DBCooper

See if this helps: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00095/creating-a-cut-or-buy-list-of-framing-materials.html

So somehow you were able to convert all of your automatic ridge caps, fascia, and gutters into manual 3D molding lines. I'm not sure how you did this. I know you can do it by unlocking their normally locked layers and manually editing them. When you do this, you should get a warning message telling you that this is what is happening. There are probably other ways to do this and maybe some of them are not as obvious or don't have the warning. Or maybe X13 works a little different than X15 does now but I don't ever remember running into this problem before. Regardless of how you did it, the way to fix it is to do what everyone else has said. If you unlock the layers, you can then select them and delete them. It might be good to figure out how you got into this state though so that it doesn't keep happening.

Hmm, that doesn't seem very helpful, Robert. So the first thing I would try is closing Chief and then opening it back up to see if the problem doesn't magically go away. You could also try things like rebuild 3D and rebuild floors and ceilings but closing Chief is much more likely to fix problems where the 3D is just in a messed up state. If that doesn't solve the problem, I would take a look at the settings for your frieze, shadow boards, and ridge caps in your roof dialog. You can mess things up pretty quick by just putting in bad values for the vertical or horizontal offsets. The only other thing I can think of is if you are using a custom molding profile that is messed up. If that still doesn't help you solve the problem, then you probably need to post your plan.

Hmm... very interesting. Not sure what "compatibility mode" does but if a normal 3D view is having problems without it, then it still sounds like something that is system/hardware related. How many plot lines get generated for the view that you are trying to update? Maybe you are running out of memory or maybe you have some bad memory? I remember having problems a long time ago with an elevation that had way too many pattern lines from a custom pattern. Can you create a very simple plan and update plot lines on that machine? Might be something that is plan specific or something related to the plan size? Could still just be a Chief bug related to making the plot lines and you are getting lucky on one machine and not the other for some reason. Not really my area of expertise so just throwing some things out that might help. I would keep working with tech support until you get this resolved though.

In Chief world, elevation views are actually 3D views. The only reason that matters is that I would guess that you have problems in all of your other camera views and not just elevation views. I would also guess that the problem is with the video card, or more likely, the drivers. If using the latest driver is not working for you, you might want to try an older driver. There is a lot of info in this tech article that may help: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00106/troubleshooting-3d-camera-view-display-problems-in-chief-architect.html

Retaining walls are just walls which means you can put the old one on a different layer than the new one. If they are on different layers, then yes, you can turn one of them off and the other one on or vice versa. The big gotcha here is that both walls will affect the terrain regardless of whether or not the layer is turned on or off. If you really want to show before and after with both retaining walls, then I would use two plan files and the reference display.

The wall sconces look like they are on the back of the wall niche. It also looks like the wall niche is more than half the wall thickness. If a light is placed past the middle of a wall, it won't be considered inside the room. At least that looks like what it does when I played around with it but it would be nice if anything inside the niche was also inside the room. So one thing you might try is pulling the sconce away from the back of the wall niche. If you move it past the wall center, it should then show up in the room schedule. I also noticed that if I used a wall mounted wall sconce and put in a negative distance from the wall that it still looked like it showed up in the room schedule. I am going to guess that your sconces are done differently, maybe you made them floor mounted so you could move them into the wall niche? If you are still having problems, then you might want to post your plan.

See if making the center of the light on the inside of wall center solves the problem.

Are you doing the schedule for one room only? If so, maybe the light isn't considered in the room because it is actually inside the wall. If not that, you might need to post the plan.

The short answer: $995, but that will only be for one year. More info here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/products/upgrade.html

I think there are a bunch of former 2020 users around so they will probably be able to give you better info than I can. From what I have heard, Chief will crash less often and will be way more flexible as far as any customization is concerned. It will also allow you to design a whole house so if you are doing more extensive remodeling then this will be really helpful. I believe Chief has a lot fewer manufacturer catalogs and it isn't going to be able to do pricing and ordering as easy as a program like 2020 though.

You can right-click on the camera name in the browser and use "open view". If the view opens, but you don't see anything, it might be because the model is off the screen. Try using "fill window" (F6) to see if it comes back. If you still can't see anything, then it might be because you changed the layer set to one that isn't showing anything. If it isn't one of these, then you should probably post the plan.

Try this video: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/10208/3d-walkthroughs-how-to-make-great-virtual-tours.html

Probably best to call tech support but this tech article lists which macs are compatible with Chief: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-03167/mac-models-compatible-with-chief-architect-x15-and-home-designer-2024.html

You can curve any wall. Just use the "change line/arc" edit tool or hold "alt" while dragging the end handle.

Yes. Open the wall dialog and check the box for "no room moldings exterior" or "no room moldings interior".

Well, technically it's not temporary as long as you never change to a different saved plan view. If I was to make a guess, I would bet that Dan is using the "working plan view" (or maybe even "none" if he started with a really old plan) which means it probably won't change until he actually changes it again. As far as I can tell, changing the current cad layer through the general cad defaults, or using the cad menu, or by using the edit active view, they will all do the same thing. You can really be a lot more productive by taking advantage of saved plan views though. I highly recommend these training videos if you want to learn more about them: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/playlists/100/saved-plan-views-layers-annotations.html

All of your plans from X7 and X8 can be opened and worked on in X15. Eric is correct in that once you save a plan in X15, you won't be able to open it up in X7 or X8 again. You should also be able to bring all of your custom libraries forward into X15. I don't think this will happen automatically though so you will have to import them to use them in X15. There is a lot more information in the migration guide that you can find here: https://cloud.chiefarchitect.com/1/pdf/documentation/chief-architect-current-migration-guide.pdf

You can send them a DWG/DXF cad file of the floor plan that they can import into Chief if they don't have autocad. Or you could just send them a pdf or jpg that they could open in Chief or whatever they want. There is no way that I know of to send them a Chief plan file and not give them the whole 3D model.

Click on the "gear" button at the bottom left side of the ALDO. Make sure "show all layers" is not checked.

The short answer is that there is no easy way to make an angled top cabinet. Mark's method will work but it does take a bit more work then I usually want to do. As an alternative, it is relatively easy to make a door with an angled top which you could then convert into a symbol and just place under the stairs. The only tricky part is trying to match the angle on the door top with the angle of the stair. In the picture below, I have a basic panel door with a left side "arch" where all you need to do is futz with the height to get it close to the angles you want.

You can do this by adding a "complete break" so that you have two separate stair sections with different widths. Maybe a molding polyline? You may also be able to just set a handrail for the lower stair section and none on the upper one when you add the complete break for #3. FYI, if you want to change the settings for one stair section and not another, all you need to do is shift-select it and open the stair dialog.

You could try 2 separate stair sections.

If the floor doesn't show with the "all on" layers set, then it probably has something to do with your room's floor structure. If you can't figure it out, then you need to post your plan or contact tech support.

I would do like Mick and just use a railing wall that is the same thickness as your post base. You can then adjust the beam horizontally to align it wherever you want.