Chopsaw

I just got my first email PM notification with the new forum layout. Looks great, nice big square avatars. Huge improvement !!

Yes nice to see the old forum again that is just as I remember it and a much more efficient use of space and also somehow clearer and easier on the eyes without being so bright. Yes this is a great improvement, a little touchy an needs some getting used to but will help a lot as I used to have fits getting attachments in order so that I could reference them in sequence with my post. I did try this at first when I noticed the highlight but could not get it to work and thought I was just playing with ghosts like in Adobe Reader. Yes this is great discovering new things but maybe rather than all of us struggling independently and wasting precious time you could share your knowledge and put together a video of the new features and how they work so that we can use the forum and it's new tools to focus on Architecture. This could also save a couple of posts on this thread. Thanks, Chopsaw

Do you have a quick sketch of what you have in mind as sometimes Chief is capable of more than it first appears to be?

Hi Dan, There was no problem or custom setup with the old forum in portrait orientation 9:16 1080x1920 and the whole page displayed without any need to scroll which was always an issue with 16:9 1920x1080 but now seems to be worse as Lew is experiencing. I am using Chrome and can set the Zoom to 80% but this makes the text quite small and the Avatars useless in their new small round cropped circle. I hope this is something that can be restored to make the forum easier to use again. P.S. Why are the attachments stacking? This only seems to waste more space.

Not sure if this is the same issue as Lew is having or not but the old forum fit my screen perfectly and I thought the main reason for the update was to make it fit more screen sizes. Is 16:9 no longer a standard size? Please make the Home page fit 16:9 as well as 9:16.

Dan, It is a great addition to have the total number of posts in each thread at the top of the page, but what happened to the individual post numbers.

Glenn, That looks like it will work perfectly if the pitch can also be reduced for that section of roof or find a way to raise the windows. Somehow I just knew this was a job for you after looking a the plan for a while. Good Work Mate!!

Yes after you create the window "Symbol" then open the Symbol DBX and under the 3D tab rotate about the Y axis. If everything is perfectly symmetrical you will only have to make one window "Symbol" and then you can open the window DBX and "Reverse Symbol" for opposite side.

Jerry, When I updated your layout elevations the coloured shading disappears so I am not sure what was causing the problem. Your new upper dormers are not quite attached to the main roof. The "Join Roof Planes" tool should work fine for this job

Jerry, To get what you are used to in X6 sent to layout as "Plot Lines" and update manually. If you like you can open the layout box and switch to live view before printing for all the new X8 features. Did the Shadows off, work or should I take a look at your plan?

The only way I could come close to reproducing your situation was to have shadows turned on and basically position the lighting to be like the back side of the moon. So try shadows off

Rob, Can you share some images? Not all line styles display well at scales such as you might be using for a plot plan. So what line style and what scale are you using? I sometimes use a different colour or a slightly different shade of the same colour but if you want a dash I am sure we can find something that works for you. There are some finer ones down lower on the list after the utility lines or we can make a custom one.

CJ, You may have just taught me something as I don't think I have ever done a simple four sided lot and usually work with individual lines as surveys in this area hardly ever close. So when I get one of those then I will try the polyline method. Thanks, Chopsaw

David, There may be an elegant solution to this but if you must manually re frame, it is much faster to edit the Wall Detail than to edit in 3D.

Thanks Glenn, Great video, that really simplifies things. Just the way it should work.

Hi Cris, Here are the threads for the second video that Scott did in the above link. I think this is the situation that you are into with the side lights. https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/10125-custom-angled-windows/?hl=%2Bcustom+%2Bwindow https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/9560-creating-an-angled-window/page-2?hl=+angled%20+window I would help but am out of time today as this could take all night so don't stay up too late yourself. Here is a quick X7 test plan to help you get started. Jones Window.plan

Yes I think it would be possible but depending on how far along you are with the plan it might be easier to do a manual Story Pole. Otherwise you would have to raise everything the distance between the existing top of footing and sub floor. I have not gone through this whole process so you could run into complications. Maybe someone with more experience will comment.

Scott, Check with Tech Support to be sure but I believe you can have X8 installed on two machines under one licence as long as you transfer the Licence activation between machines. So if you were running batches overnight this might work for you with a remote access app.

Alex, Some of those lines are almost impossible to figure out so if you are in a rush to get a set of drawings printed, then you will need to learn how to use this tool . Just as Matty says.

I had not even considered including the North arrow direction into the formula. That just adds another level of complexity to the whole thing. If you think you could figure it out I would be very grateful as others would be as well I am sure. This part of Chief just seems to be a little lacking when working with complex surveys, and to be able to keep the labels live eliminates the possibility of error as I have found in so many registered surveys I have already worked with.

Hi Michael, I have been looking into macro's and finally got back to this one with the Room divider label. This has multiple applications and possibilities but when you said "very simple macro" were you referring to a "Quadrant Bearing" macro label? I know chief already has this programmed but we have no way to access that so we can use it our own way, or not? I was able to get this far with a simple macro to convert inches to decimal feet "#{(length/12).round(2)}'" but the other is a whole different situation that does not fit my definition of "simple". I can do it on my calculator but not sure I could write the formula in Ruby. I also like that these can be Referenced or Owner. Great for sticky situations like I always seem to get into.

Larry, Still not sure why this is not working for you? Are we doing the same thing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lecdlg3WdY

Larry, Sorry to not mention that the key is to set in Preferences>Appearance>Display>Color Off is: Grayscale. I have always used this and forgot about it. Then your plan settings should print fine. Remember that grey is a color.

Scott, I think you were just going a little too fast and missed your turnoff and meant to say use the "Adjust Material Definition" tool. Change the color for Lines: under the General tab.

Yes, Sorry I forgot about that part. Just open the wall or walls you would like to change and go to the Materials tab and select the Exterior Wall Surface or whatever and then select material > Plan Materials and chose original material if Default has been auto selected and then make a copy, give it a name and edit as required same as before but just one wall.