ACADuser

Jim, That allows one or the other method. My point is that ACAD allows both methods any time you want. Thanks

Michael, Good solution & I like the Video. Thanks for your time. Now off to practice your method. This has been an ongoing aggravation for me in CA knowing how easy it is a Autocad which I use every day. So every time I used it in autocad I had bad thought about CA. Thanks for easing my burden.

Oh, thanks fellas, that fixed it. I'll get the hang of this software yet. Keep drawing. Alan

I'm off to dinner so back in a few hours.. What causes this hole in my 2nd floor wall at the back porch? Edgewood.zip

OK that may be a viable alternative. I'll give it a try. Thanks for the Block tip, I should have done that when I created that group. I need to use Block more often. Thanks again.

Joe, I use the Match Properties tool a lot. BUT, I want to select one group of CAD layer objects that reside on that floor. Then to de-select the ones that I don't want is way too tedious. The only way in CA to efficiently select is to turn all layers off & the the layer you want on and select what you want. I obviously do not like this method but it is the only way. Sorry, I'm Bitching again.

Thanks for your patience, I was off doing other work. Deadlines you know. Here is a simple example, see picture. ILO stairs I draw CAD limes, here in Red, to represent stairs over closets & such. I have 3 sets of stairs so I want to move this set only 3 & 4 inches to the left. In autocad I enter SEL at the keyboard then pick one object to get the layer property. Then I can group select with marquee selection only those items within the marquee that match that layer. Further more autocad will select based on the direction of the selection rectangle you marquee. Pick right & then left it select all within & all touching that match the layer. Pick Left & the Right and it select only those objects that are completely within the rectangle. So all the other objects not on that layer are ignored completely. How efficient is that?

I thought I explained the situation. Doesn't matter what you are selecting, you only want to select certain ones in the group. The "Match Properties" will only select ALL. For those who have used other software this is a clumsy way to select objects.

OK, I copied rebar dowel blocks from the foundation to the 1st floor. There were no conflicts with windows & doors. I then copied the blocks to the 2nd floor. This time some walls turn to frame & some overhangs also precluded the use of the rebar blocks. So I need to select some of the blocks but not all to delete. I know the ALL OFF Layer method but wouldn't it be nice if the "Match Properties" would allow a selection window and single picks? And wouldn't it be nice if the "Match Properties" worked on all objects and in section views?

Not free but all the power of ACAD https://bricsys.com/estore/estoreBcad.jsp

Wow a lot of busy work. But thanks so much for taking the time to reply. I'm off this project for a few days but will return with the results. Eric did a very nice job with his example.

Thanks Eric

I have a house that I was working on & need to revise the front porch to mimic a photo the customer sent over. The items I have questions about are as follows: Note, at this time I don't need to be exact but just a general copy of the style. 1. matching the column style, I can live with 1st floor & 2nd floor columns, not continuous like the photo. 2. the railing, I would like to see the square pattern in the railing. The railing should fit between the columns. 3. the sun screen detail, do I have to build this from primitives? 4. the porch, I just covered it with a solid, File attached. The railing dies into the columns but need to be pulled back. Is this a situation that the railings should be a "No Room" item & the porch use "invisible walls"? The columns, I guess I could add p-solids to get some more detail. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks Englewood.plan

Thanks

OK the job is finished but then the Developer wants the foundation wall height minimized & the footing will be in the fill. So on one side of a courtyard, the garaged is detached but privacy walls connect the house & courtyard so the privacy wall foundations now need to be stepped up several times. And the house foundation shortened on 3 of the 4 sides. I don't want to move the grade & rebuild the foundation. How to break the foundation & move each section up?

More info; https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/2719-stair-madness/?hl=stairs#entry22262

From my perspective ACAD DWG is 2d and can be imported as such as a guide to create a CA drawing. The 3d ACAD does not convert to CA. You can export CA to DWG but layers will need to be manipulated (name changes & color changes) to be used efficiently in ACAD (my opinion) I have a LISP that renames all the layer suffixes to prefixes so I can sort them by floors. I have a lisp the makes all the layer colors "bylayer". I use a block background on model space in ACAD & CA output layer colors are too dark. SO I change them. I have a lisp that changes all the Blocks CA produces to "byLayer" so there color can be changed too. I don't modify CA produced drawing except to add text and dimensions as there are way to many line segments to deal with. The problem with 3d to 2d conversions is the the objects like walls have lines for the top of the wall & bottom of the wall. CA has framing lines & sheet rock lines. So the result is lots of lines. I usually edit the CA output file, clean it up as needed & then turn it into a block in ACAD. That way if I need to change the CA file I repeat the process & replace the block. My conclusion after a year of CA & 15+ years of ACAD. They do not mix well. Do as much work in CA as you can.

No problems with CA X7. although FoxIt PDF & Mozilla Thunderbird have crashed quite a bit.

Perfect Greg. Thanks

Oh Mark, I see now. Use Alt+Click to start the behavior. You can release the Alt key and keep clicking line points and the S key & Ctrl key can the be used during to command. This very helpful when creating 3Dmolding lines. Thanks Mark. PS yes the PAN & Zoom also work -

Thanks for trying Mark but not quite what I had in mind. Desired behavior: Click the LINE tool Click the start point (no hold down of the mouse button) move the cursor to next point, cursor snaps to object(s) then click to end the line. Between clicks you may PAN, ZOOM, toggle the Ortho On/Off and you may toggle the snaps On/Off. Line tool is still active so you may click a new point for the next segment or ESCape to stop drawing the line. With CA if you release the click the line stops there. Hate that behavior. (sorry but I do)

aah the S key did the trick. Thanks

You start a line draw & need the snap to get the start point but want to then turn the snap off BUT you need the Ortho control on. i.e. you want a straight line. So the Ctrl key is no good. Is there another option. [soap Box On] Let me just say the "Click-Hold Drag Release" method has many shortfalls as a drawing method. I would pay extra if we had the option to change to the "Click Click" That is what the "Point to Point Move command uses! Why can't all command use this method. It afford the option for user input after the first click. In my opinion this is a far superior method of control. [soap Box Off] Thanks for your time.

The kind that bolts to the side of the building with a safety cage on it. I thought I saw or asked about this before but can't find the topic. Point me in the right direction please. Thanks

Just talked with tech support & he said they were putting the X8 team together in a week or two. Not sure what that means for a release date.