Joe_Carrick

I am trying to stay neutral on this subject. I guess I could agree that a drop-down selection of the Layer would work, but this dialog is the ALDO (Active Layer Display Options) and by that definition it has to do with that subject. Editing Objects per se is assigned to the Object Specification dialog. That's where Layer, Linestyle, Color, etc. are modified. Do we need that dialog to be NON-MODAL so it can be always displayed? Of course and it's not a new request - maybe CA will provide that at some future time. I hope so.

I do think there should be some more intelligence to the selection and placement of moldings on Cabinets. With the Room Moldings, when a "Crown Molding" is selected, Chief assumes it should be at the ceiling and when a "Base Molding" is selected Chief assumes it should be at the floor. It just makes sense to me that the same should be true for Cabinets. IOW, if I add a "Base Molding" to a Cabinet or to the Cabinet Defaults, Chief should recognize that it should be at the bottom, not at the top. If I add a "Edge Molding" then it should be on the Counter Top.

It works for me. Did you set the offset to 0.00 from Bottom in the Defaults? Otherwise the molding would probably be on the edge of the Counter Top.

It's a matter of knowing what you are doing. Each Layout Box has a Layer Set. If both are using the same Layer Set then that's what you get. You can select one of the Layout boxes and assign a different Layer Set. The other way to handle this is to "Copy the Layer Set" when sending to Layout. That will insure the Layout Box has a unique Layer Set of its own.

Windows in walls are essentially "children" of the wall. If the wall is not displayed then the window is not displayed either. The only way you can "isolate" the window is by using the "Delete Surface tool" to temporarily hide the wall surfaces. What is your reason for "isolating the window"? Maybe there's another solution.

If you have the Windows "Snipping Tool" you can use that instead of exporting from Chief.

OK, I see that but I only show those line lengths for the Property Lines - all the others I have turned off.

No, just send with a different Layer Set.

This is where you edit that.

Richard, I don't see any advantage to a CAD Detail for the Plot Plan at all. Anything that it provides can be done with an Annoset/Layerset combination. I still have to put all the Terrain Features, Dimensions, etc in the Plan View anyway.

In the Window Label Style uncheck Transparent.

The ALDO is basically a non-modal combination of the LDO and the OLP dialogs. When no object is selected it functions as the LDO. When an object is selected it functions as the OLP. The ALDO is configurable using "Settings" but otherwise it's only benefit is being non-modal and movable. None of these dialogs was intended as a way to actually edit an object. For that functionality you have to open the object itself. For my purposes, I would much prefer having a non-modal and movable Object dbx. I don't use the ALDO just because it takes up additional screen real estate.

For Labels, I just rename the view in the Project Browser and use a Text Box with the %view_name% macro. For the scale I use the %box_scale% macro of the Layout Box.

Here I added it to the Default Room Label. I had to manually type the macro name in that dialog because Chief doesn't allow us to select such macros in that dialog.

It would need to be provided as an option for the Room Macros that Chief provides. IOW, we can't do it except as an addition in the Default Room Labels.

Ray, The only way to do that would be with a user defined macro assigned to the Room Label.

I just did a bit of experimenting with this and I found I could superimpose 2 Roof Planes so that the one that is for the eaves can extend back up into the house. Then that Roof Plan can be selected and the framing can be built with different member sizes and spacing. It eliminates the need to extend all the eave rafters individually. All you need to add is the blocking.

Thanks Glenn, That was exactly what I was looking for but I would never have thought to look at that location in Defaults. I know I must have done it sometime in the past because I have some older projects with that annotation of Property Lines. My Default Plan somehow got changed but now it's good.

I can't figure out how to get the Property Lines to have "Quadrant Bearing Decimal Dimensions" to be displayed on the exterior of my property lines except by using a text box. This should be an automatic feature. If I create dimensions, I can manually add the bearing text by copying it into the "Leading Text" but that's extra work and I then have to make the actual dimension line, arrow and extensions somehow disappear. Does anyone have an easy way to have this work?

Kathleen, You can put together several cabinets and Block them. Will that do what you want?

Yeah, I saw that in the "Update Notes" but really haven't played with it.

Dennis, See post #4

Many years ago, I arrived for a site inspection at a hospital project. I noticed that the masons were up to 3' high on a wall that had windows starting at 2'4" and I stopped them. I then told the masonry sub that there were 3 supposed to be 3 windows in that particular wall. He said "No, there are only 2" which of course I disagreed with since it was my design. The sub insisted on a 100 bet and I told him I didn't want to take his money to which he responded: " I bet with my workers all the time and I never lose." That was not the right thing to tell me and I took his bet. Then we proceeded to look at the plans and all he could do was open his wallet and hand me 5 $20 bills and say "Well, I learned a lesson not to bet with the Architect - but it was cheap. If he hadn't stopped my guys when he did it would have cost a lot more to take the wall down and rebuild it." Now to answer how I would have handled the original question: I would have contacted the Architect and asked him if he intended that the ceiling in that room be sloped? I would have done that immediately but I would not have told him I had discovered a mistake that he hadn't. This is a diplomatic way of pointing it out without saying it was a mistake. That would have given him the opportunity to deal with it without losing face.

I don't know, but it's in the Help File