HumbleChief

Not all Xeons perform better than i7's and I don't think Doug intended to imply such a thing. Check the passmark chart linked above. Those relative performances are probably a good indication of the Ray Trace performance you can expect. There are other factors of course. I was told that dual Xeons have a strange capacity to perform more than twice as fast as a single processor because of their internal architecture but that's a bit beyond my pay grade. Again I think if you stuck with that chart and bought as much throughput as you can afford you'd be good for Ray Tracing. Also remember Xeons can suck the power. I have 2 energy efficient processors that were chosen for that purpose as well.

I have a MB that uses dual Xeons. The processors are not that fast but the EVGA MB allows overclocking of the Xeons to max the throughput. The person who built this computer (I usually do all my own) measured the throughput (in gigaflops) of the 2 overclocked Xeons versus the fastest i7 that was available at the time and the 2 Xeons were better performers. They were NOT better without the slight OC. I went with this set up to quicken my RT times and it's about twice as fast as my older i7 OC'd to about 3.4 hz. Now no doubt the newer i7's would be faster than my current dual Xeon setup. All this is to get to the point that if you use Xeons, find a way to measure throughput versus the newer i7s. Without that info you may not improve your RT performance and spend a LOT of money doing so..

Welcome to the club. I downloaded your plan and it looks pretty good to me. What specific problem are you (do you think you are) having? And why do you want the model correct? For a 3D presentation? For an accurate section with all framing its proper location? Other? I'm asking because it looks like you are pretty much there for your 3D presentation. Sections and framing are another matter that may require more manual work or a manually drawn section to CAD.

Yes

I liked "Red Científica Peruana"

Re-draw the wall. Post the plan.

Not much help with the rotate key but acronyms can make me crazy sometimes. What's an rcp? And because it's an rcp does that make needing the 90 degrees hot key more necessary? http://www.abbreviations.com/rcp

Looks like Chief might be building that second floor wall as an attic wall using the material from the wall below. Can you select the second floor wall and change its material? And sometimes just redrawing walls will fix stuff too.

There's nothing wrong with the approach you're taking. You can use floor 0 for the garage as you clearly illustrate, or you can use floor 1, not important. Sometimes floor 1 will give you some more options than floor 0 and if the garage is on floor 1 then you can add a foundation on floor 0. If the garage is already on floor 0 then where does the foundation for the garage go? - if you need one? Another thing to consider is which floor plans you want to show on the same level. If you want to see the garage and another floor on the same level in floor plan (for whatever reason) then obviously the two areas have to be on the same floor level.

Like both the tip and the suggestion it go to the tips forum.

That strategy works best for me as well but as illustrated above Joe uses a different strategy. The key is to understand how Chief works/thinks/is designed to work, which is the hard part, then develop a strategy that works for you. Really appreciate you taking the time to post the plan. I learned just a little more.

Great advice Wendy and I think if your post shows anything it shows that a person has to develop a strategy that works for them and stick with it. I'm leaning toward the 'set the terrain perimeter/building pad at 0' and adjust the terrain with elevation regions but I can see your strategy working just as well and as long as ones approach is consistent the crazy making should be kept to a minimum. BTW the file you attached had 0k and I could not open it.

Here's what I get with these default out of the box settings. I tried a couple settings in the wall framing dbx and have no idea how you got the walls to frame that way Greg. The attached pic is the only way I can get them to frame. Found it. Uncheck the "horizontal frame through" button will get you what I posted. Checking it will get you what you posted.

Here's a quick terrain video that may or may not be relevant. http://www.screencast.com/t/geVV2Cbm

Here's a vid of the above strategy. There are a few land mines that you must avoid and if you watch through to the end you will see THE SINGLE MOST FRUSTRATING THING ABOUT CHIEF'S STRUCTURE DBX. Hope this helps. http://www.screencast.com/t/Qsc4usSSnwDP

That's a good strategy and another option is to put the garage on floor 1 and set its floor height to a negative number below the main living floor (floor level 2) above which can be set at '0' - 0"'. Both strategies work bit since most of the of design work will probably be done on the floor above it might be nice to have that floor set to '0' - 0"'. Also if you consistently set the main living floor at '0' - 0"' you have a conscious place that all your buildings, now and in the future, will start and stop their floor levels from.

Not sure this helps but I caught Chief in the act again today. Only posting to help the tech guys with all the clues they can use. http://www.screencast.com/t/BjnDWDFosK7M

After doing those vids I realized that I've tried many different times to create a basement using the foundation level (0) but probably won't again unless it's a mono slab and even then having your slab on floor 1 is not a bad thing. May be I won't use Floor (0) again - not sure but pretty enlightening stuff from all you - thanks..

Yeah I think I got your point in this last vid, something I didn't try in the first. http://www.screencast.com/t/DbymFvFcJ I'll watch yours now. Great vid as always but I think it's pretty easy to get it all done without a foundation level as your vid shows and I think you might have stated as much at the end even though you used it initially to get your framing to show. Either way always nice to see the different techniques and learn just a little bit more about the structure dbx.

Always appreciate your comments Scott. I think I just discovered that in order to control the height of the slab independently of the footing that the room height setting allows this and the stem wall height keeps the footing and the slab 'joined' and moving together. See if I missed something. http://www.screencast.com/t/k38LoQZs9f

Another look and probably something most saw when I was doing the vid. http://www.screencast.com/t/Z3Lx8UiZGVwu

Here's another method without a mono slab - probably what you (and Joe) are talking about? http://www.screencast.com/t/uVv2YNjXe

Yup, do you think that's what Sherry is asking for?

A footing in a basement without a slab? Huh? What would you walk on? A wooden floor? Wood on piers? Genuinely confused. I guess you could try and define the slab as air space, and that might show only the footings and then you can walk on the dirt floor of the basement? Sorry for the snark Sherry but I don't understand but it is late so it might be something simple I'm missing. Oh wait, a footing with a separate slab poured later? That could work. Is that what you mean?

See if this helps. Lot easier in practice than in theory. http://www.screencast.com/t/MCzcZa1wvV