Designer1

Hi Dermot, yes Chief has improved stairs bit by bit over the decades. I was just speaking of compared to chiefs other features like raytracing, PBR, real time raytrace its the oldest meaning least dynamic feature changes. You think of chiefs old school Pov Ray renderings compared to todays real time raytrace and its leaps and bounds, whereas the stair tool has stayed relatively similar. My favorite stair designer is in Archicad. Ive never seen a stair builder in any other software that you can create anything so easily with so many options and not have any design glitches. Dermot do you recommend anything for my stair railing issue with the pictures I posted? Someone recommended doing a railing separate from the stairs but is there any other options using the stair DBX to work with?

Hi Mark, yeah I think thats the only option left for me to try. Ive selected and unselected every possible option but nothing looks decent. Im hoping in future chief releases they can do an overhaul on the stair/landing tool. In my opinion, its the oldest feature still hanging on in the software. Everything else seems to get updated every release or so this one is pretty much the same as it was back 14 years ago.

Now the stair looks great but the railing looks crazy. Does anyone know how to deal with the landing railings not following the regular stair? No matter what I select on the stair it doesnt look correct.

Thank you everyone for all the time and effort in helping me with this. I will give these soluations a try as it looks from the pictures and videos you have many solutions. Thanks again so much!

Does anyone know how to get these two stairs to connect and become one single stair? Im trying to replace the shelf alongside the stair and just want to open the stairs up. Is this possible with chiefs stair tool without using polyline solids etc? I wanting to keep the straight edge and not round or curve the shape of the treads. By the way does anyone know what this stair style is called? Flared staircase?? Thanks in advance!

Thanks Joey for the clarification, I appreciate your time and help!

Thanks for the reply Joey. Can you explain the crop to fit tool a bit? I couldnt find the right tool to use to crop it so NKBA auto dimensions just work for that wall. Does anyone know how to get chief to recognize certain built in refrigerators in elevation view with the centerpoint lines using the NKBA auto elevation dimensions?

Does anyone know the best way to do a elevation view for the island so I can dimension it but not the wall cabinets behind it? Does anyone know how to get chief to recognize certain built in refrigerators in elevation view with the centerpoint lines using the NKBA auto elevation dimensions? For some reason chief is recognizing it as only a cabinet. Thanks!

Thanks Gene! I will have to go download an earlier plan and research the different layer sets they have because Nashville is from X13 and while I have X13 I dont have the computer to run it... Ive gotta go upgrade that soon. Thanks for the idea and help!

Sorry for the late reply and thank you for your replies. Im trying to understand how to achieve some of the results from Chiefs samples gallery. These two pictures are from Chief Architects website samples gallery, the "Nashville" working drawings example. 1. How do you get chief to recognize first and second floor framing seperately? In the layer sets it appears its either on or off as a layer? 2. In the Nashville 1 pic how do they get just some of the framing in the render to show but not all? Thanks for any help!

Ive been trying to look into some of chiefs features that I dont often use like the layer sets and Orthographic framing overview camera (OFOC). Does anyone know if theres a way to create a layer set with the OFOC? I was trying to use it for roof framing on 1st and 2nd floors as well as floor framing. I thought it would be nice if you could seperate those floor layers using that camera but couldnt find a way to do that. So Im not sure if those layer options are available with that camera. Thanks for any advice!

WOW! Thats one of the best deals Ive seen, thanks for the recommendation David!

Thanks so much Mick and Kevin for the recommendations! I will check those out.

Speaking of computer specs.... Im still driving around in my Model T Alienware waiting till Black Friday/Cyber Monday for wheels and deals on computers since everyone is saying the prices are bloated right now. Ive been getting recommendations on several custom pc builders and the first thing I do is call tech support and see how long the wait time is and how the company handles customers. 75% of the places I called have HORRIBLE tech support/ customer service and Id never buy from them. Does anyone recommend any good places (price and good customer service) to get a pc ($3000 +/- ) desktop for X13? I still have a few months before upgrading the computer so Im still kicking tires. I already bought X13 but cant use it because the Model T doesnt run the new stuff.

Nice doors Drew... are those some you found from one of the updated catalogs?

Thanks for the replies. Yes Rich I was just looking for the tall double story height window to show on both floors. I thought I remember seeing an option to "show window on floor_" but I dont know if it was for this application or not. I was going to divide it into two separate windows but preferred one but I will check out some of the layer sets. Thanks again everyone for your input, I appreciate it!

Does anyone know if theres a solution for this?

Does anyone know how to get windows to display on other floors? I have a great room with two story ceilings and full height windows that go from the floor to the ceiling. In my plan view the example window shows up only on the first floor but not the second. Is there a way to get chief to recognize it goes to the second floor as well? I attached a few jpegs. Thanks in advance!

Larry, Im not wanting to try the software nor buy it. I simply stated it had a few cool features, thats it. I can like a products features or benefits without needing to buy or try it. Im happy with Chief.

I thought some of the features were neat because anyone could make quick adjustments to their "idea design" like edge molding on their countertop and a few other quick visuals for people. Sometimes customers just need visuals to get clarification on what they want or what something may look like, they dont necessarily want to become architects and need to buy revit before calling in professional design experts. I think simple solutions that can help teach customers what an eased edge versus an ogee edge molding looks like is a good thing. Would that be the next program to beat Revit probably not. Im sticking with it and if you want to continue trying to discount my opinion we can go round and round all week Larry.... I have lots of energy. Everyone has an opinion on this forum and no one should be hassled because of one simple remark. Its clear you dont like the software and the great thing is you dont need to buy it.

Thanks Michael for the additional ideas. Chief has so many different ways of doing things you can really accomplish a lot using different techniques. Thanks again!

Hi Larry, I wasnt saying Chief wasnt as good or people should use that instead just saying it had some neat features. I think people who dont have good design sense, no matter what software they use, it wont help them gain good design abilities. That being said, Ive seen brilliant designers who have successful careers that didnt go to design schools and then people who have gone to ivy league arch schools and have little passion and a dismal career.

I can see a lot of homeowners wanting to use that for the ease of use and that measuring tool was pretty cool!

Thanks so much Chopsaw! I will go check those locations out. Thanks again for the help!

So I reinstalled windows and thought I was so crafty and smart to back up and save my chief data folder and user library. However once I got into chief i noticed that all my custom toolbar colors etc were not there. EEK! I had a lot of good ones. Also my custom crosshair size/colors, custom template plans etc are gone. Any idea how I might find them... or are they all gone? Thanks!