stevenyhof

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!

I see. So that is similar to what Solver was saying. It seems funny that just the Selection Panel itself would make a difference of adding or not adding those walls into the list. I like things streamlined and often get carried away spending time trying to keep things clean - but this seems like a bug to me. As anyone can click on a folder just browsing for something that has nothing to do with walls. I liked Solvers idea of right clicking and having an option to add the walls you want. On one hand, new users may wonder why they can't have access to the walls available in the dbx, and on the other hand, other users, like myself, want to see only what I will ever use - making finding things easier and less cluttered.

Very good - I will try this - Thank you

The video is helpful knowing that all you are doing is clicking on a wall type or the folder and they are added into the list. That is at least helpful to know how some of this is happening.

I will look into what you are saying and figure it out. Just to note, Chief is designed for us to use the walls in the Library to draw walls on the plan - yes? Like adding a Chair, I drag it from the library and place it in my plan. I use Walls from the library and place it in my plan. Outside of that, I am not messing in the library to change the walls in there. I set them up as my defaults and then only use them. I am not making additional changes to my walls in the library. Thank you for taking some time to look into this. I hope to help out one day also, but still wrapping my head around some of these things.

So I am finding that the Library Browser is connected to all plan files I create from the template. I guess I knew this in a way as all my other things like furniture are there for all files. I have fine tuned all these items with the layers on wanted and any details from the Library. It seems that Walls are this only thing I am running into as they are of a different breed. When I am working on a plan and add a wall from the library, it is also added to the Define Wall Types.. dbx in my Template file. So the more I work on other plans and insert walls from the Library to build my model, they are added to my Template dropdown list in the Define Wall Types.. dbx. Which I do not mind and figured that is how it works. My issue it mainly with the copies it creates. My concern here is that if I make changes to a wall in a new plan, those changes are not updated on the Library walls, but maybe a copy of the wall I am using. I think this is the reason why I am seeing an increase in copies on that list of walls. I'm guessing??? So if I add a brick wall to a new plan from the library, and change the brick to stone on that new plan from the wall itself in the plan, then the system is making a copy - ??? - I am guessing as I enter this. "Always edit your list of walls in the Plan file itself and not through the Library Browser." So I only edit the walls in the Library in the Template file. When I draw a new plan then I will open the wall from the plan sheet and make my changes - not changing my walls in the Library. So on a new plan, I may add my Exterior Siding-6 wall and draw all my walls. Then I want to change the siding to a different siding/color. So I open the wall on the plan (double click it) and go to Define. I don't wish to make a copy of it as I want all the walls on the plan to update to the new settings - which works. My fear now is that when I do this, the system makes a copy ( Exterior Siding-6_2 ) to save the original. Is this true? OR... if I make a change on like Exterior Siding-6 is it also changing in my Library? That would not be nice as I want my defaults. I draw all my walls with a common default. Then my client may want to see siding that is clay in color. I can and have used the Material Eyedropper for this, but that seems like a poor way to do it. I would just prefer to make the change to the existing wall settings. I know one thing, I am doing something wrong by misunderstanding this function and making a mess of things. I have a meeting this coming week with Steve Nester and plan on discussing this with him as it is on my list of things I wanted to learn more about. Thoughts? And thank you to everyone!

Ok, so I think you are on to something. I typically deleted my unused walls from the User Catalog - existing wall - Open dbx. This time I opened my template, I went into Build > Wall > Define Wall Types... I deleted all unused - and like you show, it still keeps a few, but I think those are in my Defaults - guessing... I saved my template and closed it. Then I opened my template and this time the walls were still gone!! So it seems the "Delete All Walls" from the User Catalog > Open Object... does the action of deleting the walls, but does not save into the database. Then I closed my template... Closed the software... Opened the software and selected - New Plan from the open screen... The walls are still gone!!! Solver... You come by your name honestly! Thank you, Steve PS. I'm not sure if this means something is wrong yet with the Open Object... process of deleting the walls.

Let me try what you are doing

Ok, so I opened up my template and deleted all unused walls and saved. Closed the software. Opened it up and closed the popup where you select what project or new, etc. From the blank screen, I went to File > Open Plan and selected my template. All the extra walls were there.

No - that is set correctly...

I thought of that too and then got busy - let me look...

I will also report this to support - but I have uploaded my template here. It is a blank sheet. There are no walls or objects on any floors - other than some text. SND_D_Residential Template.plan

One thing I have learned is that once you open a new drawing from your template, it will have a growing list of unused walls that you can delete. But once you close and reopen that new drawing, all the deleted walls will be back - This was said as a joke. Really, Is there a place I can truly delete the walls I do not use? A though just came to me. As I continue to draw more drawings, and make wall changes per that unique drawing, is the system creating new/copied walls? So a few years from now I will have hundreds of wall copies? Cool!

So I went into my template - made sure all my User Catalog was set to the right wall (no copies) and deleted all the rest. So I saved it with about 10 walls still in there - what seemed like the walls set by my Defaults. Closed it. Opened it and all the copies of the walls are back. So deleting all unused is not deleting all unused. My sheet is blank, so where are these walls being stored? And is there a way to truly delete them?