Kbird1

Australian House plans will be in square meters , and 400 sq.m (4300 sqft) is a large house A square foot is a square foot , no matter your location in the world , so like the others I think your looked at a 400 sqm aussie plan not a 400 sqft plan , 400 sqft would make a good double garage if a bit small at only 6mx6m this converter may help http://www.metric-conversions.org/area/square-meters-to-square-feet.htm you are in Oz so you should be drawing your plans using the Metric Templates not the imperial ones as they can't be changed 1/2 way thru , though you can make Chief display both if needed

Curious why you leave the Reference Layer on when you send to Layout then ? but you could try the "draw reference floor 1st setting , it is draw last by default it seems Display Options allow you to control how the lines and fill patterns of objects in the Reference Floor appear. • Select Draw Reference Floor First to draw the Reference Floor before drawing the objects on the current floor. The lines and fill patterns of objects in the Reference Floor display behind the current floor. • Select Draw Reference Floor Last to draw the Reference Floor after the objects on the current floor are drawn. The lines and fill patterns of objects in the Reference Floor display in front of the current floor, and may cover objects on the current floor partially or completely. • Use Object Settings displays the line and fill styles of objects in the Reference Floor that aren’t using their default line and fill styles. When this is unchecked, objects display according to their layer settings in the Reference Floor Layer Set. • Use XOR Drawing changes the color of lines in the Reference Floor that are drawn on top of one another. Lines with identical properties do not display.

I edited #38 slightly , and while everything seems to have installed correctly , Blender crashes if I use a Chief X5 exported .3DS file (small house) , not sure if it is a bad plan or how I exported the .3DS (settings?) If I import a .3DS from SketchUP , a Bed Gene made on the symbols forum I get a black and grey checker pattern but no crash. unfortunately I don't know enough ( read anything) adout 3D Rendering Software to be able to diagnose the issues. Have you tried this Rich ? feel free to transfer #38 to the Chatroom

I don't see a Corona Thread Jintu? However I am not having any luck getting the Corona Render to work so I may need to update this thread , Blender 2.72 is crashing when I invoke the Corona Standalone Render , Opengl Render is working Fine , I know nothing of 3D Rendering but I don't think it is me , since the Opengl Render is working fine along with one of the builtin Render Engines. Mick @Rich ...do the images go too if you copy paste to another thread ? I can always repost if I can get it to work

There does not appear to be a /bin Folder when you install Blender (2.72) any longer but the Addons folder is still in Scripts Folder ie <your blender installation directory>\2.72\scripts\addons the new Blender interface was why I posted the new images above as the program got an update to 2.72 this week (Oct 14th) and things are a bit different than the other Instructions. If using an older version of Blender with the Standalone Corona you probably need to use the older Instructions.

Blender 2.72 is here http://www.blender.org/download/ or Feature Page http://www.blender.org/features/2-72/ then you need the two files in the link Jintu points to above as well for the Standalone to work it looks like.... https://www.corona-renderer.com/wiki/blender2corona/installation this page has a security cert. error in IE but opens fine in Chrome for me... M. Edit: The Installation Instructions are a little out of date with Blender 2.72 so this should help : Extract Corona Standalone to your hard drive.and Copy or move the Corona Standalone extracted Folder to C:\Program Files (64bit) or Blender won't find it ( not C:\program files (x86) unless you use the 32bit program) From the .zip file of the exporter, extract the contained folder named “render_corona”. (only this folder is in download) Put the “render_corona” folder into your <blender installation directory>\2.72\scripts\addons Enable the addon from the preferences panel, under the “Render” category (Put Check in Box on Right) In the preferences panel, set the path to the Corona Standalone directory containing the Corona executable.(C:\Program Files (64bit) as above in No#1) ,then click save settings at the bottom of the Preferences Window. Select “Corona” from the render engine dropdown. Set the project export path in the Corona Render panel in the Render tab If you have a Nvidia Videocard you can enable the CUDA Cores too it looks like (left side of pic) Now I just have to learn how to use it PLEASE SEE THIS NEW THREAD IN THE CHATROOM FORUM TOO ! TITLED CORONA RENDER https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/2527-corona-renderer/

If you don't want to send PDF's for some reason export a .jpg of the Layout/Plan view and email them the pic created , this is how I send quick views to Clients especially 3D views , as most mail progs. and web-browsers will open the attachment directly even on their Phones. Of course nothing is to scale etc this way if that is a consideration... M.

I have no idea how the Textures I made Ray trace Kirk , never tried it, I don't do RT much at all. I may still have the original textures somewhere if you need them ?, no doubt you would do a better job of cropping, rotating ,adjusting properties etc. Mick.

Pretty Funny ...I downloaded the SS library looking for an upgrade only to find it was the Library I made back in June from a couple of images I found on a Texture Site after finding that the Fridge and faucets looked bad in a Reno Plan I was working on. I am pretty surprised that Chief doesn't have a much better material actually since I am a loooong way from being a Graphic Artist of any kind Bill's Pic (texture) looks good too , will have to try it... Mick.

Sorry Gene, think I figured it out, Chief imported them backwards ( ie arrow for front points to back) and as there is no back on the Chests they looked like the Drawers are missing after I placed them.

Thanks Gene , I downloaded the Chests and Bed , maybe I did something wrong or they didn't import right as neither Chest has any drawers in it? could you check them out thanks. Edit , found your other models too Gene https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/user.html?id=0408258120150692263814724 but apparently the Tall Rowan has the same issue as above , no drawers ( or I do ! )

had the same problem recently and this is what it was.....makes sense the fly rafter is generally the same size as the common rafters and the gable fascia on size larger. M.

SolidWorks is part of the Draftsight "Group" at least Draftsight's followup emails have included SolidWorks materials

retaining walls are only at ground level unless you do as Scott suggests or use a cross section elevation to change the height manually so it might look as though they "disappear" http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00652/9/Chief-Architect/Walls/Changing-the-Height-of-a-Retaining-Wall.html do fences recognise "roads" ? (you said you used a 2nd one in green) do other fences recognise the terrain with the follow terrain setting ?

don't remember the last time I turned angle snaps off so have not noticed that one....

I thought it was cos they also have icons on the toolbar to toggle them on and off ? ...at least with the Edit Object parts button which I use.... M.

it was importing as 2 lines until I checked the box for "import hatch entites" then it came in ok.

there is KB articles on doing this too.... http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00040/7/Chief-Architect/Cabinets/Using-Two-Different-Door-Styles-on-a-Single-Cabinet.html and for older versions http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01217/7/Chief-Architect/Cabinets/How-to-Specify-Two-Different-Door-Styles-on-a-Cabinet-in-X4-and-Prior.html

Not sure that's true Perry , however Gene can let his grandchildren look at your vids what are you using you do your videos? M.

... I always do the 3rd so never noticed the 2nd step auto attach at the bottom

aint it 3 steps?

the Guys have given you some good options and there are some good tutorials on this kind of structure in the KB too http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00598/19/Chief-Architect/Framing/Creating-a-Post-and-Beam-Structure.html http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01069/19/Chief-Architect/Framing/How-to-Create-a-Pole-Structure.html

you change change the Sheathing thickness in the Build Roof DBX> Options>Roof Layer section and the materials on the Materials Tab

although the upload limit per post is now 25mb instead of 10mb I think the total per user is/was 50mb so if you post plans or symbols you may run out of space , I did on the HomeTalk Forum and had to delete a number of my pics and files before I could attach pics to new posts,not really a good policy since the Forums are a reference source and a pic says a 1000 words... . M.

your "missing wall" in the gable is I believe cos you are using the Floor camera instead of the FULL Camera ,at least for me it there with full not with Floor in your test plan.... not sure why the drywall is missing of the ends of the dormer walls , I thought you meant the framing was sticking thru the drywall in the ceiling.....