Joe_Carrick

Ray Traces will be much more accurate - but as Perry said; lighting, shade and shadow will all effect colors. Using photo quality paper and printing from a Ray Trace will also help. IAE, you really can't rely on screen colors - even when calibrated.

The things I noticed: 2nd Floor Ceiling height has been edited (at least for that room) instead of editing the ceiling structure or finish. This is inconsistent with the Roof Baselines, etc. It would be much better to set the Floor defaults and let most if not everything conform to those defauts Room types have not been assigned. ps: I also am not seeing the problem you are.

FWIW, I would just eliminate that "False Gable". It serves no purpose and would just be an added expense.

Added a new "Wall Labels" package to include labels for: Elevations Sections Plan Wall Legend

Here's the simple way to solve this: Create your Roof Plane over the 1st Floor Add a 2nd Floor with no Roof or Ceiling and no Floor Below Set the 2nd Floor Height to 30" Select the Parapet Walls and designate as Solid Railings with a Wall Cap and a Wall Height of 24" (<30") The attached pic shows the result. Note that the 2nd Floor Height and Parapet Height may need to be different for your plan - and you may need to edit one of the walls to be lower than the top of your "Flat Roof". But the procedure is the same. I call this method "Parapet Room/Roof"

Yes, that is their purpose. But Schedules are not technically a part of the view nor are they settings. The are simply an accumulation & display of data of various objects in the model. They can be limited to a single floor and to specific classes of objects. That's not going to work for what you want.

Use a dummy Floor. Then exclude all other Floors from the Schedule. The only other option I know of would be to use a separate Plan File.

FWIW, The problem is probably that the Text Style is larger than the Room Label Text Style. This is one of those cases where Chief simply doesn't resize the text box enough to account for a larger text style. I've seen this happen in Elevations where I use a Text Box within a Room to display the Room Label. I accept no responsibility for the accuracy of the above supposition.

That means you are not using X10. I don't think CA will fix this on any prior version.

I've seen several threads that complained about the lack of a "Reflected Ceiling Plan" tool in Chief. From my viewpoint, it's not just a matter of a "Ceiling Grid" but actually using the needed tools that already exist. Sometimes there are soffits, moldings, light fixtures, smoke detectors, fire sprinklers, skylights and all sorts of other things that need to be shown. And yes, sometimes there is an actual "Ceiling Grid" that needs to be shown Instead of concentrating on a Hatch Pattern and moaning about the fact that we can't offset the pattern within a room, I prefer to actually model everything and then use a Layer Set to show those items. Virtually all of the above already exist in the model using existing symbols that Chief provides in the Core, Bonus and Mfr Libraries. The one exception is "Ceiling Tiles". But it's very easy to create those as Symbols and add them to the User Library. Then it's a simple matter of placing one in a room and using Multi-Copy or Transform Replicate to spread them throughout the space. By doing this, I also get the advantage of being able to show a true representation of the ceiling in Perspectives. A dedicated Layer Set can display all the objects which can easily be labeled and dimensioned as desired for the "Reflected Ceiling Plan".

You have to set that up in the Electrical Annoset.

I understand but I don't think that was Levis's problem. IAE, I will probably never need the 2nd form that was made possible in X10 since there are other ways of accomplishing those results - which I am very comfortable with using. Both "rb" files and custom class methods are capable of providing the same functionality and are IMO more consistent with Ruby standards.

Michael, See my answer above. I use this principle in almost all my macros for just this reason.

user macros are only "greyed out" if they are not currently considered valid. If you use error handling constructs in your macros you can essential guarantee that they will always be valid. IOW: begin result = some code that might fail rescue result = code that never fails end

I was born that way but it took 76 years to realize it.

Select the view Hold Down the Alt Key Grab the corner handle and drag.

Box Height is definitely in X10 as a Schedule Column, but it doesn't give what you want. However, in X9 you can create a custom field in the OIP and assign a macro that subtracts the counter_thickness from the height. Including that field as a Column in the Schedule will give you the actual cabinet height. I don't think that capability exists in X8.

Exactly !!! I've been asking for an attribute with the material and thickness of each layer as well as an identification of which layer was the main layer for quite some time. Essentially, that's what I simulated with my Wall Type naming convention. But it would be much better if CA made that information available as attribute(s). In addition we need the Insulation R value.

I just wish CA would make all this stuff automatic. For the average user it's almost impossible.

After repeated efforts to get CA to provide meaningful automatic labels to Walls in Elevation Views (both Interior & Exterior) based on the layers that make up the wall type - or to provide Ruby accessible attribute that could be used - I decided to set up a system that I could utilize to accomplish that goal. The first thing I did was to give my Wall Types names that included descriptions of the layers making up the wall. These were separated by commas so I could retrieve and parse the name. Examples: 1" Stucco, Housewrap, 1/2" Plywd, 2x6 Studs, 5/8" Drywall 5/8" Drywall, 2x4 Studs, 5/8" Drywall 5/8" Drywall, 2x4 Studs Those are just a few of my Wall Types. On a typical project I may have up to 10 or more. Then I created a macro that determines what Layer Set is in use and creates an appropriate Label for the Wall: Exterior Elevations -> a list of the Exterior Wall Layers "down" to the Main Layer. Interior Elevations -> a list of the Interior Wall Layers "up" to the Main Layer. Plan Views -> Wall # (includes the Floor #.Wall #) Subsequently I decided that I would need a "Wall Legend" and it would need to have a Graphic, a List of all the Wall Layers, the total Thickness, and the Insulation R-Value To accomplish this I created specifically named "Layer Set Layers" and a special "Layer Set" named "Wall Legend" - more about that later. Walls, Exterior Walls, Exterior R-13 Walls, Exterior R-19 Walls, Exterior R-21 Walls, Interior Once I had all that in place I added a "zero height Floor" within my Plan (between the top floor and the attic) & set the Layer Set to "Wall Legend". This Floor is reserved specifically to contain only the Wall Legend. That way, I can display Walls and their special Labels without interfering with the Wall Labels in Plan, & Elevation. A special Macro creates the Label for each 4' length of wall in the Legend. I set that Label to be offset to the right of the graphic. All I have to do is create each Wall Type and set it to the correct Layer. Here's a pic of my Wall Legend:

Gerry, Here's the Help file section that applies to that message: Materials List Formulas Calculations in the Materials List are based on the properties of the objects in the model and the materials assigned to those objects. See Define Material Dialog. If the default calculations do not meet your needs, you can replace them with custom formulas. Materials List formulas use Ruby syntax, which allows you to use both basic arithmetic as well as construct more complex macros. See Text Macros. To insert a custom Materials List formula 1. Double-click in any editable cell in the Materials List. • The cells in some columns allow you to choose an item from a drop-down list. • Most cells are editable text fields. 2. In the inline text field, you can: • Type the desired custom text that you need. The resulting text does not perform calculations and is static. • Press the = key, then type or insert the desired custom formula. The = character at the beginning tells the formula to treat the text that follows as a formula instead of regular text. 3. If the cell has been previously edited, you can click the Revert to Default button to restore the original, automatically generated content. 4. Click the Insert Macro button to insert one or more User Defined text macros and/or Materials List column macros into the inline text field. 5. When multiple identical items are listed as a single line item: • Select Apply Formula to Line Item to apply the specified formula to the current row. When this option is selected, values in the other cells in the same row can be accessed, but not the properties of the object(s) themselves. • Select Apply Formula to Source Object to apply the specified formula to each individual object and display the total in the current cell. When this option is selected, the object(s)’ properties can be used. Fields with custom macros report values with accuracy of up to two decimal points, even in columns that report whole numbers when calculated automatically. Custom Formula Macros You can create custom macros in the Edit Text Macro dialog and then insert them into the inline text field. See Edit Text Macro Dialog. • Macros created for use in Materials List formulas need to have Evaluate checked in the Edit Text Macro dialog. • Formulas that reference the object’s properties need to have “Owner Object” selected as the Context. • Formulas that reference information in other cells in the current row need to have “Materials List Line Item” selected as the Context. I'm not sure this is all that useful, and since I'm not using the Bill of Materials I haven't tested it to see how it works. I think Michael is probably more knowledgeable about this feature. You might try PM'ing him.

New capability in X10. I think it's primarily for use in the BOM.

Ahhhh….. I never use the ALDO to change any of those settings. I only use it to see what layers are being used. To actually change any settings I use the LDO.

I don't think there's any problem with them opening the plan and using any of chief's features. They can probably even save to a new file - but they couldn't save to the Dropbox location.

Dropbox, Shared, View Only works for me.