mthd97

I am going to coin a new term, "APE" for how and why CA works fast with relatively simple house designing of rooms, stairs and other building 3D components. "A" is for Automatic, "P" is for Parameter and "E" for Extraction.  We use Chief for its productivity and speed in producing run of the mill housing with relatively minor customization and features. I not sure if any of you have heard the saying "Going Ape" in the US ? Stairs in CA automatically extract thier parameters from where they are placed in the 3D CA Model hence the new stair types including the existing stair types in the drop down menu or child buttons. The problem has been that the room type that the stairs are placed in will affect the stair parameter data extraction and how they build. That's why we build a floor opening that is enclosed and room labeled open below so the stairs will supposedly build correctly every time. Specific room types also have their own destinct parameters and will affect how the stair builds. I have not tested this in X9 yet to see how this works with the new and existing stair types so if anyone has, please tell us when the NDA period is over what problems you found if any ?

Stairs when customized by the work of a skilled designer become a building of their own in some respects. In the ArchiCAD forum people are still asking for stair improvements so they can work thier own unique design skills. I think if we could have a stair builder and stair type library that we can deposit our own designs in, that would be good. For that to work though, we would need to be able to have a spot in the dbx that allows us to detach the stair from the model and retain its shape if so desired. Then if we choose to we should be able to insert a saved stair style into the model and then tell the dbx for the stair to adjust to the new model so we can modify it accordingly. More customizable stair components in the dbx would all help the cause. We can only expect CA to provide the most common stair types for homes and not to expect radical designs that require fancy free form apps.

Archicad stairs are not a nightmare for me as they are not distorted by room types and wall types as they act as a separate item. Look at the Brekenridge example for X8 video as soon as you get a split level house, Chief stairs become a nightmare for not just the stair but for rooms, walls and ceilings too ! If you have a single level house or consecutive story house the CA stairs behave. Now how stairs act in X9 with split levels, we just have to wait till the public beta of X9 is released and if there are any improvements in this release ?

UI for Windows Tablets, I got a new MSS3 recently so I like these features as they will help me with an as built on site survey. Icons being able to be resized is good for these tablets too. Just to steer the conversation back to the sneek peek video, this not all there is to X9 as you can tell from what the speaker says.

NDA is signed by all beta testers so I am saying nothing but that we always get some surprises with every upgrade in CA since I have been on board since V6.

Hi Rob, It's fine for you to mention what you are used to in CAD mate ! CA is very easy to use and fast and productive to quickly model up a 3d spec home. The user online videos make it easy to use. I have been using CA since 1999. The Aussie Chief Guru is Glenn Woodward, you can ask him about CA as he is able to do multi residential and uses CA to the full. All the best mate !

X9 Beta Testing emails now requested, see announcements.

Any email invitations for 2nd Phase Beta to SSA members this time ?

Has anyone got the MSP4 yet with X8, if so how are you finding it?

What Happens if this house has a monolithic concrete floor slab that has already been built and you do not want to delete it? In this case multi select roof planes and move them up 1 foot.

Well done all you guy's here for your dogged determination to get CA to get this to look right. Yusuf is the stair guru for sure. AS is the man for difficult trouble shooting. Johnnys patience to get this to look right. When I was younger and sharper I was willing to tackle these problems. This Is what I mean about being able to isolate elements so they don't interact with each other and if they do you can give one element priority over another or be able to lock an element. If we could get CA to do something like this, we would save lots of trouble shooting time with similar problems.

I don't like messing with anno sets personally but I think that with X8 improvement I am happy.

Can't you just go into that particluar walls dbx and change the type of wall so that is doesn't pertrude into the roof space?....I have been using this method for years now or will this not work in this instance?

It shows up in both new and old plans.  But migration issues are becoming more and more of an issue. I have a huge database of plans that I rely on all the way back to version '97 (or whatever it was called, 5 or 6?), and I do not want to redraw them when I bring a plan forward that I will modify for a client because of the extra time involved.  I can typically get a pretty clean plan through importing attributes, etc. and I'm on my way.  Foundations have the most difficult migration issues, especially with slab on grade and when mixed with a basement.  Chief just isn't optimized for that type of construction.  Chief also doesn't like me using old plans, they always want me to start over whenever any issue comes up and they always blame it on that, which may be justified, but just like any software you use for a long time, that will always be part of the process, so they need to fix issues that come up in relation to migration. 

Ditto Ben!..I think V6 is 99, V5 97.

BP this not a migration issue it it?

https://video.chiefarchitect.com/?playlist=118

The initial question was about what can be done in X8 with layers.

See this whole video, as it shows what to do with displaying layer sets in layout views using X8, and see if this helps?

I am sure your method is fine with past versions of CA, as we all have to find ways to get around our layer display problems. This shows it done with X8 and it might help the user.

AS, if you watch this you may discern what is new for us and explain it too.

My brain works more in visual format than in verbal description language, ha ha!

This has actually been an option since as far back as I can remember.  Not new to X8... unless I'm misunderstanding what you're talking about perhaps.

Watch the video on X8 first please AS to see what I am talking about.

Create your own specific layer sets from existing layer sets in X8 see webinar video.

Saw the webinar video on X8 features yesterday. Yes I am impressed with how this version will make life easier with Schedules, Layers, ML and SP vertical dimensioning etc. I am very much hoping for an IFC 3d model exchange feature in the future too.

the hardware lock use to be $50

for X7 it went to $69

so now its $115 :(

I know CA doesn't like hardware locks but this price leaping is ridiculous

since I am now retired I may have to give serious consideration to having X8 be my last upgrade

while I can afford the cost - I just find it very annoying for such price leaping

its plain and simple gottcha grabbing :(

Lew

I agree Lew.

Joey, bulk buying would not likely account for nearly doubling the cost of the lock.

CA Administration can tell us why?

Yeah, probably DJP, Ha ha!

I have noticed that the hardware lock has increased in price from $69.95 to $114.95 in a very short space of time. What has accounted for this large price jump please?

Yes that generally what I do but it does not solve the flexibility that the stair tool provides. The stair tool allows you to quickly change the number of risers and treads, and also allows for quick placement of landings.

Again this is all lost when you have to go down the manual road.

 

My comment about "Global warming" was a serious question, as Alaska is a long way from Australia and its good to get a first hand comment from where change is most likely to be noticed first!

 I do not quite understand "We get enough heat down under so it's good to keep cool heads"  !

I thought you were having a dig at AS by saying the heat is getting to his head by him suggesting to do stairs manually? I was wrong but I got a giggle out of it anyway, ha ha ! Yes I hope it is Automatic and a very common stair type with the raise off middle stringer but they would need to include cleats to fill in the gaps. All the best mate !

Yes that would be OK for construction drawings but not really for Ray tracing

- the whole idea of a stair tool, I would have thought, is to be able to generate

a number of stair option so that you can choose which best suit the look of the job

Having the ability to vary riser and tread and other options that are part of the stair tool quickly is a great advantage

so I do not see why it could not be extended a little. - but it might all be to difficult.

 

By the way Alaskan_Son - have you noticed any significant global warming in that part of the world?

We get enough heat downunder so it's good to keep cool heads. Yes the stair tool should be able to do what you have asked so we don't have to do it manually. Or can we do a stringerless stair case and put in a raked steel beam for now?

Lew, do you have library catalog files in the DVDs with X1, PD just might only need those. I remember there was a stack of DVDs with all the training and demos etc to buy with X1.