TheKitchenAbode

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Everything posted by TheKitchenAbode

  1. Very nice demo vid, thanks for sharing. Just one question concerning dimensioning. When I use the Material Regions, say for the wall tile, and I set the thickness to say 3". When in the plan view I can't get the dimensions to lock-in on the object to dimension the thickness. I know I can point (marker) this but then every time something changes I have to go back and manually correct it. These Material Regions appear to dimension properly in elevation views but it is in the plan view where I encounter difficulties. Any suggestions?.
  2. I believe you will find this to be purely a graphic design choice. This more open, simplified, flat look is the way things are going both in software and website user interface (UI) design. This trend for websites started around 8 years ago with the introduction of the HTML5 markup language and later reinforced by Microsoft with the Metro styled Windows 8 about 2 years ago. Personally I prefer this style from an overall perspective. Software and websites are becoming cleaner looking with a more visually open look. This allows the content to be the primary focus, which is really the way it should be. Graham
  3. Thanks for the video, provides a good overview of the wall type/covering and material regions function and application. I must however say that from my perspective there appears to be a lot of steps involved considering that this was done without the need for any accurate positioning, sizing or plan and elevation dimensioning. Just as an example. This approach uses only one object (well maybe two) to create every element; curbs, glass, door, seat, tile surface & floor. Assume shower is 42” x 42”, curbs 4” x 4”. 1.) 1st Curb – partition, size 4”X4”x42”, drop & snap to wall 38” from other wall. 2.) 2nd Curb – copy/paste first curb, drag & snap to wall & first curb. 3.) Floor – shelf, 1/4" thick, set on floor, handle drag/size/snap to walls & curbs. 4.) 1st Glass pane – partition, height off floor 4”, 1/4” thick. Drop/drag over curb center, drag/snap to walls. 5.) 2nd Glass Pane – copy/paste first, drag into position. 6.) Glass Door – copy/paste 2nd glass, position & size. 7.) Walls – partitions, drag/snap to clad walls, floors, ceiling. 8.) Bench – partition, size, drop/drag/snap into position. 9.) Materials – set as required via dialog box or material painter. Every element will adhere fully to all bumping/pushing and drag/snap behaviors. All elements can be manipulated in all view formats plan/elevation & camera. All elements will dimension correctly in both plan & elevation views (inside/outside edges & centers). All elements will be accurately positioned, glass will be 4” off of floor, 0” on curb. Glass to glass door clearances can be set. All intersects such as glass to tile, glass to curb etc. can be fully evaluated. All adjustment/modifications can be done using simple drag/snap object handles in all view formats. I don’t mean to say this is a better method, it just depends upon how one prefers to get things done. Graham
  4. I only encounter this issue when several narrow width items are beside each other or there are items behind. Guess there is a limit to the auto dimension tolerance and it cannot discern the individual items and therefore places point marks. Just click on the dimension (not the point marker) and drag on of the handles over the area, sometimes zooming in will help or turn off some layers to isolate the item. All software written to-date has some anomaly, there is no such thing as perfect. If there was nothing would ever evolved and we would all be unemployed. Graham
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. 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
  11. Not that I am aware of. Turn off "Bumping/Pushing" and float-in a panel. Graham
  12. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. Says video is currently being processed, not available.
  16. 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
  17. 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
  18. 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
  19. 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