Alaskan_Son

Agreed. That's just how these things go sometimes. We shouldn't fault Chief because other apps can't get their act together. Read my second to last post again. It's not desirable for more reasons than post processing. It's a notable issue for sharp lines and curves since those vectors then need to be converted to pixelated images. We can already do this using another PDF generator. The problem as I see it though that is getting glossed over a bit is that the very reason Chief's PDF generator produces a better quality product in the first place is because of the transparency. Remove the transparency and you remove most of the reason for using Chief's PDF generator in the ofrst place.

There is none.

Are you talking about diamond bins?

Can easily be done with molding polylines as well if you want to keep your walls as walls.

No problem. I'll let you know if anything ever comes up. Thanks

Project Browser>Plan Views. Select desired Plan View, right click>Edit View.

Not something I have time to describe in great detail but it's totally doable. I offer custom modeling like this as a service, but here's a quickie on the house. Just take a look at the attached screenshot and plan to see roughly how I did it. Essentially though I just used a bunch of arcs, modeled a single quadrant, then copied/reflected, and joined. Tabletop.plan P.S. All those little + signs are Arc Centers/Ends

I actually have NOT run into this problem with any of our clients. If I did, I imagine I would just encourage them to print from a different app.

What a great idea!!

Nope, you're not alone. I have that setting turned off by default.

Uncheck Update Automatically and just click Update when you have your desired page selected.

In X10, the easiest thing to do is make those out of Doorways instead of using invisible walls.... fix.plan Perhaps even better though...just upgrade to X12 and it would be working fine as is.

Watermark not printing because you're not printing watermark perhaps?

By the way, my supposition is really more than a guess. I am almost 100% sure of why Chief maintains transparency and its exactly the same reason some of us use Chief's PDF print driver instead of others in the first place. Yes, the file size may be larger, but see what happens for example where this nice clean vector based circle overlaps an image with Chief's PDF generator... ...and what happens using another printer and no transparency... Here's the transition that must occur between raster and vector when no transparency is used... ...not very pretty.

Do you use any other CAD software that uses layout type viewport/image compiler that deals with both vector and raster based graphics?

Not sure I have much more I can add Kevin. I don't think it's anything we're going to solve here in the forum though. As I'm sure you've seen, it's a relatively well documented problem that arises with certain apps and their drivers and the solutions are all over the board, anywhere from adjusting color settings to adjusting the dpi output to needing to flatten the PDF and so on. I think reporting the problem to your PDF Viewer/Editor company and then simply using a using a different app till they get it fixed is likely the best solution though. I will leave you with a couple last thoughts though... I'm not exactly sure why Chief uses transparency but I imagine it has something to do with problems associated with generating overlapping viewports. Using image transparency in PDF's is actually quite handy if you're in the habit of post Chief PDF editing. Sometimes I edit the PDF file afterward and the ability to move images around without having the backgrounds cover each other is definitely a benefit. Just a random thought, but I've often thought that the transparency printing black issue may be tied to an underlying background/canvas color being used for certain apps during the printing process. I just know that I need to change the background/canvas color on some apps that I use or I can't even view some PNG's. I sometimes wonder if there isn't a similar background being used during the print process that just needs to be adjusted in some of these apps that are having problems...a color that users don't have any direct access to.

The reference grid is a non-printing item. Just make your own using lines and the Multiple Copy tool.

I actually agree with everything you've stated. The big difference for me though is that I only ever have to draw things once. This is especially a major deal if I'm taking time to actually model the site. Take something as seemingly simple as the driveway. If I'm using a Plan Footprint CAD Detail, and I move the house on the lot, even on a perfectly flat lot, I have to do one of 2 things: Either draw the road and driveway accurately in the plan (which means I'm still dealing with rotating 3D elements in plan), or... Model the driveway in such a way that it is synced up with the CAD version of my lot perimeter and roadway in my Plan Footprint CAD Detail. This has to be one of the worst things to do in Chief IMO. I personally think the trouble's associated with group selecting and rotating things in the plan are a pretty small price to pay. By the way, this can be sped up astronomically by just locking everything that shouldn't be moved in your Plot/Site Plan View. Simply Select All and Move/Rotate as desired.

I used to be a big fan of the Plan Footprint CAD Detail method myself, but since the advent of Saved Plan Views, I've found that one of the most effective and efficient methods is to do the entire site/plot plan right in the model and thereby avoid re-drawing and syncing up any site information. The key of course is to rotate and reposition all the site information instead of rotating the model. We've always been able to do this, but Saved Plan Views just make it a lot easier and more efficient. Specifically... You may want to set most (if not all) your Saved Plan Views to Remember Zoom/Rotation. This step isn't necessary as I'll explain in a moment, but makes things a bit easier to manage. Use the Rotate Plan View tool to set the desired rotation angle for your Site/Plot Plan. This one for sure needs to be set to Remember Zoom/Rotation. The problem that comes into play is that once you try to switch from this Plan View to another, if the other is not set to Remember Zoom Rotation, that one will end up being at the off angle. The workaround is to have at least one other normally oriented Plan View that is set to Remember Zoom/Rotation and to be sure and always switch to that one before switching to others. It really just depends on your workflow. I recommend making a note with that aforementioned angle and placing it somewhere off to the side in your Site/Plot Plan so you can copy/paste it into dialogs as may be necessary later. Once set up, here's a screenshot of what I see when I click on Working Plan View... ...and what I see when I click Plot Plan View... ...and they're both right in the model (no CAD Details) and using very little CAD.

If you're trying to accomplish things like this... ...then simply draw your desired "interior" walls using the appropriate wall types, use one or more walls set to Invisible to enclose the room, and then either uncheck Flat Ceiling Over This Room to remove the ceiling or simply turn off the Ceiling Surfaces layer.

Quick tip I would add is that you can force a schedule to re-order a number of other ways but I personally just do a quick Cut/Paste Hold Position.

My free lessons for the day are probably gonna have to stop here but you’re missing the % signs. It should be... %$test = "testing this out"%

Here’s a quick starter kit I set up a little while back for use in X12 that requires no custom macros in TMM whatsoever. Just copy and paste the following text into your plan and/or layout... Project Information Designer: $Designer_Company = %$Designer_Company = "ASC"% $Designer_Name = %$Designer_Name = "MC"% $Designer_Phone = %$Designer_Phone = "(888) 123-4567"% Client: $Client_Name = %$Client_Name = "Mr. and Mrs. Jones"% $Client_Phone = %$Client_Phone = "(888) 123-4567"% Builder: $Builder_Company = %$Builder_Company = "Super Duper Builders"% $Builder_Supervisor = %$Builder_Supervisor = "Mike Smith"% $Builder_Phone = %$Builder_Phone = "(888) 888-8888"% Other: $Project_Name = %$Project_Name = "Smith Residence"% $Zoning = %$Zoning = "R-2"% $Setback_Side = %$Setback_Side = 10.ft% $Setback_Front = %Setback_Front = 25.ft% $Property_Address = %$Property_Address = "1234 Main St.\nAnchorage, AK 99515"% Just use this as a template and add your own project information variables. Those variables can then be typed into any valid data entry field using the %$Variable_name% format. You just need to make sure the text box is displayed in any and all views that use the information. Just drag it off to the side. Anyway, feel free to use my “starter kit“ to your hearts content but consider contacting me directly with any questions or if you want to dig deeper and really learn more of the basics.

It needs to be executed. I personally just usually put it somewhere where it’s displayed all the time but not visible (either off screen or set to display an empty string).

You take the time to post jabs every time this comes up but you’ve chosen not to post a suggestion in all the time that this forum has been active. Not very productive. In fact there are zero suggestions on this in the Suggestions section. I don’t know maybe some people have complained directly to Chief, but based on what I see here, no one cares all that much, and I can pretty much guarantee it will never change if no one cares enough to make suggestions.