Alaskan_Son

Yes, please post a suggestion. This is something I run into fairly often. I've tried to learn from those mistakes and block those complicated groups before I try to move them, but I often times still forget.

The temperature thing is a very good point. I learned that a few years ago. I take my PC apart every so often and clean all the dust out really well to avoid those crashes.

Without seeing your plan or plans this is just a stab in the dark, but I'm assuming you have 2 different plans for existing and proposed. If you were already using layers I assume you would have known the answer. If my assumptions are correct, I would probably do the following... 1. Do a Save As of the "existing" giving it a new name like "Existing Temp" or whatever you want and delete the house (or portion thereof) that you need to replace. 2. Do a Save As of the "proposed" giving it a new name like "Proposed Temp" or whatever you want and delete everything that you might not need (can skip this step if there's nothing extra in that plan). 3. Make sure all your layers are turned on and Select All. Now Cut or Copy and then Paste Hold Position into your previously cleaned up "existing" plan. 4. As long as everything above went smoothly, you can rename your new file(s), delete the temporary versions, and then relink your layout views as necessary.

Definitely seems odd. As long as you've tried deactivating the license several times with no success, I think tech support may be your best bet. You could try downloading the trial version for now just to keep you moving in the meantime, but I'm not sure whether you can save changes or not.

I still do 45 degree uppers all the time. 45 degree lowers...I don't recall EVER using.

2 things... 1. Is Chief open on your Mac? If so, that may be your problem. You may not be able to deactivate a license that is currently in use. 2. There's really no reason you should need to deactivate the license from your Mac (except maybe that the program needs to actually be closed down). You should be able to do it from any computer. Maybe try disconnecting from the internet and starting up Chief. I often times don't have internet access on jobsites and Chief essentially lets you run the program without activation but stipulates that you need to activate the license within so many days (I think its 2 weeks).

Very creative Jintu!!

I would personally probably just use either a wall covering or a wall material region for the wainscoting and a moulding polyline for the other 3 items. I obviously haven't seen your plan, but I imagine its only the wainscoting that needs notching.

Not too shabby Rich!

I think the way you ended up building those walls (solids/symbol) was the best way. Just for the heck of it I tried to use the wall tools to reach the same result. Here's the best I could do. Its not bad, but what you did was better. Cinder block.plan

I agree. We use SU but never very often, I've become proficient enough with Chief's tools that I usually find it faster to model in Chief, however if you are already proficient with SU and a relative new comer to Chief, as Joe said, just model it in SU and import it as a symbol or just do the whole project in SU. Don't get me wrong. As the guys above pointed out, its totally doable...just not very automatic and not very efficient if you're new to the program. That being said, it would probably be an EXCELLENT exercise in learning Chief's various primitive modeling tools if you actually take the time to model it in Chief.

Which one? If its the wainscoting thing you can also consider using a wall covering.

I can get + and - to work in one of 2 ways... 1. X" +/- Y 2. X" +/- Y" Division only seems to work because it is essentially calculating a fraction for you and NOT dividing a dimensions for you, so it will also only work in one of 2 ways... 1. X/Y As usual, Chief will by default add the " for you once the fraction calculates. 2. X/Y" The inch mark is really in connection with the X/Y number (a fraction) and not the Y number (a divisor).

To add a bit to what Dermot said... If you create for example a 48" tall moulding and specify it as being 0" to bottom, it will automatically cut for the door but not for the windows (i.e. it only cuts items that fall within the 0" plane. If you use the same moulding and specify it as being 48" to top, it will cut for both the doors and the windows (i.e. it cuts for everything that falls within the 48" plane). The thing you cannot do as far as I can tell is get mouldings to "notch" for windows. It seems to be all or nothing. To get the notches for wainscoting, very tall trim details, or very low windows, you might need to use another method like wall material region or create a custom moulding profile to fill in the blanks.

Just tried it and it worked for me. 1. Create a 3D view of the house 2. Create symbol Then do one of the 2 following things... A. Draw a couple reference lines or place a point at one corner of your model and then delete the entire model (except the plants). Then replace that model with your newly created house symbol. OR B. Draw a couple reference lines or place a point at one corner of your model and select that along with all your plants tand cut and paste all that into a blank plan. Then place your previously created house symbol and align it with your lines or point. If you created the symbol before placing your plants, the above step would be even easier...Simply place your symbol and then place your plants around it. Once your SYMBOL (not the actual model itself) is created and your plants are properly positioned around it... 3. Group select your symbol and the plants and "Make Architectural Block" 4. "Add To Library" There might be other ways and maybe some more efficient steps, but the above worked for me and was super fast.

No matter...my point was that you are using the plan file itself to create your pages...that is just unusual is all.

You can also complete simple + and - calculations right in the DBX. For example, if you have a 96" top height and a 42" upper cabinet, you can enter 96"-42" and either hit tab or enter and it will automatically calculate for you (54").

You betcha! I thought it was a pretty sweet discovery myself.

I think many new users may overlook the second edit tool bar that pops up with certain tools...

Its not about "room at the table" Lew. Its about the best interest of our clients and the general public.

Its not the third from the bottom. Its like the 20th from the bottom...

I may be misunderstanding what you're asking, but I think there's a good chance you're barking up the wrong tree here. Chief is an awesome program, but as with any "CAD" software its just a tool. The end user needs to be be a proficient draftsman, designer, or architect to reach a good end product. Many long time CA users (many of us licensed contractors, designers, architects, and engineers) have a hard enough time as it is mastering the program (ANY program for that matter) and still maintaining a successful business that turns out a high quality end product. To put it bluntly, I don't think its a very good idea and don't think it will be in the best interest of of very many people to have lumber yards offering design services. I see all sorts of problems stemming from the idea.

You are probably using 2D plant images and not 3d symbols for those plants and as such, the plants are not 3D items that can be included with the newly created symbol. I'm just spitballing here, but what about group selecting the plants and house symbol, block them, and then add that block to the library as a single symbol?

This is a super ultra mega maximum annoying Chief issue and really needs to be fixed. It's near the top of my list of most irritating things... Right up there with stubbing my toe, bumping my head, and telemarketers.

3D images??? In Chief speak that is a contradiction in terms. Images are by very definition 2D.