HumbleChief

I understand all the (childish IMO) down votes but just think how awesome the Style Palette could be if given more effort and energy. A modern interface with its own menu options instead of being hidden in the library with a fairly awkward interface. More options and capabilities could make it the go to feature for kitchen and bath design. I would use it on almost every design. Of course it would take more resources and the ROI might not be immediately evident, or non-existent, but the feature would be fully fleshed out and eminently more useful. Not an easy decision for the Chief development folks but I think if there were fewer, fully complete features it would simply, again, make Chief better software.

Yeah I figured that post might have ruffled a feather or two and even garner a couple of those delicious down votes but most likely from those who don't know me nor understand why I would post what I did. I've been using Chief for over 20 years and absolutely love the software as it's provided a living for myself for those 20 years and it just keeps getting better and better. I've been to Coeur D'alene to Chief headquarters and had dinner with the development team. There isn't a better group of men and women and have had nothing but a great experience with everyone involved. But (you saw the but coming) there is a corporate mentality or paradigm that allows for new features to be introduced, sometimes finished sometimes not, then abandoned, never to be improved or polished to their best potential. Never understood that methodology. Another great example in my world at least is the reference layer set feature. Outstanding to say the least but within that outstanding feature is the glass house rendering ref set. Simply doesn't work in real life and just sits there, unfinished. Just think of the potential that feature could have. Add a couple of rendering technique options like line drawing, give it some more flexibility as to how the ref sets layer interact with different rendering techniques and that feature sings. Or wait for feedback and have a team that focuses on finishing and improving each newly introduced feature but "there are far more important things on our todo list." I get it. How long has kitchen partitions been on the todo list? Really makes my point. I also understand completely what becomes a priority within any software development environment and features that are not 'finished' (my term) are very low on that list. Again understood and give much credit to the team for the work they do but what I am suggesting is not intended as a dig against the company but is instead intended to make Chief better software.

If there's no Style Palette Option then it can not be used in a Style and I think the list of objects that can be used is just long enough to give the impression the tool might actually be useful but it is a long running Chief tradition to almost finish a feature then leave it in that unfinished state never to be revisited or 'fixed'. I used the feature once then reported that the partitions (cabinet drop down) that are used in almost every kitchen are not part of the objects that can be specified for a style palette. Tried to make it work but gave up as the effort was more than the 'Style Palette' saved and have never used the feature again. Maybe you'll have better luck but for me the Style Palette joins a fairly long list of features that had so much potential but ultimately abandoned by Chief after their introduction before they could reach that potential. And yes, I am not happy that Chief spends so much effort introducing half finished 'time saving' features only to find they save no time at all. Again you may have better luck but I could never get the feature to be truly useful. Never really understood the mentality about introducing a feature then never really polishing up to its potential but the Chief guys seem to think it's OK but it is, after all, their software.

I just created a 'garage' room and placed a 1/2" floor in the 'structure' tab under Floor Finish and it renders OK. It does not seem to be an issue with the 'garage' room type. Sorry, that's not much help.

There's a "Floor Surfaces" Layer. Is it turned on?

Again, really appreciate your quick response, probably saved me another hour.

Here's a bad question. Are there any other "known issues" we should know about? I just spent an hour trying to figure that out.

THANKS BEN!! Very helpful and appreciate the quick response. I can also take a picture and send that to Layout and will stop the crazy on this end. Took your advice and printed to a new PDF file and it worked a treat. Something I'll remember for the future as well. Thanks

Re-Booted with no change. Certainly appears like user error of some kind, like the wrong file name/location but this form, no matter the client will not be imported into a Layout page.

Hi all, There was a problem in Chief a couple versions ago where Chief would not import an updated PDF but would instead re-import an older, existing version of a PDF. It was fixed but appears to have reared its head in X13. Can anyone confirm or has anyone seen this behavior in X-13 before I send into tech support? I think a re-boot was the only way to get it to work before and will try that now. Thanks

Very easy to just close. Just a niggler and simple curiosity.

Could be, but I would rather there not be new plan opened without some explanation, obvious reason, or my expressed request. In the example both plans are identical as that's the nature of a new template created from an existing plan but the programmer sometimes have a reason that I often miss and perhaps you're correct in your assumption and I'll live with that for now. Thanks

Bending that way myself Joe.

"...many little things that have always bugged me." Yeah same here. May make time for a suggestion, and yes am willing to live with the behavior instead of dealing with the (for me) uber frustrating suggestion forum. Thanks Eric

Yeah it works great to update the template plan and both plans are identical as is expected since the new template is based on the changes to the existing template but there's another plan created. Curious and might be missing something.

Never understood this behavior. I make a couple changes to my template plan and want to overwrite the existing template. Select File>Templates>Save as Template. Uncheck the delete all check box, check the Set Template as Default for Imperial Plans, click OK and Chief creates a new untitled plan. Why? Same behavior in X13.

Glad you figured it out and wanted to add a small detail. Dimensions and text can be set up in 3 different ways. Use Layer for Text Style - Use Text Style - Use custom Text Style. I've become a fan of Use Layer for Text Style as shown in the second pic below. Hope that helps a little.

Thanks Scott, appreciate you taking the time to reply and hopefully the OP got the plot plan view he was looking for.

Certainly not hassling you, nor discounting your opinion, just sharing mine. Again please give it a try and report back I would love to be wrong.

Triple thanks Rene - very much appreciated.

Good advice as well and ref sets are indeed powerful (even though I don't completely understand them) and am wondering what has changed in X13? I have X13 but don't see any visible changes in ref sets. Is there a Reader's Digest short version of the 'fixes'?

Along with Eric's excellent (as usual) advice there's also a roof control to "Display on Floor Above" and "Display on Floor Below". Might help with your desired result. EIDT: You could also put the first floor roofs and the second floor roofs on different Layers, which complicates things a bit but gives you more flexibility.

Was done recently but wasn't that easy to locate but some really great info and presentation by Chief's Scott Harris. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/10252/rendering-techniques-best-practices-vector-watercolor-clay-others.html?playlist=171

OK, but I'm saying it does not have some 'neat features' and the tag line which is always the same no matter the newest software or app "It's that easy" or better yet "Fun and easy" and as Chief found out with its (very similar features) fun and easy 'Room Planner' that it just didn't work in a real world situation and they discontinued it. I tried to like it but after just a couple minutes I could see it wasn't a great real world app for any kind of design. I'd suggest that if it's sold as 'easy' it probably isn't but only one way to find out, download it and see how it works. See if a room can be measured with actual furniture in the room using that particular 'neat feature'. See how 'easy' a real world design can be created, both good or bad by qualified professional or great/poor homeowner designer. Been there done that and perhaps I'll wish them luck and would love to be wrong. Give it a try and let us know how those neat feature work in real life.

...and most homeowners will find that there's no real 'ease of use' and perhaps that pretty cool measuring tool is actually pretty cool but perhaps it's only pretty cool after you remove all the furniture in your house? And how many here have had homeowners use these types tools only to create the worst designs you have ever seen? Oh and last but not least, does anyone remember Chief's super easy to use and 'fun' Room Planner? Nuff said.