so your monitor had too high of a PPI? I calculated my laptop monitor to be 143 PPI.

That’s correct. Too high of a ppi. 
 

A surprising result was that the higher ppi produces “fuzzier text” 

When I downgraded to 1440p the text cleared up. 
 

The lag produced when using a ppi that is not either 110 or 220 is from the processors having to translate the image on screen at 60hz

Of course, I’m giving you my layman’s interpretation of what occurs but it’s an issue that’s easy to research once you know what your looking for. 
 

Also make sure you’re connecting your monitors with usb-c or even better a displayport cable. 

I’m just going to add something that is often overlooked with respect to performance, and that is the right pixel density of your monitor (ppi).

I improved the speed of my little MacBook immensely when I ditched my 27” 4K monitor for a 27” 1440p monitor. 
 

The reason is that both Windows and MacOS need to output to a monitor of either 110ppi or 220ppi, or you are going to be unnecessarily burdening your system. 
 

A 1440p 27” monitor has a ppi of 110, this is optimal for performance. 

3 hours ago, Richard_Morrison said:

It's more like subscribing to Netflix and then finding out you can't sell your subscription.

Since X7 and including the original price, I’ve payed close to $10,000 CAD, and I’m not allowed to sell the product that belongs to me to recoup some of that?
You’re ok with this?

They should’ve at least shipped a jar of Vaseline with that original purchase. 

8 hours ago, lbuttery said:

 

I feel screwed

Imagine buying a tv and then not being allowed to resell it?
 

Is this what communism feels like?

1 hour ago, robdyck said:

For mm, space. For example: 12 345

Unit indicators only if there are multiple dimension formats.

This is the way. 

23 hours ago, BairDesign said:

Thank you very much Michael. I can't find "Offering Services." Could you please direct me?

https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/forum/16-offering-services/

14 hours ago, BairDesign said:

If you have more work than you can handle

Maybe post in the "Offering Services" section on this forum?

Terrible video for what OP is looking for. In this video you are presented with the overly simplified and idealized version of what OP is asking for. 

A nice and clean, completely outside of the main house stairwell to the basement.  Not so trivial when you have to span across 2 floors for head room, all while dealing with that exterior wall and ceilings on the inside. 
 

The video says nothing of the dozens of issues OP will run into, giving him the impression that he’s just not advanced enough.

Here is my crappy attempt.  I never come across this condition in my work so please criticize all you want. 
I’m sure there’s a better approach. 
 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ji4jssqcb8osp13/ChiefTom396.plan?dl=0
 

I think most experienced Chief users on here forget how challenging drawing this sort of thing is.

It has all the advanced skills wrapped up into a seemingly simple build.

And there's a lot that will not be perfect with the final result.

like...

- creating the stairwell on the first floor to give the necessary head clearance for the stairs.

- dropping the floor in the extended part so that your foundation walls come down, so that your exterior door is at terrain height.

- an invisible wall to create the landing as you walk in from outside.

- dealing with the first floor exterior wall by selecting "choose interior 6" if wall is intersected by a roof" etc...

- lowering the ceiling on either side of the exterior wall so the two ceilings line up inside or possibly having to put in a ceiling plane for the stairwell so that it slopes towards the basement.

- a lot of little wall end glitches and ceiling roof gremlins poking through.

Not a small task for a new user.

I hate doing these myself.

I actually created a small plan and wanted to send it in but was too embarrassed with the result.  It wasn't pretty.

Someone take pity on this pour soul and give him an early Christmas present.

I'm really confused by your question and your image.

Did you mean, why DON'T my second floor corners connect?

I would be more worried about how your roof plane is crossing in front of a window and how those other roof planes meet.

You have bigger problems than wall layers not meeting at a corner.

I'm pretty sure once your roof planes are arranged to adhere to the laws of physics that govern this particular universe, then your wall connection issue will disappear.

6 hours ago, CoolHandLuke said:

Has any one upgraded to this version and things are ok

Only issue I had was with an external monitor, regarding text being “fuzzy”. 
I changed monitors, now it’s ok. 
 

You won’t have the same problem with your iMac. 

12 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

Ares some of these that you need toggled off?

They are all toggled on.

However, now it suddenly started working again.

I wish I knew what caused this.

Earlier I had tried restarting computer etc.. and still had the same problem.

The only change I made prior to it starting to work again was to switch layer sets.

Hi, for some reason in one particular plan file, the point to point move tool is not able to pick up a snap point.

The tool works but just by clicking on close, but random points.

That is, if I click on an object I can use the tool to move the object but it doesn't recognize any snap points, both on the object nor where I'm moving the object to.

Yes, object snap is on.

I think I've had this issue before.

On 1/18/2017 at 2:57 AM, Chopsaw said:

 

I believe this is the correct link to the video that you were referring to :

 

Wrong!
 

This is the right link…

1 hour ago, joey1982 said:

anyone know about the BEST  MEP  SOFWARE TO INTERFACE WITH CHIEF ARCHITECT? 

This is the best we’ve got. 
Tedious but can work for small jobs. 
Of course does not help if you’re trying to collaborate. 

11 minutes ago, Ange822 said:

Do you export Chief Architect to Twin Motion?

You should check out Rene's YouTube videos on TwinMotion.

Do yourself a favour and download TwinMotion, it's free.

I mean, actually free, not "internet free", really free.  

Did I mention that it's also free?

In Chief, from a 3D overview camera, hit file, export to .dae (collada)

Open TwinMotion and import model.

Your model will instantly look better.

It is a lot easier to create and export images, videos, walkthroughs, and online sharing with clients from TwinMotion.

I use Chief for everything, as in cabinets and furniture.

Then in TwinMotion, I add the grass, plants, trees and shrubs along with people and vehicles.

I have a user library for these items in TwinMotion so it's a breeze.

Very little tinkering with materials and lighting.

For lighting I simply add a TwinMotion "skydome", it's one click and I get the overall light that I need for a given shot.

No messing with lights and sunlight, although you can if you want.

Really easy and enjoyable workflow in TwinMotion once you get past the somewhat peculiar interface, from a Chief point of view.

If you watch Rene's videos you'll see that even updating your model from Changes in Chief is really no big deal.  At first I used to curse Chief for not having a direct link to TwinMotion, but it really isn't all that neccessary.

3 hours ago, McCabeDesign said:

When I change one saved plan view the changes are made to other saved plan views

I’m guessing this is because you are making changes in a layer set or default set that is shared with other saved plan views. 
 

Make sure you create unique default sets and layer sets for each saved plan view.

I wish there was an option to make this automatic, so that when you create a new saved plan view it automatically attaches that name as a prefix for each default set, layer set and cad layer. 

1 hour ago, SDeckB said:

Can you please review the attached and let me know what I'm doing wrong

When I set the terrain at "0" it worked out as you wanted.  -40 to -120 for the terrain offset from deck.

2 hours ago, ChiefUserBigRob said:

Anyone ever had a surface that will not paint

Believe it or not the problem might be coming from that little protrusion on the second floor. 
 

If those walls on the 2nd floor do not line up with walls on the 1st floor, then Chief can get a little screwy in unexpected places. 

This has been my experience, at least. 

3 hours ago, armfx89 said:

14 1/2' ??

It is rounding up to 14.5 feet. 
 

If you want decimal feet then don’t use fractions in the settings. 
 

If you want feet plus inches then chose the proper “units” and then select “smallest fraction” 

All done in the Default settings that Chris showed in his comment above. 

So, it appears to be an issue if your pixel density is not 220 ppi (retina) or a multiple of this, like 110ppi. 
 

So a 27” monitor at 1440p has a ppi of 108, close enough to 110 will not be a problem.

Or a 5k 27” monitor at 218 ppi will also not be a problem. 

I have a 4K 27” monitor which is 163ppi, this is what’s causing the problems. 

Along with the fuzzy characters and blurry lines, the fact that my MacBook has to translate the 163 ppi to retina at 60Hz (60 times/second), I’m also seeing slower performance. 
 

I tried it out on 1440p 27” monitor and it works great, so I ordered a new monitor. I didn’t want to spend the money on a 5k 27” at this point in time. 
 

Hope this helps other Mac users out there, wandering in the desert….