Alaskan_Son

I would probably do the same thing Tommy suggested.

I just tried it again with an extremely complex plan and it seemed to work just fine (although I didn't explore the plan in great detail). The key is to use "Edit Area" and not just standard select.

I haven't used it on any extremely complex plans, but I tested with a quick and simple plan, and using "edit area", the non-default ceiling heights seem to transfer to the new plan just fine.

I was reading another thread and realized that my sequence listed above actually should work with one minor tweak.... 1. Do a "Save As" of your plan (giving it a new name of course). 2. Lock the camera layer(s) (and make sure the rest are all unlocked) 3. Marquis select everything and hit delete. 4. Clean up anything else that may have failed to delete. 5. Open your alternate plan (the one without cameras), make sure everything is unlocked, and using "Edit Area (All Floors)" marquis select all, and cut 6. Go back to your plan with only cameras and "paste hold position" 7. Save As the new plan with cameras using the desired name That seems to work for me. What do you think Scott?

I'm pretty sure its been asked for before, but this should be posted in the suggestion section. Not knowing what we're undoing can be a huge nuisance. Sometimes its something you can only see by opening a dbx. and sometimes it seems...simply opening a dbx records as an undo so you can never really tell how many undos it takes to get back to point A. Its really easy to undo too far and end up undoing something you didn't want to undo without noticing it. I would give this suggestion an enthusiastic thumbs up. I would probably put this among top 3 in my wish list now that I think about it.

No no no. I would vote FOR the option. Just wouldn't advocate using it in most circumstances.

For exterior dimensions I only dimension to one side of the wall or the other. FWIW, I've probably framed 60 homes from various plan producers when I was a framing subcontractor and in that time I don't actually recall having ever seen a set of plans with exterior dimensions displayed as you are describing. Interior dimensions yes, but exterior dimensions no. I personally think its not the greatest idea. I believe exterior dimensions should always be displayed in a very clear string that can easily be added up (i.e. no missing wall thicknesses to account for).

With all due respect, I was also expressing a matter of fact. I just don't want other HD users to get the wrong idea. Your statements are a little misleading. There ARE differences between the 2 products with regard to stair construction. As I said, we have been through this before (and I might add you also acknowledged the differences in the specific thread I'm alluding to). An excerpt: "...Custom Stairs must be done methodically and carefully with lots of checking to make sure they are behaving properly, it requires patience and a plodding manner to do... BTW, this video would only apply to Home Designer Pro or Chief Architect Premier X5 only, it does NOT apply to any other Home Designer titles like you have which have no such custom landing abilities. DJP" I just don't think its a good idea to head down this road. There's really no benefit of letting HD users think the programs are going to be the same. A couple posts in we may end up talking about breaking a landing and voila...a communication breakdown and a potential confusing mess. Not good for anyone. There's a good reason for having 2 separate forums. That's all I'm saying.

I'm sorry David, I believe you are mistaken...according to Chief's own product selection guide/features list there is a notable amount of functionality missing from the HD product line with regard to stairs (except maybe in PRO). The basics might be the same but many details and options are not. We've been through this before on another thread. We spent I don't know how many posts trying to solve a problem that required using a feature the OP couldn't access ( I believe that particular instance had to do with landings).

You would probably get better answers on the HomeTalk forum. This forum is aimed more specifically at Chief Architect users. There are many tools and capabilities in "CA" that are disabled or unavailable in the "HD" product line.

Sounds like a bug to me.

Also would be helpful to know which program and version you're using.

Prints fine for me but both look identical. Try attaching the plan and layout and you may get a better answer. On a side note, I have had PDF's in the past that need time to "draw" (within the PDF reader) before printing. Just a guess without a plan and layout, but there's a possibility the PDF hadn't finished "drawing" before your client hit print...especially if he/she has an older and slower computer and/or an older and slower PDF reader.

I'm also the type of person who has to know the "right" way to do these things mathematically. Unless the house dimensions AND lot dimensions are VERY NEAR PERFECT its not actually possible to mathematically place the house any better than "close". You really need at least one absolute point and you have none of those. At best you can assume the measurements from the house corners were taken at 90 degrees from the lot lines but even that is questionable I would personally draw circles from the 3 corners of the house and rotate the lot till all 3 points touched. Then maybe copy and offset the lot lines to make sure it was really close that way. If there was any discrepancy after checking with the offsets I would break the difference and call it good.

Yeah, I realize that right after I posted it. For some reason I can't delete it though so I added an edit.

Cabinet module lines I believe. Easiest way to find stuff like that is to select one of the cabinets, click the object layer properties tool, and check all the layers associated with that item. Edit: While I was typing that up Scott gave you a better answer.

Just to reiterate. Your ceiling height was set wrong regardless of whether you built it to the interior side of the wall or the exterior (as mentioned in posts above). I bring attention to this because while I agree that drawing the ceiling to the exterior is the more accurate way to do it so that framing builds correctly for the majority of situations, drawing to the interior also works just fine (and would be the proper way to do it for some framing situations). It worked just fine for your plan once I entered the CORRECT numbers.

I understand the problems. Just stressing the ideal time to do things if you want to "copy" cameras. On the same note, anyone who saves all their cameras wouldn't have a problem doing what I said if people wanted to see changes late in the game. The problems would arise mostly when making changes in the middle of the process...not at the end.

Amen.

I think the key here is...if possible, set up all your cameras BEFORE making alternate plans and then make SAVE AS copies of those plans with cameras and all before making your changes.

Now that I think about it a little more, I think it might be easier to change ceiling heights (where necessary) than it would be to replace all the cameras...maybe.

Oh well...I tried. You still owe me some sand or a chili dog though. This wasn't part of our bet.

True, but if you want them to be positioned EXACTLY the same and/or have tons of them set up, that can be extremely time consuming. You should be one to talk anyway....Mister SAVE AS :-) You know, I think I might start calling you D. SAM Hall...what in D. SAM Hall is going on here!!? Yep...I like it.

Oops...I made a mistake in my first post. I said to lock ALL the layers except the camera layer(s). What I should have said was UNLOCK ALL layers except the camera layer(s), or lock ONLY the camera layer(s). I edited my first post to correct it.

No. As Kevin said, you may not copy cameras. You CAN however try this... 1. Do a "Save As" of your plan (giving it a new name of course). 2. Lock the camera layer(s) (and make sure the rest are all unlocked) 3. Marquis select everything and hit delete. 4. Clean up anything else that may have failed to delete. 5. Open your alternate plan (the one without cameras), select all, and cut 6. Go back to your plan with only cameras and "paste hold position" 7. Save As the new plan with cameras using the desired name