TheKitchenAbode

Thanks Doug, really appreciate your expansion on this subject. I fully agree that multi-cores are for most users the best available solution. For all of us with the X7 upgrade and multi-cores we can easily demonstrate this by setting the Raytrace core usage to max. and then try running another program at the same time as a Raytrace, can get real laggy. Great way to simulate one core versus multi-core under multi-tasking situations. When I upgraded this was immediately evident as X7 is defaulted to use maximum cores. Initially I thought some virus or background process was the culprit. Ran a few process monitoring programs that indicate Raytrace was consuming 100% of my processor all the time. As soon as I saw the setting in "Preferences" "Render" "Raytrace" I knew exactly what was happening. Freed up one core and everything is back to normal. I know from this forum that many users are experiencing this, maybe a general notification is needed to help resolve this and alleviate a lot of undue stress. Especially for those who less familiar with this subject. Graham

Accurate colours and textures are extremely important for me. Those depicted in the camera views are often way off from the Raytrace . The best approach I have been able to find is to select the material in question and use the blend with color pallet and shift the colour to get the render correct. For interiors you can also set the colour temperature on the lights which will influence a colour, same as adjusting the white balance in photography. Don't know if you can do this with in the sun settings for exterior rendering. Graham

I know I'll probably receive a lot of flak for this but here goes!!! I think there are some misconceptions concerning multi-core processors and their benefits. First, a single core processor running at the same clock rate as a multi-core processor has the same throughput. The additional cores have no real impact in regards to shear input/output processing power. In theory the single core processor should actually beat the multi-core as it does not have to spend time managing the cores. The real benefit of multi versus single is their ability to more efficiently handle multi-tasking demands. These days we are usually running several programs concurrently, Chief, MS Office and our browser. It is under this scenario that the multi-cores have an advantage. Once an instruction set enters the processor it can be directed to one or more of the cores, It's as if each program has a dedicated piece of the processor. However this should not be construed in the same way as having parallel processors, it's a hybrid approach. The cores are within the processor, they in themselves are not fully independent processors. No matter how many cores are available instructions can only move into and out of the processor at the clock cycle (frequency) rate. Here's an overly simplified analogy. Envision two 5 mile stretches of highway, each has a single lane on ramp at the beginning and a single lane off ramp at the end. Between the on/off ramps one of the highways has one lane while the other splits into 4 lanes. In both cases the on and off ramps determine the rate that vehicles can enter and exit the highway, however once on the highway the four lane one will be less congested. Once the on or off ramp reaches it's maximum flow rate it does not matter how many lanes you have in between. Graham

I use the partition as there are more options to control positioning, sizing, etc. than a slab which is actually a polyline. Either works. The way I see it is that everything is really just several basic shapes, by varying their size and combination with each other you create anything you want. It's called a partition but in reality it's just an object with variable width, height and depth options. It can be anything a 2 X 4, sheet goods like plywood, drywall and even Glass. Just change the material designation. Graham

I may be incorrect here but I believe the way things are set-up is that anything related to primary construction work is, from a height perspective, relative to the subfloor. For finishing elements such as cabinetry you have a choice between the subfloor or the finished floor by setting the "Auto Adjust Height" option. Use the "Wall Elevation" view and the vertical dimensions will work between the finished floor and finished ceiling. Using the "Cross Section/Elevation" view the dimensions work between everything. Just ran a comparison using "NKBA Auto Elevation Dimensions". In the "Cross Section/Elevation" view it dimensioned everything. In the "Wall Elevation" view it dimensioned between the finished floor and finished ceiling. I believe the NKBA standards are mostly format & style related. What is dimensioned is controlled by the elevation view type and what layers are turned on. Graham

All tile work and the glass shower enclosure was created by positioning partition panels to the walls and floating partition panels across the shower entrance. Yes, there are alternative methods such as "Wall Covering" and "Wall Material Regions" that will accomplish same thing. This however is really straight forward, all of the components can be accessed from every viewing method (plan, elevation & camera), they adhere to Bumping/Pushing and can be dimensioned in both plan & elevation views. There is no dispute if the tile work is non-linear, for this the Wall Material Regions is the best solution, or if you need to adhere to described methods in order to generate an accurate material list. Graham

Not that I am aware of. Turn off "Bumping/Pushing" and float-in a panel. Graham

I have a separate client presentation area with a 40" Samsung 1080 display. Works beautifully. No need to spend more for higher resolutions, there are lots of people who can't see the difference between 720 & 1080, especially on a screen under 50". Not sure about using Google Chromecast. Suspect it will be to laggy, especially if you are using camera views and walkthroughs. I have a dedicated laptop hooked up via HDMI. All computers are synced using Microsoft OneDrive so the presentation laptop is always up-to-date. Just sit down, activate Chief Architect and watch how impressed your clients will be. Graham

If multi tasking while Raytracing is the issue then you need to reduce the number of dedicated processor cores by at least one. "Edit" "Preferences" "Rendering" "Raytrace". Never had this issue with X6 but as soon as I upgraded to X7 my system ground to a halt when Raytracing. This solved the issue. Graham

Here are three things I found that really impact upon the Raytrace run time. 1. Change all lights to "Spot Light", any other light type really slowed things down. Some fixtures have more than one bulb, make sure to get them all. 2. Check all material properties. Anything set at "Polished" had a negative impact. Change to "Reflective". Flooring, especially hardwood is often default polished, counter top materials, tiles, granite, marble etc. 3. Some materials properties are "User Defined", found this to be the case for a number of metal finishes. Change to "General Material", sometimes this had a positive effect. Just use the "Rainbow" material selector tool to call up the properties dialog box for the material you wish to check. Even if the item is not within the camera view it still needs to be changed, especially the lights. If you do not wish to change all of the lights outside of the camera view then make sure they are turned off. Graham

Says video is currently being processed, not available.

You could try this, set the ceiling material to your wood plank. Create a shelf or soffit and apply this to the underside of the flat portion, make these materials the other ceiling finish. You may need to adjust their thickness to obscure the wood planks. Graham

I will checkout your shower vid, always open to alternative methods, that's the real power of Chief Architect as there are numerous ways to meet ones end objective. Here's my philosophy. The glass shower surround and tile work are finishing elements that are applied (installed) after the walls are framed & clad. For the tile work the application will protrude beyond the wall substrate equivalent to the thickness of the tile & adhesive (thinset). Cladding the walls with a partition (or whatever does the trick) set to this thickness will accurately reflect this. One can then zoom in to address how the exposed tile edge is to be treated. Same for the glass, I can now see and adjust how the glass panel will intersect with the tile work, will the tiles extend beyond the glass or terminate against the glass inside the shower. Obviously everything depends upon the needs of the user and the required level of control and analysis one requires. For myself, I need to generate a visual of a design but also require a design that reflects as close as possible the construction process in order to anticipate potential issues & problems. Much better to resolve these in advance than on-site. Graham

Don't make walls, instead create a "partition", size it accordingly, position in front of opening, change "material" to glass and set the transparency for the desired effect. For the tile work within the shower do the same and clad the walls with partitions, set thickness to represent tile/adhesive thickness and then change the "material" to the desired tile. If the tile work requires for say a horizontal decorative inset then use three partitions stacked on top of each other sized height wise accordingly. You can now control the tile independently within each section. Just a note that dependent upon the partitions width to height ratio the tile orientation may not be correct, where this occurs just change the material orientation to suit, will need to make a copy of the material if the orientation for the same material varies between panels. If the default orientation is 0 degrees then set the copy to 90 degrees, apply the default or copy to the appropriate panel so the orientation is the same. Graham

Doug_Park is correct. There is a setting under "Edit" "Preferences" "Raytrace" that allows you to assign the number of dedicated processor cores to the Raytace process. You need to reduce this by at least one in order to free up some of your processor for other tasks. Keep-in-mind that Raytrace is primarily dependent upon the main processor and not the graphics card. The "Render" settings relate to the camera views so changing these will not have any effect on Raytrace performance. They will however effect camera view performance which in turn is dependent upon the graphics card. Graham