Sydney23

Hi Michael, thanks for this input. I am no longer getting the DB error messages having moved the CA archive folder to within the DB folder as suggested above. But CA has crashed already this morning and layout coudn't find a linked plan even though it worked last night! Weird. I'm not sure quite where the issue is, hopefully it will just smooth itself out. If the crashing keeps happening the simplest thing might be to get X11 - I'm so many years behind it would probably mean just buying a new copy and keeping my X6 for any future co-worker (which I don't really want!). I'd better start saving....

Hi, Thanks, I checked and none of the CA Preference location folders there are in Dropbox, just my C drive. I only put the CA client files I'm actually working on in Dropbox. I think you have probably nailed the problem. I'll try having also having my CA Backup folder in my Dropbox so that CA and Dropbox play together nicely. It won't harm to have my CA back-up files backed up on line. You can never have too many backups!! I really appreciate your help, thanks a lot

And now CA is crashing a lot more than usual, just hangs with the Windows timer donut thing. Pretty sure it's to do with Dropbox / CA backups and file locations. Something has changed, not sure if someone has updated their software (Dropbox, CA or Windows) or if something has got corrupted. I'll sort it out sooner or later, just hopefully without losing too much work!!

I've been using CA for maybe 6 years? And Dropbox for several years too. In the last few weeks I keep getting a Dropbox dialogue when I try and save or close a CA file: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx "Remove [file name] from everyone's Dropbox account and all devices? If you move this file to [file name_46f4a6887c94c335e499aa1 etc etc etc....], it will no longer be shared with anyone, and it won't be available in Dropbox or on any devices. [Cancel] [Move out of Dropbox]" xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx What? I have literally no idea what this means. It's in English, but it makes no sense to me. It never used to do this, now it does it all the time. That great big long file name with the weird letters after it looks like an archive folder to me. Why would CA be trying to moving my file to the archive folder when I manually save it or close it? - and upsetting Dropbox in the process? I ignored it until today, when CA crashed. Then I opened up the file I'd been working on (and manually saving every few minutes) and it had lost the last 2 hours' work. I looked in the Archive folder and the latest autosave/archive file is 2 hours old. I have autosave set to every 5 minutes, but they weren't there. What I have just noticed is that on my PC in that client's CA folder, there are 5 extra plans with the same name, but each one has a number in brackets after, as in: file_name(1).plan file_name(2).plan etc No idea why but I suspect it's related. My files are going nuts! I would contact Dropbox but I am suspecting this is a CA autosave/archive issue? and maybe someone here has seen this behaviour or knows what I have accidentally switched on or off somewhere without realising/remembering. Is my CA or Dropbox somehow corrupted? Should I move my CA "archives" folder to be within the main Dropbox folder on my C drive? How about my 'Temporary' folder? Bit of a nightmare. If I can't rely on CA to back up my work that's not good. Or is it some new change with Dropbox? Is the weird message above and the lack of CA autosave backups unrelated? Any guidance gratefully received, thanks. Now to see if I can redo 2 hours' work in 1 hour...

Thanks Lew, that's a good idea. I'll get onto it.

Hi WesternDesign, I'm struggling to get my s910 dxf point cloud into CA, it only seems to import a flat plan view set of lines between the points (and picture refs), not the actual points themselves and not in 3D. But I can pull the dxf into Sketchup - and it is in 3D, points and lines (so why can't CA do that?). I don't really want lines between the points, just the points - can that be done? Anyway, I then try and import that SU file into CA but CA says 'the symbol has no 3D data', so I can't import it. The only way I could get anything from the Sketchup file to CA was to draw a circle around every point in Sketchup, save and then import in CA. This is a pain! Also, if I want to tidy up the orientation of the group of points that comes in, I can rotate it in plan view but not on the other (side elevation) axis, e.g. raise the points at the front as compared to those at the back. Thsi s910 is nearly doing what I bought it for, but it's taking up my time and not really working that great right now. For simple 2D measurements I still have my trusty old Disto D5, I really need the s910 to get me DXFs if it is to pay its way. It's mainly for outdoor use to get rough outlines and relative positions of neighbouring houses where I can't access their land, also for some rough topo data to try and save time/reduce errors. Any advice on simplifying my terrible workflow above would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks. (BTW, I'm still using X6, if that makes any odds to this kind of thing)

So, how would CA show a sagging roof or a wonky wall where the thickness is variable depending on what mood the plasterer was in? It's a problem. CAD is great at new, prefectly straight or perfectly curved things, less good at 400 year old houses where every. single. thing. is out of whack. A point cloud would pick that up for sure, but how is that going to be translated into CA? I'm guessing this is a similar problem to computer generated music, where quantise levels can be set to bring something robotically 'perfect' into something humanly 'musical' or 'real'. My poor head, this might be something I leave for the next generation of whizz-kids unless they can make it really simple for me...

Absolutely, great point about using a CA block in the 2D, bit clunky but it will do the job. And thanks for letting me know that about X9 too. Thanks a lot.

I made a geometric shape, a sphere, squashed it vertically, placed it in plan. It is obscuring everything beneath it, e.g. chairs, in 2D plan view. I can't edit its transparency or its fill style or send it back/forward in the dialogue. And I can't bring chairs to the front either... So the chairs behind it are hidden in 2D plan view, not what I need. Is there anything I can do? (Might try an orthographic direct overhead view and turn on the blue transparent view, but that's a really poor bodge) BTW, I brought in another object from Sketchup and it imported as a geometric shape, but that does have a transparent fill. Weird. Thanks! (Please note my out of date version in case this situation has subsequently been fixed)

Update: I tried a few more times, some other smaller items worked, never could get any chairs to work. Started a completely blank plan - it works fine. Copied and pasted from that new empty file into the original file - all good, works fine, I can change distribution, arc angle, etc. Some weird bug. Maybe because the original file had something imported form Sketchup in it? No idea. Anyway, thought this might help someone, so good luck.

You got it, that's what I need. I really need to update my X6... Thanks Glenn, say Hi to the motherland/city from me.

Hi Glenn, No problem, attached. There's a little semi-circle of fire extinguishers on the bottom left - they should be chairs! Dome_ideas_july.plan

Hi Glenn, Super helpful thanks, I am now on the right, ahem, path But now every time I try and select a chair to distribute along that path, it tells me "area too constricted" - this is in an empty plan, just trying to get it working. A flower is fine, a small alarm clock works fine, but something as big as a chair (I'm laying out a church), it's a no go. I've even tried using a straight path - same issue. Investigated further... a fire extinguisher is fine, even if I make it larger than the chair! But if I try and use any chair, it still says "area too constricted" and won't let me go any further. Any clues to fix this?

Is this possible? I can only seem to get objects to distribute along straight lines. Thanks! (NB - still running X6)

This works for perspective view but not for orthographic. Any way of re-setting the centre in orthographic 3D overview?