tommy1

Try doing more passes?

Scott, I don't ever use "save in plan" but I think that once you do that, you can't get rid of it in that plan or layout. With that said, I think that if you send something to layout and then later whatever you send becomes void and you delete it, Chief will still try to find it. I believe this happened to me years ago and I kept getting errors because Chief couldn't find it. I don't know if that currently holds true.

Joey, our user group is online and free. You can attend from home. See Houston User Group. Call me if you would like more information. If you call and I don't answer, leave a number for me to call you.

If you keep a job folder and place all associated plan files, layout files and images in that folder or anything that is sent to the layout in that folder and send the images to the layout from that folder, you would never have this problem. I don't ever have file association problems with a layout.

Sorry, yes you can. I can even get this library into V10 without doing Sketchup. (or at least X1)

Not sure that can be done. I don't see an option to import Sketch-up files in x1. Maybe I'm missing something though or forgot how to do it.

This is why I like to show people online how to do this so they can watch and learn. I demonstrate this kind of stuff at our user meetings but am always happy to help someone one on one online.

Great, but won't help with the file posted. Unless of course if someone makes .SKP files.

Just checked in X1 and I don't think I can get them to an .alb file.

Okay, here is the 24" built in that will work in X5. You can see though that the cad block in plan view isn't quite right but may due if you want these. I believe the others will move just fine that are not in cabinets. The color layers had to be reset and the origin of the appliance had to be set. If anyone is still interested in an earlier version of this library, email me and can live with the way it looks in plan view. Moving symbols back to earlier versions is a minor pain, but if you want them it most certainly can be done with any symbol. It will take a little of time to do this for all of them. I can make a library with folders just like the original library. Maybe the person who did this library has a fast way of doing this. BTW, I'm doing this from with-in Chief. Not using an outside program.

Louie, I have said many times that YES, symbols can be backward compatible. Very easy to do. I will download this library tomorrow morning and make it useable in X5. If anyone needs them in an earlier version, let me know. Email me at my email address in my signature. I just downloaded the library. There are a lot more symbols than I thought in this library. I moved it to X3 and X5 but you have to offset the fixture for each symbol unless some of them are stand alone symbols (not in a cabinet). I didn't look at them all. If this winds up taking too much time, then I'll do an online meeting with whoever is interested and show you how to do it and I'll send the files necessary to do it in your version. I also think it can be done in very earlier versions that have .alb files too. I can't load V10 (get the hardware lock to work with Windows 8) so I can't test it. The textures need to be reset as well but I'm not going to do that. It can be done by the user. The 3D look will look correct but will not look exactly right in 2d (plan view) meaning the appliance will be inside the cabinet, not having the front sticking out slightly. It's more difficult to do this for items that are placed in cabinets. It's a snap for stand alone items. I'll post an example of 3D and plan view in the morning. It will look the same for all versions. Can this be done? Sure.

But not GFIs or GFCIs I believe. CAD user, if you call me. I can show you online what I do. For your other post concerning wall alignment, I could show you a little secret for that too.

Block them.

I used to have this problem many years ago using PDF995. Ever since I switched to CutePDF, I don't have any problems (for years).

Timmy, I certainly don't follow your approach. I'm not sure anyone will be able to give you a good answer without seeing the plan or knowing much more information. I for one would have to see how you did your terrain. Is the terrain complete? Is the house already placed in the correct location on the property? Is the building platform height set correctly based on the house location on the terrain and elevation data (heights)? If the house is sitting on an area of the terrain where the terrain is sloped, then the ridge heights will vary from the ground around the house due to the slope. If the house is sitting on an flat part of the terrain, then is a simple math calculation you can do to get a quick estimated height. How much of the foundation is exposed from the ground? This will make a difference on the building pad height. Are you asking this question because you have an aerial easement on the property? If so, are you showing it on a site plan? Certain questions I feel are better to ask with one on one help online or in person because it would take way too long to answer it here without having many posts. However, if someone has already seen the plan then maybe they can give you some good answers. I see you have some previous posts about importing or exporting surveys. BTW, I have to show some ridge heights in elevations to the planning department. Doing it Lew's way would not help me for permitting.

BTW, there is one for the ceiling however, it doesn't recognize an overhang (soffit) and takes the angle pitch of the roof. It also doesn't rotate right. It does work though the way I described.

If you want spot lights that are mounted to the soffit of the overhang (not the wall), you need to copy the wall spot light to your user library. From there, open the symbol, make it sit on floor and rotate the symbol so that it faces down. When you take an elevation of it, you'll have to reset the origins. Drag it up to the overhang.

That doesn't necessarily work all the time depending on how far away it is. If you can't find it, call me or email me with your phone number. I have a quick sure fire way to probably fix your problem or send me your plan and I'll fix it and send it back.

You pretty much have it right.

I do my volutes like this. If interested in how I do it, email me. I believe I have a plan file that doubles as a tutorial on how I do them. I also have a symbol of a volute in the plan that you can down load.

Thank you! I enjoy helping people out especially one on one online because I feel it's better for the person trying to figure out something. One on one help and watching someone do it for you is a much faster way of learning and you can ask questions on the spot if you don't understand. This is what's so good about our user group helping people.

Jim, I took a full overview from the 1st floor on a house I'm currently working on (still in progress) just to see what happens if I exported everything, house, garage, driveway, sidewalks and terrain as a 3D Model (3Ds). It went fine with all textures. My image shown is the 3Ds model (symbol) imported into a blank plan. It looks like everything went okay. The symbol has 89546 faces. Exporting and importing went very fast.

Nick, sorry to hear about your injury. I would be happy do donate several hours with you online to help you out. How long have you been using the program? Which version do you have? Where do you live? You could also join our User Meetings (See Houston User Group). They are free (online) for 2 hours /month. Generally the 1st Monday of every month. I have people from all over the country getting in...around 8 people on average. Everyone is very nice and helpful. We're here to help and I don't care how simple you might think the questions are. If interested, please call or email me. My phone number and email is below in my signature. Cell is 832-754-6160.

Also, once you have a door, window or cabinet set the way you want, you can select the item and in the edit toolbar for the selected item, make it the default so that when ever you place that item, it will match the others.

Yes, it does seem to work now when placed under a window.