HumbleChief

Nice indeed but Chief will never, ever work like that. The fact that what you've shown is an add-on is perhaps most impressive. Chief currently has no way to add-on anything that I'm aware of.

Point well taken. I've watched a couple of those videos and the complexity is staggering. What I haven't seen is how hand rails and other variables are handled. I would imagine the flexibility is superb but the complexity as in all of ArchiCad would literally take me years to understand and to create a stair with handrails that behave the way I want them to could take all my free business time leaving no time for design or creating ConDocs.

Mentioned in the video but not shown - "Draw Order Control" hmmm

I always wondered why that wasn't in the program from the very first version. Been suggested a lot but never reaches priority one. It's not a deal breaker for me and seems so easy to implement and makes the software look amateurish IMO.

Probably very true. I watched a couple of videos but none showed the problems that a user might run into as defined here on the forum re: Chief. Wasn't X8 the update that had the most stair changes just recently? Perhaps that was all the changes intended for a couple more releases?

I was wondering, is there a program out there that does stairs 'right'? I'm going to google a bit to see what I can find. Here's a couple of Archicad options. Looks flexible on the one hand but limited on the other. The ability to trim to walls seems like tool we could use in Chief. And a bunch of Revit Videos https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=stairs+in+revit

Yeah Lew I've seen those few posts but I am just not seeing the same cacophony of those posts worthy of stating "everyone complains" about such things. They just seem like valid, occasional, questions that are raised now and again. I expect we'll see the same thing when X9 is released but I'll reserve judgement for now, download it when it comes on line, and get back to work.

I agree with the internal optimization upgrades. Those invisible improvements can be the biggest productivity boosters of all. I use stairs differently than others as I don't have too many problems with them but any improvement in any portion of the program I am all for.

All good points and I think a strategy of low expectations is the wisest for me personally. I think it's the folks that think that Chief should be a different type of program and do things in ways they never have, nor never intend to do in the future, that may be the most disappointed.

Hey Yusef, That partial message was stuck in my reply box and the only way I could get past it was to post that cryptic message you see. Sorry for the confusion. I'll try and delete it. Deleted, should have done that quicker - again apologies.

Looks like that worked. I don't think anyone is under the impression that the first sneak peek is the complete feature set of X9 and aren't the users entitled to give feedback on features both old and new? ...and 'everyone complains'.. really? Been here over 10 years and have seen most every post and just haven't seen what you're talking about Lew. Even this thread - would you say Chief is catching sh** again from the posts here? Again just not seeing it. And what if X9 turns out to be an upgrade that underwhelms with its new features? Are users supposed to say nice job when it could be so much better? I keep my expectations very low and understand Chief's business model so I am not so disappointed when a new upgrade is released. Personally I'm very, very happy with X8 and I don't expect much in the way of ground breaking new features in X9 but I'll bet, just like every new release, X9 will get a little more refined, a little more polished and will help make our designing jobs just a little bit easier.

It looks like all my replies are stuck with that same text to start in that thread. Weird and am pretty sure it will pass but just a heads up.

Never had this happen and is probably just a passing thing but I'm trying to quote a post and the post that's quoted is a different post. Anyone else seen this.

WOW That is a lot of house, great job Shane.

Shane, are you commenting on the X9 release directly despite the obligatory NDA? Or are you hoping the comments you made are true?

I'll just leave it at that.

Don't the Alpha/Beta testers sign an NDA to insure no cats get let out of any bags?

Chief's facebook page

Alex, You could always have a template plan with 3 or 4 of your most common materials for p-line solids set up ready to go with each new plan - kinda like a default but a bit more flexible. I just use the concrete default, change materials, then copy and paste that solid wherever needed.

+1

Still impressed...

VERY Impressive indeed. Nice work Renerabbit and I really have no idea how you did that but again nice job. Could you share the plan or a tutorial on how that might be accomplished?

Yes, in theory a very simple concept. In practice it can be simple or crazy making depending on the complexity of the model. I've been using CA for over 15 years but still get fooled by the arcane and unintuitive 3D methods the program employs. Should I have known it was on the third floor? Of course, but I didn't and with all my experience could not find it. As a matter of fact I have learned to look on different floor after many times being fooled about their location. User error? Again, of course but why can't I figure it out simply and quickly?Just not smart enough to use the program? Very possible. Or is there something inherently difficult about the paradigm that Chief employs? You decide.

I just created a p-line solid in elevation view to fix a 3D problem and COULD NOT find it in plan view. Created a separate layer for the solid, turned on the 'all off' layer and then just the new solid layer. Finally found it on the 3rd floor but needed to delete/copy and paste it to the first floor so I could position it in plan view. After a few frustrating attempts to locate it properly I finally got it positioned properly. Frustrating is an understatement and even more frustrating is there is no indication Chief will change the way 3D is handled any time in the near future.

Lots of tweaking left to go, but thanks for the tip.