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.

Hey all- I often have landscape stairs that are not well served by the stair tool, and have been trying to create a multi-landing "stairway" consisting of 3 or more landings connected to each other - NOT separated by stairs. I've attached screenshots of the problem I'm having - chief will connect the first landing in a series but not the subsequent landings (screenshot shows a connection to the bottom landing and to the top landing, but not the landing separating the two). Is there a way to connect landings that are not separated by a stair section created by the stair tool, or should I stop beating my head against this and just draw polyline solids for the landings and manually figure out the stair connections? Thank you! Todd

I just ran into this again today when reversing plan sets for a builder, and is one of the frustrating WHY questions that come up from time to time. Any sections not perfectly horizontal (assuming you are flipping your plan on the vertical axis) don't reverse with the plan (regardless if you flip your model manually or with the flip plan button), and therefore are all pointing the opposite way of the set up section view. With no way to flip the section (even manually), you must re-create each section view in your reversed plan to point the correct way. With many complex sections, this is a real productivity killer, even with cut/paste of your cad work from the old sections. Anyone have a workaround for this?

Thanks everyone for your replies and tips - was able to get my project out using a combo of these ideas as well as judicious use of "chief white out" (thanks Wendy). Just a quick update. After my project was done, I re-installed from scratch (actually reinstalled OS X too - been a long time since I've had a fresh start), and the layout line tool now works as it should. Everything is generally snappier as a bonus, so I'm a happy camper again. Thanks again for your time on this! Todd

Thanks for the replies! My workflow is: 1) lay down an elevation camera looking at the front of the house, giving me a live elevation view. 2) I add some misc notes to that view, then send it to layout without flattening to a cad detail first. 3) In the layout, I try to use the "edit layout line" tool to get rid of/lengthen/shorten some of the linework, but meet with *mostly* failure to be able to select lines. Sounds like the consensus is that it should be working for all lines (my layers are not locked), but for whatever reason isn't for me. I'm working on X7 Mac, so maybe there is a bug - i'll try downloading the windows version to try out. If my workflow is incorrect here, please chime in and tell me I'm a dummy! Thx Todd

Hi there - I've been trying to move away from creating "flattened" cad details of my elevations and sections, as that is what the good folks at the user conference recommended. However, in practice I'm having a difficult time, and perhaps it is because I don't understand what the "Edit Layout Lines" tool does. My understanding is that when you send a (live) elevation to layout, it creates "layout lines" of all visible items. Then I can edit those lines using the tool, and as long as I didn't update the view, the edits would remain. However, in practice while trying to edit the elevation (referencing the live elevation view) while in the layout, I can only select certain lines in the roof system and some - but not all - wall corner lines. Nothing else is selectable or editable. Is this normal behavior? Are lines that are created by some objects off limits for editing? Am I misunderstanding what can and can not be done with the "edit layout lines" tool in layout view? Should I be editing in a different place (assume I don't want to loose the live connection)? Thanks all! Todd

Wendy this is amazing stuff, and your progression and teaching style makes navigating all the settings and preferences and setup dialogs into a cohesive workflow that makes so much sense! I'm only a few videos in and I already have a page of notes of things to implement. Thank you so much for taking your time to do this, and thank you again for the time you spent with me at the user conference - your tip on quickly creating landscape topo saved me hours just recently! This community makes me happy to be a convert from Acad! -Todd

Thanks for the replies - I was not sure if I was doing something wrong, or if there was a magic checkbox somewhere tucked away in a menu that I would never have thought of as relevant to ray traces. Quick question - what do you mean by "putting a roof on"? There was another comment to the same effect (now apparently deleted) - is there some other procedure besides the roof planes that are already on the building? -T

Dinked with this for longer than I should, but found that the interior lights are somehow bleeding through to the upper roof (and perhaps even the garage). The attached image only has the dining room chandelier turned on, but the upper eave is all lit up. I checked all my roof joints and wall to roof joints, and everything is tight. There is no way light, reflected or otherwise, should be reaching that eave given the porch overhang in front of the window is four feet. Looks like I'm doing a daylight scene instead to get this out the door, but would love a solution if anyone has any ideas! Thanks! Todd

Hi all - Anyone have any tips for keeping light from "gathering" in the eaves (and ceiling corners with interiors) when raytrace rendering? I get these weird artifacts all the time (day and evening shots) and don't know what I'm doing to produce them, or if its a quirk of the program. Either way, it makes a lot of raytraces unusable (unless client likes led strip lighting in the eaves that is)... Attached a 5-pass rendering (dark, but illustrates the problem) which does not get better with more passes. Would love to hear if anyone else has had this issue, and what the solution might be! Thanks much! Todd