Joe_Carrick

Rob, Use a Railing Wall for your toilet partitions. Put a doorway in that wall and convert it to a hinged door. When you raise the door it will not generate the panel below.

I make my own. It's just a matter of putting together the Furniture & Fixtures for what you normally use. Then just group them and add to your User Library. Make sure to put them into a Folder Structure so you can find them later.

Rob, Open the Symbol dbx. You can change the material names in that dbx.

Alan, That's one you can't change. Almost all of Chief's Labels are assigned to a fixed layer that is related to the object type. If you create a symbol you have a little more flexibility by selecting the Symbol Category. The other thing you can do with a Symbol is to add the text to the 2D CAD Block - which works for the Plan View but for Section/Elevations you have to add the text manually.

Cheryl, I think you could fairly easily create that and make it a "Millwork" Symbol. Then it could just be positioned in each corner.

I've compared one of my more complex plans with exactly the same settings in X6 and X7. I can't see any difference.

If you are doing full log homes rather than log siding.......... I use a single layer wall (transparent material) the thickness of the Logs. If you want chinking you can make the original wall 3 layers with only the outer layers being transparent. I place all windows and doors in those walls which provides the casings, etc. Then I stack Log Symbols just as if I was building the log home in the real world. This is the most realistic method I've found.

Tim, 1. You need to have "Wall Labels" layer on for the Label to be displayed. %wall_id% -> 1,2,3,..... %automatic_label% -> Wall Detail - 1, Wall Detail - 2, Wall Detail - 3, ...... %wall_type% -> The Wall Type Name. 2. Don't forget the underscore character "_" as it's part of the macro name and without it you'll get nothing.

For what you're describing, I would add a Material Region (don't cut the wall surface) and then apply a "Hole in the Material Region". That's an icon on the Edit Toolbar. IOW, it's easier to add a Material Region Layer to the Wall Surface and then cut a hole in that. If it needs to be deeper than that I would use 2 walls back to back - pretty much like it would be built.

Sliding Barn Doors in "Bonus Content" online.

This one is real simple. 1. Exterior Wall has Drywall on inside face 2. Second Wall has Drywall only on inside face 3. Put a Pass Thru (no casings, no lintel, no sill) in the wall and make in "Not Through".

Rod, I'm not seeing that in X7. Did you ever have that problem before?

No problem here. I upgraded and installed the library successfully.

Scott, In order to resize: 1. Make sure "Hole in a Wall" Layer is displayed. 2. Select the center area of the symbol and press TAB to get the "Hole" which you can then resize or move. 3. Select the edge of the symbol and press TAB to get the "Symbol" which you can then resize or move. The key to this whole thing is that the 3D Symbol and the Hole have been Blocked together. That way they are treated as a single object for placement but they otherwise keep their behaviors. The CAD Blocks are Custom so it may be possible to play with the y offset but the real solution to this in the long run will be for Chief to make the CAD Block placement match the 3D Symbol Origin Offset. I agree that CA should make this happen with a Symbol Option "Inserts in Wall" with Framing updates just like a "Pass Thru Window". I don't know when that might happen so for now, we just have to deal with it. IAE, I think this is the best solution to the Niches so far.

Here's my new Wall Niche Symbols Library. Please replace the previous Library with this one. These Symbols can be placed up against a wall and they will automatically cut the hole in the wall surface. These objects are actually an Architectural Block consisting of the Niche (Geometric Shape Symbol) and the Hole (Transparent Backsplash) so when selected you can TAB to get down to those 2 items if you need to make adjustments to their size, materials, etc. Note: If you select the "Opening" and then TAB you will have selected the "Hole". If you select the "Frame" or outside edge and then TAB you will have selected the "Niche". I created these symbols without any Floor Finish Thickness. If you find that the hole in the wall appears to be too low you will need to move it up the thickness of your Finish Floor. The Symbols (attached Library) are designed to fit in a 14.5" wide stud space (2x6 studs). They are by default 14"x24"x6" but as I indicated above it is possible to modify the size. I have also included my Washer Hookup which is smaller and a Medicine Cabinet with a Glass Door. Please let me know if you have any special configurations and I will try to add them as my time permits. I would like this Library to become as complete a selection as possible. Notes about displaying in 3D: 1. The Walls must be Framed and the Framing, Walls Layer must be displayed. If you don't need framing you can make you Main Wall Layer "Standard Glass" or some other "Transparent" material and you won't need to worry about the Framing Layer being displayed. 2. For Vector Views, the Hole in a Wall Layer needs to be "Off" -Wall Niches with Hole in Wall.calibz

Just make a single panel. Convert that to a Door Symbol and it will work as a Garage Door.

Tim, I'm a little busy right now with some other things but I'll knock this out for you in a couple of days. You decide what it's worth.

Tim, Do you need something similar for Exterior Doors as well?

Tim, There just has to be another check (conditional processing section) within the macro. The type_name attribute for a Sliding Door will be either Slider, Triple Slider, or Quad Slider. Using that data you can determine what number to divide by. Actually, the type_name attribute is available for both Doors and for Windows and is very useful for determining the exact configuration. The is_double_door attribute is less useful for this purpose.

I've done a bit more checking and I can calculate the panel sizes for 2,3,4 Panel Sliding Doors if you can provide the overlap distance of the panels. As I said in post #16, there is sufficient data available to Ruby via the door attributes to do this. You just have to know where to look.

I haven't looked at Gerry's macro. However, it should work for Sliding Doors as long as the number of panels is 4. 3 won't work but 4 will if the macro is written correctly. I do not see much of a problem with creating just about any desired label for doors - except that you can only have a single line of text. Virtually all of the data is available to Ruby - but creating a macro to use the right things and perform the right calculations can be a bit of work. That said, once it's done.............

Attached is a modified version of the Iron-A-Way® - 2012 Mfr Library supplied by Chief Architect. I've added "Recessed" versions of the "Open" symbols that automatically recess into the wall when placed in the Plan. They are designed to recess into a wall that's 6" studs or more with at least 1/2" thick drywall. In order to see the recessed portion in 3D Views, you must "Frame the Walls" and the "Framing Layer" needs to be displayed. For proper display in Vector Views, turn off the "Hole in a Wall" Layer. Iron-A-Way® - 2012 - w Recessed.calibz

1. This is a CAD vs Model problem - mostly vertical depending on what's on the other side of the wall. We need Chief to fix that. 2. New system will fix this 3. I'm opting for a Custom Layer solution for the Vector Views. I could do the other way but until Chief fixes #1.....The Layer solution is IMO better. 4. That's not possible currently without being able to offset the 2D Block.

I've discovered some ways to improve all of this so the Niches, etc will automatically insert into the wall. They will also be created with custom Layers so the opening will be transparent in Vector Views. These modifications will essentially make the Symbols insert into the wall with no other editing required except to change materials as desired. I will be making those changes and posting new Libraries in the next couple of days. I will start a new thread for those and when they are ready I will delete this thread.

One note about the "Opening/Hole in the Wall". The material is 100% Transparent [Area] which will not appear transparent in a Vector View. There are 2 ways to deal with this: 1. Edit the "Opening/Hole in the Wall" to a Layer which can be turned off when in a Vector View (Perspective or Elevation). That way it will not be displayed. 2. Change the material to a [Gap] which will be transparent in all Render Types. The downside to this is that it will not be selectable so if you need to edit the position of the "Opening" to match the position of the Niche you will have difficulty doing so.