TSJDesign

Hi Dermot - Thanks for the reply - the live view print seems to work as you described, even though it looks horrible on screen. For sending images, perhaps a simple dpi resolution option could be added to the export to layout dialog in a future version? Thanks again! -T

Reviving an old thread - Not sure if the feature that Dermot mentions has been implemented, but in any case I cannot find where to set the default resolution when sending a 3d view to layout. When on my main computer (high res monitor) it exports fine. When on a low-res laptop, it looks like crap. Applies to sending to layout as image as well as live view. Any clue as to where do I set the image export default?

Hey there - So I just noticed that the method from the top of the post does not appear deal with openings with components that are not single numbers (for instance a 2'-10" door show as 2/1, and a 12'-6" opening shows up as 1/2). There was discussion after that post, but unfortunately it was (far) over my head. Any ideas?

Hi Mark - Physical network drive (like your MyCloud) synced to the cloud (box or dropbox) and accessed by each user over the internet might be a good answer to the problem if the mapping can be made identical for each machine... thanks for the idea

Hi Joe - We don't work from the cloud, only sync to the cloud (i.e. there is a copy of each file on each users hard drive), which avoids the multiple open file problem (we can both work on the same local copy of the file at the same time without file corruption, but do have the issue of the the last one to save their file will over-write the other's work), but since these are basically synced local drives the file structure is different in each machine and creates the file path problem I have referenced.

Re read your post and Lew's addition: I've been a mac user for a very long time, but do remember drive mapping on windows. I'll see if I can get it to work on mac... I'll post back here shortly to let you know how it worked out

Hi Joseph - Ha - just abandoned onedrive a month ago as it was every bit as terrible as the reviewers said (particularly as a mac user), but it was cheap so I gave it a try. I went to Box, which has been much more stable, easy to use, and has great (and easy to implement) folder permissions. In any case, from what I can tell, most cloud service sync programs work the same (map a folder to the local hd and keep in sync as that folder is changed), which unless the two hard drives were the same letter and name, would still pose a problem. Is that not the case?

Hi Javatom - The name doesn't change, but the path does because the cloud folders reside on each of our respective hard drives and is kept in sync by the cloud: computer 1: c:\windowshd\WindowsUser\cloudfolder\filefolder\file.plan computer2: d:\machd\MacUser\cloudfolder\filefolder\file.plan unless every referenced file is in the same folder (which for us is not practical since we reference many files into multiple layouts), Chief does not resolve the file location because of the differences in the root directories (prior to "cloudfolder" in the example above...

I've recently brought on a new staff member who works remotely, and we share files over the cloud which has worked perfectly except for one thing - the absolute file path system CA uses. Coming from Acad, we had the option of referenced files to be either absolute (c:\localhd\user\cloudfolder\filefolder\file.plan) or relative (..\cloudfolder\filefolder\file.plan). From what I can find, CA seems to be strictly absolute, which is unhelpful for sharing because each time a new user opens a layout, they have to re-connect any referenced plans if it had been opened previously by the other user(s). When i used acad, we always referenced files using relative paths, which made it great for file sharing because everything downstream of the user-specific filesystem would be identical on the two machines, and therefore no constant re-pathing. For you power users out there, Is there a secret way to make relative paths happen using Chief? Thank you! Todd I should mention that we are not working from the cloud strictly speaking (i.e. opening a cloud-based file using our internet browser). Instead the cloud service automatically updates the local files on each of our hard drives, keeping them in sync, which allows for us to work from our hard drive. When the file is saved, the cloud service automatically syncs and updates the other user.

Joe - thank you so much, worked perfectly! Your explanation is helpful, although macros in their entirety are absolutely baffling to me. I'm usually pretty good at reverse engineering things, but without even the basic knowledge of syntax, I would not know where to start. Thank you so much for your help - my client will be happy! Todd

I am a complete macro dunce, so please forgive if this is a elementary question. I would like to make a seemingly simple modification to a "user" macro that ships with x8 - FormattedOpeningWidth. All I want to do is add a "/" character between the foot and inch results (currently a 3'-6" opening gives a result of 36. I would like to see 3/6) I looked at the macro and realized I haven't a clue, so I'm hoping someone here can provide the magic syntax to make this happen. Thank you! Todd

Hey all - I've taken the plunge and started importing the civil plats that are sent to me by my clients into Chief rather than doing site work in Autocad. The conversion process has worked pretty well, with one exception. The text in the imported file always comes in to Chief as Rich Text, even if I explode all of the Mtext (autocad analog to Rich Text) into plain text. This makes for a formatting mess (for whatever reason the text boxes are never wide enough so the text waterfalls (wraps?) into a column of letters) - is there a way to specify how text is converted on import, or some way within chief to convert Rich Text to plain Text? Thanks Todd

Thanks Yusuf & Joe - that worked. ...and then Dermot swoops in with Magic Sneaky Keys - who knew?! Very Very useful tidbit - thank you!

Anyone know a good way to change a single section of stairs from one material/construction method to another without effecting the connected landings/stair sections? In the screenshot, i have a concrete exterior stair that I want the final upper section to be wood with railing and open below, but cannot figure out how to make this happen. Thanks Todd

I knew as soon as I posted this I would figure it out (or would remember there is a printed user manual is more accurate). Ended up drawing two sections of stair, perpendicular to each other and wrapping the upper landing. The two sections mitered automatically around the landing. Then positioned this against the lowermost landing and they all connected. I lost the miter at the corner, but since I don't have any tread overhang on the outside stair I was able to just pull one of the stair sections over. I'll play with this to see how to make it work and preserve the miter once I've got this project off the books.