Alaskan_Son

You can also use point to point dimensions and either; Reduce the marker radius to zero Change the marker line style to the invisible line style Put the markers on their own layer and turn the layer off Or you can use these... MANUAL ELEVATION MARKERS Neither of the above have any off angle limitations. The problem with normal dimensions is that they must be snapped to the end of a line making it essentially impossible to dimension certain situations without using one of the above methods. You can also simply place a break in your line to force your dimension to snap anywhere you want but then you have a broken line...not exactly a good thing in some situations...especially if you're displaying the line's length/angle in a plot plan.

That's debatable. You could simply copy and change the material type for that black material to framing and then turn on auto framing but then you have to deal with extra lines caused by the studs if you want to use line drawing. Plus, you get the finish floor showing at all the door jamb cutaways. Given only those 2 choices...in this case I'm thinking a black slab might actually be the better solution. Probably the best and most utterly genius solution??? Change those walls to pony walls, assign the exact same wall type to the lower wall and just make the lower wall super short (even 1/16" should do it). Walla...your wall is always black no matter where you cut it.

You'll probably need to go to garage after you change that slab color and address the floor in there. Just select the garage room, make room polyline, convert polyline to material region, and then set the material to a very thin concrete material.

Ya, I realize that. The problem is that we could spend all day long guessing at what your settings are and what you're doing differently that may be causing the problem. It's all good. Hopefully Glenn's guess works for you.

We could keep guessing all day long but you'd probably have an accurate answer in mere minutes if you were to just post the plan.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to suggest you have been drawing up plans incorrectly just that you have been drawing your 3D models incorrectly and using the wrong attribute all along. Yes, it worked for you but technically you should have been setting your window height lower and using the header_elevation all along. If you changed your practice your problem would be solved. Having said that, the attribute is definitely broken and needs to be fixed no matter what. Thank you for reporting it.

I hate to break it to you but I think you have been modelling/displaying those dimensions inaccurately for years. I think you are misunderstanding the window settings. Study the attached screenshot and I think you'll see what I'm talking about...

No. It's not that simple. If that were the case you would be able to fix your problem macro with something like this... arr = top_elevation.to_s.sub('"', '').to_f.round.divmod(12) "#{arr[0]}" "'-" "#{arr[1].round}\" H.H." OR arr = top_elevation.to_s.gsub("\"', "").to_f.round.divmod(12) "#{arr[0]}" "'-" "#{arr[1].round}\" H.H." or similar. If you look at my attached screenshot you'll see that the top_elevation has NO VALUE in text macro management. Try creating a test macro using nothing but top_elevation and you'll see what I mean. It's not working right at all.

Room dividers seem to increase to a full thickness wall whenever the rooms they are dividing are structurally unique. To avoid this problem, create a room divider of your own and set the thickness to 1/512" thick. This will round down to zero in the dbx. but the wall will actually retain some thickness so it's size will not change on you.

By the way, you can pretty easily get what you're after with something like this... arr = (header_elevation-rough_opening_top).round.divmod(12) "#{arr[0]}" "'-" "#{arr[1].round}\" H.H." ...but I question whether you are fully understanding the relationship between the window size and the the rough openings.

Looks like hat top_elevation attribute is more broke than I thought. It works when placed directly into the label but otherwise the value is being reported as blank... Please report those issues to tech support.

The top_elevation attribute seems to be the problem. The value is being reported as blank. This needs to be fixed pronto. Please send in a bug report.

Lots of options here but if you're using X9 I think this might be one of the easiest using your current setup. Use the new Shelf Ceiling tool...

Option 2: For anyone using X9 wanting to create simple arced picture frame type molding...Use a Wall Niche. Draw a wall niche on your arced wall. Set the depth of the niche to 1/16" Apply a casing to the niche. You now have a molding profile that is very easy to change, reshape, and resize. Just draw multiple niches as necessary for additional similar profiles. This obviously has much more limited uses but is still pretty cool. You can also use a similar technique in pre-X9 versions to create the casing. You just need to go through the steps of deleting surfaces and converting the curved casing to a symbol. Of course you lose the ability to easily modify the casing but at least you know it's an option.

Here are a couple other options that may be worth considering depending on the situation (one of which is only possible in X9)... Option 1: Use a window. Draw an arc along your desired wall profile to get an accurate dimension. Open a blank plan and draw your desired molding to the appropriate dimensions along a flat surface. Open a 3D view and convert to symbol. When prompted to select a Symbol Category, select Window and Add To Library. Go to your main plan and copy the arced wall section and paste into a blank plan. Open the wall, take note of the thickness, and then change the wall type to be one single layer the same thickness as your original wall. Select the new "window" from your library and place it into that wall. Resize the "window" as necessary and/or click the Open Symbol tool and adjust the rotation and/or origin offsets as necessary. Open a 3D view and use the delete surface tool to delete the wall...leaving only the curved molding profile. Convert To Symbol but this time just add it to library as a normal fixture type. Place the new curved molding into your original plan. It's really a bit easier than it sounds. I guess the concept of using a window has been around for quite some time but it was only recently introduced to me by The Incomparable Yusef. He and others have used a similar method by utilizing the "Treatments" tab and by creating and attaching the object to be bent as an exterior "Millwork". I recently realized that just setting an object to be the actual window makes it a LOT easier to tweak it as necessary. Option 2 shortly...

You can group select and open directly from Windows Explorer.

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!