TheKitchenAbode

Just putting this out for general comment.

I have noticed in my brief time of exposure to this forum that it contains a wealth of invaluable knowledge contributed to by participants from many differing fields of endeavor. The diversified nature of Chief Architect with it's many differing tools and methods, results in techniques that are highly unique to a particular users needs and area of focus.

Under the forums current structure this uniqueness is often overlooked. For example, there has been a lively discussion headed "Wall Niche" containing many differing ways to accomplish this. They all differ, but are in themselves all valid when one takes into account the commenters needs. From the posts it appears that contributors are from at least 3 or more differing fields of endeavor; Architectural, Interior Design (my field) and General Construction. Just wondering if there was a way to bring this to the forefront so users and forum participants may narrow down more rapidly techniques that may be more suitable to their specific needs or participate in discussions more focused in their area of endeavor. Please do not construe this as a desire to segregate the forum, input from all fields is vital and required, and everything should to be vetted from varying perspectives.

An easy way to accomplish this might be to add a field description in the Topic Title.

Wall Niche (Framing)

Wall Niche (Architectural)

Wall Niche (Interior)

Something like this could be quickly adopted.

I am certain there are many other suggestions or comments, looking forward to hearing them.

Graham

Anxious to try the fix. Have HD3000 that freezes when Material Definition tool is used in elevation and/or camera view. Otherwise everything else works fine.

Graham

Please be aware that this thread was originally started when X7 was still in beta testing.  Since then we have fixed a number of problems that would have resulted in crashes as well as slow downs.  The X7 release should be much better then the beta with regards to both of these issues.

 

If you are still experiencing any crashes or slow downs, please report these problems directly to our tech support team.  They will need to get more information from you regarding your system, what it is you are doing, and the plans you are working with.  Usually, these are not the kind of issues that can be resolved based on random comments made on a forum.

If I may say so, there are many times where we are not sure if it is a technical issue or technique based issue. Putting our experiences out for general discussion helps in the determination of this. Hopefully this will ensure that Tech Support spends their time on issues that have the greatest probability of being truly deserving of their attention.

Graham

Nice refinement of the concept I posted @ 1:04pm today under "Wall Niche"

Graham

Graham,

 

Take a look at this thread https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/4317-the-ultimate-almost-niche-solution/#entry37402

 

It works without the Glass, etc.

Hi Joe, exactly the same thing but more refined. Unfortunately I am not sure this post was available until after the fact.

Graham

Here's an even faster way. Make the wall type glass, change wall width to say 4 1/2". Place your cabinet anywhere. Use Material Regions to configure the wall surface around the object, change to your desired finish.

Graham

So far from my playing around it only works if the wall type is FRAME, both interior and exterior finishes must changed to glass in the Dialog box. Now the wall is see through.

You can then place any object into or through the cavity. Go back and use the Material Definition tool and click on the Glass change material type to your desired finish and drag around to expose the item you inserted into the wall cavity. Go around to the other side and do the same thing, maybe in this case it's just drywall. This technique can be used for anything you wish to reside within the cavity, exposed on one face or right through both sides. Also cross section views will show the item within the cavity.

Graham

Just checked this method against the material list function. Everything calculates correctly for all of the main materials, studs, drywall & tile. Likely the only thing would be for a large niche that mea need to framed like a pass-thorough. For most shower niches this would not be an issue.

Graham

Here are two pics showing the above.

Played with this a bit. Here's a crazy work around.

Wall type 3 1/2" framed.

Change Interior & Exterior finishes to Glass. Must do it to both sides.

Place your wall cabinet into the cavity according to the depth you need.

Use the Material regions tool to rebuild the wall finish around the niche.

On the other side use the Material Regions tool to rebuild the drywall.

Graham

Ok here's what I did, keep in mind that I'm an interior focused guy. As I always clad the walls with partitions to represent the tile work I just pulled the wall behind out of the way. No more interference but unhappy framers!!!

Graham

Sorry, you are correct. Works fine as long as there is a door. I will go back and take a look to see how I worked around this for an opening.

Graham

You need to move it just slightly out from the wall surface into the room. if it is in the same plane as the wall surface it will be hidden. I use this method all the time.

Graham

No need unless framing details are required. Just make sure to float it out say around 1/16" beyond the wall face other wise the wall finish will hide it from view.

Graham

In post #43 Joeys experience brings to light a most important consideration as we attempt to upgrade our machine for improved performance. Unfortunately, especially if cost is taken into consideration, the bigger is better approach does not always deliver the expected performance gains. For example, increasing ram will only provide a significant benefit if the current level of ram is insufficient, otherwise you just have more unused ram.

SSD's are great and by switching to one you will see a big improvement, however this will only impact on very specific functions related to drive read/write operations. The initial computer boot-up and program activation, once the program is loaded into memory the SSD drives benefits are minimal. Essentially an SSD drive is just a memory chip compared to a traditional platter type of mechanical drive. Elimination of the mechanical elements makes them faster when stored information needs to be retrieved.

Graham

Great example & explanation Rob. Your end needs are similar to mine, require the highest level of detail and control over every element. Our ability to deliver this is why our clients choose us over a competitor.

The only why I have found to achieve this with Chief on interior design is to utilize alternative tools/objects. Other than the lights & taps the attached design was generated using only two objects, a cabinet and a partition including the shower pan and even the sink. I can control and precisely dimension in all views. If I click on the glass for example I get its true size and position including offset from floor. There was little need to keep going back and forth to tool bars and catalogs. Drop one partition in the plan and just copy/paste, resize and position. Stacking partitions for detailed tile work is great as all bumping/pushing & snaps work perfectly in all views.

I believe these posting truly bring to light that the method one uses depends upon the end needs of the user. Personally this is why I chose Chief Architect, it allows me to do whatever I whish. Chief Architect is an extremely powerful piece of software, it just takes a bit of time to discover it.

Graham

Try using a wall cabinet for the niche, just turn off bumping/pushing and float into place. Just make sure it protrudes from the wall face say 1/16" so it will show. You now have full control over the niche with the cabinet dialog settings. Can also be a medicine cabinet.

Graham

Thanks Joseph, I know that will likely solve the issue and it certainly can do no harm.

Graham

Hi Larry, felt that one all the way out here, my apology. point well taken.

Graham

Fully agree, just like to make sure that I am spending for the right reason. Software advancements no problem but Software bugs are hard to swallow.

Graham

I have not had any crashed with X7, and very few with X6.

Hi Kevin. As I mentioned in post #29 this appears so far to be a unique situation. A6 is fine and A7 is fine on all of my other systems, they have dedicated vid cards. The one in question has an integrated HD3000 chip set, no dedicated vid card. Despite this shortcoming A6 runs fine it's only A7 that freezes and only when Adjust Material Definitions is used. Not just with the tool but no matter how you call up this function.

Graham

Certainly agree that the Intel HD3000 is dated. However with A6 it runs without any problems. It's actually quite fast as long as you are not running shadows and 100% smoothing while moving around, always work with theses turned off and usually in vector view which is even faster. Fortunately this laptop can be upgraded with a dedicated vid card. Just hoping there is a software fix so I won't need to spend any $$$'s.

Graham

Given the volumes we may just go with the spreadsheet idea ... I figured that may be the answer but always worth asking. Thanks for the feedback.

Glad to have had the opportunity. Let me know if this works out to be an appropriate solution or if you need a sounding board while developing this I would be pleased to assist. Not to give my age away but I have been working extensively with spreadsheets since their inception, how about an Apple II+ and VisiCalc. Might have been a hand-me-down system from Fred Flintstone, state-of-art memory, 64k of built-in Mammoths (no elephants then).

Graham

Thanks for you understanding. I fully appreciate the intent. There are always times when we are unsure as to whether we are experiencing a software/hardware glitch or if it is technique related. In this case it is most likely best to open up a new post heading and flush it out there.

Sincerely,

Graham

This is probably a post better sent to tech support but I have some very bizarre behavior occurring with shower walls. I shot the first video thinking I could recreate the problem but of course it went pretty well.

 

So I thought I would just run the video camera to see if I could capture the bad behavior and that video did capture it. It seemed to have happened with more than one action but in the case of the second vid it was moving an outside wall that disappeared the shower walls. 

 

I simply can't use this method at this time with this plan - the walls keep disappearing. Anyone else see this? Ever?

 

http://www.screencast.com/t/NJzezFYATGW

 

http://www.screencast.com/t/9ZGwHXYS

 

Here's the plan.

 

SHOWER WALLS 1.zip

 

Apologies for the mumbling and stream of consciousness narration. Wasn't sure I was going to post the vids.

Just a suggestion If I may, you are likely correct that this should be posted elsewhere. It's an interesting anomaly but it does not appear to be specific to the current discussions within this post heading, also happened when you were placing furniture pieces. Other forum members who may be experiencing similar problems or who may have a solution are unlikely to spot your posting. Also, it is most likely Chief staff monitor the forum to learn about software and hardware glitches, this would be facilitated by posting under an appropriately titled currently running post or opening up an appropriately titled new post. Lets do are part to assist them as best we can, the sooner they are aware of an issue the sooner we all get a solution.

Graham