DBCooper

Nice job Shayne! I liked the way you started by using the cabinet tools for everything that they can do easily and then mixed in other tools as needed. Polyline solids, molding polylines, and even other symbols (either ones found in the library or made yourself) can all be combined to make more complex furniture pieces. You might want to post your plan so that others can take a deeper look into how you made this. Regarding the original poster's questions, I think there are very few things you can't make in Chief using the tools that are built in but there are a number of things I wouldn't try to though. For example, I would be very willing to build most types of furniture pieces such as the one you are showing but I would never try to design something like say a toilet. Anything with compound curved surfaces will be a real pain but anything that is basically a dressed up box should be pretty easy. For those things that I won't try to design in Chief, I first look for something that is close enough in the library and if I can't find one I look to online sources such as 3D warehouse or the manufacturer's web site. If I can find it somewhere else, then it is usually pretty easy to just import it. There are other 3D modeling programs out there that can handle some of these things better but I have never felt the need to buy and learn how to use one. Another option is that if you are desperate you can always hire someone to make it for you. Another source of good info and free symbols is the symbols and content sub-forum you can find here: https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/forum/9-symbols-and-content/ One of the things you can find there is the substance player that you can use if you ever need to make your own materials.

Not that poly solids are a bad way to do this, but I still think you missed something important about the wrapped stairs. You might want to give them another try to see what it is so that you can use them next time you need them. As Robert shows, you need to make sure the side of the stairs stop at the corner and don't overlap each other as you show in your first picture. As Glenn suggested, it is easier to draw the stairs going down but you can also make them work going up. The trick to making them work when drawing them up is that the top of the stairs needs to be at the right height. Most of the time when you draw stairs going up from a deck, the bottom of the stairs is at the top of the deck so you have to set the heights manually. The other thing that I know can be important is the room type. I believe porches and decks both work but most other room types won't. It looks like your room is marked as a "porch" so this probably isn't your problem (unless you just manually changed the room name). I think there are some other gotchas but I can't remember them at the moment. If you can't get it to work, you should really post the plan and someone could probably tell you in a few minutes.

Did you try zipping it? Or even better, try making a copy and removing stuff (like all of symbols). You might even get lucky and figure out what object is causing the problem.

I've never seen that layer. There is a system layer called "rooms" but this might not do what you want.

Might be something in your plan that is causing this. Post it and someone can see if it happens for them.

The main way to reduce the surface count is to turn off the layers for things you don't need. This tech article talks about optimizing a model for exporting to the 3D viewer which might help: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-03044/optimizing-a-chief-architect-plan-for-export-to-the-3d-viewer.html

One easy way to do this without mucking around with extra floors is to just create a dropped ceiling for this room. Here is how you do it: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01050/creating-and-framing-a-dropped-ceiling.html Personally, I wouldn't add the stairs. The extra stair is taking up valuable parking space to access a fairly small amount of storage space. I would probably just build a loft space in the storage area with a ladder attached to the wall. I used a room divider to separate the area with the dropped ceiling from the normal room in the picture below.

See if one of these helps: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00575/creating-a-plot-plan.html https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/1930/creating-a-site-plan-or-plot-plan.html

I think Robert missed that you drew a circle. You can't add a circle directly to the library as a molding polyline. You need to either draw 2 half circles (which will make it a polyline) or convert the circle into a polyline using the "convert curve" tool.

It looks like a bug to me. In X15, it would put the 3d molding line up against the wall and in X16 it seems to be somewhere else. You should probably report this.

Open the layout box dialog. Check to see if it is actually using the same layer set as the elevation camera. If it's not that, then you might want to post the plan and the layout so someone could look into it more.

What I like to do in cases like this is to see if they go away using the "all off" layer set. If so, then you can usually track down the layer it's on pretty quickly. When the layer is locked, you can't select it by clicking on it. One of the best new features they put into X16 is the "find objects on layer" tool in the ALDO.

As far as I know, there is no way to make a temporary dimension permanent. You can control your automatic dimensions through your dimension defaults and you should be able to make them look like you want. You can also turn your auto dimensions into manual ones (just by editing them) so that you don't need to draw all of your manual dimensions "one by one". If you want more help, you should probably explain what you don't like about the automatic dimensions and how you want them to look instead. Then someone might be able to tell you how to do it. Also, you may want to review this video series even though some of it may not apply to X13 most of it is still pretty useful: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/#playlist-92

Definitely sounds like a system problem but macs are different enough from windows machines that I won't even try and guess how you might fix it. First thing to do though is see if your mac is on this list: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-03167/mac-models-compatible-with-chief-architect-x16-and-home-designer-2025.html I'm not sure if this is the exact same list for X15 and X16 but I think they are pretty similar. The other thing you could do is call Chief tech support and see what they have to say.

Is the material using a texture (or map) file that is very high resolution? Is it using a pattern that vey high density or has a lot of lines? My best guess is that it is something you did with the material. If you want a better guess, post the plan or an exported library with the materials that are giving you problems.

Yes, that is what Chief does when you convert a 3D view to cad (using export DXF/DWG or cad detail from view). It takes all of your curved edges and converts them into straight line segments. I haven't been able to figure out a way to keep them as curved lines.

If you installed X16 on the same machine that you had X15, the program should have asked you if you wanted to migrate your user library. If it didn't, or you told it not to, or if you installed on a new machine, you can always manually copy the library over. See if this tech article helps you figure out how: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00001/backing-up-chief-architect-content.html#User It also tells you how to transfer other settings like toolbars and templates.

It doesn't look like you can change the hardware material using either the style palette or match properties. Seems like an oversight but maybe you need to send them a feature request.

Did you upgrade from X15 or some earlier version? If so, did you migrate your libraries?

What did you upgrade from? If you upgraded to premier from one of the other versions, and you are opening a plan that you started in the old version, you probably won't have all of the defaults that come with premier. In this case, you can either import the defaults and settings from the default template that ships with premier or you could start a new plan using the default template and then copy your plan into it (I recommend using edit area).

Windows has a built in file/path name limit of around 256 characters. This has nothing to do with how much disk space you have so buying a new hard drive might not solve these kinds of problems. You might want to use shorter folder and file names and avoid nesting your file folders too deep. You might want to also check to see if your user data folder is longer than it needs to be which can add to the problem. Another problem I have seen happen is if you accidently open an archive file and then keep saving it back into the archive folder. The file name can get really long in that case. There is some more info about path names in this tech article: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00911/message-cannot-find-or-open-the-file-to-save-your-plan.html Also, this related tech article has some info about organizing your plans: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00562/organizing-your-plan-and-layout-files.html

You might need to open the schedule and check the box to include skylights. They don't get included automatically by default.

My best guess is that your wall type only has a single layer. When the program cuts a pocket hole for the door, it then removes everything. Try using a different wall type or adding a couple of thin layers to both sides of the wall type.

FYI, the "reverse int/ext" option is only available if your door style is using a library symbol. If you are using one of the built in door styles (such as slab, panel, or glass panel) you can't reverse it. Reversing it doesn't change the position though so it probably wouldn't help in this case. I think Eric is right and the "change swing side" will do what you want. In X16, you can also move the door in/out by any amount you want for cases where you don't want it aligned with either the outside or inside of the wall.

It would be really helpful to know what these error messages are. Buying new hardware might not fix any of your problems.