Dermot

The corners have a gap because you are trying to model the sides using an inset door.  Modeling the sides as a frame and inset panel will probably work better.  See attached plan.

column.plan

The stair tread projection could easily be ignored as not a big deal or cleaned up in a LO view.... but .... is there a way that it can be fixed [in a future update] so we don't have to deal with it?  I realize there are other ways to handle the railing wall issue to eliminate having to change line styles and line weights, but I bring it up because not everyone using Chief works the same way or always works in a "logical" fashion and when we run into these "issues", we almost always spend far too much time trying to figure things out.  So, is/are these X8 bugs that need fixin or not?  Or is it just crazy to do what I did to discover what I did ... should I just forget about it?  I dunno?

Chief has never been able to figure out how to notch the tread overhang where it intersects with the platform.  If this is important to you, then you should report it to technical support as a bug.

After further testing I find that the Floor Finish seems to be ignored only when it's a Mono-Slab Foundation.  The problem is that the calculated Stair Height is going from the Slab to the 2nd Floor Finish instead of the 1st Finish Floor to the 2nd Floor Finish.

This looks like a bug to me (and yes, X7 does have the same problem).  I will make sure that it is added to our database and we will look into it further.

Dermot,

 

I reported a bug with the Stair Top Height to Kirk and sent a Plan that he said he forwarded.  This was an X7 Plan brought forward to X8 and the Stair Height is 1/2" higher than the 2nd Floor (the thickness of the Finish Floor).  It doesn't seem to be a problem with new X8 Plans but we do need X7 Projects to work correctly in X8.

 

That bug has not been fixed.

That's because we couldn't find any bugs. 

As far as I can tell, X7 and X8 should work exactly the same with regards to how we calculate automatic stair heights.  We always use finish floor heights to determine the height difference for calculating riser heights.  I believe that this is the correct way to do this if you wish to meet code requirements.  You always have the option to specify your own manual heights for any other situations.

The thing that might be confusing you is that we have changed the default way we display the "Top Height" in the Stair Specification dialog in X8.  In X8, we now display the top height using the floor or landing as the reference instead of the using the top tread like we did in X7.  If you switch to use the top tread as your reference, you should see the exact same numbers that you would have seen in X7.

See picture and plan below for reference.  If you open the plan in both X7 and X8, you should see that the stair is being built the same. 

x7 stair top height.plan

X8 has been officially released.  For more information, see this post in the Announcements forum:

https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/8433-x8-now-available/

All problems that were reported to us during beta that we determined were new problems in X8 should have been fixed.  If you find any other problems in X8, then please assume that they are issues that we are not aware of.  Please report any problems you find directly to our technical support department so that we can investigate them further. 

You can contact technical support here:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/#contact

Ben,

The bug that you reported to tech support should be fixed in the X8 release.  The picture you posted on the other thread does not look the same as the one you reported to us though.  Please report this as a new problem along with the plan you have and we will look into getting a fix into the next available update.

"This problem just started for me and I haven't even download X8 yet..."

Then your problem is not the same problem.  If a reboot does not solve your problem, then I would recommend that you contact tech support.

I would try uninstalling and then reinstalling the program.  If you still experience the problem, then please contact our technical support department during normal business hours on Monday.

"If I upgrade to CA, am I able to use the file I already created in HD Pro?"

Yes, absolutely. 

You can also download the trial version and try it out on your hardware:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/products/trial.html

Are you using a floor camera or a full camera?  In X2, floor cameras will not show anything above or below the floor you are on.  In X7, floor cameras have the option of showing the floors below them (as shown by Perry in his post).  Full cameras will always show the whole model (except what is hidden through layers).

Easy peasy.

The difference between the right and left side heights is 37.5" (90 * 5/12).

On the window general panel, you need to set the overall height to 53.5 (37.5 + 16).

On the window shape panel, you need to set the left or right height to 16" and then raise the opposite bottom corner to 37.5".

Not sure why you are having a problem but I doubt a reinstall will have any affect.  Might be an obscure bug related to how you are creating them.  If you can consistently reproduce the problem, you should report it to tech support along with very clear steps for exactly what you are doing.

BTW, when drawing your custom muntins, you probably don't want to draw filled polylines.  The program will actually try to create a muntin for each line in the polyline.  All you need to do is draw a single CAD line for the center of each muntin.

Use Current Screen As Image for rendered views.

Use Plot Lines for vector views.

A small number of people have reported problems launching X7 after installing X8.  This may be a problem in X7 having to do with the two programs fighting over the Windows file associations.  If you try to launch X7 and you get an error message about the program already running, the first thing you should try is restarting your computer.  If restarting your computer does not solve this problem, then try using the following steps:

- Right click on X7 and click "run as administrator".  The program should open without an issue.  If it doesn't, then please contact our tech support department for more help.

- Open a new plan from within the program using File->Open, then close the plan, and then close the program.

- You should now be able to run the program normally (not as an administrator).  

If you are still having any problems, please contact our tech support department for more help.

It's used for trusses.

Go to Toolbar Customization.  Type "wall material region" into the search box.  You should find it with the straight wall tools. 

Apparently there is a bug with the parametric door styles.  If you choose Framed Doors and the set the option for Glass Doors, this does not work for Door Panels.  This is actually a bug in X7 and doesn't matter if your Door Panel is on the front or any other side.

For now, you can choose a glass panel door style from the library and it should work correctly.

We will look into this more to see if we can get a fix into a future update.

Post a plan and I will look into this.

"I made my cabinet front door framed glass, chose custom face for side, and door panel.  I did not get a framed door panel with glass.. "

My best guess is that you changed the front door by changing the door style for the individual face item instead of changing the door style for the whole cabinet.  Changing the door style on the Door/Drawer tab affects the whole cabinet.  Changing the door style for a face item only affects that face item.

Of course, I can't know for sure what you did without a plan.

In X8, cabinet sides and backs can work just like fronts.  This means that you have all of the configuration controls that you have for fronts.  Instead of marking a side as "Match Front" you can mark it as "Custom Face" which allows full customization of the configuration.  As an added convenience, if you first switch the side face to match front and then switch it to custom face, it will pick up the front configuration which can save some work when you go to customize it.

So if you want a particular door style on your cabinet front and a side panel that matches, all you need to do is make the side a Custom Face and make the face item a Door Panel.  Door Panels will use your door style but not include any hardware or opening indicators.

You can change the drawing group on the Line Style panel of the specification dialog for any CAD object.

You can change the order within a drawing group by using the Move to Front tool.  You can also change the order for a limited number of architectural objects.

Just to be clear, there is no reason you can't run multiple versions of Chief Architect on the same computer.  I personally have over 2 dozen different Chief Architect products installed on my computer and I am able to run all of them without any conflicts.

The only thing that I am aware of that might be causing some people problems has to do with file associations.  Windows only allows one program to be associated with a given file type.  If you want to be able to double-click on a ".plan" file to automatically launch the program and open the plan, Windows has to know which program you want associated with the plan file.  If you always launch the program first and then open your plan using "File->Open", you should never have any issues.  This is not a new issue because Windows has worked this way for a very long time.

A small number of people have reported problems launching X7 after installing X8.  This is a problem in X7 having to do with the two programs fighting over the file associations.  If you try to launch X7 and you get an error message about the program already running (even after restarting your computer), you can solve this problem using the following steps:

- Close the program and restart your computer.

- Right click on X7 and click "run as administrator".  The program should open without an issue.  If it doesn't, then please contact tech support for help.

- Open a new plan from within the program, then close the plan, and then close the program.

- You should now be able to run the program normally (not as an administrator).  

If you are still having any problems, please contact our tech support for more help.

Nelson,

I don't think the problems you had were in any way related to what the others were describing.  Although it is possible to have problems with file associations with other versions of Chief (including X6 and X7) it does not sound like this is what happened in your case.  It sounds more like the program crashed but was still in memory.  The reboot was probably what fixed it.

It sounds like the problem is that X7 and X8 are fighting over Windows file associations.  Only one program can be associated with ".plan" files at a time.  When you install X8, it takes over the file associations so that Windows will launch X8 when you double-click on a plan file.  Then if you go back and run X7, it tries to take them back.  Normally, this will work just fine.  In some cases, this will not allow you to run the program.

If this is happening to you, then try the solution that Sandi posted above.

If that solution does not work, then please contact technical support for more help.

If you want to manually change file associations, then please see this article for more info:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01131/associating-plan-and-layout-files-with-the-latest-version-of-chief-architect.html

I was just informed that the James Hardie catalog has been updated to include patterns.  Please update your catalog and let us know if you find any additional problems.