Joe_Carrick

I suggest you post this on the HD Forum.

When using a Floor Material Region the Material List will show the Material Region - but the Finish Schedule will show the "Floor Finish" as specified in the Structure Tab of the Room dbx. These things can be different. The Material List shows the correct materials and quantities but the Finish Schedule doesn't show any of the Floor Material Region. Both materials should be listed in the Finish Schedule - but if the Floor Material Region covers the Entire Room and it "Cuts Finish Layers of Parent Object" then the Finish Schedule should only show the "Floor Material Region". The same thing is true for Wall Material Regions. Basically Floor and Wall Material Regions are not reflected in the Finish Schedule. I will report this to Customer Support

When you indicate "Best Answer" it should be the post that provided that answer, not one of your own posts. Otherwise, we have no idea which post was the answer.

I believe you could do this by using a "Billboard Technique" with a large cylinder surrounding the building. Explode that and place the image (texture) on the inside face of the cylinder. There are several other ways to create the surface to apply the image to.

Technically you can only have one copy of the Plan File open at any time. There's only 1 Plan View and it covers all floors (like pages in the Layout) and 1 active Layer Set. By dragging it to another Monitor you are just creating a new viewport. When you then open the Framing Plan from the Layout it opens a new viewport and sets the Layer Set to "Framing". You now have 2 viewports of the Plan and the Layer Set is the same in both. If it was 2 different Plan Files you could have different Layer Sets.

GE Appliances please.......

Symbols have a 2D Block for the Plan View. That's automatically created when the Symbol is created and will generally be a "Top View". There are several ways to create additional 2D Blocks that could be substituted. Once you create the additional 2D Blocks, store them in the Library so you can add them to any Plan and assign them to the Symbol in that Plan.

Rob, When you send to Layout do you copy the Layer Set? It sounds like the same named Layer Sets are used and the views when you change one view it's updating the common Layer Set in the Layout.

Try just using a marque select (walls, roof, etc) and copy/paste to your new plan. Edit Area requires a little sophistication in the display and selection process. IAE, either method will work if done correctly.

Edit Area -> Copy/Paste

Contact SSA Support

Years ago (1980's) at CalComp Systems Division we had a "Picture Processor" which was essentially a 2D GPU. This was one of the first (or maybe the first) hardware solution to the problem. Actually, current GPU's perform the same functionality. The problem with Chief is that the 2D view is a software representation of the 3D Model. The 2D View graphics doesn't actually exist as a database that can be processed by the GPU - instead, it's created on the fly which can only be done by the CPU. It would be interesting to see if Scott's model would be much faster if "Walls, Main Layer Only" was checked.

It's just my opinion but I think instancing only works with 3D (GPU handles instances) but that's only Perspectives and Isometric Views. The Plan Views and Sections/Elevations are really 2D representations of the Model (that's why we can add Text, Dimensions, & other 2D CAD objects to those views) and I think are displayed by the CPU by redrawing them. Maybe those views could somehow be displayed via the GPU using instancing but I don't think so. I think a better solution would be for CA to implement either: 1. A viewport save and restore (with x/y offsets) when panning or zooming. 2. Offset the viewport itself when panning. 3. Change the scale factor of the viewport when zooming. Either of those should be much faster than a redraw of the 2D representation of the model.

IAE, check this thread - I show how to do it in a video https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/4257-x7-glass-shower-video-by-joe-carrick/?hl=%2Bglass+%2Bshower

You should post this in the Q & A Forum. This Forum is for users to post their "Tips" and/or "Techniques" that might be useful to others.

Dermot, Can the CD's and Manuals for older versions be sold - (X1 and prior) if they don't include the hardware locks? In that case they could only be used by someone who had a valid license with an existing hardware lock.

This was discussed in another thread where a unit plan was copied multiple times, resulting in several hundred walls, doors, cabinets, appliances, etc. To avoid this problem, create the single unit plans (however many different units required) but then just show the separation walls for each unit and label the unit types where they occur. The unit plans can even be in separate Plan Files if you want. It's not really the size of the project that matters but the number of surfaces (walls generally have lots of surfaces since they are made up of layers) IOW, minimize the number of interior walls, doors, etc. This is the way we would have done it on paper before we had CAD systems. BTW, this problem is most evident in the Plan View performance - not so much in 3D if you have a good graphics card with sufficient memory. Evidently the 2D Display is being handled by the CPU - not by the GPU.

After further examination of your Plan, it appears that you have a 2 story living room. Rather than define this as a tall room, create a room above it on Level 2 and set it as "Open Below". Then you can modify the wall between the Bedroom and the Open Below Room as a "Railing".

It appears that you already have a "Stairwell" but it's not inside the 2nd Floor Walls. Delete the Stairwell walls on Level 2 and rotate the Stair on Level 1 so that it will be contained on Level 2 - Then create the Stairwell.

It might be easier to simply edit the 2nd Floor Walls, Normal to a new Layer that you could turn off in a Layer Set that has all the Framing ON. When that Layer is turned off, it will take care of all the Windows & Doors - including the Casings, Sills, etc. You would need to do something similar for the Roof Planes and Attic Walls. You could probably use a Layer named "Hide_This" for all such items.

One way to deal with Wall Types is to add the one's you want to the user Library arranged in folders and named according to their construction. Then when you want to draw a particular Wall Type you just select that Wall Type in your Library and start drawing. When you use one of those in a Plan, it will get added to the Wall Types drop-down menu. Any wall type that isn't used in the Plan can be deleted in the Wall Type Definition dbx. It would be nice if there was a "Purge unused Wall Types" function, but that doesn't exist at this time.

CAD > Lines > Create Line Style You can combine any set of Dashes, Dots & Text with Gaps

Another option - one that I particularly like: 1. Rename the view in the Project Browser 2. Add a Text Box to the Elevation View a. Place the macro %view.name% in that Text Box & size it as desired. b. The name in the Project Browser will be displayed in the Text Box 3. When you send the View to Layout, suppress the "Layout Box Label"

My Layout Template is pretty extensive. Floor Plans, Elevations, Sections, Schedules, Standard Details and General Notes are already there. I have the Layout open along with the Plan so as the Model is developed, the CD's are being built automatically. My Plan Template has Elevation and Cross Section cameras in place and those have been sent to Layout. All Schedules are predefined in CAD Detail Windows and have been sent to Layout. Almost all annotation is done in the Plan - mostly thru the use of Default Labels using user macros. I do all my Details in a set of "Detail Plans". As each Detail is created, I copy it to a CAD Detail Window which I name. Many of these are common to all my projects so they are already sent to my Layout Template. Additional Details are done in those same "Detail Plans" so that they are available for future projects as well. One area that I haven't been able to automate very much is Interior Elevations. I do use the view.name and a predefined mask to standardize the height so that when sent to Layout they will snap and align easily. I do the same with my Details. Another thing that is time consuming is Detail Callouts - because Chief doesn't provide an automatic way to link them to the detail location in the layout.

Chief has a "Lines to Walls" tool but IMO it's cumbersome and not all that accurate. If I have a DWG I will just draw walls over the top and once I have the basic layout with doors and windows in place I delete the 2D CAD lines.