Dermot

The correct answer is that it depends on what you mean by "in color". Technically, they are always in color but we don't actually display any of the surface fill colors. We only display the surface edge and pattern lines. Assuming that you are not sending an elevation view to a layout as an image, the following is true: Elevation surface edge and pattern lines will always be sent to layout views in color. If all of your edge and pattern lines are black, then it may be hard to tell that this is the case. Also, all of the cad, text, and dimensions you have in your elevation view will always display on the layout in color. The biggest thing that makes an elevation view look different when it is sent to layout is that we don't display the solid fill colors for any of the surfaces. This is because we don't actually draw any surfaces when you display an elevation view on a layout page. We convert all surfaces into just the visible edge and pattern lines and store those with the layout box. These lines are all created at the time that you send the view to the layout and can be regenerated anytime you close the elevation view. You can also modify all of these lines on the layout page using the Edit Layout Lines tool and adjust their colors or other properties.

In the picture you have shown, your dimension is going from the outside of the framing to the outside of the framing and does not include the sheetrock on the outside of the building. This makes the interior room dimensions 9'11" (10'7" - 4" - 4"). The living area is also calculated from outside of framing to outside of framing which makes it 112 sq ft (10'7" x 10'7").

Did you ever contact tech support regarding this problem? The only problem that I am aware of is the problem that Joe just reported today regarding using the recent files from the task bar. All other reported crashes have been fixed.

The 17.2 update previously fixed the performance problems that Ken was seeing. We just released the 17.3 update that I believe will fix Perry's problem related to the recent file list. As far as I know, X7 should perform as good or better then X6 in almost all cases. If you are still experiencing any performance problems in X7, you should probably contact our technical support team. The 17.3 update will also fix a problem where people would see crashes when trying to do a save as or an export on Dell systems due to some backup software that was installed with a recent system update. If you are still experiencing any crashes or similar problems in X7, then you should also contact tech support.

Here's how I would do it: - turn on the layer called "Layout Box Borders" and set the color to something very visible. - select each layout box on each page. - if you see the "Relink File" button on the edit toolbar, click on it. This will show you the file name that the layout box is linked to.

Since this is only happening on one of your computers, then it is probably system related and the key will be figuring out what is different on that computer. First, if you have not rebooted it lately, then do so. Next, if you are not using the latest update, then download and install it. After that, the next thing to look at is whether you are using the 32 bit or 64 bit version of Chief. If you are using the 32 bit version, then my first guess would be that you are running out of memory. The easiest way to solve that problem is to use the 64 bit version. If you are already using the 64 bit version, then working with tech support is going to be your best option.

The Wall Material Region tool works best for situations where you only need to change a portion of the wall that is some arbitrary shape. It has the added capability of specifying multiple layers of materials and even replacing the finish layers of the wall. An example of where you might want to use it is to define the tile area around a tub/shower combo. The tile does not need cover the whole wall and the material region can remove the existing wallboard and replace it with a region defined using a tile backer layer and mortar layer below the visible tile layer.

Just to clarify a few things since there were some conflicting recommendations here: You do not need to change any preferences to select a wall in a camera view. You can always use the tab key or "next" edit toolbar button to select the wall after you have selected the room. We do not recommend changing your preferences to select walls before rooms until you understand the difference between wall and room heights. It is a common mistake for new users to change wall heights when what they should really be doing is changing room heights. If you wish to change the material of a single wall going all the way from floor to ceiling, it is recommended that you change the material in the wall specification dialog. If the wall spans multiple rooms, or you only need a portion of the wall painted, you can use the wall break tool to split the wall vertically. If a wall is really going to be structurally different, you should change the wall type instead of changing the surface material. If you wish to have different materials on just a horizontal portion of a wall, then the recommended method is to use either wall coverings or pony walls. Pony walls work best if you are actually going to use different structures for the two walls such as having brick on the lower portion of a wall. Wall coverings work best when you want to have just a cosmetic change such as an area or border with wall paper.

Cabinet moldings are not dynamic defaults. This means that if you add or change any moldings in your cabinet defaults that it will not affect any cabinets that have already been placed. It should show up for any new cabinets that are placed though. If you need to change the moldings for any previously placed cabinets, you can group select them to add/change the molding. You could also delete the existing ones and place new ones.

Turn the layer off like Perry suggested.

You need to change the text style that is assigned to the "Cameras" layer.

"Still a lag for me." I was afraid of that. From what I have heard, no one else has been able to duplicate your exact problems yet. There is something very unique about your system or setup that is causing the slow down for you. The only thing I can suggest is working directly with our tech support team until we can properly diagnose the problem. We won't be able to make any fixes until we can figure out why it is slow for you.

The 17.2 update is now available. There were several performance improvements made that should make X7 faster then X6 in many cases. If you are still experiencing any slow performance problems with 17.2, please report them directly to our tech support team.

The 17.2 update is now available. You should contact support if you see any more problems where the layout does not update to match the plan view.

Chief does not generate the 3D data for the stringers unless the stair is marked as Open Risers. When the risers are closed, you normally can't see the stringers. The program has worked this way since the very beginning.

There should be a copy of the original X5 plan in your archive folder.

"...so I'll upload to support." Please be sure to upload the original X5 plan when you do. If you give us the plan after you save it in X7, we will not be able to determine if there is a problem with converting it. I really suspect that the plan is already in a bad state and if we open it up in X5 that it will look exactly the same as it does in X7.

What your saying does not make sense to me. All X5 plans should come into X7 with very few, if any, problems. These plans are only 2 versions back and I don't think there have been very many material changes since then. Even if you were using materials in your X5 plan that had custom textures and patterns, they should still be visible in X7 camera views and the worst case is that your custom textures are not there. The material should display as a solid color instead. I suspect that your plan is really messed up from something else. You may want to contact tech support or post your X5 plan to see if others get similar results if they open it up in X5.

Line weights and line styles are completely independent from colors in Chief. You could always create different layer sets so that you see the colors you want while editing and print with different colors for the final docs. You can also control how the "color off" works in your preferences. You can have images and pictures still show in color and/or have colors use grayscale instead of black and white.

There is no way to import or export your text styles by themselves. If you import/export any other object that references a text style, such as a layer set or annotation set, then the text style should go with it. If you have found a case where a referenced text style does not get transferred, then please report this to our tech support team so that we can look into it further. I suspect that when you imported/exported your layer sets and annotation sets that the program transferred only the text styles it needed but not all of the ones you had in the plan.

We have had several people report problems when trying to do a "save as" that we have tracked down to Dell's backup and recovery software. Jon posted this on another thread: If uninstalling this software does not solve your problem, then you will probably have to contact support on Monday.

Out testing team has been able to determine one cause of this problem. We think this is the case that most people are running into. We should have a fix for this in the 17.2 update that should be available some time in the near future.

Only if you think it is important. You could also email in your suggestion or even call tech support. I don't normally enter feature requests or bug reports based on random discussions on Chieftalk. I only read a small fraction of the posts on Chieftalk and comment on far fewer. There's just not enough time in the day for me to do more. Any time you see me posting something on Chieftalk, your first thought should be "Why is Dermot spending time on Chieftalk when he should be fixing bugs or adding new features?" Every once in a while, I see something on Chietalk that I think is really important and I will take the extra time needed to make sure it gets logged in our internal database. You should never count on that happening. If you think a feature is worth doing, then you should make a formal suggestion. If you think a bug is worth fixing, then you should make a formal bug report.

I was not trying to suggest that the current system is good enough that it does not need any improvements. I was only trying to explain how the current system works because it was obvious some people did not understand it. Understanding how it works should help you to use the program more effectively. If you have ideas for how you think it could be improved, then please feel free to send in your suggestions.

I don't think everyone understands how the allowed angles work in Chief. If you need to draw some walls at 22.5 degrees, then all you need to do is switch your allowed angles from 15 degrees to 7.5 degrees. You don't need to put in any additional angles. If you try to put in an additional angle of 22.5 degrees the program will give you a warning that this angle is already an existing allowed angle since it falls on the 7.5 degree increment. The additional allowed angles should only be used when you need to draw something at some really odd angle that is not on a 7.5 degree increment. For example, if you need to draw something at 9.5 degrees. Then you can enter an additional angle of 9.5. This will let you draw walls on 7.5 degree increments but it will also allow 9.5, 99.5, 189.5, and 279.5. You should use these additional allowed angles very rarely and you should not enter any unneeded ones because they may get in the way of drawing things at the angles you want.