MickeyToo

Joe, It does not appear to be a connection issue b/c with the Framing Line Label yielding an Evaluation Error (connected to the i-joist), if I open the Text Object and add the ObjectProperties Macro, it yields all of the available parameters. I have seen a number of "quirky" issues with X7, so who knows? When I have a chance I will try it X6 to see if it makes a difference.

Looks like we may be dancing together on this one, Scott! Btw, Joe, with the label still attached, I selected the Lumber and changed it back to i-joist and immediately got the evaluation error.

OK. Turned off Grid Snaps and reset the Framing Line Label, but got the same response (see the first pic; even tried moving it around). Next move: With the label still attached, I selected the i-joist and changed it to Framing (resized it) and the label immediately recognized it as 2X Floor Joist. (second pic) Joe, I have attached my Object Snap settings.

Joe, your Framing Line Label is great! It will be a huge help in being able to quickly add this info to CDs. The only problem I am encountering (like Scott in the other post) is that it does not seem to want to recognize i-joist??? Other types of framing, but not i-joist. I tried several different plans, but got the same result every time. Any idea why this might be? I know Scott thought it might be b/c he is on a Mac, but I am using a Windows machine. I have attached a plan where this is happening to see if it is, in fact, machine specific. Thanks Framing Line Label.zip

Just what I was looking for to gain greater control over the spacing of the balusters in the individual railing sections of different lengths, keeping them spaced equidistant from the columns, which themselves can be now be varied in size (although if you do vary the size of the columns the balusters will not remain equidistant). Perfect!

Richard, if it is just a couple of letters or digits, it stays in my hand; any serious typing then it goes in the pen holder. Really not a problem once you get use to it. Cheryl, you mentioned that were very happy with the Intuos2 until Win 7. Can you tell me a little more about what was going on to make you unhappy? I used my Intuos2 on an XP machine with no problems, but now I want to install it on a Windows 7 machine and I see some people complaining about the driver. Any feed back you can provide will be appreciated.

Joe and Gerry, I am not versed in writing script so unfortunately I would not know what to do with the information both of you have provided. I assume, however, that with this change (to the macros you have provided?), you believe it will calculate the finish ceiling height to the Ceiling Plane which has been place under the floor structure (as in the pic I provided) even thought the Chief Macro "Room Ceiling Height Finish" (which can be found in Defaults - Rooms - Room Label - Insert - Global - Room Info - Room Ceiling Height Finish) does not. (But, shouldn't it???) If either or both of you want to post your modified macro, or show me where/how to insert that information, I would appreciate it. Also, shouldn't Chief allow a room to stay selected so as to be able to access the User Defined Macros in Room Label Defaults, or is just me? Thanks

OK, Gerry. I see you are suggesting using a different macro and not the Room Info macro. I will try that.

Thanks, Gerry. Part one I figured out after I posted, unfortunately. As for my second question, even using the Finish Ceiling Macro, it returns a value taken from the floor joist above the ceiling plane (less the value for the ceiling finish). In the attached cross section you can see that the finish ceiling height is 107" but the Label in plan is showing 113".

Larry, I have an Intuos2 that I am about to (re)install. I had used it years ago with Chief and really liked it; accurate and much easier on the hand and arm than a mouse. Greg, interesting you should mention the driver situation. I noticed more than a few complaints about it online and even emailed Wacom. They said it should be OK as long as the old driver is completely uninstalled. We'll see.

Two questions: I added the two ceiling macros in Text Macro Management, but when I go to Defaults - Room - Room Label to add it to the label all of the user defined macros are greyed out. Why? When using a the (Plan) Ceiling Height macro in Defaults - Room - Room Label it does not recognize a Ceiling Plane that has been placed in the plan, but instead takes the measurement from the underside of the floor joist above the ceiling plane. Is there a way to get the ceiling macro to recognize the ceiling plane? Thanks

Thank you, Yusuf. Not sure how you did it but very nice...and easy to use. You just have to be sure when you put them in the library to mark them Left and Right. Nice work!

Thanks, Gerry. I am all set for now. I may post on this again latter.

OK. I have done text macros before without a problem, but it is not working in the case of a polyline. When I create the (area) macro in Text Macro Management, everything is fine as long as I designate is as an Owner Object, but then it is not available for use in a Text Object. If I designate it as a Reference Object, I get an Evaluation Error. Any ideas as to what I might be doing wrong in this instance?

Thanks, Bryce. You are more than right about the likelihood of using even a fraction of these images (ditto the content in the huge number of catalogs we now see). These images were made available many years ago by an extremely generous Chief user when there was not the wide variety and number of catalogs we see today. Without exception, everyone at the time was grateful to have them. I simply never got around to loading/using them, or sorting through them, even. That aside, there really should be a way to bring them in already checked "Stretch to Fit" and, yes, I will email TS on Monday with this very question. As you also point out, to apply these images will, in itself, be a bit of work, given the many shapes and sizes we are dealing with. As such, I was going to post to see if anyone had any ideas about how to make this process a little easier to accomplish.

Thanks, Perry. That explains it nicely.

Perry, would you mind explaining what you mean by the last part of your statement? Thanks

David, it is not you. While the documentation in Chief is generally pretty good, there are situations where it could be made much better. This is one of those cases. I usually hit the Help button at the bottom of the dialog box if I am not certain about what a setting signifies, but even here the explanation seems to be somewhat lacking. And so yes, they could have easily included a picture of one of the three return styles using the Extend feature. Another case where a picture is worth a thousand words

Problem with doing them manually is that there are over a thousand images (several thousand, actually). I read in the reference manual that "By default, materials created from a screen capture will be set to Stretch to Fit," so if images from a screen capture why not images coming in from an external folder? I just can't locate any documentation on how it might be done.

I want to import a large quantity of images of paintings and area rugs of various sizes and shapes. When I use Convert Textures to Materials they come in with the Texture set to Tile to Scale rather than Stretch to Fit, as would be needed to make them usable. How can I get them to import correctly, or is there a way to batch process these material files afterward? Thanks

Have you seen this Chief Knowledge Base article "Creating Automatic Roof Returns?" http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00647/34/Chief-Architect/Roofs/Creating-Automatic-Roof-Returns.html

Glenn, where specifically is this Areas-Sheet setting you are referring to ? Also, when I select a room and go to Materials - Walls - Select Materials (see attached) and change to say 4' X 12' Sheets of 1/2" Drywall, it is not reflected in the Materials List, instead it list 4X8 sheets.

Agreed, Todd. Bill, it is real easy to forget even a very useful feature in what is becoming a very highly developed program, such as Chief. That, I am finding is the real challenge (remembering what I have already learned!)...but it may also be helping to ward off the early onset of dementia, so I won't complain too much

Use the Edit Layout Line tool shown here.

Todd, it may not be what you are looking for in terms of flexibility, but you can snap to a line in a CAD block by first placing a temporary point & insertion point along that line while the line is unblocked. You can see how that is done in this Chief video: http://video.chiefarchitect.com/?search=Placing+insertion+points+in+cAD Thanks, Graham and Tommy for those suggestions.