Alaskan_Son

I don't have a whole lot of time to get into all the nuances right now, but in short... Just drop your new cabinet into your plan and change whatever you want. Nothing to it. Add it back to your library with another name if you want to save the modified version. With regard to the deck framing, there are many many little variables you can play with for this, but first and foremost it looks like you didn't actually build the continue the invisible walls all the way around your deck. It works just fine for me. As Chop said, depending on how you do it, you may end up with some goofy framing though. Your best bet to deal with that is to uncheck "Automatically Regenerate Deck Framing just before you start placing all the invisible wall sections. Hopefully that helps. If you want to learn about some of these things and the various nuances in a little more detail, please feel free to send me an email at alaskansons@gmail.com and we can discuss setting up a one on one training session if you'd like.

Ya, I deleted that post before you responded. I was basing that assumption off the fact you didn't have Build/Retain Roof Framing options but then I realized you were in the DEFAULT settings so I changed my advice. Might be worth taking a look at that again if you haven't already.

David, It's not the defaults you need to change. Those are only going to affect future roof planes. You need to select and change the actual roof planes.

2 best solutions that come to mind... If you're using X9 you can simply click the new View Draw Order Edit Tools and move to a front group. Probably a better and more accurate solution...Place breaks in those walls so your railings actually stop at the columns rather than building through them. Just use a room divider for the portion with no railing. You'll want to set the width of that room divider to something super narrow rather than 0 though. I like to set mine to be 1/512". Chief will automatically round this down to zero in the dbx but the wall will actually retain a little thickness so that it can be properly used to define a room. If you leave the room divider at truly zero you'll most likely end up having that wall automatically upsize itself to a full width wall...not what you probably want.

Sorry Chop, can't help you on that one. Not sure of any way to do that either.

A pass through actually does work. It's just not super intuitive. You need to first draw the pass through windows and then one by one MOVE them (not resize them) by grabbing the move handle and dragging it to the end of the wall. When doing so, drag your cursor just past the end of the wall. You probably won't get any sort of indication that it's working until you let go of your mouse button. Do the same for both windows and then resize as necessary.

Let me preface by stating that I don't really think I like the box and bay window tools. Not nearly enough control. They seem like a very amateur tool made for the Home Designer product line and not for true professional use. It just seems like that tool never really hits the mark. I think building those from scratch is usually a better option. To sort of answer your questions in a nutshell though… 1. You can kinda copy those with Edit Area but it's a little tricky and I'm not sure they always behave properly once they've been copied like that. Try it out though. 2. Without seeing a plan it's hard to say what's wrong with your attic wall. Those wall types can be controlled by the main wall type for that floor, By the wall type you designate in the window dialog box, independently if you use the spray can, or by the exterior room material settings. The attic wall material can be controlled independently if you change the attic will type or paint it with the spray can as well. The material on the attic wall may also depend on whether you change the main walls for the box window before or after you build the roof. Just a few things to look at. I would start out by deleting that particular little attic wall twice and then take it from there.

That has to be your drawing margins. Print>Drawing Sheet Setup>Drawing Margins...adjust your bottom margin to match the side and top margins...

That's a really good solution Glenn. Thank you!

Here's a video going over a few pointers that might help you out Kenneth. It goes over... Creating your own custom column library object using a cabinet instead of the pre-made column symbol Modifying the pre-made column symbol to work like you want it to. How to dimension to those items that have no plan view snaps by stealing snaps from a CDFV (CAD Detail From View)

Steve, there are also a ton of PDF to DWG converters out there. Just do a quick search. Most of them offer a free trial or a free online conversion service. I think some are better than others, you may end up with lots of little disconnected line segments, and if you use a trial version you may end up with extra linework/"watermarks" BUT no matter what...at least you'll have something to snap to.

Here you go Larry...

Make sure to close the plan before trying to zip or post.

The checkbox Glenn was referring to is found here... If that doesn't do what you're looking for, let us know more specifically the situation you need to use it for...there may be a better foundation method you might be missing out on.

Select the layout box, click on the layout box layers tool and the select the layer set you want to use.

Post the plan and I'll show you how, but on a side note, are you sure you don't just want to balloon frame that wall?

Thanks Perry. I really wasn't trying to show how to create views of voids and duct spaces though. Just trying to offer Joe a solution for adding that area to it's "parent" room.

I personally think this is a better solution. It's the same suggestion I mentioned earlier but I thought it might make a little more sense if I showed you...

Joe, to get what you are after maybe try drawing a VERY short section of wall set to no room definition at one of the transitions. It might be a little tricky but it should work.

Actually, Chief works almost exactly like that already. Select your desired tool and then marquis select everything in any given area(s) while holding down the shift or control and only those particular object types will be selected.

OK, the conversation has shifted a little… I include those chases in living area/living space calculations; HOWEVER, I do not include those as part of the room square footage. That's a different story.

What the heck just happened? We went from talking about what we included as Living Area to the definitions of and local requirements for figuring FAR. Not the same thing and may even use 2 different sets of criteria in many cases.

Just sent you a PM

Not by my way of thinking. It's just dead space. It's really only "dead space" if you truly isolate those areas by placing them outside the building envelope.

Really? That's not correct any place I know of. I do the same...always have. IMO it really makes sense for almost every square footage usage a person can think of.