Alaskan_Son

This is definitely a weird one. When I run into stuff like this, I'll mess with some of the various tricks to make walls and room definitions work for a little bit, but if I can't force Chief into submission, I'll typically resort to just modeling it manually using any number of methods. In this case: 1. Change ceiling material for that lower ceiling to a Gap material type. 2. Create Room Polyline, convert to a Polyline Solid, reshape as necessary to get the desired ceiling, and set to match ceiling height, thickness, and desired material. 3. Draw a polyline solid in elevation view to create that upper wall section. I used a CAD Detail From View to get the snaps exact. 4. Create Room molding polylines for both rooms (for the crown) and adjust as necessary. Looks like I forgot crown on the end of the problem wall area BTW. Maybe not the most ideal solution, but it really only took a few minutes. A lot faster than the time it takes to futz around with settings sometimes... Stair Area Fix.plan

I mostly concur. Totally depends on the project and the nature/extent of the addition. As a builder, one thing I’m hyper-aware of is that the more information I provide, the higher the possibility that we’ll raise extra concerns. I like to provide as little information as possible to get the job done properly. Extra information typically only invites unnecessary complications.

You should be able to simply use the auto generated Story Pole dimension and drag off a new segment using the diamond handle too BTW. There does however seem to be a bug preventing this behavior when the original Story Pole being edited was automatically created with only 2 markers that have no height disparity. When that happens, that particular string will never behave properly. It only allows segments to be added that are higher than the original. Any attempt to add lower segments just pushes the whole string up by the distance you are attempting to go down. In addition, the dialing box acts as if though it’s a standard dimension string and some of the options are missing (Marker options in particular).

What exactly would this Auto setting use if... 1. Your lot is sloped 2. You are referencing sea level or some other elevation reference with your terrain elevation data. Are you suggesting that it would just automatically match the Subfloor Height Above Terrain Setting? If so, I suppose I would have no objection. It would be handy for simple flat lot drawings for sure.

I personally won’t likely report this because I don’t care enough, but I’m case you want to add the notes to your report... -The window Lites Across and Lites Vertical (a similar type of data entry with the up/down arrows works fine. -In the Shading Contrast field, notice how the percentage sign is added when you click Okay. You can just see it before the dialog closes. So I t looks like the program is executing the setting...it just doesn’t stick. Similar with the Scale. If you enter a decimal value without the leading zero or a whole number without the trailing zero, the decimals and zeroes are added when clicking Okay as if the program is doing the right thing. Again though, it just doesn’t carry through.

The issue in X12 only seems to be affecting numerical entry fields with the little up-and-down arrows.

I get it. I'm just suggesting that it's good practice whether its written anywhere or not. And by the way, they do touch on the behavior and recommend it in a number of places in the Help files and in the Tutorial Guide.

Just as a side note, but there is still a good reason to hit tab or click on something else in the given examples. The preview window won't update until you do.

Just got back to my computer and tested this out. I agree. It looks like a bug. And I confirmed that it didn't behave that way in X11. Again, it's not something I would have personally noticed because I tend to always hit tab. I'm not saying that to suggest it should be required, just to point out why its easy to overlook issues like this. Hopefully you reported it if you want to see it fixed.

Yes. Don’t use the Auto Story Pole tool. Just use a normal dimension tool, click on the Extensions/Markers tab, and select Draw Elevation Marker. You can then drag out Elevation Markers wherever you want including at custom locations and label them as desired.

Hitting tab does a few things. It forces the operation to get executed which helps immediately bring attention to any errors. That execution also carries out any calculations that were placed into that field...again helping you to catch any errors, and it updates the entire dialog to accommodate any changes in that particular field...yet again giving you a chance to catch any errors. Simply clicking Okay or hitting enter can subvert all of that. You don’t know if you’ve messed something up or incorrectly entered anything until you noticed unexpected results at some later time.

I think it was set up to work that way to give us options. A couple quick examples: - Say you imported all your elevation data for a house in the mountains using sea level datum. You don’t want to have to change all the elevation data just to get your Story Pole working correctly. - Say your building department decides that they want to see heights referenced from flood plane but you originally drew it up as heights from grade. There are a lot more reasons, but those basic examples should get the point across. In addition, don’t forget the complexities involved when drawing a complicated sloped or hilly lot. You don’t want to have to perfectly position your terrain zero height just to get your desired story pole results. That would be a nightmare.

What are those things in real life. Is it possible that they’re really ceilings (hint hint)? Try using the ceiling plane tool as another option. If you do, I think you’ll likely be better off UNCHECKING Use Room Ceiling Finish. Having said that, even in X12, I would prolee just use polyline solids myself .

As a general matter of policy, I always hit the tab key after entering info. into data entry fields so I’m not sure I would ever notice this particular issue.

It really does matter though. Sorry man, you might feel like I'm being unprofessional, but it is utterly exhausting having to repeat the same instructions over and over and over again for people every single time the subject comes up again when the information is all out there and fully accessible. And the problem is becoming more pervasive than ever. I seriously want to just stop helping sometimes because it seems like people are trying less and less and needing the instructions customized for each and every situation. And by the way, click on that link in my post and it takes you directly to Mick's post just like I said...

Mick posted almost the identical screenshot that I did...

I don't understand. What did I say that was different from what Mick, or the Help files said?

How's this... 1. Open your Dimension Defaults. Any one of them will do. 2. Click on the Locate Elevations tab. 3. Enter your desired Grade Level Marker height 4. Set your desired Elevation Reference

Took me about 10 seconds.... It's the exact same setting Mick very clearly pointed out in his post. I don't see how the instructions could be simplified anymore.

Are you serious? Did you read any of what I posted above from the Help files or from Mick's post?

Although I agree with the guys above, you can use a corner cabinet as well. You have to insert the appliance as a face item through the dialog (it just can't be dragged and dropped form library is all)... ...problem is that the CAD block displayed in plan view is all wrong. My personal approach is to almost always just leave the appliance area blank (like it will be in real life), size the opening appropriately (so the cabinet is correct), place the appliance in the plan as a a standalone item, size the appliance appropriately (so the appliance is correct), and then position the appliance manually in the cabinet.

As Eric said, Search "Story Pole" and you'll find some answers pretty quickly. For example, from the Help Files... "Specify the position of the Grade Level Marker measured Relative to 1st Floor Subfloor. This value determines the height at which Grade Level is marked by dimension line Elevation Markers, but is not tied to the location of the terrain. • If this value is greater than or less than 0 and Grade Level is a Mark to Include, it will be located at this distance above or below the Default 1st Floor Subfloor. See Floor 1 Default Height. • When this value is 0, Grade Level is marked at the same elevation as the Default 1st Floor Subfloor. • There is only one Grade Level Marker height in each plan, and it is a dynamic setting. If it is modified in one defaults dialog, its value will change automatically in the other two defaults dialogs and any dimensions with Elevation Markers in the plan will update as well. Note: The Grade Level setting and the terrain in the plan are completely independent of one another. See Terrain. Select the desired Elevation Reference, which is the elevation mark that all other marks’ elevations are measured relative to. • Select Grade Level Marker to specify the elevation of the Grade Level Marker as 0 and measure all other marks relative to it. • Select 1st Floor Subfloor to specify the elevation of the Default 1st Floor Subfloor as 0 and measure all other marks relative to it. And search Story Pole here in the forum and you'll pretty quickly find posts like this one from Mick along with many others...

There is the normal secret: Holding down the Control key and opening a second instance of Chief. I usually did this by right clicking on Chief in the task bar, holding down the Control key, and then left clicking on Chief Architect Premier X11. Give it a moment to open the second instance before letting go of the control key. As Ken said, it can take a few tries; however, the only reason for this though in my experience is that people don't give it enough time. Then there is the super secret method (always worked fine for me, but only do this at your own risk because the program wasn't designed with this in mind): Trick Chief into opening 2 layouts by using a non-existent font. Long story short, Chief loads layouts into the program but doesn't actually fully open them when there's a missing font, so you can use this behavior to trick Chief into pre-loading multiple layouts and then opening them both. Here's how: Place the following CAD block off to the side in your desired layouts. It won't hurt anything, it just uses a font that you likely don't have on your system... Multilayoutfont block.calibz Save your layouts. Close Chief. It's very important that Chief be closed before trying to open both layouts. From File Explorer, multiple select both layouts, right click, and Open Give Chief a little time to load both layouts before clicking on anything in the Replace Fonts dialog. You'll know Chief has loaded both layouts when you have 2 Replace Fonts dialogs (which you can see by dragging one off to the side). Again, only do that last one at your own risk. To date it's worked just fine for me, but Chief wasn't designed to do it and as such, and it may cause you problems when attempting to send to layout, switch pages, re-link files, etc. because of the fact Chief was only designed to deal with one layout at a time. For simple copy paste operations, it seems to work without a hitch though (other than the fact switching layout pages changes the page in both layouts simultaneously). In fact, you can even send to layout, but Chief can only send to one of them... ...of course in X12 its designed to work with multiple layouts, and it works great.

I would really suggest that this be presented and considered as a general library functionality enhancement and not as being tied to this specific tool. It’s something that’s actually been requested many times and in various forms but the bottom line is that we could use this general functionality for almost anything and everything we add to the library. My personal thoughts would be to start with a group of default folder settings for each of the various library object types. Any time that particular object type is added to the library, it would go to the selected folder.

Yes, I am very curious.