Kbird1

Only briefly Lew as it is not in the current budget ($1000-1200) but looks interesting. M

That particular bug is in X7 Beta too I can confirm for you Sam when you report it. Like many I have to submit my quantites to Suppliers and Subs for every Project for Pricing as there is no way to maintain a "current" database of pricing even for them as CW stated but the fact that the ML doesn't calculate quantities in a real world way makes me leery of using it now. Like you I originally brought the software for 2 reasons the ML and the 3D imagery to help "sell" jobs to Clients , so like you I am disappointed in the ML aspect as I had hoped it would be a good time saver, at least for Ballpark/Budget Estimates , I don't do new homes , so it it rare that I do a fixed price Contract these days , as ,as CW pointed out there are way to many variables. Have a look on the other thread Sam at the PDF I posted , I think like me its more like what you expected of the ML.

Thanks for the smile Perry unfortunately not being a CA Guru like Joe and Joey , I have to agree with your comment . I don't expect it to be fall over easy and perfect every time either but since there is no way to bring myself upto speed on the ML easily, I will have to keep doing my takeoffs the old fashioned way, since I am no Excel guru either, it's safer too use Pad and paper since as pointed out above the ML only calculates surface area and not how things are done ( and estimated) in the Real World. I had hoped it reported something similar to this Sample I found posted online Sample - Takeoff.pdf

No CA doesn't activate SLI/CrossFire though you can use Surround Mode which I was doing with two GTX470's till a month ago , when I went to a single GTX970, now the old i7-950 CPU is bottle necking me....., I guess you are aware the GPU doesn't help with Ray Tracing? it is all done on the CPU apparently, at least in current versions. Did you get you G13 up and running? M.

No CA does not allow any access at all to the (any) Formulas , I was meaning to post to your other thread but got caught up here trying stuff. M.

As I said there is a good chance it is User Error/lack of Documentation but I am here to learn , so comments like "BOOM" or "Rubbish in, Rubbish Out, don't help me or anyone else, I understand you guys are drawing to make a living not give tutorials here , but unfortunately not all of us are daily drivers of this software ( ie Gurus) and the documentation in this area is poor to say the least. If the ML was easy to understand, there wouldn't be other longtime users trying to jump all over a Workshop , 90% of CA users are in deep trouble when guys like Scott , Perry and Nicinus don't use it cos it is too time consuming to learn etc , personally I don't think the ML should be a "black art" . As far as the Drywall goes that means I need to go into every room and spec every wall and ceiling with the material needed based on the rooms sizes, right? , rather impractical i'd say and quicker with a pad and paper , and of course I need to "make" 54"x120" sheets 1st and add them to the Library for this Plan too. Also rather impractical to go through a full house plan's ML and add "extra" to every single item as needed instead of there being a global or Category setting. Yes the Ceiling and Walls are Painted and the Colours are in the Room finish Schedule, but that doesn't help with the Material needed , and why does the ML list Ceiling color (1 coat only) and not Wall Color at all? what am I doing wrong? How do you add a coat of paint so it calculates the industry standard 3 coats? add 0" depth layers to my wall definitions is my guess but again where is this documented? , though it shouldn't really be needed if you know how to calculate the paint for a room from it's sqft. And I guess Paint for the exterior doesn't count either ? CA already knows how many sqft there are of exterior wall ,so should be an easy calc. without me doing anything extra. It's almost like the ML Code got 1/2 done and never completed cos the guy doing it left the Company or something.... no idea how a total CA Noob would ever figure half this out.... Why is the subfascia called a rafter in the ML ? it knows its subfascia in the Plan/3D , just more confusion... Still haven't figured out why I have 93" insulation though , its a 9' tall wall , and the fact you can't get 93"x16" insulation The Rafter size issue BTW was cos I had "use trusses" on by default thinking that setting would be ignored if there were no Trusses. Not So...which is plain dumb.... I'm more than happy to learn as much as I can about this area of CA , but I can't be bothered arguing about it, I am not surprised the OP hasn't reposted to the thread.....

it is probably because you don't have an ID and Password to the old Forum,( we had to get new ID's for the new Forum) which means it is probably better to email CA direct about this because as you mention the old forum is an invaluable source of info. M.

did you click on the link to your post on hometalk? I left FW? here: https://hometalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/793-beginner-q-exterior-wall-height/ edit ...I see now you did..... I think I know why your nick is FireWoman too hehehe....

Glen....no I had not added my 3x8 to the Buy list however it was on the ML just not at the Buy length , this is fault is showing in my test plan below too , though I have not figured out why my spec'd 2x10 Rafters are in the ML and Framing overview as 2x4's , too late tonight to delve deeper into that but I might need to go back to beginner school Ok I had a play with a test 20'x20' with no foundation, and have not got my calculator out to test actual sqfts etc but some things straight off that don't meet a "buy list" or real world situation. BTW ...is there a default way to add waste? (called "extra" in ML I think) since no QS (or Builder) in the real world would do a take off with out it either? Rafters lengths are showing as 22'10", which you can't buy at least not here, special order ?, though I think this is actually the sub fascia though not called that Rafters lengths are showing as 7'8 5/8" ,should be 8' on a buy list Ridges are actually the hip rafters I think since there is no ridge ... I have never seen 6"x96" wall insulation not sure where they typically insulate floors with 12" Batt but maybe an anomaly since I didn't build the Foundation to keep the ML simple. On a 20x20 , you would buy 10' sheets of drywall for both the Ceiling and walls to reduce butt joints , seems everything is calculate in 4'x8' sheets, here the wall sheets would also be 54"x120" sheets too since 9' stud height why does it show the Ceiling sqft "Color" and not the Wall sqft "Color" , which is the Paint I assume ,which ITRW would typically get 3 coats not one too. The Test plan ML Test Plan_X6.plan Mick.

I admit I have not played with it in X7 , so don't know if it has improved or not ? I literally just got X6 ( now X7 Beta) , and have not tried that particular plan again in either . The Thread linked above was in X6 back in Dec and Jan I think and there were issues with a simple test 10'x10' CBS/CBU building. It could also be that I look at a materials list from a Builder's/ Contractor's point of view , not an Architect's which is likely different, though I am not the only one to make these comments , there is possibly a number of us that don't quite "get" CA's (poor) documentation about the ML. Guess I should have another play in a test plan and check things out... M.

FireWoman you can't find you post from here yesterday , cos you posted it at Hometalk , not Chieftalk I answered over there... https://hometalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/793-beginner-q-exterior-wall-height/

OOB = Out Of the Box ie as setup by Chief automatically when 1st installed. I guess you didn't read the thread I linked to above Joey ? you will find others too if you do a quick search https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/3588-wall-material-sqm/ at other times it completely misses things like the Studs on furred walls etc. Unfortunately it doesn't follow Industry standard QS practices and since we can't in anyway "alter" how it calculates things ,we can't even fix it ourselves so, it is hard to trust. For example on a current Arbor project if I generate a "Buy" list for where I am going to buy a 14' 9 3/4" 3x8 for a Rafter? Everybody knows you need to buy a 16' but that's not what is listed. If it had one or two bugs you knew about you could work around them but ,there is no good way to determine what it get right and doesn't , AFAIK anyway.... as I said I'd be happy to be shown it's "User Error" , since I had hoped this would be a major Time saver for me.

sounds like you are still using the Floor camera and not the Full Camera as mentioned above? M.

ahhhh not quite Joey ,there are numerous errors with calculations , has been for years eg this thread from late last year , it is one of my pet peeves with CA, As a remodeler I had hoped to use this feature extensively but it is essentially a waste of time , since the program doesn't allow for many of the smaller items either , eg bolts, hangers , nails , glue and on an on. I'm thinking a disclaimer is a good idea but it basically makes the ML useless ,certainly not good enough for Bidding, though I'd be happy if you or someone else can show me the error of my ways... https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/529-material-list-bug/page-1#entry3856

There is also a tutorial in the KB ( taking nothing away from Curt's lesson) that may help with some of the "steps" needed. http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00058/ there is also one for a masonry fireplace and how to use the fireplace tool http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00331/40/Chief-Architect/Custom-Objects/Using-the-Fireplace-Tool.html

Turn off ceilings in the Room's DBX (dialog box) it is under the roof checkbox. you would be served by using the Hometalk Forums rather than Cheiftalk as Suite has way fewer options and they will know better your choices https://hometalk.chiefarchitect.com/ you can use the same ID and Password over there too

hi Blizzard , I see you have Suite , so HomeTalk rather than Chieftalk maybe a better place to post your questions since they will know the Tools you have to use. A workaround for this is actually a trick Scott uses of a 0" height 2nd floor , you can read about it here on Hometalk. https://hometalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/124-different-pitch-on-two-areas-of-same-rectangular-building/?hl=roof#entry628

no it doesn't work auto, and is part of what I call the " 12" Bug " , it has been present for years , set the Room heights to 12" different and it will do it , 11 7/8" not. I seem to run into doing additions etc , and get the same when say trying a shed roof on a gable end , but perhaps I am doing it in the wrong order or something?

something like this KB Article ? http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-01020/52/Home-Designer/Roofs/Creating-Multiple-Shed-Roofs.html

Chief is a little "too bright" at times, it is assuming it is really the same building and you really want the same roof , try making the garage narrower ie setback 1-2' front and back or lower the garage 12" and see if that helps..... or just do it manually perhaps M.

16GB Ram and you don't want an integrated videocard , get a Nvidia card like the GTX770 or GTX970 or depending on Budget even a GTX660 with at least 2GB onboard ram, (more if you want to do any 3D gaming at high Res.) integrated cards are usually slower eg intel HD cards and use the computer's ram usually as their frame buffer , so in your case with only 8BG ram the 4GB video card would be using half of it which only lets windows use 4GB which is barely adequate for Win7/8 You might prefer Win7 Pro coming from XP though as mentioned we should all get Win10 free in the 4th quarter....

there is a KB Article Ivan , not sure if it helps but I have set mine to 300 before as it suggests for Large terrains. http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00107/

THX for the Tip Jon , I had done the Chief.exe but not the RayTracing engine's .exe in the Nvidia 3D management page Rob it is on this Nvidia management page , if you hover your mouse over the options that you will see DirectX mentioned for some of them Pity you can't copy a profile on this page , would save a bunch of work ......wonder why Chief hasn't contacted Nvidia and had default Profiles supplied? seems Game Developers do it.... M.

Ok got it I figured as soon as I didn't have a Room Def. I wouldn't have a roof etc , so not much point doing a walkthrough , but like Perry I don't do a lot of Walkthroughs as usually they are too large a file size to email to a lot of client's. M.

I see what Arise does all the time too , so Jintu's tip is to make all Walls have no "Room definition" to get even lighting ? , isn't that going to screw with a lot of other things where Room definition is needed ? guess I am missing something.... M.