Joe_Carrick

That's what you get with stock cabinets. I use a company that is much more flexible in their sizes. OTOH, I never have to specify the door or drawer sizes. The Cabinet Manufacturer does it automatically even when I specify odd sizes down to 1/16" increments.

Try adjusting the toekick height and/or countertop height or thickness. You need to have the cabinet itself (not including the toekick) exactly 1/2" more than the sum of the drawers.

Chief doesn't seem to have a way of placing window screens on windows. I know that renderings probably look better without screens but they really should be present even if repressed for rendering. How do you handle the specification of window screens ? Should Chief provide a way to specify them other than just a "comment" ?

I just noticed that I can specify different Drawing Sheet sizes for each view in a Plan. Is this a new capability with X14? I don't recall being able to do that previously. It's really nice for positioning of Details, etc in Layout. Maybe what I'm thinking of is just that we couldn't have different page sizes within a Layout.

If you are using the "Place Library Object" for your Toolbar Buttons then you can assign any ICON you want.

I like all my Floor Plan Views ( Architectural, Foundation, Framing, Elecrical, Mechanical, Plumbing, etc ) at exactly the same location in the Layout. In order to make this easy: I display the drawing sheet in all such views - but not in Elevation and Section Views. I specify margins matching the Layout ( left, top, right, bottom ) I position the drawing sheet so that my model fits within the margins. Then when I send a plan view to layout I specify "Entire Plan/View" The above ensures that all my Plan Views are at the same exact position on each page of the Layout. It also allows me to see that the Plan will fit on the current drawing sheet size. If it doesn't I just change the drawing sheet and Layout Page sizes (my Layout Templates)

It's kind of simple. to get the WMR for the entire wall you just click anyplace on the wall.

The above is just for a Custom Home and I didn't include the interior non-bearing stud walls. If it was a remodel I might need 3 times as many Wall Types to deal with Existing, Demo & New. Arrrgh !!!

So, by way of explanation, I'm doing a project with SIPs. I have 2 thicknesses of the SIPs (4" & 6") and the following wall surfaces: 5/8" Drywall both sides 5/8" Drywall Interior 1" Stucco Exterior 5/8" Drywall one side - other side exposed framing 1" Stucco both sides Stone Veneer Exterior 5/8" Drywall Interior Stone Veneer Exterior - other side exposed framing So that can add up to a total of 12 Wall Types - just for this project alone. OTOH, it's only 2 basic Structural Walls & 3 sets of Finish Layers which could be WMR's. Based on the possibility of Stud Wall, CMUs, Concrete, etc plus a couple of other finishes it's easily possible to wind up with another 40-50 distinct Wall Assemblies. In order to avoid having to define several wall types for each new project I save them in my Library. This is why I would consider changing my methodology - but only if I could still have the full wall definition in the Wall Schedule.

Try adjusting the color of the material to a lighter shade of grey and make sure it's set to "Blend with Texture"

For the round circle (foundation detail & top of wall) use a "Round Arrowhead" and size it as needed.

It would simplify the Wall Types by having only about 8-10 Wall Types (Just the Structural Layers) All Finish Layers would be WMR's. Currently I have about 100 Wall Types in my Library - various structural mixed with all sorts of finishes. IOW, I wouldn't need different Wall Types for every possible set of Finish Layers - Interior & Exterior.

With the new Mitered Material Regions I thought i'd try something with "Structural Wall Types". Specifically I wanted to limit my Wall Types to just the structural elements. ie: SIP's CMU's Concrete etc. and then add Wall Material Regions to the Interior and Exterior. This works - but only to a point. The problems I've come up against are: Doors and Windows don't recognize the thicknesses of the WMR's as a part of the wall, so casings, etc are not automatically where desired. When a WMR covers the entire wall surface I can't select the wall in 3D. WMR Fills don't show in Plan Views Wall Schedules don't include the WMR's If these things could be overcome I would probably change my approach to Wall Types entirely.

I often have rooms with lowered ceilings (below the standard floor ceiling height) and have developed a pretty simple way to do this without creating a separate ceiling plane. Here's the basics: edit the room's ceiling finish by adding 2x4 ceiling joists and an air gap the air gap should be the amount the ceiling is to be lowered minus 3.5" Typically I want to lower ceilings 0", 6", 12", 18" & 24" To make this really easy I create a series of named "Style Palettes" consisting of rooms with the above ceiling finish definitions. The "Style Palettes" only have the following properties checked: Ceiling Finish Ceiling Structure Has Ceiling I put those 5 Style Pallets in my User Library Folder "Furred Ceilings". Now, when I want to change a room's ceiling height I just select the desired Style Palette and "paint the room" with that style. This is a big time saver. If you want more options you can just copy-paste one of the Style Palettes, rename and then edit the room's ceiling finish. That's a very easy way to add additional options.

Hi Brian, It appears the problem was with a plan that I had not yet saved in this version. It's working now. It would be nice if we could just pull around a corner similar to how we can draw walls and lines.

Not yet, but I will.

The latest update makes these items miter at interior & exterior corners. This works fine if the WMR isn't cutting the surface layers of the walls. But it doesn't if the WMR cuts the surface layers. I hope CA can fix this oversite.

Why not just use a 3D Solid? You can place it on the Foundation Layer and adjust the size, position & linestyle as needed.

Not sure what you mean. Do you have other symbols in the library that have the older CAD Blocks? Maybe you should make a new copy of the Symbol and put it in the Library with just the CAD Block you want. Then delete the one with all the other CAD Blocks.

I have "Automatically Purge CAD Blocks" checked so it deletes all unused. Otherwise you can use "Purge"

Eric, A lot of what Rene provides are Tools that set specific limited Style settings. This allows extremely quick editing of a variety of things. Unless you've really seen these in action it's not fair to make the above statement. Some of the Toolbar Buttons do in fact select specific items in the library but that's just a starting point.

If you have a "Master Toolbar Configuration" with all Toolbars then it's fairly easy to make a copy, rename it and delete all the unwanted Toolbars. Yes, you can do this in a text editor but you can also do it in Chief. I have my Toolbars in a Dropbox Folder instead of the OOB Folder. That way I can always go back to the OOB file(s) if needed. I do wish Chief had a way to easily identify what the name of each docked toolbar - maybe by holding the cursor over it. Right now you have to undock them in order to see the name.

So what you want is the ability to specify "Extend End Panel(s) to the back". I would assume that would only be for "Finised Ends". None of the manufacturers I work with have that option. I would have to specifiy it in "Special Instructions" but that would work. As I said before, I would just specify a special "Door" or "Panel" to be applied to the cabinet to perform the scribe function. Most modern cabinets have sides that extend about 1/8" beyond the actual back of the cabinet.

Not that I know of. It's also not something that Cabinet Manufacturers typically provide. If it's to be a finished side, I would add a Side Panel as a separate item. Just be aware that cabinet box construction has become pretty much standardized - not just in Chief but in the Cabinet Fabrication Industry. Box sides, backs, tops and bottoms are standardized components. Face_Frames, Doors and Drawer_Fronts are the custom components. Some manufacturers limit the cabinet dimensions to 3" increments while others will allow sizing to the 1/16".

What Eric said, and as you might imagine, the correct terminology is "Extended Stile". Most Cabinet Manufacturers have the terms: Extended Stile Right Extended Stile Left along with dimensional values for each.