Dermot

First a general comment, I think you might be placing too much importance on the difference between quads and triangles. Triangles are inherently simpler to deal with and historically most video cards have been optimized to deal with very large numbers of triangles. I suspect your performance problems in lumion wouldn't really change much even if we added the ability to export as quads. That said, if your main goal is to reduce surface counts, then you really need to pay attention to the surface count for your Chief model. We report the current surface count on the status bar for the current camera view. You should be able to track your changes to see what kind of affect they have on the overall surface count. In general, typical things that have a large affect on surface count are when you use lots of high surface count symbols (especially if you have imported high count symbols from other sources), highly detailed molding profiles, and pretty much anything with curves. Combining these things can very quickly increase your surface count. For example, if I take a new plan and just draw a single wall and drop a window in it, I only have about 510 surfaces. If I change the window casing to CA-10, which is pretty detailed, I get about 1,482 surfaces. If I then change the window to a round top, I get about 20,400 surfaces. If you have a lot of these windows in your plan, you can see how quickly your surface count increases. Assuming that you are OK with making a visual change to the model, one way to significantly reduce the surface count is to change the casing back to a simple rectangular one, which will bring the surface count back down to 3229. Another example of something that can have a large affect on surface count is railings. If I take a new plan and draw a simple 10' railing with square balusters and newels, I get about 344 surfaces. If I change the baluster to D-05, which is pretty detailed, I now have 18,472 surfaces. If I then change my newel post and add a molding profile for the top rail, it jumps to 21,288. The surface count in your model will pretty much go up proportional to how many lineal feet of this railing style you have. Some things probably won't have nearly as much of an affect as you might think. A standard base cabinet has about 688 surfaces. Turning off the drawer box and shelf will still have 615 surfaces. In my opinion, this is probably not worth doing. If you only need an exterior view and can't see any of the cabinets, you would be much better off just turning off their layer instead. Hope this helps.

You can also open the Drawing Sheet Setup dialog from the menus. File->Print->Drawing Sheet Setup. You will want to do this for the cad detail you are working in since you can have different drawing sheet setups for different cad details. Also, just to reinforce what others have mentioned, you should always draw your details at 1:1 and then scale them when you send to layout. You should make sure the drawing sheet is setup using the paper size and scale that you plan to use when you send it to layout. You also should use print preview (or at least show line weights) if you want to see what your line styles will actually look like when printed or sent to layout. Another thing to watch for is to make sure that your Endcap Printed Length in preferences is set to an appropriate value. If your endcap is set to 1/4" and your line is only 1/2" long when printed, it will look solid.

I think it uses whatever layer set was last active in your default template plan. So you may want to fix up all of your layers in your default template plan first. Please be aware that I think it only creates this temporary document once and then keeps it in memory. So if you were to do something to change your default template, it won't update until you restart the program. Another option, that might make it easier to control the layer settings, would be to place the cad block into a plan that you know is setup correctly, edit the cad block from there, and then save it back into the library.

Changes to the cad block should be retained. Other changes to the temporary document will not. Does it really matter how we made it? How do you want it to work differently?

"Is there some kind of service, some one I can give this file to that can make it run on x10?" Not unless you want to pay someone else to redraw the plan in X10. The bottom line is that we currently can't write plan files that are compatible with older versions of the software. The program is still evolving far too rapidly to make this feasible and the plan files would be so "lossy" that they would probably not actually be very useful. "What do you suggest?" Instead of paying some guy in the Ukraine using a hacked version to design this building, you could always buy your father an upgrade to X13 and then pay him appropriately for his time and expertise to finish it. I would guess that this is a pretty small investment relative to the construction costs for a project of this size.

Maybe my question wasn't clear enough. Take a look at the picture below for what I meant. The title of the window says "Temporary Library Browser Document". It does not say "Untitled 7" like the other window. These windows are not part of the same document. Changes in one will not result in changes in the other. The same as if you had two different plans open. When you edit a cad block from the library browser, the program will open a special cad detail window that is using a temporary document that was created just for this purpose. Making any changes to any of your settings in this temporary document will not affect any other documents that you may have open. There are a couple of caveats to this though. For example, if you create a new custom layer and assign it to one of the cad objects in your cad block, then the cad block will "own" this layer. If you then place this cad block into a new plan, then the program should also copy this new layer into the plan. This only happens when you edit a cad block in the library. If you edit a cad block from within a plan, the program does not need to do this. You might see similar issues when editing other objects from the library. If you use the "Define" button from one of the specification dialogs, you are not actually defining the properties for any plans that are currently open, only the temporary library browser document.

What does the window title say when you edit a cad block from the library?

See if this tech article helps: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00348/changing-the-installation-location.html

The latest update is 23.2.1.3. You should download and install this update because it has several important bug fixes.

No, you cannot open any X12 plan or layout files in X9. X12 can open X9 plan files but older versions of the program can't open newer plan versions. There are a number of other things you could do though: - You could have her export the plan as a DXF/DWG file using an autocad format that your X9 version can read. Should work about as well as it does in autocad. This will just be cad though and not a real Chief model. - You could have her export the 3D model of the plan using a 3D format that your X9 version can read. This will be a static 3D model that you can't really modify though. - You could open the file in the X13 desktop viewer. - You could open the file in the X13 trial version. - You could see if she still has X9 and is willing and able to work with you by using X9 for her part of the project. - You could also upgrade. Although if she is using X12 and you are using X13, you will have the reverse problem.

Welcome to Chieftalk. This forum works really well for very specific questions about almost everything Chief related. It doesn't always work that well for general, "where do I start?" kind of questions. We do have a number of other resources that may work better in these cases. If you have not already watched the quickstart video series, you may want to start there. I believe it is designed to give you an overview of most of the basics in a more logical order. You can find it here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/#playlist-138 Another thing you might want to watch, if you have not already done so, is the pre-recorded bootcamp webinar (that is also free): https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/playlists/171/recorded-live-stream-webinars.html In addition to the regular training videos that are posted, we have a number of other training resources. The residential introductory course is also available online and free. There are other courses that are available for purchase including private training if you desire. You can find out more information about training here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/training/ And if all else fails, please feel free to call our customer service to ask them more specific questions about our training resources.

While I agree with Mick on this part... ...I have to disagree with him on this part. X13 offers a number of benefits on the render side of things in addition to the new real time raytracing (which is currently only available on video cards that support it) including the ability to add line drawing on top of other render techniques and the new clay rendering technique (which are available on all video cards that run X13). For a more complete list of what is new in X13 and X12, you can review these documents: https://cloud.chiefarchitect.com/1/pdf/marketing/x13-new-features.pdf https://cloud.chiefarchitect.com/1/pdf/marketing/x12-new-features.pdf As for the decision whether or not to go with the latest version or an older version, I would highly recommend upgrading to the latest version which should also include your first year of SSA. SSA will allow you to stay current with the program along with the added benefits of tech support, bonus content libraries, discounted (and sometimes free) training resources, and more. I also recommend reviewing the system requirements though because X13 is more demanding than previous versions: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/products/sysreq.html If you do decide to purchase a used older version, I also recommend that you verify that the license is legally transferable. Occasionally, people will try to sell licenses that are not which has way less value because you will not be able to upgrade it. If you have questions about this, please contact our customer service team for more help. Also, if you have any more questions about X13 or the benefits of SSA, please contact our sales team for more help.

No, not really. How are you trying to select it? Your appliance (dishwasher) is inserted into the front of the cabinet. You can't select appliances that are inserted into the front of cabinets while in any plan or camera views. You can only select and modify them while you are in the cabinet dialog. Appliances that are inserted into the top of a cabinet, such as a sink or cooktop, can usually be selected in most views by first clicking on the appliance (which will still select the cabinet) and then using the tab key to select the appliance.

There are no separate counter top defaults. The program will get the default counter top thickness, height, and material from your base cabinet defaults even if your base cabinets have the "Countertop" checkbox turned off. As far as I know, this has not changed in recent versions although I can't remember when we added the checkbox for the counter top because in the old days you used to have to set the thickness to 0 to get rid of it. I also like using Joe's technique of letting the base cabinets build an automatic counter top and then replacing this with a custom one when needed. One easy way to do this is to first select all of the cabinets you want and then use the "Generate Custom Countertop" edit tool. This tool is actually easier than drawing them manually because it should keep all of your overhangs and corner treatments. Normally, countertops will use the height of the base cabinet that is below them. In most cases, you should not need to adjust the height unless you don't want it to sit on top of a base cabinet for some reason, like when it is not actually over one.

Currently, we are still planning an event for Aug 31-Sept 2 2022. You can find more info here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/userevent/

Post a plan that is missing the saved plan views. My guess is that it is a plan that was started prior to us adding saved plan views to the program. If not, we can investigate further. Or, if all else fails, please feel free to contact our tech support team for more help.

I'm sorry that you are experiencing so many problems but I don't think anyone can actually help you. You are trying to use an unsupported and untested configuration (using two separate graphics cards in the same computer) and we have already told you this is probably the main source of your problems. If you wish to use the software and experience far fewer problems, then you should disconnect one of your graphics cards and run your multiple monitors using just the one. If you are still experiencing problems after this, then you should work with technical support because I am confident that they can help you solve them. Regarding the sluggish cursor in cross section views, if you have not downloaded and installed the latest update (23.2.1.3) then you should do this because there was an issue that was corrected in the update. If you are still experiencing problems with the latest update, then you will need to work with our technical support team. No one will be able to answer the "why" without a plan that includes all of the referenced files along with a good description of what you are doing when you experience these slow downs. Also, the suggestions forum is really the wrong place for this kind of post (but I see that a moderator has since moved it). These kinds of problems are usually best handled through technical support because we almost always need more information than we can get on the forums.

If you bring in an old plan that was created before saved plan views were added to the program, then it won't have any. The program will not build any for you automatically. You can either import the ones you would like from another plan, as suggested by Bob, or you can just create new ones as needed. One way to create new ones is to setup the plan views the way you want them and then use the Save Active View tool to create a new saved plan view. You can also create them directly in the project browser, as suggested by Joe. Another way you can create them is by opening an old layout file and then select each layout box and use the Create Saved Plan View edit toolbar button. This will create a new saved plan view that will match all of the settings that were used when you sent the view to the layout.

As far as we can tell, there are no new problems in the latest update (23.2.1.3) that were not already in the previous one (23.2.0.55). If you are experiencing any new problems, you should first try doing all of the usual things like rebooting your computer, checking your video card drivers, checking any other recent system changes, etc. If you are looking for more information, then please take a look at this tech article: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00106/troubleshooting-3d-camera-view-display-problems-in-chief-architect.html If you are still having problems, then please contact our tech support team for additional help.

Although it is true that there were not a lot of improvements to the stair tools for X13, I think they have actually changed a lot over the last 14 years. In fact, I don't think you could have done a lot of the things outlined in this thread 14 years ago. Here are just some of the things that we have done: X12 - Ability to connect stairs of different widths - Better control over landings for automatic stairs - Better tools for moving and bumping stairs individually or as a group - Ability to control number, placement, size, and materials of stair stringers - Ability to control thickness and material of stair wall trim X11 - Pony walls with railings can now follow stairs - Auto connected stair landings for manual winders and starter treads - Improved control over landing railings per edge X9 - New L-Shaped and U-Shaped stair tools - Ability to specify railings on landings - Ability to use panels for stairs, ramps, and landings - Improved control over newel and baluster spacing - Improved dialog previews for stairs and landings - Improved control over top and bottom rails - Improved snapping to walls X8 - Stair break lines - Handrail returns and extensions - Improved display with stair and ramp details in plan views - Improved display with stair, ramp, and landing railings in plan view - Improved control over how to specify top of stair X7 - Ability to control solid railings that follow stairs X3 - New ramp tool - Improved landing tool - Railings that can follow stairs - New stair defaults - Improved one-click stair tool - Ability to group stair select and modify - Ability to manually adjust stair heights - Improved stair and landing materials X1 - New one-click stair tool - New wrapped stairs Of course, there is always more that we can do and you should feel free to submit feature requests for the things that you would still like to see improved.

There appears to be a problem with your product registration. Please contact our technical support department during our normal business hours for additional help in this matter.

We recently released an update (23.2.1.3) that should correct some very serious problems that were occurring on macs. If you are using a mac, you should download and install this update. You can find the instructions for downloading and installing it along with the update notes by using the Help>Download Program Updates tool from within the program. If you are still seeing problems after installing the update, then please contact our technical support team for further assistance: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/

You might want to review this tech article: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00521/troubleshooting-slowness-in-chief-architect-plans.html You might also want to post your plan (using the Backup Entire Plan tool) to see if others are experiencing the same slowness with their configurations. You should probably post an example of what you are doing and exactly how long it takes on your system so they have something to compare with because "slow" is a very subjective term. If all else fails, you may also want to contact technical support for more help.

We just released an update (23.2.1.3) that should correct this problem. You can find the instructions for downloading and installing it along with the update notes by using the Help>Download Program Updates tool from within the program. If you are still seeing problems after installing the update, then please contact our technical support team for further assistance: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/

I believe you are still trying to snap the bottom corners of the stairs together. You need to snap the top corners together along the deck/landing edge (where my arrow is pointing in the picture I posted above). This will cause to the stairs to overlap but they should then wrap/miter.