Alaskan_Son

You might find that you need to add some light sources of your own too (3D>Lighting>Add Lights) and just toggle Casts Shadows off.

In X7 it would be under 3D>Lighting>Adjust Lights>Default Sun

I'm getting a similar behavior except that its the bottom of the shape that won't register...

Try this... 3D>Lighting>Adjust Sunlight>Tilt Angle...Set to -90

Orthographic or Perspective view?

Are we talking about an interior or exterior ray trace?

This isn't exactly what the OP was after, but some pretty creative ideas nonetheless. I like it! Nice work.

Until you get that sorted out, there are other methods. 2 that come to mind... 1. Place a break, select one of the segments, and then click the Disconnect Selected Edge tool. It should now behave like a complete break. 2. Place a break and then toggle Connect CAD Segments off. It should also behave like a complete break.

I hate to argue the genius thing...but I'm really only using the tools that Chief has provided. Actually, most of what I brought up is covered pretty well in the Help files (which by the way, I strongly encourage people to use more often). I really appreciate the kind words though Dave

It works for me.

I have a feeling Graham is just talking about using cabinet partitions. Anyway, that's just a guess. I think walls, pony walls, cabinets, partitions, polyline solids, solids, slabs, etc. all work just fine and all have their benefits. I personally like to place a thin (1-4" to 1/2") custom countertop (or similar) on top of my curbs and half-walls though as it provides for a more realistic look and for better material control.

Thanks Joe. I appreciate that : )

Here's that followup video. Goes over a few more various options as well as how to create a custom toolbar configuration.

Looks to me like some sort of moulding polyline. You should probably attach the plan.

I have watched it. Don't recall much about layer sets though. Can you elaborate a bit? We've always been able to copy layer sets so I must be misunderstanding you.

Use the Adjust Material Definition Tool (looks like a rainbow). Adjust the angle of both the Pattern (vector views and some other rendering techniques) and Texture (standard rendering, ray traces, and some other rendering techniques).

This has actually been an option since as far back as I can remember. Not new to X8... unless I'm misunderstanding what you're talking about perhaps.

Good idea Joe! I've always done that step in plan. Never occurred to me to do that in layout. Probably more useful in plan in most cases, but definitely a few instances where doing in layout would make more sense.

You can't. You can either redraw or export as DWG and try using the CAD to walls tool. Or, you can possibly import the model as a symbol but it's usability is about zero. I would probably just redraw. And you should really start another thread instead of hijacking this one.

You can fillet the corners and make circles but that's about it. You can get polyline shapes really easily though using CAD masks in plan.

The more I've thought about it, the more I realize that a custom toolbar configuration could be superior to a drop-down list in a lot of cases for use during specific tasks. I'll try to make a quick video when I have a little extra time.

I'm not familiar with the discussion in question, but… You should be able to simply draw the railing section in a blank plan, create a 3-D view, and create symbol.

You are correct. I realized that right after my original post which is why I followed it up with another post about the 2 methods essentially being the same (as long as the cameras are saved with the template plan). In other words, one way or another, the same cameras must be used for them to update.

I might add that I still don't see much of a difference between the SAM and Chief's preferred template methods except that as Joe suggested above, with the SAM, the template is constantly being modified and updated. If at the end of every job a person saved the plan as their profile plan, they would essentially be using both the SAM and Chief's template method.

The only way your elevation cameras will update is using the SAM. One of the upsides of using that method. Cameras and elevation views are forever tied together and since we cannot copy cameras, the only way to have elevations change is to use the exact same cameras (i.e. by saving the plan WITH the cameras to a new name and linking that plan to a new layout).