CJSpud

There is a separate forum for Home Designer users.

Adam: Here's a copy of the original patent PDF file: Saarinen_TulipTable.pdf

Steve: Not sure what "quite different" means without more evidence of what you are seeing. Post the plan and/or some images of your issues and someone will be able to better answer your questions.

I have built and designed ICF homes since 1997. Send me an email and let me know what you are specifically looking for.

Professor: When you are having your problem, is the tool (icon) I have circled in my image below "highlighted" indicating that the concentric behavior is active? The icon I am showing with the red box around it is the tool that should be active when you are in "normal" drawing mode (i.e., default mode). It sure sounds like a concentric drawing condition is what your problem is. If not, you should save your plan, close your plan, navigate to your plan and right click it and then click on "SendTo" and then "Compressed (zipped) Folder". That will save a compressed copy of your plan in the same folder or location you have your plan stored in. Back in ChiefTalk, "Browse" to your compressed (zipped) plan and attach it. Someone here can take a look at your plan and/or settings and see if we can determine what your issue is. If the size of your plan isn't very large, you can bypass creating a compressed copy of it and just attach a copy of your original plan file.

Yup ... figured that out. Actually I haven't been using that tool but have been using other methods. I think I will experiment a bit more with it and might be switching methods if this works as well as it looks like it does.

In playing around with your satellite base cabinet, I put one of your thin cabinets on each side, pushed it up against the wall and took this full camera render view: I love being confused ... I was expecting the backsplash for this cabinet combo to have a "full" backsplash as well but that didn't happen. I can get the custom backsplash tool to work in 3d camera views ... just not in plan. I guess I am 'sort of' happy now.

Just noticed something weird. While in your plan, I went to the base cabinets default (with only your plan open) and it was showing my profile plan base cabinet for which I have the backsplash zeroed out. When I added a backsplash to the default base cabinet, a backsplash showed up in your plan, even over the thin end cabinet you added. Out of curiosity, is your plan default base (on your computer) the same as the base cabinets you are using in the kitchen of your plan and does it include a backsplash? Also, I don't seem to have access to the custom backsplash tool ... it is grayed out. I need to figure out why that is!

I agree with Joe on the backsplash. I like your use of the thin cabinet to create your recessed panel.

Todd: Do you have an image of a real-life cabinet with inset side panels that you are trying to duplicate/reproduce?

Vendel: Your 2nd image looks very nice. Was that a quick trace or a high quality one? How many passes/how much time did it take you. If you could turn down the wattage of the under cabinet lighting, I think it would be even greater. Nice job. Here's a ray trace I did after getting rid of 3 of the 4 in-cabinet light sources and deleting a bunch of other stuff in your plan in an effort to speed up the ray trace. I did only 10 "quick" passes and I was still around 40 minutes. I didn't edit the contrast or any other settings. I think adjusting the contrast up just a bit would have made it look better.

Vendel: Actually, you had four (4) light sources inside your wall cabinets. I found another one before I closed you plan last night. Placing lights inside a cabinet makes sense if you have glazing in the cabinet doors and have stuff you want to show off with some added lighting.

I wonder if it (the roof plane) isn't quite touching the siding on the vertical wall transition?

Michael: He has light sources in the cabinets as well .... above the tube lights under the cabinets. If you select the 3 light sources in plan and check their location for display in camera views, you can see where they are sitting in elevation with a full camera view of the wall cabinets.

I suspect the 3 added light sources inside of the wall cabinets may be what was causing the wall cabinet light leaks. Putting a roof on your plan "might" (??) help as well.

I get nothing but a few words and lots of heiroglyphics with your link.

Trash .... what trash? Vendel .... Save your plan; close it; navigate to it and make a compressed copy and then post it here on the forum so "one or many of us" can see what sort of ray trace we can produce ... hopefully without the light leaks so you can have a solution that you're pleased with. Just a suggestion for you to consider.

Post #4 .... Scott's 'famous' suggestion .... why not? I'm not much for ray tracing but I will take a stab at it for you if .......!

What is it worth to you for such a cut-away? What is your budget for this work?

Jon: That "rocks" ... what a great way to fill in those Chief sink holes. Edit: Or should I say "user unintentionally created" sink holes .... that is probably more politically correct. Chief doesn't do a #$%^& thing until we start pushing on keys and mouse buttons.

Have you watched any of the videos or read any of the Help Database articles on building dormers? You can go to Help (F1) and get information on building dormers as well.

I will do it for slightly less!

Lew: I don't understand how you can get frustrated drawing walls over someone's conceptual plan, regardless of how good or how precise the drawing you get is. You just do it. It's part of the process ... ideas to reality. Sometimes it takes a lot of back and forth to get there, but eventually that happens or the project is scrapped for some reason. At least the party who did the drawing has given you a starting point ... an idea of what they want. You don't have to start from scratch. That's what makes Chief so great as an object based program ... you can usually get to a decent model fairly quickly and can present your customer with some 3D to WOW them and your on your way. Don't get me wrong ... I realize there can be things with a sketch or drawing that we know just won't work ... but you work through that by giving your customer good advice based upon your knowledge and experience. Not all the avenues to a final plan are on paved roads.

Lew: I have a good friend who is our local Logix ICF dealer. You can't believe some of the "chicken scratching" he gets that people (including contractors) give him to do estimates from. Some he's shown me would almost make your CS look pretty good. I have been pretty fortunate with many of my customers in that they know how to put together a decent sketch of what they want. Granted, the walls are usually just lines so most of the sketches end up growing in size once I create the model ... but I always tell them ahead of time that that might happen depending on the room sizes they are using. Below is a drawing I received from a customer that was done with Windows Word I believe. He did a pretty incredible job in my opinion. I just imported that drawing into a new plan, resized it properly and then drew the walls over the top of his drawing.

I think the main problem is with what you are working from to begin with. As you and many others have stated over the years, Chief is not a perfect "DO-IT-All" program and expecting it to create walls from that "MESS" is stretching it IMO. Give Chief something decent to work with in the beginning and I think it performs quite well. Nuff said. Draw over that mess and don't worry about the small stuff.