Gawdzira

How many lights do you have "on" when rendering that exterior?

Upload the .skp file to the thread. Someone will drop it into CA for you.

25 passes in 33 mins does not sound very slow. It all depends on how the raytrace settings are set up, number of lights and the complexity of objects in the scene. I usually render at around 2500p wide and for an interior shot if I can get one pass in 60 seconds that would be screaming fast on interiors.

X4 -X6 You will see some production speed up in drawing time lag. If you are doing watercolor renderings you will see a significant speed up. Your multiple monitor support works best if you have symmetrical monitors. It has been a long time since using x4 so I don't remember much. The general thing for me is I like to keep current. If there are one or two tools that increase my productivity it is always worth it. X6 kicked in the ability to have multiple keystoke hotkeys. This is huge if you are using it. If you upgrade now you will be getting the x7 upgrade with your SSA support.

For CA, almost all of my work is done in the Plan file (Model Space). Very little (or nothing) goes exclusively into the Layout file (Paper Space) that is a direct connection to the plan drawings. Therefore, text sizes are dealt with in the plan file through the annotation sets. Here is a simplification: I know I will be sending my site plan to layout at 1/8" scale so therefore my Site Plan Anno set has the text and arrows scale set for 1/8" scale. For my font I am using I have the text at 10" and the arrows at either 10" or 8" I know I will send my plan view at 1/4" scale and so my Floor Plan Anno set drives the sizes for text at 5" and arrows at 4". This way, all the text notes on the site plan and the floor plan will both read at really close to 1/8" tall actual on the printed page. The annotation sets are key for having a smooth and productive workflow.

You have 2 main layers on that wall type. Get rid of the second check mark in the wall and it dimensions to the center.

@ Keith, thanks for pointing that out. I missed that in the original post. Based on that, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

@Larry, that is not the behavior I get.

Ray, post your plan to the forum. Generally things that make no sense are easy to fix with a quick look at the plan file.

That was a screen grab from layout. Yes you can put notes to it and dimensions. I don't have time for a quick image tour but it goes something like this: 1. make a layerset for your elevation that only has the dimensions and notes present 2. with your standard vector view showing send to layout, choose the send option for "current screen" 3. Very important, don't change your camera view at all now. Now change from vector to your rendered view with shadows and send that view to layout, now "current as image" will be your only option. This now gives you matching layout box sizes. You can now snap the layout box for your rendered view to match the vector view. Now you have a rendered view at scale and you can have your notes and dimensions in just the right location (make that layout box the top layer).

You can not get shadows in a Vector view. You can get shadows in an elevation but it must be in a rendered view.

Also, be careful when searching Google for "Flashing".

I agree Robert. It would be great to have the object properties docked for easy access to changes.

Robert, I just demonstrated how do it with 3-4 clicks. Associating the color of the object by layer color is the better way to do it anyways since it makes it easier to alter a group of objects.

Here are few pics to tour the process. 1. first make some layers with the color and line style that you want to use. 2. Then click to draw a polyline box 3. Then click to change the cad drawing layer Select your layer of choice and hit Enter/Return Now draw your polyline box and you will like it.

Some pictures to fill in 1000 words...

Ignore the radius. You make the adjustment with the height of the broken arch.

See the attached pic of the door DBX

I guess that Adobe has determined the cost of running the servers is more than the loss of business due to publishing a working older version.

The download works. The serial number works. Did I steal it or did I just upgrade my version of Photoshop Elements (which I did pay for). Hmmmmm

This was posted in another thread by GLS123 but it deserves it's own post: Adobe released Photoshop CS2 as freeware. It's what I use. http://www.techspot....toshop-cs2.html Take note on the page where you click to download there is a serial number that you will need.

My basics is similar to what has been posted above. A. One layout file is fed by several plan files. This layout file contains project notes but not the plan specific notes. Project data, general notes, electrical and plumbing notes (generic). b. One plan file is the as built c. One plan file is the remodel plan file d. One plan file is details laid out in a sheet format in plan view ( I have a layer that gets hidden which are my snapping guides for detail placement) so I have a relative layout that gets snapped to to the layout sheet. I don't import individual details unless it is a small project with 4 details +/- e. I sometimes need one more plan file for a special plan element (AKA, I ran out of time to do something right and I hack up the main plan) f. Renders are dropped into the layout file directly The only info on most sheets that do not come from the plan file are the drawing titles. If an elevation comes in all notes relating to that elevation are in the plan view. Most revision clouds are in the plan view unless it is the entire drawing that needs to be clouded then it makes more sense for the placement to be done in layout.

I have seen several people selling their premier licenses discounted about that much on the forum. Get one of those. If you have contacted sales support regarding the license that is for sale you can verify if it is a legitimate sale.

In addition to the plan, and perhaps more importantly, show some sketches or examples of the roof condition you are trying to produce. It is a bit hard to visualize from the text description.

@GLS, what was your work flow for getting the line drawing over the raytrace. I tried a pass by doing a photoshop layer with transparency but it is not quite right.