HumbleChief

Perhaps check for any nearby volcanos or lava flows in the area?

DOH...didn't see the separate newel height dbx. Fixed. THANKS

Sorry for the poor description but I'd like to extend the newel posts above the railing about 6 inches. Bottom offset seems to only effect bottoms with a negative value having no effect.

Been searching for a while and want to raise the newels on a deck railing. Can it be done? THANKS

Thanks P and am planning to keep my SSA up to date.

Found it, I imported the mysteriously disappeared tool bar configuration from my X16 docs file and then turned on tool bars which had somehow mysteriously been turned off. Weird.

Thanks DB and Yes will probably use X17 in legacy mode when I complete a couple jobs started in Project management mode and decide to use it full time and the 'new features' in X17 are in no way a compelling reason for me to use X17. My business requires very little Ray Tracing use overall as the standard views serve my purposes in most cases (and the YouTube Videos I produce for my clients) and the very occasional need that I have for a Ray Trace the CPU Ray Trace, which doesn't take hours for an image, works just fine for my business. I also have an older system and monitors that may or may not be compatible with a new graphics card and I can't justify the cost and complexity for something I really don't need.

I've read a bunch of threads regarding lost tool bars but haven't fallen victim until now. All configurations are gone as in pic. Need help! THANK YOU!

This is a bit of public service announcement for those didn't know this. Came as a surprise to me as I don't have (nor need) a GPU Ray Tracing capable graphics card and use CPU RT when needed card but may be in a very small minority. Curious how many rely on their CPU to Ray Trace instead of a GPU capable card?

Did not know this. I don't have GPU Ray Tracing and don't need it for my business. I have X17 and my SSA is due this month but have been using X16 because I just don't like the 'feel' of X17 and the project management tools. I know I can use the legacy tools in X17 but still more comfortable using X16 and the deletion of the CPU raytracing tool will ensure I stick with X16 for a while longer as it has all the tools I need.

Yeah thanks, ended up doing the same.

THANK YOU!!! But I see it only affects the elevation portion behind and not the portion in front. No worries I'll figure some thing out.

There's a feature in X16 where you can 'gray out' front portions of an elevation but I can't remember what it's called or where it is. Don't even know how to phrase the question so hope the question is clear enough. Thank You in Advance.

Interesting, not using 17 that much but will explore.

THANK YOU!!!

I've got a PDF plan that I am annotating in Layout and there seems to be a default arrow style that's spec'd somewhere I can't locate. In plan the Active Defaults include an 'Arrow' field. See pics below. In layout the Active defaults don't have an 'Arrow' field but there's an arrow that shows up with text anyway. In Layout with every arrow added to text I have to select the arrow and change it's properties and the reason I'm posting this is because there's a LOT of arrows. The pic below shows both Active Default dbx and the arrow that is on by default in Layout. Is there a way to change that arrow property in Layout? THANKS

Lane, I lose my custom tool bar occasionally and the check mark shown in the pic to show in 'Plan' was missing. It's happened a handful of time just randomly. Hope that helps.

Same point I was trying to make a couple posts above.

Maybe. But that assumes that advancements in technologies graphic engines etc. will be useful to users who also may not need those advancements. I have an ancient graphics card and very old computer that works great for my uses. I used to need all the latest and greatest but not so much any more so future tech like advances in graphics cards etc. hold no interest - for me.

Before I go on I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the staff and developers at Chief. They have helped me make a living for many years. Given that, there is one more phenomenon that strikes every software company and creates a difficult but inevitable business decision. That phenomenon is the eventual 'maturity' of software. Think Microsoft's Word and Excel. When was the last time there was a meaningful update to their feature set that truly benefitted 95% of their user base? That feature rich maturity creates no real need to upgrade and predicting a revenue stream becomes nearly impossible. Hence, the subscription business model. Revenues can now be projected with much more accuracy and top and bottom lines are easier to manage. Has Chief 'matured' with a feature set that is complete enough to discourage users to update? Maybe. But X17, if not there, is really close. For this user, who still has the grandfathered SSA program, this may be my last upgrade as I really don't need any new features. Others' needs will be different I'm sure and who knows X18 may be ground breaking but I am not really looking forward to its release but am willing to be surprised.

I've used Chief for over 20 years and my experience with X 17 so far mirrors my experience with every upgrade with one personal difference this time. The usual upgrades give us things we each need, things we don't need, and things we didn't know we needed. Watching the program mature over the years has been an amazing adventure with each year adding just a little more functionality and a little more capability. The thing is for some people, including myself, with each new upgrade the software becomes so capable that upgrades are only really needed to keep up with the latest version, even if that version adds very little day to day work flow improvements. That's the difference for me and X17. I simply don't need any of the new features in X17. I haven't seen a single new feature in X17 that will help my work flow but I realize how individual that can be and can see how moving water and 3D text might be good for some users but for me I really don't even need any new features over X16. I do small home remodeling in San Diego so my business model doesn't require that much horsepower and I can figure out stairs and most every situation (with the help of this forum :)) that I come across. So for me X17 might be a great upgrade for some but for me I'll upgrade to preserve my SSA status and not for the new features of X17.

Very confusing at times but I just learned that the 'backups' folder under Documents/Premier X17 Data/Backups can be saved to DropBox without needing to export caproj files for each project. May not work for everyone but seems to be OK for my work flow and backup strategy.

One more question. With Project Management turned on what happens if my hard drive fails? Are there backups stored somewhere that can be restored? Right now I have DropBox and Carbonite but both those offer no help with PM turned on. I understand the option to just turn off PM but would like both, PM and a secure, accessible backup location.

What if Chief exported/saved/backed up caproj files for each project to a folder and frequency specified in Preferences? That folder would be visible to DropBox in explorer and would save the gymnastics of manually exporting each project?

I exported and imported a caproj file and all links were broken so am reticent to try again.