Steve_Nyhof

Now I am seeing the layout file in the Archives. I wonder why my other previous work was not there.

I guess I would like to ask what the Save button does - or Ctrl+S ??? I use Ctrl+S all the time. If I am in the layout, does Ctrl+S do anything?

As soon as I placed my first elevation into the layout, the name changed from untitled to the clients name and shows up in the Browser. Seems to me that it should be saved.

I guess it is not my day. So I was working on the next job and putting things together on the layout. I have all my elevations, and my floor plan in place. I was working on a cross section and just completed it. I saved it into the Browser with Save Active View, and it went in there, and took a break. When I came back, I was messing with my printer and accidentally hit the power button to the whole system. After I rebooted I went back into the job and my section was gone and in fact there is no layout. I checked the Archives and there was an older copy - no layout exists. So, now I am a bit gun shy. I had my autosave set to 5 minutes, but how often does the archives save a backup? And, does the system save the layout in the same place or somewhere else? Again, I am starting over and putting things back into a new layout.

So I redrew my sections - saved them before I moved them to layout. They all show up in the Browser. I saved the plan, closed it and opened it - all still there Hope that doesn't happen again.

Section - It saves in the Cross Sections as Cross Sections 1, etc. next to my elevations

It was there

This time I'm using "Save Active View" on my sections. But they were all there. I did just find out that hitting Cntr+S does not save the section into the Project Browser.

I put them together and on the layout - so did not need to go into the Project Browser to open them. I added my section lines, added my details to the sections, and placed them into the layout. I save often and I updated a few times when I made some updates to the sections. Now the section lines are gone, the sections are still in the layout - with no notation. And the sections do not exist in the Project Browser.

So I just completed a plan - spent about 3 hours putting my notes and things on 5 sections. The client wanted a few changes so I opened the plan and see that I have no sections. I looked at my archives - nope! - I have is saving every 2 minutes. Is there hope are does this happen and I just have to get to work again?

Agree completely!

I'm now seeing that making up more names is better. I have used Brite for my trim and on the plan I'm working on I named the wall color Brite. So now when I change the walls, it is also changing all my trim. But I get it! And I like it Thank you

Very nice! And I am assuming that you have more than one wall type in the plan - yes? Well, you would - there is exterior and interior walls - Thank you

I see. That is an interesting idea. I have set up defaults for what I think is nice common colors - more traditional and craftsman as that is more of what I do. But lately people are wanting modern and modern farmhouse which is kind of forcing me to offer colors and materials that make more sense with those designs. Thank you Joey!

Got it! Running away!!! And thoughts on how you address this issue?

I will look into this. I also have not checked this out. I have thought of this - and I may. I dislike duplicating things that may require further changes - then I would have two to mess with. But I do believe this would work well. And maybe part of how I offer my services will need to fall into, let me get my design done first, and then I can use the eyedropper to paint whole floors/plans,etc. As I still learn, I am finding that colors are very meaningful to clients, and can get lost in time with them, but I believe I can set a policy to take advantage of the 3D model and colors for those who are will to pay for that specific service above the normal plan documents. At the moment I am paying attention to how this is working and deciding how I would approach this. I don't want to leave money on the table - so-to-speak. Thank you Mark! Steve

I'm trying to understand the materials for walls. I spent some time going through all my default walls in the Default Settings, making sure I set all my materials for my interior and exterior wall materials to default (checked default and see default noted in the materials tab.) I also went through my library one wall at a time to make sure all settings matched and set to default - especially for my interior and exterior materials. Then I created a New drawing and added some walls to see all my settings were working correctly - which they were. I had both exterior and interior walls drawn and added some walls from my library and all those walls also checked out good. Siding and wall colors/details were what I set up in my template. Nice! Ok, I thought I would go into the Defaults on the New drawing and change my interior wall color. Nothing changed. Ok, so while floor heights, joist, etc. all seem to change things in the current plan, wall material changes do nothing to existing walls. Is this correct? So if I have 6 different wall types in the drawing and I want to change the color of the wall, do I need to open each one and change the color in Wall Types? I do see that I can control these walls form the Define Wall Types... dbx. I would just have to know what walls are in the drawing. And this does change the walls - so this works. I know I can use the Material Eyedropper but that causes other issues when I want to change things in the Define walls area - and the reason I went back to make sure everything is set to defaults. Taking me some times to wrap my head around how these defaults work. So it seems to me that if all my walls, set up in Defaults Settings (each wall type) AND in my Library, that changing the Materials in the Default Settings should change all the walls in the plan if all the walls in the plan are set up to use the default materials. Maybe I am missing something, but if I have a client that want to see vertical siding vs horizontal, or one overall color for the interior walls, that I would not have to change all the different wall types added into the plan one by one. How do others address this issue? Thank you, Steve

Thank you Sir!

Actually in this case, the attic wall split at the trim board so just changed the material. I've done some strange things with gable materials so was just not thinking - that was much faster. But I will mess with pony walls also.

I use pony walls for my foundation and some brick/stone walls on the main floor, but did not know I could use them in the attic. I will make it happen! Thank you

Thank you - I did not think the other roof would do this, but I will remember that.

I have run into this a few times and can't seem to get rid of it. I do not want the boxed fascia on the gable end. I want what is on the left, not on the right. I even deleted the right roof and copied the left to the right - it just comes back. Thoughts? Thank you! SND1854 Potter Barn.plan

Yes, I was wondering about that. Thank you

Just wanted to follow up... Everyone on this thread has helped in the understanding of this and my main template file has been free now of the extra walls and duplicating. So, that was my goal of this post and now I feel a little more in control. Now when I want to add a wall into the Define Wall Types... dbx, I go into my template and carefully select only the down arrow and not the folder and click on the wall I want to add - like Solver and Michael so clearly pointed out. Clicking on walls now in the library on a new plan does not add anything into the library of the template file - which is perfect! Thank you, Steve One thing I have found is that I have a wall called Siding-6. I cannot find this file in my defaults or connected to any wall in my library, yet I cannot delete it because it says it is in the file. I even backed way out on each floor and selects the whole screen trying to see if it was off in space somewhere. Not a big deal, but I have found that the system likes to use that wall now and then, I think when I change an exterior 4" wall to a 6" wall in the General tab - Thickness field. I will try to pay attention and see if and when this happens. I don't like it because it is set up differently - but as I type this, I guess I will go into that wall and make it's settings match my Exterior Siding-6 wall type.

Thank you!