ArthurDent

1. Turn of the layer called "layout box labels".

When you want to copy a building from one plan to another, use the "edit area all floors" tool.

Dimensions have a min and max display size. You can only adjust the min size. To see what the dimensions will look like when you print them, turn on print preview.

Turn off "walls, main layer only" in layers dialog.

Turn on print preview.

First, stop what ever you are doing. Take a deep breath. I know it's probably still early where you are, but seriously, you should consider having a glass of wine or maybe something even stronger. OK, I know this is going to be hard to hear but Chief did not do anything with your plan files. You did. No one here on this forum knows what you did either. No one knows if you lost them or just misplaced them. So here is what I think you need to do. Keep all of your associated layout files and plan files in the same folder. Name your folder something related to the project so that it is clear what is in that folder. If you are going to use any other files, such as imported cad files, pdfs or images, then put them all in the same folder. If you keep everything in the same folder, you won't lose anything. If you need to send the project to someone else or transfer it to another computer, zip up the whole folder and send the zip file. You don't need to use the backup entire plan unless you need to send it to someone that does not have Chief installed (or just has the viewer). If you need to use backup entire plan, do it on the layout file, not the plan file. If you need to create any revisions of the project, then just make a copy of the whole folder with a new name. You don't even need to rename the layout or plan files but it might be less confusing if you do. If you rename the plan files, then be sure and relink your layout to them. If you do any renaming, then always close and restart the program to make sure everything is linked up correctly

First and foremost, don't try and learn how to use new software under pressure. Since you are under a time crunch, just turn the schedule into text and type in what ever you need to get the docs done. When you have the time, come back here and ask more questions about customizing the schedules to get the info you need. There are ways to do some things but maybe not everything you want.

Your custom railing needs to be on TOP of the landing. It looks like you drew it past the landing because the newel post is inside the wall. It also looks like you have issues at the top of the stair. Don't know what's going on there but you might want to post a plan.

You can sort the layers by the used column but I really like the idea of a toggle button to show just them . Then the list would grow as your plan developed. This would probably work more or less how Todd was suggesting. Another thing that I do is use the search bar for finding layers. This is much better then scrolling to find things. And lastly, I really like using the object layers. Takes you right to the layer used by an object without having to look for anything. This is only useful when the object is already selectable in your plan.

A few more now.

You can turn any floor over view into a framing view just by changing the layer set.

If you are in wall cabinet mode, using your left mouse button will always select wall cabinets. Also, marquee selecting will just select wall cabinets. If you are in base cabinet mode, using your left mouse button or marquee selecting will just select base cabinets. If you are in full height cabinet mode, using your left mouse button or marquee selecting will select any cabinet. Using your right mouse button will always select anything. Tab will usually let you select something else when your first click did not give you what you want.

You could always convert the schedule to text. Once it is just a text table you can change the text to anything you want. It won't be live anymore though.

IMO, the best place to put your schedules is in a cad detail. You can also put them in plan views and elevations but if you want them to display on a layout by themselves than that will usually be more work. As for Bob's problem, the only way I know of to get the problem you are having is that you used the same elevation camera and sent it to two layout pages. Don't do that.

I think the labels are showing up in standard views because some of the interior doors and windows are visible. It's all about the glass. In vector views it's opaque and in standard views its transparent. You can hide them by making the windows and doors have glass that is not transparent. You can also select each of the doors or windows that you don't want labels on and turning them off just for the camera view you are in. It can be tricky to select them though and I usually use the delete surface tool to temporarily remove things that are in the way.

Double click on the dimension tool. This will open up the current dimension defaults. Go to the primary format page. Change the units from feet-inches ('-") to inches (").

I think it all has to do with the fact that each material in Chief has both a color and a texture. Normally, the color is used in vector views and the texture is used in render views. If your material does not have a texture the color is used in both views. The picture you showed above looks like a render view which is why it is using the textures for most things. The texture is really just a picture (jpg or png) that can have lots of different colors. In fact, it can have a different color for every pixel in the jpg. When you said that you set the corner trim to use the same color as the siding, I think this is where the difference comes about. I assume that you created a new material for the trim. I assumed that you did not use the texture that the siding shows because this will look goofy for the trim. So if you created a new material that is just using a solid color and not a texture, the question is "what color did you use?". If you just copied the color that shows in material dialog for the siding, I think that color is the average of all the colors used in the texture. Depending on what kind of texture you have, the average might be a pretty good match. For siding, which has dark lines in the texture, the average is usually too dark. You can get a better color for the trim by opening up the siding material in a "paint" type program. You can then use the paint program to figure out what color the siding is using in between the dark lines. This color will not be a perfect match but it should look better then the average color.

"I captured the siding color, jotted down all its color properties, then made sure the corner trim color was exactly the same" Your siding is using a texture. The texture has more then one color. In fact, it probably has lots of different colors. Which one are you using for your corner trim? Depending on which color you use from the siding you could have darker or lighter looking trim. If you are using the basic material color of the siding, the one that is used for vector views, I think this is the average color of the texture which includes the darker lines. This color will always be darker then the color of the siding in between the lines.

It sounds like your file is hosed. Better look for a backup.

You can add your own tags to library items. You can even add them to the locked libraries that ship with Chief.

There are at least 2 ways to get rid of it: 1. Build the terrain. This will make it go away until you change anything that affects the terrain. 2. Turn on auto rebuild terrain. This will make it stay off because the program will rebuild the terrain anytime you change anything.

Chief has points too.

Doesn't it show up if you change your search filter to include folders?

Lots of guesses. Post a plan.

Scott, Think of it as taking out the "jaggies". Chief already does this for camera views but not for plan views.