KirkClemons

2 hours ago, Joe_Carrick said:

Note that this is in reference to Classes must start with a Capital.  User Macros are not generally:

• Classes which must start with an uppercase character
• Methods which must start with a lowercase character
• Constants which must start with an uppercase character

In fact, a User Macro is just a Ruby Script that uses Ruby Classes and all their Objects.  It can even start with a special character such as the underscore.  I'm not sure how Chief's implementation of a macro as a method would fit in that scheme.

In X10, we can now call other macros as methods. This means that the naming conventions need to be enforced so that the Ruby interpreter handles them correctly. To me, that seems like another reason that we may want to expose more user control over a macro 'Type' so that Chief can handle them accordingly.

It's found under this text.

I understand, and a power user such as yourself would understand whether or not your macro is defined as a constant or a class when you call it from another macro:

https://www.techotopia.com/index.php/Understanding_Ruby_Variables#Ruby_Constants

https://www.techotopia.com/index.php/Ruby_Object_Oriented_Programming#Defining_a_Ruby_Class

However, for the users who are not as familiar, it's safer (IMO) to lead them down a more specific road that sticks to the language's naming conventions more strictly so they have a better overall experience.

So, maybe, some general feedback to our development team on making different types of macros (i.e. Class, Constant, or Method) available in the software may be needed? 

Camel case is still an accepted standard and is a nice way to handle names that have multiple words in them.

areaRounded or roundedArea should still work so long as the object the macro is evaluating has a readable area.

I would recommend looking at the default setting where this object is most likely used. Som of the layers in Larry's example had ANNO prepended to the name. So, I would be that there is an annotation default using that layer. Changing which layer that annotation set uses would free up the now, unused layer.

I agree though, it would be nice if you could trace which default is using that layer.

Depends on the desired effect. I find that I can produce better quality walkthroughs if I use the spline because the movements are less jerky.

3 hours ago, decorators3 said:

Thank you for all your suggestions and assistance.  I notice  there are  various ways of handling situations which is good for me because I can opt for  what  is comfortable  but not opposed to  trying different solutions  

This brings me to my next little scenario.   I have watched the on line tutorial videos over and over again as well as read the help tutorials on creating walkthroughs.  there are 2 ways to create videos A.) plan view with spline    B.) 3D using the Mouse dolly Camera. 

The spline video is great in vector view but speedy in standard view even though  I have slowed the frames per second..and takes a long time because of the many frames.

The video in 3D Camera Full View is a much better PB rendering but I find it hard to control the mouse Dolly.

The on line  help video https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/10190/ for Kitchen and bath accessibility  is smooth and slow.  My attached video is fast and jerky even though i have tried slowing down the frames per second.  

Is there a best way to create video  SPLINE OR 3D..? or   just practice practice .if there is a special technique I would appreciate your input.  Thanks in advance

Levina

adam 1.avi

It helps to know what typical videos are recorded as. So, here's some things to keep in mind when creating your settings:

1. A typical video on YouTube is recorded at 24 frames per second. This affects how smooth the playback is, not necessarily how long the video is.

2. Next, you will want to make sure you specify a length of time along the path, or in your manual movements that makes sense. Playback can seem really fast if you've told the program you want to run all the way through the house in under a minute and you want that played back at 15 to 24 frames per second. Think about how long it might take you to walk through the distance of your planned path and set the total length of the video to that amount of time.

Hope that information is helpful.

On 2/1/2019 at 4:14 AM, decorators3 said:

 www.xvidmovies.com/codex and downloaded but it does not show up in my render display as an option.  what do I do next.How do I get it to show in my CAx10

I would recommend downloading and installing Xvid from the official Xvid website:

https://www.xvid.com/download/

Once you've installed that, you'll need to restart Chief Architect. Once you've restarted the program, the option for Xvid will be available in your Render preferences. After you've set the preferred codec, you can re-record your walkthrough and the video output should be much smaller and play normally on pretty much any system.

Also, you cannot see metals in ray trace view unless Photon mapping is enabled in your ray trace settings.

2 minutes ago, tdroes82 said:

1. Can you create a second Polyline for lets say on the 2nd floor? Then add the 1st and 2nd floors together and display that number?

2. Can you add another Polyline on Floor 1 for lets say the garage? Then display the garage polyline in the same text box as 1st and 2nd?

1. Yes, your 'output' macro could simply add two global variables together and return the sum.

2. Yes, store the value of the Garage's area in a global variable and include that in your output macro.

19 minutes ago, tdroes82 said:

 

Kirk, or anyone else reading this,

 How to I get a Polyline Label on Floor 2 to display in my footage chart on Floor 1?

 

The only way see to make this work, is to create the polyline on Floor 2, then paste in place on floor 1.

 

I am looking and looking at how to create a Square Footage Chart that works. I have had many replies back that "it is very simple and easy to create"; yet I can not find a good thread or video of someone actually creating this. I have very little knowledge on Macros. How does one call up a polyline on another floor and display information out of it?

 

Any help, link or thread would be much appreciated.

Thomas

One way you could to that is to store the output of the macro into a global variable, then call that variable with another macro. (video attached)

Global variables are denoted with the $ symbol.

1 minute ago, dshall said:

 

That does not even come close to what he wants to do.

 

- He wants the number to show on a different level/Floor.  

- He wants the movement of the number to be independent of the polyline.

- He probably wants the number to be shown in a CAD DETAIL

- He probably wants the number to be used in a mathematical equation

 

If he doesn't want all those things, I would like to have them.

That was in reply to the OP's question about displaying the macro output away from the polyline.

As a quick reference to anyone who finds this, you can move the label away from the polyline fairly simply. See the attached video.

label-macro-distant-macro.mp4

For ray traces specifically, you will need to set up the image size in your ray trace settings.

Ray tracing doesn't use the video card at all. It is strictly a CPU operation. So, there must be something about the system that is causing this issue.

Does this happen when booting into a clean startup or safe mode with networking?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12376/windows-10-start-your-pc-in-safe-mode

Make sure you aren't using 'Global Symbol Mapping' in this context either. This can have adverse results when you are trying to control textures on a granular level like this.

7 minutes ago, stager386 said:

Do you bother much with resolution quality when you RT? In order to save rendering time, I usually RT at a smaller size, not active window size. And I have played around with low to high resolution.  Thoughts on that?

It depends on your end goal for the image.

Pick the right size for the final output. The image size dialog offers an option to enter inches and DPI which is helpful if you know the size of the image to be printed.

If you are using it for something like an email or a website, however, then you can simply pick the size in pixels that you need for those mediums.

Essentially, just remember that you can usually scale an image down without losing quality, but you can never go up without losing quality.

2 hours ago, Kbird1 said:

 

Thanks Kirk , are you aware of Awesome Bump ? it's a Free Open Source Bump Map Program I found recently on GitHub , latest version is 5.1 ,it is a portable Qt based program so nothing to install , just unzip the Folder. I'd be interested in what a 3D Artist has to say about it as it's not exactly my field of expertise.

 

https://github.com/kmkolasinski/AwesomeBump/releases/tag/Winx32v5.1

 

One Note about Awesome Bump , I found I had to Open the 3 Config files and change the Font Size to 12 to make it all more readable for me , not sure which one is controlling what so I changed them all ...The Author must have good eyes as it is set at 8.

Main folder : Config.ini

Configs Folder : gui.ini and 48_AwesomeBump.ini

 

Yes, I've played around with it from time to time.

I still check in on it to see how it's coming. It's a very promising alternative to programs like Crazy Bump.

Personally, I use a more manual approach to creating my various maps in GIMP and Blender. I just wanted the information in my article to be usable with as little setup/learning as possible to get people started.

Someday, I would like to use substance painter which generates textures procedurally along with all the maps needed for the texture, but, I haven't been able to justify the expense yet.

Dan does a great job of explaining the differences between bump and normal maps and how to use them in Chief in this video here:
https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/10153/quick-tip-chevron-herringbone-materials-with-normal-maps.html

In this Knowledge Base article, you are shown how to apply a bump map to a material in Chief:
https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01076/creating-etched-glass.html

In this article, I give a brief explanation on what bump and normal maps are, and how to create your own:

https://kcclemo.neocities.org/creating-height-and-normal-maps/

Of course, Chief Architect has a roster of certified trainers as well:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/training/instructor/training-team.html

This article outlines the process in more detail:
https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00478/modifying-a-light-for-placement-on-a-stair-or-pier-piling.html

It's also worth noting that layer support must be available in the program you are viewing the PDF in. For example, if you are viewing the PDF in a web browser, you will not see any layer controls like you do in Adobe Reader. So, if you are hoping to embed this in a website so that people can view the drawing, they will not have any indication that they can toggle layers on or off.

Another consideration - The mirror material only works on "flat" objects. You cannot, for example, use it on a cube or cabinet box.

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