DBCooper

Post the plan and someone can probably figure it out.

You might want to let other people know how you solved your problem in case they run into the same thing in the future. I think all you really need to do is to create a custom material using the image. This tech article covers the basic idea: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00007/importing-and-applying-a-custom-picture-to-a-frame-computer-or-tv-screen.html

I didn't know anything about skm files but when I googled them I did find this info that might help: skm files are actually renamed zip archives. If you change the extension to zip, you can find the image file (and some xml files describing certain properties). So basically you cannot convert an skm file into a jpg file but you can extract it from inside. So it probably isn't too hard to make a new Chief material using the extracted jpg but you might have to play around with the material settings to get the right look.

^^^ this, at least for some of us. If you want to make your rendered views look better without trying to make them look "realistic", you can always just add line drawing on top of them. The pictures below show the difference between a standard render with line drawing compared to PBR with RTRT: versus

So the funny thing is that Chief can do it about as good as all those other "cad" programs. Just have the person who has the newer version export the plan as a DWG file and then you can import it into your older version. Easy peasy. But that's probably not what you want, is it? The problem is that Chief really isn't a "cad" program. It's a 3D home design program and if you want an actual Chief model you can work with, then you are going to have to redraw it in your older version. Kind of a PITA but at least you saved some money.

What are you trying to change? Depending on what you are trying to do, I might make some different suggestions. Here are some things that might work though: - Select all (ctrl-a) will select everything on the screen that is visible and not locked. - Marquee select similar will let you select things that are similar to whatever you first selected. - Match properties will let you select other objects with the same properties you picked and then you can even apply those properties to other objects if you want. - Edit area will let you select things in a rectangle or polyline shape and edit them as a group.

Cool. That works for a manual molding but is there a way to do it with a molding that is part of the counter top?

X8 or Version 8? It matters because X15 can read in X8 plans without having to make any extra conversions but in order to read in V8 plans you need to convert them to a .plan file first. See this tech article for more info: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00279/opening-legacy-files.html That said, the older the plan, the more problems you are going to run into.

I'll have to defer to @Renerabbitt on that one because I don't know either. BTW, I think "tagging" someone like I did here is one good way to let them know you have a question for them. If you type in the "@" and some letter it will bring up the list of available users. Like this @DIYJon.

Some of the defaults are hard coded into the program and can't be deleted. For example, if you open the "line style management" dialog, you will see a symbol that tells you whether or not a line style is a built in system one ("S"), used by one of the other program defaults ("wrench"), used by something in the plan ("+"), or not being used. If you hover your mouse over the symbol, you should get a hint as to where it is being used. Same thing with all of your layers. The bottom line is you can't delete any system defaults but you should be able to delete most of the other things just as long as they are not being used. So the really tricky part is figuring out where something is being used. If you need more help, you might want to post a plan with a specific case of something you want to delete but can't.

Also, you will notice how your arc is not very smooth. You can select the arc edge, open the counter dialog, and on the arc page you can turn off the automatic facet angle and set it to something smaller than 7.5, maybe like 1 or 2.

Yes, gpx is supported but maybe your format is newer than Chief can read? Or maybe it doesn't have any way points? Here is a tech article that might help: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00719/importing-terrain-elevation-data-from-a-dwg-or-dxf-file.html It has this info about gpx files: GPS data in a .gpx file format can also be imported by selecting File> Import> Import GPS Data .GPS data may include three types of points - Way, Track and Route. Chief Architect can only import a .gpx file if it includes one or more Way Points. If a *.gpx file is imported and it contains no Way Points, no data will be imported. Route Points contained in a .gpx file will not be recognized upon importing.

Time to learn. It's super easy to create a custom counter of any shape you want and then you can apply a molding to get an edge profile. And then, the sink will cut a hole automatically*. Here is a tech article that might help: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01023/editing-a-countertop-into-a-custom-shape.html *I noticed it wasn't as automatic as it should be because I had to use rebuild 3d to get the hole to show up.

You can't cut a hole in an imported symbol. Why not just model that counter top in Chief instead? Was there a reason to model the cabinet outside of Chief and bring it in as symbol? From the picture, it doesn't look like something that Chief can't handle.

Have you tried using the backup entire plan tool? https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00987/using-the-backup-entire-plan-layout-tool-to-send-files-to-another-user.html

I think the tech article that Eric posted above has a lot of good general info and it might help you solve your problems. Another thing you might want to do is post a copy of the plan that you are seeing the problems with. You would need to use the "backup entire plan" tool to make sure that all of the materials and other files are included and you will probably need to put it on an online location (like dropbox) because it will probably be too big to put on the forum. Then someone could see if they are getting the same problems as you. If they are, then it probably has more to do with what is in the plan than with the machine you are using. They might also be able to figure out what in the plan is causing the biggest slowdowns. What I typically do in cases like this is just start deleting things until I see a big speedup. And if all else fails, call tech support because they might be able to help.

Yes, PBR RT is going to look better and be sooooo much faster than CPU ray tracing. The grass in X15 is going to make a big difference all by itself. Not sure if your video card supports it but you can check your video card status in preferences and see if "hardware ray tracing" says "yes". I have an NVIDIA RTX 4070 and the speed is amazing compared to the CPU ray tracing. You might also want to check out the ray trace videos that Chief has that are marked for "GPU ": https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/playlists/103/ray-trace.html This recorded webinar might also be good: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/10251/real-time-ray-tracing-setup-optimization.html?playlist=171

I think he means the "display on floor above" edit button when you select a roof plane.

Chief always uses an absolute elevation for the molding poly height. It looks like when you convert a 2d poly into a molding poly that the program sets the absolute height to 0, regardless of what floor you are on. What it should do is the same thing it does when you draw a molding poly and set it to the absolute floor height instead. You might want to report that to Chief tech support and maybe it is something they can fix. There are probably a lot of ways to avoid this problem though. One way would be to draw a molding poly instead of a 2d poly and then have to convert it. Another thing you could do is to just add the molding to the cabinet (or soffit, countertop, or whatever) so that it's height is relative to the cabinet instead of absolute. The really nice thing about putting the molding on the cabinet is that it sticks to it as you make changes. And when you run into a case where you need to customize it you can just use the "make cabinet molding polyline" tool to convert it into a custom molding poly and it keeps all of the settings you need.

Is there an attic space above that ceiling? If so, then you could use custom ceiling planes. If not, you should be able to just use the underside of the roof planes. Lots more info here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/category/26/ceilings.html

I don't think you can. I just tried this by exporting a model from Chief and noticed that when brought in as an STL that you only get one material. You might want to try using a 3DS model instead. BTW, you could probably model that cabinet in Chief as well but that wasn't what you asked.

So you can always import saved plan views from any plan into any other as Robert is suggesting. I think you missed a couple of fundamental things though. It looks like all you did was create a new "layer set". That's all fine and dandy but a "layer set" is not a "saved plan view" so you really can't expect it to show up in the drop down that shows all of the saved plan views. Layer sets can control what and how things look in any view. Saved plan views can keep track of the layer set but they can also keep track of your selected defaults, reference display, and other settings. There are a bunch of ways to create new saved plan views but here are a couple that are easy to do: - you can use the "save active view as" tool. - you can right click in the project browser. Regardless of how you create a new plan view, you can then use the "edit active view" tool (or "edit view" from the project browser) to make sure it is setup the way you want.

I would look for one of the free apps that can convert a pdf to DXF or DWG. Then you can import it and modify it however you like.

This is a common problem with imported textures. when you look at the texture by itself, your eye can't pick up the differences between the left and right sides (or top and bottom). But when you map them to a wall, it is obvious that the texture has differences. It is possible to fix these difference using a program like photoshop. Personally, I think that it takes some real skill to fix these kinds of issues which is why there are people called "graphic artists" who have no problem doing this. How I usually solve these problems is to find something in the Chief library that is close enough. Sometimes you can use a Chief material and then use the "blend color" with material to adjust the color to your liking without having to create a brand new material. The other thing you can do is take a look at using substance player to create your own custom textures. I am no expert but it looks like it can be pretty useful to generate a variety of different materials. You can find more info here: https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/topic/21560-custom-material-generation-with-substance-player/

You might want to use a room with a floor platform instead of a landing in this case. In general, I use landings in between stair sections and then floor platforms for where the stair starts or ends. Regardless, if you need to move a landing up or down you can open the dialog and set the landing height to whatever you want. For more detailed help, you should probably post the plan.