Steve_Nyhof

The Grade.zip files for the above .tm grades

Grade.zip

If you like. I have included two File with grade and trees.

• Background1-One Story.tm has a little shorter trees so they do not over dominate the house
• Background1-Two Story.tm has a taller trees so they still show up in the background
• I am including the Grade.zip file in the new post - Unzip and put the Grade folder into the same folder as the .tm files. Make sure to keep copies of these files. Because I am in the East, I do not have southern trees.
  Example:
  > Your computer folder
  > > Grade folder (some images the .tm file will look for)
  > > Background1-One Story.tm (You can rename this to what your want)
  Example:
  > C:\Houseplans\Myhouse (folder)
  > > C:\Houseplans\Myhouse\Grade (folder)
  > > C:\Houseplans\Myhouse\Background1-One Story.tm (file)
• I have a small gray square that faces the front of the grade and a large circle where you house will land.
• Open one of the .tm files and hit Ctrl+I to import your 3DS model file - it should land right on the circle. All CA models are typically drawn in the center of the paper, and therefore the same coordinates should drop the model on the grade in the same place.
  Note that you may need to lower or raise your model to sit correctly on the grade
• The background trees can be manipulated with the Vegetation paint tool
• The foreground trees are individually placed and can be manipulated and moved

If someone gives it a try, let me know if it worked. It should give you a quick base to create fast renderings.

Here is a video that shows the steps
https://my-plan.stevenyhofdesigns.com/v/z9UMeq8JCC21eFkarg2U

Background1-One Story.zip Background1-Two Story.zip

Many thanks to everyone in this thread to inspire me to step into Rendering my elevations beyond CA. Twinmotion was the key, and to answer the question of grass, yes, you can spend the time to make things even more real, but Twinmotion has a grass material with some options for roughness and striping that I think works great. Along with adding some trees to offer shade is a great look.

I spent a few hours watching videos, and then a view hours making up a few templates in Twinmotion. Now I can just import a 3DS format model into Twinmotion and it can be done - as shown in my example below (with no landscaping). Today I'm going to be working on some landscaping, and maybe coming up with a number of plants I like that I can save into the template and just move and copy into place.

Note that I imported my Terrain by itself as a larger grade slab into Twinmotion and painted that with the grass material (not the grass in the landscaping section). The I painted selected "random" trees to some depth so you cannot see through them, and then added specific trees to where and how I like them to look. I also set it up so that I can view the house model from the front, the left or the right and the background still works as expected. 

A big thanks to Renerabbitt! While I did not use his grass suggestions, I learned a great deal from his videos because they were more directed and relatable to CA. One big thing is to add to your model before export is some materials, slabs, etc that you want to paint in Twinmotion. I'm going to be working on this today for my dirt and landscaping areas. Enjoy the sun location and north (and other tools) to find the perfect look and shadows. Morning and evening shots with lighting inside the home are particularly satisficing.

One rule of thumb in a picture that just looks right, even though the sky seems to be less important than the other parts of a picture, we see more sky in our peripheral view. If you pay attention to most art of outdoors, landscapes, sunsets, etc. you will note that the horizon is at half or lower toward the bottom of the picture showing more sky.

On 11/10/2022 at 6:06 PM, madcowscarnival said:

I had not tried that, but will try and see what happens.  I did just find out that those tools work in "ortho" independently of what "plan" floor they are on.  Very nice.  It seems like it solves the problem pretty well, but maybe not with the correct method.

You just move them up or down to make your joins, then move them back to the floor where you want them to display in your plan.

3 hours ago, robdyck said:

Try this: turn on the display of the Walkthrough Preview. Move it to a secondary monitor so it is completely undocked from Chief. Adjust side windows as desired.

Close the Walkthrough Preview. Close Chief. Open Chief and review position of side windows.

Hi Rob,

I tried this in the exact steps, but it is still doing the same thing as the video shows.

Steve

I did just send this to support, but wanted to know if anyone else was running into this - perhaps unwittingly...

https://myplan.stevenyhofdesigns.com/ApuD7lOR

Ok, just to finish this... Resolved

I called Support and they had me click on the View > Toolbars button. And that worked.

However, for the record, that is the first thing I tried when I first ran into the issue, and nothing happened. But I did not check this button after I reset my toolbar in the Configuration - shown above on the first post.

To conclude, after setting the Active Configuration that you want to use, make sure to go back and click on the View > Toolbars button to make sure it is active

Thank you,

Steve

I just ran the Repair and that didn't help.

I have the list of toolbars showing, they just don't exist on my screen

I ran into this once before, where I open my CA and there are no toolbars on the top and side.

I found that my saved configuration was missing so I added it back in and set it default [ Switch To ]

Nothing happens. 

I even reset my toolbars and still nothing.

Any idea how to get my toolbars back?

Thank you,

Steve

1 hour ago, DeLayDesign said:

Hey @stevenyhof

I apologize if you've already received your answer.

If I'm understanding correctly; you're trying to create a custom object that you can then use as a shutter on your windows using the shutter feature in the window itself.

If so, simply building the object and adding it to your library may not be enough.

You'll need to create it as a 'symbol' first.  Luckily the newer version of Chief have made this much easier.

Once the object is made, Block it together, then simply right click the blocked object and in the dropdown select 'convert selected to symbol'.  It doesn't matter what you import it as (there use to be a specific shutter option), but once it's imported as a symbol you can access it in the window dialog box as a shutter.

Thank you. A friend reached out to me to show me how. Thank you 

1 hour ago, solver said:

 

Yes. Here is a dishwasher front used as a shutter, and a couple of chair shutters.

 

 

 

Think about how they would look/work when closed.

I think the DW is a good idea. That way you save space inside the house and bring them in when you need to load and empty them. 

I knew it wouldn't take much to get some good feedback here! Best forum on the net! 

7 minutes ago, DBCooper said:

Make sure your symbol is millwork.

 

Try using "reverse direction" on the louvers.  I suppose it depends on whether you are building real shutters vs. fake ones.  Real ones are supposed to shed water away from the window when they are closed.

 

Ah! Yes, that would be true

Perfect! Thank you, Sir!

I have tried to build a shutter out of a Solid, save it as a symbol. But the system does not recognize it. Is there a way to build shutters?

Also - just to note, the default shutter with louvers has the louvers up side down.

FYI - it was the Cabinets, Labels

That was it. X14 must have had that layer on. I did transfer all my details from X13 to X14 so it was all the same and from what I can tell it all worked perfectly other than this layer.

Thank you!

24 minutes ago, rgardner said:

So are you looking for a way to do it other than with the Defaults, or turning the layer off?  What is your end desired results?

Well, now that you said layer, I may find that it is as easy as turning a layer off. The symbols just started to show up when I started to use X14

Thank you, Sir! Updated. 

Hello,

How can I globally turn off the Show Schedule Callout? As I insert Library objects I can open the object and turn if off, but if my object is a block I need to explode the block and then select the object with the call out on. 

Thank you,

Steve

20 minutes ago, MarkMc said:

I draw the building, then delete everything but the terrain to draw the second. That way I can reference the original for placement and easier to get height off terrain. In the case of the example there's a breezeway that connects the two which need adjusting in both the original addition and the garage. I always start at 0,0 for the corner of the building so never have an issue with Z fighting. I just find it easier than a symbol if only doing a few structures, never had to do a full development then I likely would go to symbols.

I will remember this if I know I will be putting them together. I use reference drawings now and then for my remodel work, so I know what you are saying. Thank you

11 minutes ago, robdyck said:

Take a camera view and use the create symbol tool from there. Much simpler.

Yes! I like that a lot. Now I can get the foundation and the attic walls too. Perfect!

Thank you

Just now, robdyck said:

Keep in mind you can't 'move' a referenced plan. When using a referenced plan, the x/y coordinates remain in the same place. For a pool house or detached garage, I draw them in their own plan file and if I need to show them together in a model, I convert the smaller building to a symbol and place it in the larger plan file on its own layer. It's very simple and then I can keep both plans starting at 0,0 on the grid.

I never draw 2 buildings on the same plan file. Mostly because of the defualt / height settings, but also because I'm probably going to re-use the accessory building plan over and over.

I shouldn't say this out loud, but by doing this you can draw a 'new' detached garage plan to completion in about 5-10 minutes.

Very good! Thank you

Now that I know I can select a number of objects (walls, roofs, openings, slabs, etc.) and still make a symbol that would be my preferred option.

I like the idea of a referenced plan. I will try that.
Also, when I selected only the walls and the roof it allowed me to make a symbol so that works well also for a quick idea of putting structures together.

Thank you again!

Thank you! I will check it out