GerryT

What Joe said:: And/Or -- Set your "Existing" Labeled Objects as you want then save to your user Library. The place the same from the library as needed.

Your contours appear to be just 2D Cad lines with no Z height. The Elev points are just text. To import, the lines must be 3D Cad lines with a Z height. The points must be 3D also, if used. You could, however, import and enter the elevation data manually into the contour lines since you only have a few. However it does not appear that the contours were formed properly as you have varying data points along them. They should be only one height per contour. IOW -- this is not a elevation file.

FYI: the polar angle when you copy is from start of drag to end. So if you are off a little, the copy distance will be off because of the hypotenuse of the angle. To fix. check the angle of the original line -- add or subtract 90 and set that as the polar angle -- The distance will then be correct.

Lighthouse was also a DWG -- his problem was taken care of.

Ditto all the above. Importing 3D terrain data is a minor detail. However the problem with using a DWG file is that the draft persons trend to "block" the terrain contours which prevents them from being imported into Chief. They generally do this because they construct the cad lines themselves with just points and its easier to then block into a line. In that case, your only choice is to retrace the Cad Line as Scott said. Properly formatted, DWG files will import correctly into Chief with no problem. It's a matter of education. Using a Third party program, like Turbocad you can unblock and reform the lines, but that is a "huge" PITA. If the OP wants to post the file, I'm sure he would get a answer or, at least the real problem,in a few minutes here.

Could be wrong -- But doesn't look like spam . More like someone with too much time ( hopefully). Until the proper authorities can determine intent, we might have to put up with this for awhile. Anything on the NET can ultimately be traced back and, with enough messages, any code broken. i expect it's already being handled, if not, it should not be tolerated here.

The only way to do that , that I found is to use either Excel or Calc (Open Office) Format the spreadsheet cell boundaries. Then copy -> paste special -> Picture metafile. It will bring in as a picture with all formatting correct. Been doing that for years. FYI -- it's a picture -- so not editable. I save my excel files within the project folder for needed edits. RTF or HTML format has been a long requested feature and is available, buried within the tools that Chief is using but to date they have not seen the need for it. -- Don't expect it.

Don't use arch blocks in schedules. Actually the problem is that it does show up as a single cabinet in schedules and but then loses all its components for the material/component list. I said Yeeks because individual components can be easily turned off if one doesn't want them to show up in ML. Makes no sense to me except another dumb limitation which prevents huge possibilities. Seems like another easy fix that won't happen.

Yeks-- Just found out what I missed!! Wondering if we can get this bug fixed in less than the standard 10 years?

Hmmm -- Soooo - What's the advantage of making a symbol over a architectural block which can also be listed as single item in a schedule and can also have all components listed ( for ordering info) in the component DBX and in the material list? What did I miss?/ -- Again.

FYI -- when polylines or moldings are next to structures, as they are almost always are, the are near impossible to select. so basically the beak tool can't find its target and is generally hit and miss. To solve that, copy/create a new layer set with everything locked except the cad layer or molding layer. Then the break tool will always find its target.

I think Chief's help has been pretty clear on this point. But could you tell me specifically : What level is used? If you don't know -- how can you use this feature. It is clearly NOT the center point of the building pad as my plan shows,but that's what Chief's help states. So what is it - where? Lew: terrain contours are assumed by Chief to be sea level-- no confusion there -- However, since the user enters the data, they can be anything you want and floor one is adjusted (biased) in relation to that. A problem arises when one commonly enters data heights in relation to a local monument, then someone asks what is that in relation to sea level - i.e. the monument bias? A solution was suggested to allow a sea level bias to adjust for local conditions.

I like your solution. One problem is that any window symbol will be framed in the wall detail and get a header, which is not what you want for toilet paper rolls and most medicine cabinets. Of course, you can always edit the detail. For small items, I found that using a material region of the same size as the symbol works best and you can locate next to a stud, or in between.Problem is that you only get one chance since if you delete all layers of a material region in order to "cut" the hole, it's no longer selectable.But still a good quick fix for the 10% problems. Thankx for the suggestion.

Nope -- Try it? A good guess and reasonable. Note that according to Chief, in this plan, the center is at about 62' on the terrain. I do acknowledge that Chief has always said that their contours are only a approximation, but they can't be this far off?

Scott: I guess my answer is that I think things should work as they are described and if they don't, they should be noted as such. I thought this was the point of paying for Tech Support. As to usage. the auto pad elev would be a great starting point which was probably it's original intent. However, you just answered my question as to why some things in Chief don't work and are ignored. You get the point. .

Ok – I’m going to ask the same question again that I’ve asked periodically since X1. Where is the center point of the building pad? I ask the question here because Chief’s TS – either doesn’t know or won’t answer (for whatever reason). Chief’s help states: ”The program automatically positions Floor 1 a set distance above the terrain. To do this, it first finds the center point of the building footprint. “ But what is the “center point” – center of extents – or centroid or what? I’ve attached a plan with a irregular footprint. The program shows pad elevation (supposed center) at 62’ ( 63.68 – 1-.5 - .125). The terrain contours show the center pad footprint elevation at approx. 71’, with the 62’ point at the left edge. So what did I miss here?. A point to anyone who can answer? terrain elev.zip

I imported your plan and it seems normal to me. Perhaps you could further explain what you mean by "cropping". Ray trace only builds whatever is shown on screen. If you zoomed in, that's what you get . To get higher resolution, zoom out to full & just uncheck "use screen size" in Ray trace and increase pixels or units. When you export the picture, it will export at that resolution and you could zoom in in any photo program To control the Z- fighting I increased "clip Plan" from 24" to 6000" -- the necessary setting is somewhere in between? For lighting -- adjust lighting setting under Ray trace.-- worked well for me but tripled trace time. To adjust & select the other stuff -- unlock your layers. -- Rebuild if you see a terrain symbol by cursor. IOW -- we need more info..

I believe the solid Square means 90 deg. So you should be able to close with arcs

Because every slice will have a slightly different terrain profile depending on the slope and "bumps" in the terrain at that slice (cross section). So everyone needs to be adjusted. Copying the first slice after creating a profile may or may not be quicker and closer to the other slices. Pick your poison. One thing I did not reinforce was the necessity to rebuild the terrain before any slice edit. Chief would say you do not need to do that,but I've seen some weird stuff.

Line 445 or point # 915 has no comment. Fix that and data imports OK. The First number in a line is a point number not a line number. Your data has a lot of zero elev points--- you may want to look at it again. Also some points are spread way out beyond a typical lot. Grouping is very bad.

Probably your on the wrong line due to some extraneous lines. Posting your data file would resolve the problem immediately.

In Chief, PNEZD is the #,Y,X,Z,D Format or CSV where Y is the Northing and X is the Easting - Z is the Elevation & D is Description. As long as your PNEZD file does not contain extra letters or text lines it will import under import Terrain Data.

Hmmm -- After all walls are drawn - Select all walls and open DBX -- Set Lower pitch as required (>12), upper pitch at 1/4" & setback from baseline. Build Roof -- Time less than a minute. Always start with the Auto.

Just looked at this again - something seems to have changed. The Floor camera will not see any ceiling finish framing -- even with "all on". The Full camera works OK. The finish framing must be rebuilt with the ceiling framing tool unless auto framing is turned on. Other then that -working OK for me - Tried your arrangement and works to create a framed lowered ceiling. You probably know -- but for others -- Ceiling structure is not used if there is a floor above but works as advertised if no floor above.

old video was out of date -- so did a quick one. -- nothing special here. http://youtu.be/SmhyUEbt5iA