HumbleChief

THANKS you guys. I didn't realize I could pull a dim from the baseline. Temp dims worked once I clicked on the baseline to get that dim. Never knew that was possible so again thanks William and Michael I appreciate you taking your time.

Sorry, dumb post alert. I don't mean how to simply adjust the overhang. I'll see if I can explain it. Let's say you've moved a roof plane AUTO REBUILD OFF and you also moved the overhang by mistake to relocate or re-dimension a roof. Going back to that roof plane's dbx there's information stating "Overhang from Baseline" which has been altered from messing with that roof plane. I would like a way to re-enter that distance and get it accurate versus eyeballing its location. Doesn't seem to be a way to re=set that overhang through a dbx setting - just visually. Correct?

Is there a way? Or is it done visually only once you have change the default overhang?

I'm going to steal an idea I could have sworn got posted yesterday by a poster in the other Sneak Preview thread. As I remember (poorly I'm sure) he suggested that Chief's stair improvements include a lot of 'eye candy' that doesn't address the technical details and needs expressed by some posters here and I just wanted to second that opinion. We can't know Chief's market and we can't know how many forum members represent that market but I think this is who Chief is, for better or worse. They make the complicated simple at the expense of really detailed flexibility. Works for some may not for others. I might be in the minority (and the forum is a terrible measure of such things) but I don't need the technical stuff and never think I'll use the eye candy but always do in the end. These new stair tools seem too simplistic at first glance but I bet I use them and love them. I hate getting cable railings on stairs and they would never behave between landings etc. This new feature looks great for that. The snapping to walls is great addition as well. I don't usually have to wow my clients with custom balusters etc. but maybe I will now. Looking forward to these new tools.

Here's the link Lew - the discussion has evolved to include this new teaser in the X9 Sneak Preview thread but more discussion is always a good thing. What's your opinion on the new stair features? https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/2404/x9-stairs.html

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/2404/x9-stairs.html Just to give a little context to the current discussion.

AWESOME Curt!!!!

Good one Joe. I posted as well but it's been a while. I'll go and second your suggestion.

SWEET

Thanks for the reply Perry. I've used this a couple times myself and saves loads of time re-routing electrical etc. and knew you used it also so again appreciate the confirmation.

I don't think there's a way to do so but might be missing something - thanks.

Newell, In plan view go to your Roof Plan Set, make sure Roofs, Ridge Caps is displayed and 'unlocked'. Select that stray ridge cap and delete.

Like I posted, not getting it - at all. Shouldn't I be able to go back and find the latest saved version using Auto Save every 2 minutes? I found an older file without the 1 hour's work and that was all I found. Seems like it's worked perfectly before but maybe user error? Chief was open for perhaps 30 minutes as I did something else. Came back worked for 5 minutes and Windows crashed. Felt good because of the settings but only an older version of the file was there to open and the work was gone. So auto save didn't save? May never know. I opened the Layout and not the plan file - did that make the difference? Chief asked me if I wanted to use a more current version of the Layout file but not the plan file? Oh well, re-did the work but am now hitting cntrl s every few minutes which I remember wasn't needed as the auto save/archive was so dependable. Just feels bad not knowing if my work is backed up or not.

My computer crashed and I lost a bit of work and am once again confused by the archive feature in Chief. I've posted my current settings and am wondering, again, how Chief deals with its Archived files. I've got Auto Save set to every 2 minutes and Auto Archive Files set to 'Previous Save' but am not sure what that means because I lost about an hour's worth of work on a custom section and can't seem to figure out how to save an Archive that doesn't lose that hour's work. Does previous Save mean it will only Archive the saved version? Meaning I have to hit Cntrl 'S' every couple minutes to make sure it's archiving that last saved version? Where does the auto save every 2 minutes end up? Not getting it.

Fair enough...but that argument will have to be taken up with someone else.

Apologies for not being clearer. I intended to imply that Chief needs specific ideas about what to change i.e. stairs in order to get things right for the users or else they are lost as to how they can improve Chief the best way possible. I'll edit that original post as well as it seems to have been taken the wrong way.

I think one of the assumptions is that some needed improvements are "apparent to everyone including the brain trust at CA" when in fact they simply aren't. And as Joe mentioned in a previous post without some specific details for needed improvements Chief is really lost as to how can't know exactly how to improve the current features to meet the user's needs. EDIT: It appears that the original post got taken the wrong way and what I meant to imply was that Chief might be lost if we the users don't help with specific suggestions about specific features. For example with stairs it won't help much with a suggestion like, "We need better stairs." Chief can't do anything with that input. They need to hear about specifics like, "Please return the handrails to specific point etc. etc."

Yeah prioritizing over 4,000 requests would be a handful for sure.

As I remember there was no real organized ranking method, and as would be easy to imagine, there were 10 people with 10 very different desires and feature requests which ran the entire gamut of Chief's abilities. The fruits of those meetings would, I think, be very hard to pin point as to a specific feature that came to life but it had to help the developers if they were willing to listen and execute those ideas. I think it's also important to remember that there was quite a 'large voice' concerning stair changes and X8 implemented a lot of those changes, apparently not enough for many users, so perhaps another 'large voice' on the suggestion forum might be helpful again?

There was a 10 person user group appointed just before the X8 update and that group met in Idaho with the entire company staff to go over specific wants and needs in the program. Not sure if that group will meet again this year or not. I was a part of that group and could not have been more impressed with the people involved at Chief. As far as making changes recommended by the group I'd say it's impossible to say what kind of impact the user group had on actual development plans as those plans are set so far in advance that any changes will come slowly if at all. I would imagine that no matter how hard any group clamored for any specific change there are business considerations that will override those requests if necessary, and rightfully so. I think they had 4000+ items on the want list at that time and I'm sure the list has grown from there. I'd even venture to say that X10's feature set is pretty well nailed down now to allow for full development of those features before the next upgrade so maybe X10 will include a few more sea changes but I would not bet on it.

Yeah, Chief as well as other software developers have to choose where they put their development dollars. Chief chose i.e. cabinet details, which some will never really utilize, over some basic functionality as you've pointed out i.e: suspended ceilings, stair details, and hatch origins. It's a crap shoot and we all benefit in some small way even if we don't get the exact features we want.

Really haven't explored the pricing models so if you say that Archicad cost the same as Chief for a similar tool set then I'll take your word on same and of course not much of anything is really all THAT expensive and it's all relative. If I can buy a tool that improves production and my ROI is more than $29 - $49 per month then I'd be all over it. I just don't need much more than Chief currently offers - for my business - which is the issue all the features and add-ons etc. always come down to - your business. Funny I had no idea there was even such a thing as Chief's 3D Viewer model storage. Another business relative feature/add-on I've never used, and may never use.

I personally don't want that. I don't want to pay Archicad's ridiculous prices nor do I want to pay for add-ons, simply because my business doesn't demand that kind of detail. I also don't need the custom stair tools that are shown. Chief's tools work fine for me but there may be others who can use the additional tools and are willing to pay or them. I think that would be a great option - for some. Trying to think of a custom add-on I would like for Chief and really can't come up with anything - for my uses - but I'll bet there are others users who could use some custom tools.

Not sure how I would use the block management features as I've never needed them before but re-organizing pages in the project browser will come in handy.

Agreed.