Alaskan_Son

Here's a quick video with a couple tips (mostly stuff Glenn, Dermot and Joe already mentioned) and a quick demo to show that what you're looking for can be done with macros too...

Here you go Cory. Thanks for donating to the cause : ) Masonite 5-Panel Door.calibz

Agreed. Here's another little trick though... You can put all those lines on their own floor and use your reference display to utilize those lines. This way your lines won't actually live on any of your normal layer sets...only when you have that "Guideline Floor" set as your reference display.

Have you tried using 3D molding polylines, faces, or zero thickness polyline solids? They work decently well. Not great, but they work.

We don't have guidelines but there are a handful of things you can do to replace their functionality. I just use CAD lines most of the time but you can also use molding polylines, faces, and zero thickness polyline solids if you need them in 3D. For your CAD lines, create a layer called "Guidelines". Set that to be your Current CAD layer when drawing them. You can simply toggle that layer on and off as necessary, and you can easily group select and delete using Match Properties.

This is what he's talking about...

I believe I have reported this issue to tech support. I think you should report it as well. Each piece of Chief's automatic room labels individually rotate around their own center points instead of rotating around the center point of the group (as they should). Your best bet is to simply create your own room label using a text box or a rich text box along with the appropriate macros. There have been many threads on this, but if all you want is the standard label, simply enter %room.name%, %room.dimensions%, %room.area.internal%, and/or %room.area.standard%. Just set it all up like you want it, block it, and add it to your library for future use.

Scott is right on the money. Start by going to Tools>Reference Floors>Change Floor/Reference (Control+Shift+G). There you can choose ANY layer set to be your Reference Floor Layer Set. You can click Define and adjust that layer set's settings or even copy/create a new layer set. Anyway, that's where it is...go crazy.

My mistake. I had 2 views overlapped and it was the view sent to layout that appeared to have the transparent background. The exported image was in the background. Sorry for the confusion but here are my conclusions... -Images exported from 3D views will not have a transparent background no matter what you do in Chief. -Images exported from plan views will have a proper transparent background as long as you put a check in the box. -You CAN get a transparent background for 3D views in layout but NOT using the export tools. To get a transparent background simply send a 3D view to layout with the background turned off.

So, this is rather annoying. The background transparency for pictures exported from 3D views works in LAYOUT but not in any other apps I tested it in. Transparent background for pictures exported from plan views works just fine in all apps.

Scott, I tested this out and thought at first that I couldn't get a transparent background to work for 3D views but I was mistaken. If you remove the backdrop and check Transparent Background during the export it works just fine. I was originally testing with an app that wasn't properly handling the transparent background. I tested again in layout and it works perfectly.

Without seeing your plan this is just a guess, but try this… Those layers might be used in some of your CAD Blocks. Try going into CAD Block Management and checking "Automatically Purge CAD Blocks". Then see if you can delete those layers.

Yes I did. I do have an SSD that really speeds things up for me, but not so sure that would have any affect on this particular situation though.

I didn't do anything. Just opened the plan, copied the texture to a non-zipped folder, created a 3D view, reassigned the material, and that's what I got. Maybe the image was downsized during the zipping process? Here's what I get for the image properties...

Hey Chop. It seems to be working just fine for me...

I like it because my layout requirements are typically not very consistent from one to the next and neither are the views I send there. Create copy allows me to quickly and easily modify layer display on-the-fly on a view by view basis without having to keep track of how it will affect other views. If I want a handful of views to use the same layer set it's easy enough to change the name of one of the copies and use that instead either when sending to layout or by simply switching the layer set of any given view. I guess I just like the freedom. My style of drawing is just a lot more freestyle because my layout needs vary greatly from one job or task to the next. If you're making heavy use of the S.A.M. or a template method that re-uses both a plan and layout than Make Copy may not be quite as useful. I think it's real strengths come into play when creating layouts as you go...or maybe if you're using only the layout or only the plan as a template, but probably not both.

When you click Send To Layout there is an option to "Make Copy Of Active Layer Set". Uncheck that option. I personally like the feature but a lot of people don't.

Ya, I wish we would give more credit where credit was due. France (arguably the most powerful military in the world at the time) is a mere side note to our defeat of the mighty British army. Seriously...they may have had their own interest at heart; but nevertheless, to those Frenchmen of years past...thank you.

You can always put just the ceiling height in the room label and the rest in a Rich Text box. You would just have to manually align the 2 labels.

Nice work Chop, you're getting pretty stinkin' good at this! I don't currently have the time or inclination to mess with this right now, but here's a quick tip that may or may not come in handy for this type of thing. The arched "lid" is really the most difficult part IMO. You can potentially simplify things for yourself by turning that into a completely vertical surface. Consider converting the archway or even the entire plan into a symbol. Then you can flip the whole thing onto its side, draw your moldings, convert those molding to a symbol, and then drop that symbol back into your plan. Just a thought.

Here's a quick video. Hopefully this answers your questions... https://youtu.be/iFlzxT-gOPw NOTE: I typically like to try to find the most efficient way to do something before making a video but I didn't spend much time on this one. I was just trying to get it done so I could get out the door. I'm thinking I probably didn't need to place the breaks underneath that arch quite so accurately and that there is probably a snap setting I could have toggled off to get those breaks to snap to the temporary points a lot easier. Anyway, it could definitely be improved upon. Hopefully it will at least give you the general idea though.

Here's a couple more quick tips guys... -Forget about the attic wall. Its not necessary unless you want it for some reason. Set your wall to balloon through ceiling above. -Also, you can use the roof to get your arch and then all you have to do is make one minor change to the top profile of your wall in a 3D view and the roof can be deleted. You could then revert whatever that minor change was. The roof will essentially do automatically what I had suggested doing above using an arc converted to a polyline.

To add one more thing to what BT said, there is one other setting that can come in quite handy and that is this... With proximity field checked, your dimension will be placed exactly the specified distance away from the object you are dimensioning. So, if you have your reach set to 36" and your proximity field set to 12", you can pull your dimensions 2 or 3 feet away from the wall (or other object) but your dimension line will automatically draw at the specified 12". You could also pull the dimension along the center of the wall and it will jump out to 12" as well. Anyway, I use this setting a lot to keep my work looking clean and consistent.

I'm away from my computer but it may depend on what order you draw in Johnny. It may take a little trial and error but you should be able to get it to work. A few additional tips and suggestions. -You may need to actually break the wall in plan view and you may need to create a copy of your wall type for the stepped sections. -You may need to draw the stepped sections AFTER the arched section, and again...you may want to do so with a copy of the wall type. -Maybe try using additional sections of flat roof to create the steps. -You can also create the arch by drawing an arc in elevation at the appropriate location, converting the arc to a polyline, and then breaking and reshaping the wall to match that polyline. Won't be as auto as the roof method but probably a little easier and more stable for most people. Not sure what you mean by the curved roof method requiring a cap.

Start out by reading this thread to get a rough idea of how to make the arched top... https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/7709-arched-wall/?hl=parapet#entry68376 For the rest of the wall steps, I would break and reshape in elevation. Should all be a lot easier than you might think.