Joe_Carrick

I have a macro in an object label that sets data values in a global hash. I have another macro in a custom field that uses that global hash, summing values to display in a schedule column. For some reason when I load the plan the display in the schedule column is not updated. If I select the schedule and move it (up arrow on keyboard) that column is updated with the correct data. This is the only place I'm finding it not displaying properly when the plan is first opened, but it means that I have to open that view and move the schedule in order to have the correct data displayed. It's imperative that I do this whenever I'm going to print the Layout. Has anyone else experienced a similar problem?

Or change the "dimension to" layer in your wall definition to the studs instead of the house wrap.

It should be noted that not all PDFs are huge files. It really depends on the content and how they were created. I have some that are less than 500 KB but others that are 4.5 MB. I don't know why there are such large differences in size, but it's possible to use PDFs effectively as long as you avoid the larger ones.

It might, but PNG files are just about the same size as PDFs and the quality isn't much different because it's just the resolution (dpi). They seem to print almost as fast as the JPGs but for emailing the size of the file can still be an issue.

PDFs are relatively large files and when included in a Layout can drastically slow printing. Sometimes with a large Layout it can even choke the system. Some Render Modes can also have an effect. I've found that colored water color perspectives with lines on top can also cause bloat and slow printing. So I first print my Renderings to PDF's. Then I convert them and any other PDFs that I want in the Layout to JPGs. I then put the JPGs in the Layout. The result is that the Layout is much smaller and it prints faster by a magnitude of at least 100 times. The moral of this story is to avoid PDFs in the Layout. Use JPGs whenever possible.

I've been using a Note as the Room Number and Room Name. Then my Note Schedule is the Room Schedule. It allows Custom Fields to be use so you can add a lot of additional information. Of course most of it has to be done with custom macros in those fields.

I create all my CAD Details in separate Plan Details Files. Then send I send them to Layout & save the Layout as a Template with all the Details and Boiler Plate. You can easily delete anything that's not appropriate for the particular project.

The general "Break" tool now works for everything. But you can still add the "Wall Break Tool" to your Toolbar by using the "Customize Toolbars".

Agreed, but it's a logical assumption. IAE, it's easy enough to just move the labels as needed.

Don't we wish the software could do everything? OTOH, if it did then we would be out of business. However, CA could if they wanted come up with a way to automatically offset relative to the "swing side" of a door. It's not clear to me that this would handle all possible configurations without a lot of extra conditional processing. Probably not worth the effort.

IMO, anyone who is not using "Saved Plan Views" is totally missing the boat. Coupled with "Multiple Referenced Plans" this is the absolutely best way of creating ConDocs.

I opened your plan, then I checked the referenced layer setting and found that it was "automatic" which means "which previous floor was displayed". switched to second floor - without doing that there is no reference floor because there was no previous floor displayed. 1st floor walls and doors displayed in red draw a line snapping to first floor objects works. If you want to set a particular floor as the reference then it's best to do that and then do a "Save Plan View As". That way you can: save the 1st floor with the 2nd floor being the referenced floor save the 2nd floor with the 1st floor being the referenced floor etc Note that you can also have different "Reference Layer Sets" depending on what you want to show.

The only reason I know of that you wouldn't be able to snap to a reference floor object would be if it was on a "Locked Layer".

Around here there are no open bars - they've all been required to close indefinitely. OTOH, my home bar is pretty well stocked and is open.

Personally, I think CA should provide a 3D Molding Polyline for Stairs (including Landings) that could have Molding Profiles assigned. This would provide for Skirt Boards, Wainscots, etc. In addition, copying that Molding Polyline would allow for handrails. IMO this would be a much more comprehensive solution than the current system. I've used 3D Molding Polylines for some stairs in the past and it works. It's just that you have to carefully create that 3D Molding Polyline so that everything lines up correctly. If it was created automatically it would be much easier.

bummer !!!

Yes. I find that 8-10 is sufficient. If I need to go back any further than that I just open an archive / autosave version. btw, if you are importing pdf's make sure you don't rotate or resize unevenly. If you can convert the pdfs to png - do it.

NVidea RTX Graphic Cards can handle Ray Tracing in Real Time. Does this work in Chief or is Chief's Ray Tracing limited to using the CPU?

You would need another symbol. This one should be fairly easy to create in chief using Molding Profiles on a circular Molding Polyline. Each Molding Profile can have a different material assigned to it.

A macro written using the X12 NumberFormatter class would do it. A macro written using the X12 Measurement class could also do it. The unit designation would need to be specified as "'-\"" in order to get that format. In either case you would need to use a Custom Field / Column.

It would be nice if Chief's Help included what the "defaults" are for each parameter. The only one they mention is: reduce_fractions() I think that all of the True | False settings are defaulted to False

The .inspect method will give you some that information, depending on the units being used.

You should be able to create your own "derived class" with whatever settings you want but I'm not 100% sure it would work since the NumberFormatter class is one that Chief created and it may not be registered.

Not that I'm aware of. They are initialized automatically by the .new method. That's why I set up a global as my NumberFormatter. You could actually have several globals, each with different settings - or just use 1 and change the parameters on the fly.

Notably missing from the Help is an example of using the NumberFormatter class. Basically it has to be created first. There's no reason to create it for every time you want to format a number - particularly if you are always going to be using the same parameters. Here's the way I create a persistent instance of the class and how it can be used: $NF = NumberFormatter.new $NF.unit = "'-\"" $NF.use_fractions = true $NF.denominator = 8 This sets the parameters to what I want. Then I can use the following whenever I need to format a number: $NF.apply( 123.5.in ) ---> 10' 3-1/2" Note the inclusion of .in so the formatter knows the value is in inches. If passing a Measurement value then that wouldn't need to be included.