OldCKD

Thank you Dermot, I appreciate that guidance.

I'm putting this here because I have a certain amount of anonymity and I'm a bit embarrassed to be asking this question especially since I've been a CA user for several years and do some fairly complicated designs. I need to set up my plan template defaults so that when I'm in my, say, electrical layer and go to add text or dimensions, it will automatically use 'text, electrical' or 'dimensions, electrical' instead of me using manual dimensions or rich text and having to select and change everything to 'text/dimensions electrical' so it only shows on the appropriate layer. Ditto when I am in my framing set, etc etc.- you get the drift. Am I explaining myself correctly? I know this must be possible but I am not finding where there might be a tutorial on how to adjust my settings/defaults to make this happen. It would be a huge time saver and honestly I don't understand why it would not work this way 'out of the box'. Or am I so incredibly stupid that I am missing something right in front of my face? I feel like this is a basic thing that I've been able to successfully work around but I'd like to work better/faster/smarter. Please point me in the right direction folks? TIA. ETA - it has been requested that I identify what version I am using. I am using X12 Premier.

Howdy, I am currently working with a custom home builder on a big remodel project; I do primarily interior work - kitchens, baths etc.and will be designing the kitchen and 3 baths in this home located in the town of Barnstable on Cape Cod. I am fairly facile with Chief but this particular project is going to require whole house drawings with some exterior renovations, addition of dormers, etc. and will need detailed construction drawings plus plans and elevations suitable to submit for permits. Some of these renovations will impact areas I will be re-designing. I would attempt it to do it but it will take me far too long - I am far too slow at it and I am slammed with other projects anyways. Would love to find someone local to partner with on this project and probably lots more in the future both with him and with my own projects. Person must be local enough to come do the complete measure + as-built and then incorporate ideas into a conceptual plan - but the builder has CA so any subsequent work can be emailed - and of course, I have it too Time is of the essence as this home is in a gated community where remodeling is only allowed to take place from Sept-May - and clients want to be in next summer (!) Please email me at artkitch@gmail.com if you are 1) interested and 2) fit these requirements, thank you!

So here we are 3 years later and I'm still using the same Brother MFC-6490CW that I commented on back in '14. That printer sure doesn't owe me anything!

Hmmm...thanks, I will try that. I print reduced PDFs all the time, but never full scale.

Some time over the past year the default DPI setting in my print dialog box started showing up as 96, which of course is very low. This causes my print details to at times be fuzzy but it's especially bad when I have PDFs embedded in a layout - the specs, which is why they are on there, are completely unreadable (see attached pic). The drop-down box where you can supposedly adjust DPI only has the one option - 96. I can find no other place to adjust it. Tech support suggested I update my printer driver but having gone to the manufacturer website, I find I already have the latest one. I don't recall having this problem before and I certainly didn't have an issue with PDF files before. Anybody here have any idea how to rectify this? Point me to where I could adjust the DPI? Currently on Windows 7 ('cause I like it) and X8. TIA.

Thanks Joe. I think you're right about the pic - looking at my camera view, it appears it's a little skewed on the face of the object. I needed a Bertazzoni range and thought I'd found an adequate one but this isn't working.

I just went to do a quick ray-trace on a project I am finalizing, and got a bit of a shock at how one object rendered. The object was imported from Sketch-Up, and looked just fine in the camera view. But after the rendering developed - surprise! Any way to fix this? Why did this happen?

Great. Now I feel intimidated about asking for help on a plan I developed that ended up being much more involved than originally planned. I have a client who wants me to produce construction documents, I am not geared to doing that nor do I feel that I have enough Chief Architect chops. Although I have been using CA for 4 years and feel fairly proficient in what I do, I primarily work on interior redesign/kitchens/baths. I thought I could find someone via this forum that could either tutor me through it or simply produce the pieces I am missing (framing plans, foundation plan, sections and a few schedules). Sounds like from the above comments that my plan probably won't be adequate to work from. Not sure how to proceed from here I'm not opposed to learning additional skills and am proud of the house plan I developed but starting from scratch isn't an option since it's time sensitive.

Thank you Alan - I do see your point. I was given this front elevation detail to work with, so was trying to make it work in Chief and came across the funky roof situation. (I originally imported this as a dwg file but have done all the elevations, etc. myself)

Hello, I am, and have been, a kitchen designer for a really long time. I do incorporate quite a bit of remodeling into my designs and Chief has been excellent for my needs. I have recently been working with a client who's 'architectural designer' left them high and dry on their whole-house remodel. I was initially hired to design a kitchen and 3-1/2 baths; in stepping in to help shepherd the project through to completion, I've found myself essentially re-designing the first floor and using Chief in ways I am not very well versed in. In order words, I am having problems with a roof I don't ordinarily have to do them, can accomplish simple ones but it's rare that I need to. Please see the attached jpg - I think I've managed to get most of the roof done correctly (did it manually) but you can see the missing section - I can't for the life of me figure out how to add in the area indicated in red. There will be a cheek because the ridge of the garage (which is the section on the lower left) is lower than the rest of the house. If someone can give me some direction on how to add in the missing roof piece I would so appreciate it. Please excuse me for asking such an elementary question, I'm sure it's probably very simple but I'm just not getting it! TIA

OK - so I went to delete specific layers, and the delete button is greyed out/unusable. I checked the knowledge base and it says you can't delete any of Chief's 'used' layers (which would be the only ones I'd want to delete) so apparently this is not something I can do? I can delete HIS old layers, but none of mine. I guess I will be sending along a multi-layered plan file and he'll just have to deal with it.

Thanks, I suspected as much. What happens to elevations? Will he be able to 'see' that?

A client has requested that I send him my file as a DWG so he can pass all of the changes I made on to the architectural designer (I've only been hired to do the interior design and kitchen design on this job; the other designer is producing the construction documents for the client). My current file includes lots of extraneous layers that won't be necessary for the arch. designer - things like furniture and interior accessories, etc. If I create a duplicate plan file and delete all the unnecessary layers will that keep the DWG cleaner for them? I doubt that just turning them off will work, right, because they'll still be there? I know that when I import a DWG file it can sometimes be messy and cluttered with some crazy layers (which I either just ignore or clean up), and it was just such a case with this job, which I'd originally imported from the same designer. Now I've worked on it, made extensive changes and I'm sending it back to him and don't want it to be a mess. I have to confess that I have never seen what happens when someone opens it 'on the other side'; I've only imported, not exported. I know some of you work with multiple platforms so would love to know what works best. PS - I have no idea what program they use unfortunately, but I suspect it's AutoCAD.

Mine will look like that if I don't allow enough passes. Although it's too late for this one, try letting it go a lot longer.

That's simply a perspective floor overview which has it's own tool on the toolbar, for the easiest way to accomplish it.

Speaking of sneak previews, I was at the JLC Live show yesterday and Scott Harris showed me the new 3D interactive file that we will soon be able to email to customers so they can view their own projects from every angle; rotate, zoom in and out, view exteriors and interiors, etc. all on their own computers/iPad. It was VERY VERY COOL to see how it works and it is going to be an amazing selling tool. I guess they're aiming for launch sometime later this year.

Sorry I disappeared for a while there. I had quite a bit of difficulty logging in to the forum for some reason, kept getting an odd error message. Anyway, I tried a couple of the suggestions and managed to eliminate the pesky baseboard once and for all. Changing the height of the dormer then changing it back DID work, for what reason no one knows. I also tried moving the dormer to the attic layer, which also worked - and that's the one I ultimately kept as it's more correct anyway. When I moved the dormer up I could see the invisible wall more clearly and somehow it had a pass-through in it (!) - no idea how that happened (random click I guess) but I deleted it and it cleaned everything right up. Re: why the invisible wall - I had to use it to make the ceiling condition as shown, which is how the architectural designer designed the room so I had to stay faithful to that. Much thanks to everyone for the speedy help!

I can! Bear in mind, this is just the center chunk of the house where the kitchen is going to be located (the only part I am working on) so I haven't drafted the whole house. The dormer design is from the architectural designer, not me :-) Thanks in advance, this is a head-scratcher for me. SCKitchen+OddBaseboard.plan

And how can I get them to go away? They appear to be artifacts from the dormer; in fact, in plan view I can see what looks like an extra wall with a window and casing, etc. - but it can't be selected or deleted. So what I end up with appears to be little bits of baseboard trim on an invisible wall, jutting up from the floor. Very weird - can anyone advise on how to correct this? TIA PS - I'm not very practiced at dormers so I'm sure it's me, but...WTH?

I'm a Leica girl myself; mine is a few years old but still runs like a top. I don't plan on having any auto-input of dimensions (through an app or Bluetooth or however) until one is developed with technology that is virtually flawless. There's nothing more devastating (and time-wasting) than working from the wrong dimensions; for now, I prefer to sketch, measure and hand write as always.

I've been using Chief primarily for kitchen (and bath) design for ~4 years now. Wouldn't use anything else, love it. Having said that, I did start out with Interiors and quickly moved up to Premier. I sometimes design additions to put my new kitchens in While I sometimes struggle with parts of the program I don't use often (complex roofs, etc) it's a very valuable part of my business and an awesome selling tool. But I'll reiterate what everyone else says - go for the full monty, you won't be sorry.

I'm going to guess the same thing as Michael. Zoom in on the wall and see if your drywall is on the exterior of the structure. If so it's easily fixed by reversing the layers.

Clare, I'd call that a glass panel insert as opposed to custom mullions. What I'd do is create a custom material, created from an image I found on the internet. I'm sure you could find some images of leaded glass that would work - do a search for Queen Anne leaded glass. I've attached an example of one I found - use it to make your material Once you make the new material simply use it for the panel section of the door. If you really need the transparency it's a little harder but for a basic image or quickie rendering, this would work.

Couldn't you use custom muntins to do what you want? That way you would be able replicate each section however many times you needed to. The only thing I'm not sure of is whether you can control the width of the dividers (muntins) using that method.