Alaskan_Son

There are actually several ways to do this. Chopsaw mentioned one of them. The best method depends on exactly what you're doing and which objects(s) you're wanting to reference. There can be much quicker methods depending on exactly what you're doing, but here's one that will work for multiple scenarios... 1. Draw a line that starts and stops on span you're trying to reference. You may want to use the interior to interior of your walls or you may want to reference framing on the exterior or you may want to reference siding on the exterior. I'm going to be referencing siding in this example though... 2. Group select the windows, click on the Align/Distribute Along Line tool and then select the reference line... 3. In the Align To Line Dialog, select Space Evenly and Distribute Between Endpoints... 4. Click okay and then delete your temporary line...

Do all you guys realize that that beam pockets are (or at least can be) fully automatic? All I did was draw 4 foundation walls and place a beam... If you need the plan view to look a specific way and/or you don't want the beam pocket extending fully through the wall, my thoughts are that if you're going to go through all the trouble of placing custom symbols or placing wall breaks and manipulating wall types anyway, you could just as easily place a quick polyline solid and plain old polyline CAD mask. Very quick and easy to copy and paste too.

I tend to think this is what he accidentally did already because I’ve never been able to get a polyline to trim a framing member like that.

What does it show? Just a guess, but I suspect you toggled Show All Layers on. Click on the little Setting icon down in the lower left hand corner of your Active Layer Display Options window and make sure Show All Layers is unchecked.

Not sure. Somewhere between about 96 and 100 though I think.

I only have a moment before I have to get to work here so I'll have to make this brief... Chief gives us Window Symbols but those symbols always mount TO the wall (i.e. they hang on the wall. They are not inserted into the wall. If you want to use a window symbol you have to Open Symbol (not Open Object) and adjust the Y Position Origin Offset. I personally prefer to use a normal Fixture Symbol set to Inserts Into Wall. You use the Depth setting under the Inserts Into Wall option instead of a Y offset. Because the fixture symbol is actually inserted into the wall, the CAD Block moves with it, and you have the added benefit of a fully customizable Wall Cutout Polyline.

Here I have imported a high resolution picture into Layout: 72 DPI .pdf file printed from Layout ----> 36 KB: 4,000 DPI .pdf printed from Layout ----> 1,894 KB: Here I have exported a PDF directly from the camera view: 72 DPI .pdf file exported from camera view ----> 170 KB: 4,000 DPI .pdf file exported from camera view ----> 392 KB: Here I have exported a Picture directly from the camera view at only 72 pixels per inch but I increased the image size to 8,000 pixels wide: 72 DPI picture file exported from camera view ----> 1,509 KB: When you print to pdf from layout, your max dpi output is going to hit a ceiling at the max dpi of any pictures or pdf files you have in your layout. When you export a pdf or picture file from your camera view, I believe your max dpi output is limited by your current screen resolution. If you export a picture at a larger size, you essentially get a higher resolution image when the image is printed at a smaller size because all those pixels are crammed down into a smaller area. Bottom line is that the output quality, resolution, and file size is going to be directly related to image quality you are giving Chief to work with in the first place. If you give Chief a 1"x1" screen or picture with 72 total pixels and then tell it to generate a 4,000 dpi pdf its not going to change the image quality at all. If on the other hand though you give Chief a 1"x1" screen or picture with 4,000 total pixels and then tell it to generate a 72 dpi pdf, you're going to get a drastically pixelated image since you'll no longer have all 4,000 pixels to work with.

Ya...Like for an Epi pen that you will need every year for the rest of your life.

Just to help clarify...The Auto Stairwell tool is a good tool and can be used to help speed up the process, but it just places walls for you and automatically defines the Room as Open Below. Again, it’s still places walls/railings and defines a room so it’s not doing anything you can’t manually do yourself. It looks like maybe you’re just missing a wall as Eric alluded to.

I do the same as Chris. Here’s a quick video I made on the subject a little while back...

No. Only way is to use a different object type in place of the material regions or to fill the corner in with a different object type.

It would help if you could describe very specifically HOW the schedules are to be different. There are other ways of handling this using a single schedule.

Here’s what I do... ...oh, never mind then.

By the way, that little zero area room can be any number of shapes and can be hard to fish down because not only can it be connected to any number of surrounding rooms but it can also get its name from any one of the connected rooms. This is where your particular problem room is being generating and its simply getting its name from the adjacent bedroom in the corner... That one isn't the only problem your in your plan though. You have another one over on the left side, it just has the room label suppressed. Plus you have a 3rd one that is being considered part of another room.Try moving the indicated wall down, select the resulting room, and notice how its shaped...

Your problem areas are right where I showed. You have little tiny rooms generating between those walls. There are a few potential solutions but I would suggest in particular that you read up on the Furred Wall setting.

Just a guess without the plan, but I'm thinking you probably have a room defined right here....

Your problem doesn't seem to have anything to do with differences between the original material and its copies. Rather, its a problem with the cabinet symbol itself and its apparent problem with consistently applying the Normal Map across the entire object. Remove the assigned Normal Maps and the problem goes away, OR paint everything the same material and you'll see that the problem persists. I suggest you report the problem to Technical Support.

You can drop the object into your plan, take a 3D view, and use the Delete Surface tool to get rid of the unwanted faces. Then select the object and click the Convert Selected To Symbol tool. I did this for you as a one time courtesy. Wrought Iron Panel.calibz You should take special note that the geometry in that model contains an inordinate number of faces which can quickly start to slow things down in 3D views...particularly if you use multiple instances of the same object. Even sorting through your library will be slowed down if you click on that object with any 3D preview windows open.

Whoa!! Ken getting a little zesty!

I think perhaps you've glossed over some of the advice you've been given. I don't believe anyone here has suggested that other programs have a hard time handling modern/unconventional architecture. On the contrary, I think at least a couple of us have suggested Archicad would be a good choice for you. Richard in particular gave you some solid advice including but not limited to this little nugget... ...and that from a guy who uses both Archicad and Chief. Yes, programs like Archicad and Revit have the problems, shortcomings, and inefficiencies, but they are designed to handle much more complex architecture then Chief is really designed for. Things like not having a "temporary measurement" tool really have absolutely nothing to do with a program like Archicad's ability to model a house shaped like a walnut. It's just a productivity feature that tool doesn't happen to have. The main problem with Chief is this...It is extremely quick and efficient at modeling conventional architecture...and possibly even the single best program for modeling kitchens and bathrooms in my opinion, BUT the main reason it is so efficient at those things has much to do with how automated many things are. The problem with your potential use case is that even adding a single sloped wall to your project could very easily require you lose all those amazing automated capabilities, not only for that one wall, but for much of the rest of the project as well. You would be forced to go completely manual with everything and draw many components that Chief was never designed to handle. Guess what...that means you just completely defeated the purpose of using Chief in the first place. Sure a program like Archicad might lack some features or take a little longer to model with, but it was clearly designed to handle the architecture so you won't be fighting the program and instead will be using it for exactly its intended purpose. Oh, and by the way. Do yourself a big favor and don't test the programs by modeling simple sheds if you're going to be modeling unique modern homes. Model something complex that includes some of your intended geometry and architectural features.

CAD>CAD Detail From View

to add to Dermot's list, you can also: - Set your Plan View to Use Any Floor

I am in near complete agreement with Richard and Johnny. You can force Chief to do just about anything but even something as seemingly simple as the slanted walls… if 95% of what you do includes only plumb walls than that one project out of 20 might be worth dealing with workarounds on. If slanted walls and other unusual or non conventional architecture are going to be more common for you than I would strongly recommend that you consider Archicad. Even a single slanted wall can cause major complications with the entire model...everything from floor and ceiling connections to wall connections to window and door behaviors to roof connections to framing...the list could go on. Also, if you had already been using Chief for 10 years and were already heavily invested in it, and/or if you had already mastered it, that would be one thing, but if you haven’t even taken the dive yet you’re much better off starting with a program that is more specifically suited to the type of architecture you are planning on drawing up.

Yes. Depends on the database you’re using and the file format but it can commonly be done. Requires some custom macros though.

If you're trying to access the Texture Source file name, then yes, you are correct, I am telling you that its not possible. If you're trying to access the Material name, then I'm telling you it might be possible. It really depends on what you mean when you say "texture image" and on what types of objects you're talking about.