Joe_Carrick

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.

Ok, so I know how to turn things on/off in Preferences. Turning off the "Behavior Indicators" is not something I'd recommend since it provides a clue as to what may be a problem. What I didn't realize was that: Defaults>3D View Defaults>3D Views>"Auto Rebuild Walls/Floors/Ceilings" existed. I must have unchecked that at some point while refining my defaults on this Plan, thinking incorrectly that it had to do with "Framing". However, this particular Default Toggle may not be needed in X14 and it really doesn't indicate a condition to correct. Should it always be on and not allow users to turn it off ? OTOH, I occasionally see cases where "Auto Rebuild Walls" makes some complex wall intersections difficult to edit and retain. I'll let Dermot make that decision. "Using Input Devices > Pointer Icons" is a strange place to put the definition of "Behavior Indicators" in Help. I searched for all sorts of terms and didn't find it. I can only imagine that most users would have the same problem. IAE, I learned something and next time I'll know. Thanks for everyone's help - especially Eric & Dermot.

Great, so how did those get disabled and what should I do to get them enabled?

I am getting a strange cursor that I don't understand. Essentially it's the "Select" arrow with the "bfc.png" attached. Does anyone know what that's supposed to mean? What's needed to release it once it shows up? I know this is supposed to be a "Behavior Indicator" but I don't see it in the Help. Evidently it's a new one that hasn't been documented.

What's the error? I would suspect that you might need to reverse the process. ie: Create the Tray Ceiling before creating the Trusses. OTOH, you might have to a have a Ceiling Structure below the Floor Structure. I don't think a "Tray Ceiling" can recess into the "Floor Structure" above.

I've been creating Custom Toolbar Configurations and here's a couple tips: You need to add the Configuration to each of the other configurations so you can switch between them New Configurations are automatically given an icon "TB Set" from the "Chief Resources Buttons" Folder To change the icon to be one of your choice you will need to: place your new icon into your current "Toolbar Folder" name the icon to match the name of the new Configuration (exaclty) The new icon will be used the next time you start Chief.

So can you explain how you create one using Chief? IOW, what's your typical procedure to create a new button?

I've seen several Button Creator Tools - but most seem limited in what they produce. Text Only A Selection of Graphic Images Chief's "Default Image" Is there one that you prefer for using with Chief Toolbars? ie: more user defined graphics - but very easy to use.

Hi Ryan, Your screen is exactly what I'm trying to avoid. While I like the idea of having the Library, Project and ALDO on separate screens I find that with current wide screen monitors those things don't interfere with my Plan. However, I really only want the Edit Toolbar at the bottom and a maximum of 3 rows of Toolbars at the top. That's why I'm tending towards more Configurations. Also, I like to use my left side monitors for Chieftalk, MS Edge, Text Editing, etc. My right side monitor I like to use for 3D Views. I only need my Kitchen Cabinet Toolbars when laying out Kitchen Cabinets, along with some standard Appliances that takes up the 3rd row. For Electical I don't need the Kitchen Cabinet or Appliances Toolbars, etc. For Dimensioning I don't need anything except my custom Dimensioning Toolbar. Vertical Space for my Plan is for me the critical real-estate. I do wish that Chief would remember the widths that I have the side windows set to from one session to the next. Having to resize them every time I open Chief is a PITA. Here's a pic of my typical Kitchen Design Configuration.

Do you use different Toolbar Configurations ? Have you created additional Configurations for: Kitchen Design Bath Design Appliances Mechanical Electrical Plumbing Dimensioning CAD Details Rendering (Elevations, Sections, Perspectives, etc) Obviously, Custom Toolbars (especially used for "Place Library Objects" and "Style Palettes") can greatly speed up the process by using objects that you consider standard to your designs. However, I'm finding that there is just so much screen space available and too many Custom Toolbars - particularly for customization using Style Palettes. Establishing Configurations to limit the clutter is IMO a necessary project. I've seen some screen shots that have so many Toolbars displayed that I don't think I'd be able to find anything I wanted to use. I would be really interested in what other users are doing to avoid the clutter.

Also of interest would be the type of construction - Steel, CMU, Wood, Heavy Timber ????

Gene, Can't you just use the "surface_area" in the materials list or roof plane schedule?

I would do that with a Molding Polyline - change to an arc to match the curved staircase. Then add the number of moldings needed - or just do one molding and mutiple replicate the Molding Polyline vertically.