Joe_Carrick

Is there any way to send the output text string of a Built-In macro to a text file?

Try updating your video card drivers. That should allow you to update to X10 and X11 and have them work. It's worth a try. That might address the problems with the Library downloads as well.

Arielle, I am only guessing, but I believe most 3D Plants in the Chief Libraries are not compatible with Interiors. In any event, when you download a Library there is a drop-down list that specifies what version of Chief Architect it's compatible with. If you have SSA - I assume you don't since you are still on X9 - you could call Tech Support and ask them what Libraries are compatible with the Interiors product.

Yes, and be aware that 3D plants and 3D people can have extremely high polygon counts.

Yes Michael, I know that. But sometimes I need to have the information displayed outside of the room and I use either a Text Box or a Note with an arrow connected to a fixture such as a water closet. Of course, I could just use a very small PSolid and use it's Label which I can then move to wherever I want it.

X11 added the "room" attribute to most objects that are placed in a room. This allows access to most (or maybe all) of the attributes of the room from the selected object. There are some interesting capabilities that result from this: A text box can be used with a macro that gets and displays information about the room it's located in. The Label of an object located in a room can be used with a macro that gets and displays information about the room A text box or Note (with an arrow connected to another object in a room can be used with a macro that gets and displays information about the room. In some cases you might want to get the data from the object itself and in other cases you might want to get it from the room. Perhaps you want the area, perimeter or volume of the object and in other cases you might want to get that data for the room. This can get a little tricky. I've derived a way to do this based on the idea that if I'm using the Label of an object located in a room I can first check the object to see if it has the attribute(s) I want. If so I get the data from that object. Otherwise I get it from the room. The same is true when using a Text Box or Note with an arrow to an object in the room In the case of a Text Box without an arrow I get the data from the room the text box is located in. I will be providing a set of macros in a couple of weeks using this system.

X11 added a lot of new attributes that are very useful. CA also provided a new macro to list the available attributes - but the output wasn't alphabetical and many of the attributes are not very useful. I've created 3 new macros: _Object_properties_expanded_sorted _Object_properties_expanded_sorted_short_list _Object_properties_expanded_sorted_wo_defaults My favorite is the short_list version which skips any attribute that's is_default, true or false Here's the json file which you can import using TMM. Note to CA - Please feel free to include these in the next update and future versions of Chief Architect. _object_properties_X11_jpc.json

Steve, This would be a lot easier if we could just use one additional Stair Section and offset not only the Newell but also the Balusters and Railing. I would just make the additional Section the full width to the outside of the open side, eliminating the line(s) that show the additional edges. IAE, nice video showing how to do it.

There are just 2 solutions that I know of. Group Copy then go to each floor and Paste in Place Use a Reference Plan that shows just the Grids. You will need X11 to use #2

Bump maps can only provide the appearance of "roughness". This is great for basically flat surfaces (grass, carpet, upholstery, woodgrain, etc) but they can't interpret what is raised vs recessed. This is fine for a texture but you can not expect it to work for 3D objects to create shade and shadow.

I've said this before: Materials are only pictures, not true 3D objects. Standing Seam Roofing, Mission Tile Roofing & Board & Batt Siding will not show the correct shadows unless they are modeled as 3D objects. There are several ways to accomplish true 3D representations of these things but none are real simple. Board and Batt Siding can be done using Wall Material Regions for the verticals and the Exterior Room Polyline for the horizontals. Mission Tile Roofing can be done with some 3D symbols and Distribution Areas/Paths Standing Seam Roofing can be done with 3D Molding Polylines There are other possibilities but the above are IMO the easiest.

That's going to be in a Material List, not a Schedule.

Click on the Floor Number <1> on the toolbar, This will bring up a dbx (dialog window) where you can select the Reference Plan and the Floor, Layerset, etc. You can now have multiple Reference Plans in X11. btw, you are using version X11, not 11. X11 is actually version 21. I'm not sure why CA didn't name it XX1 but that's another question.

X11 Railing Wall Follows Stairs.

X11 has multi-panel sliding and folding doors. You just size the overall door to be wall to wall and floor to ceiling and specify the number of panels. In X9 I think you are limited to 3 panels.

What version of Chief are you using?

One place where I use this extensively is with a custom Rich Text Block for my Room Labels. Everything in that RTB is a macro accessing the Room attributes. Some of those macros are Chief supplied and some of them are my own custom macros. When I put that RTB in a Room it picks up all the information and displays it. I can even place it outside a room with an arrow to pick up the data.

If you want a true 3D standing seam roof, you will need to model it using 3D molding PLines or some other actual 3D objects. Textures in Chief are not really 3D. They are only representations (pics taken from one direction) and depending on the z dimension (if it's more than about 1/2") of the material they won't be very realistic

Text and Rich Text can't currently be saved to the Library without first creating a CAD Block. That causes some problems when the text contains an evaluated macro. Basically, the block has to be "unblocked" after placement before it can recognize the context in order for the macro to work correctly. The solution to this is to have a CAD Detail in your Template/Plan that has the Text and Rich Text annotations. I use this as a sort of "Warehouse" for commonly used notes, titles, etc. I can simply select one of the items in this CAD Detail, copy and then place anyplace you need to have that annotation.

I have been very busy updating my entire set of macros for X11. Most of them still worked but some of the new capabilities of X11 pushed me to redo a lot of them. I will be done with this effort in another week and will post an update to the Macro list and be ready to sell them. ps: We've also been preparing our house for sale and the clean-up / de-clutter has consumed a tremendous amount of my time.

Schedule order?

Mick, If you make it a "Note" instead and save that to the Library you can skip the Block. Just put the macro in the "Text above the Line" field of the Note

In reality, 3080 indicates a 3'0"x8'0" door. It's standard annotation. If you order a 3080 door from any manufacturer that's what you'll get.

Annosets / Active Defaults / Dimension Defaults allow control of the Arrow Style and Size. But that's only for New Dimensions. To get the same kind of control (for common dimension strings) that the Layer Set provides for Text Style we would need another column in the LDO. "Arrow Style" might be sufficient.

All four conditions together. Read the first paragraph.