MickeyToo

I sent a couple of short videos to TS earlier today that I feel clearly demonstrates the problem. I was informed they were being sent to the engineers for study. One focused on the undo-redo function, the other accessing materials (plan and library) from the object dbx. Both instances are consistent and predictable. I have found other operations in X7 similarly affected by this issue that are not as consistent or predictable, however. For example, clicking on an object to select it can result in a brief but noticeable delay of a second or so before it is actually selected by Chief...but not always. Ditto other operations. This makes it hard to document (and maybe to fix). We'll have to wait and see, I guess.

Simply remarkable! Shows once again what the tool in the right hand can accomplish. Thanks!

Bill, yes, thank you very much for sharing this with us. This is especially interesting, b/c over the weekend I was admiring the work of an architect who employed the use of this technique at the window openings of a very large Church he designed around 1900. His edging profile was beaded, however, and sat on a chamfer (as shown in the attached pic). I have not had the opportunity go through the thread from the old forum, but do you think this is possible? Also, the bead did not descend to meet the sill, but terminated several inches above it with the chamfer creating an angled ledge. Very beautiful detail, I thought. Thanks again, really appreciate it!

I am experiencing this exact same slowness (have been with X7 since beta), and the latest release has not done very much, if anything at all, to improve things. Same file open in X6 and X7 really highlights the problem. It needs to be fixed.

Thanks

Really not up to speed on all the abbreviations. What are MM and JSON?

Is this what you are seeing?

The Status Bar is tucked behind the Windows Taskbar when you open the program. This is the same problem that some of us suffered with in X6, but was eventually corrected. Unbelievably, it was allowed to resurface in X7 beta and even thought they knew about it in January, the problem carried into the final release of X7 (very disappointing). Moreover, I have been told it may (or may not!) be addressed in the next release. Contact tech support and let them know of your situation. In the meantime try hitting the Maximize/Restore Down button of the Chief window. This will usually bring the Status Bar back into view for that session. FYI: Another problem that seems to be associated with this one is that Chief is not remembering how you have configured the browser area (library, project and layers). If you have reduced their width, when you close and reopen the program Chief expands that area (as if you want all three browsers open). It may also expand the Tool Pallet to cover the browser area if you have chosen to dock the Tool Pallet alongside and to the left of the browsers.

I saw this behavior in X6. It was on again, off again. Can't nail down why. Have not seen it in X7...yet.

This is from a plan done in 9.5. The CAD detail was modified a bit, but you can see from the pic below how Chief handled it.

Alan, It looks like those values have changed on the fourth floor. Sorry. Try following Joe's approach.

Alan, it looks the ceiling height for a couple of the areas on the third floor (maybe the closets in both Bedroom 3?) were not set to "Default;" they got changed somehow. You do have that 3rd floor ceiling height set to 114" in Floor, Defauts, so making the changes seems to have resolved the issue. The third floor ceiling height is now set to 114" Good luck! MacDill TH-Unit A.zip

Joe, one problem I have encountered while playing around with material regions is that I cannot access (see) the regions I have saved to my User Catalog when I edit a region that is already in the plan. They are not there. They are available if I open the Library Browser directly (to place one in the plan as you have suggested, for example), but not if I go to the Library via trying to edit an existing region in the plan. Do you have the same problem?

One way to to return your wall(s) to the default materials is to use the Material Painter, even if you did not use that tool to change them in the first place. You can see how to do that here: http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00586/8/Chief-Architect/Materials/Restoring-Wall-Materials-Changed-Using-the-Material-Painter.html Open a Perspective Floor Overview so you can see the problem wall(s). Next select the Material Painter tool from the toolbar (or go to 3D - Material Painter) and in the lower left corner of the dbx that comes up check "Use default material." Now paint the problem wall(s) and it should return to the default material. It is possible to make more than one change to a wall surface, in that case there will be more than one layer of change to undo; just keep clicking on the wall until the default material appears. Hope this helps.

Jon: So what is the short answer regarding making changes to wall surfaces (color to keep it simple). Where's the best place to make this change? And then I would be interested to know what are the pluses and minus of making the change in each level of this hierarchy? Where can that information be found? Joseph: I was just reading one of your post in Suggestions regarding Material Regions being used in this way. I think it is interesting and I have begun to play around with it. I especially like the fact that the Floor Material Region will automatically cut halfway into the doorways. Btw, do these regions get added to the materials list? Thanks!

So Perry, how do you approach changing the wall surfaces (paint colors, for example)? Here is a follow-up question: Select a room and go to Materials, Walls and change the color, for example. The change shows up in a camera view. Good so far. Now go back to plan view and select one of the walls in that room and go the Materials, Interior Wall Surface and it does not reflect the change that was just made in the Room dbx, but instead shows the color of the walls before the change. Why?

Too bad there is not a "best practices" section for advice such as this. Thanks

A very clear-cut explanation of how to get the job done. Thanks for the example (and the logs).

Here is the latest from TS concerning this issue. "Thank you for taking the time to bring the flickering horizontal lines issue to our attention. I spoke with members of our Software Development and Testing teams, and learned that this is an issue that's high on our list of priorities. I also learned, though, that it presents some technical challenges that aren't easily resolved and for that reason it's unclear whether we will be able to address it in the version X7 release. I am sorry that I don't have more information available but hope that this is helpful." If you are not satisfied with this response, please let them know.

Great tip! Thanks, Joe. Should be a "Tips and Tricks" section on this forum for items like this.

Scott, I check with TS and it was, in my case at least, user error. Seems you don't have to wait for the copy cursor to change into a four-sided arrow to make the copy (which is what I was apparently doing at times). But if you don't wait, you will very likely get an error, even if you enter 0 in the direction you are not moving in. I never used this tool before, but if you use as much as you say, I am going to give it a try. Thanks and thank you too, Dianne.

Alan, I reported this issue to TS back in November of last year. Here is their reply: "The [flickering] horizontal line issue in elevations appears to happen only with specific video cards and I have found out that it is an issue to which we are currently working on a solution." That was in X6 and I see no improvement with X7. I am running a AMD Radeon video card, but I see Kevin is running a GeForce card, and a pretty good one at that, so go figure. Hopefully there will be a fix with the release of X7. Btw, maybe you may want to add to your posting something like "flickering lines" in case others are having similar issues.

DianneDSC, I have tried this feature, but found it is not reliably accurate. In a conversation with someone from TS a while back (on another matter), this was confirmed. Are you getting consistently accurate results? I just tried it in X7 and no soap.

Hey Scott: That is a great vid! Lots of useful information, and very clever, especially hanging the slab the way you did. (Too bad those slabs are not editable in other views.) Anyway, I really do appreciate you taking the time to make it. I have it bookmarked for future reference. Thanks again!

Thanks everyone for your replies. In cold weather climates, special care must be taken to properly insulate slabs, of course. (It was minus two degrees this morning here in New England!) The first pic shows how we did slabs years ago and the second how we would do them today (some elements are not shown such as sill sealer, bug shields etc). Both are simply variations on recommended methods shown here: http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/information-sheets/slab-edge-insulation In addition to the (modest) insulation value the double pressure treated sill provides, we like the fact that it improves the exterior profile of the structure, dropping the siding down and allowing for a full kick board under doors. This method also allows for the slab to be poured after the structure is framed. Lastly, if it ever becomes necessary to replace the sill plate, it can be done from the outside without disturbing the interior space. Growing up in New England with its many historic structures, you learn to think (and design) for the really long-term. Thanks again!