CARMELHILL

Why is text editing in large text blocks such as specifications so slow in X16? It was a problem years ago (can't remember what release) but it's been fine for the last few versions. I've been waiting for a program update that would hopefully address it. Chief always issued a few updates as the months went by but surprisingly there hasn't been any updates issued to X16. Anyone else notice this? I'm using Arial and its specifications on a full 24 x 36 sheet broken into two detail blocks.

Anyone else have trouble getting rendered elevations to sync correctly on layout sheets? The lines don't correctly overlay onto the solid fill elevation. I haven't had a chance to do a clean template with all my imported settings yet. This is from an X15 template brought into X16. I noticed this doesn't happen with a new clean layout and plan sheet in X16.

Thank you for the comment for buying Chief optimized trees. I don't have a clue, or the time, to buy and import trees from Xfrog that require mapping of textures....etc.... As soon as I clear some crap off my desk I'm going to check out your store, which I just looked at and it's amazing, and I'll be making some inquiries or immediate purchases. I don't get separately compensated for client renderings but I want to keep up with everyone else and provide some higher quality eye candy to the clients and it looks like your User Library is the way to go. I didn't know you have a virtual store until I hit your "Shop Link". Holy crap......very cool.

What is the best format to order for importing into Chief so you don't spend hours remapping textures onto the imported tree?

Dermot, When does the NDA expire? After some fishing I found the detailed features release videos online and I have some questions how they did a 3d plumbing plan....new feature or using complicated work arounds to make it look pretty as eye candy for the presentation. I saw a lot of potential for plumbing supply and waste drawings, and for fire sprinkler plans.

Thanks Gene. I was hoping for something more automatic, but this works. I thought Chief had incorportated something like this for their roof module since almost every old style CapeCod house is built like this.

Yeah, but that's for doing manual roofs. If you do that and then hit auto roof it gets deleted and redone on top of the lower top plate. (Attached). I though there was a way to tell Chief to frame it at a higher plate height (without adding a silly false floor above like GeneDavis's solution).

Is there a way to set up auto roof to be done ontop of the ceiling on a perimeter plate? I need it for a portion of my roof design, not the entire project. So it can't be a setting for the entire project. Just a few walls. See attached.

My office assistant has had this happen constantly but I don't remember if it was only on plans with bay windows. I though it was a glitch with the program on his computer. But today it's been happening to me all day. And yes, I have a plan with a bay window. It hasn't happened to me at all, until today, and until today I haven't had any bay windows in the plans. I exploded the bay window to see if that makes a difference, and so far there are no repeats of the bug.

Sometimes I feel like you guys are speaking a different language. I've built 5 computers, do my own website, networking, etc., but when it comes to coding for Ruby and this mesh stuff I get lost. Is there a program that will downsize/simplify the poly count on a model, apply the texture to make it a part of the model, then export it as something that Chief can recognize. If it's not a simply process then it's not much use. I'd rather not make life even more difficult. Example: doesn't a Sketchup dae collada file export retain the entire texture on the model itself?

Holy crap that's more complicated than I thought.

This has a lot to do with 3d rendering and textures.......Rene are you listening? I want to add some custom objects to make my renders more relevant to the tastes of my clients. I want to add some beachy decorative items like wood carved fish, pelican, sea birds, and build up a good 3d user library to quickly drag and drop into my scenes, etc..., But I keep getting stuck on the texture applications. Is this even possible or is it a dead end? I've been experimenting with 3dphotogrammetry, RealityScan from Epic Games, Meshroom, 3DF Zephyr, and a few others. RealityScan uploads your model to Sketchfab and then you can download it from there. You have to convert it from gltb to either fbx, obj, or stl. When I import the model it's just a white object. I have no idea how to properly apply the 3d image as a 3d texture map. So.......Can I take a 3d model I photo scanned using 3dphotogrammetry and uploaded to sketchfab, and download that model into Chief or Twinmotion? I've tried a few times and the textures are always messed up. I'm assuming the textures aren't overlayed automatically and I need to somehow do it manually?

For renovations and additions...... I'm sure I've overlooked something, but to speed up my design presentation floor plans I'd like to use the automatic exterior dimensions tool to add my dimensions.....but, BUT, this darn tool dimensions to every window/door, whether it's new or existing. I don't want the existing windows/doors dimensioned because it gives clients the assumption that particular window/door is being replaced with new. Is there a way to set up the auto dim tool to dimension to only new windows/doors, or maybe to windows/doors that are in the window/door schedule (new windows and doors), or to items that have a label (existing windows/doors have the labels turned off). Any ideas? Dimensioning is such a waste of valuable time, especially when we have a dimension tool that should be capable of this.

aGHHH. Thank you buddy.

Can somebody check this for me before I send in a bug report? With the Layout Box Specification I just realized we can Link a construction detail to a callout within the plan. The callout can reference a detail either within the plan, layout, or a master detail file you've put together. OMG, I've been wanting this for years. I don't know when it arrived. But I think I found a bug relating to: %referenced_view_callout_label% The detail number does not show up in the callout on the layout sheet. See attached and let me know if your seeing it the same way.

Thank you. I looked at the change briefly yesterday. I'm going to spend Friday goin through it on X15 and adding new layer sets into my templates. I'm still heavily into X14 while I get my assistant up to speed on X15.

Older versions of Chief had this ability, to set certain layers to report to the material list. I think it was removed in X14.

I was surprised last night to notice we lost the ability to set up which materials report to the estimate by using the layers dialogue box. There used to be a materials column, but I think it was removed in X14?? For a renovation/addition there needs to be easier ways to include/exclude certain items, or items from different parts of the floor plan. My project last night ias a two story addition with the roof being reframed on the existing, and a few bearing walls removed and replaced with new beams. Setting up line boundaries to only include those areas is cumbersome. It would be nice if you could set up individual estimate reports, associated to individual polyline boundaries, and you could individually decide if they report back to one large estimate, or separate estimates for first floor framing package, second floor framing package, wall stud package, or everything by floor level, etc.. You can setup which columns output to the report via the plan defaults preferences but then that affects every material list in that plan. I'm not ready to save 8 versions of a plan to have 8 different material lists. Anyone have a better idea? I spent A LOT of time playing with this back during the covid shut down. I created a Master Material Price list for every item, only to realize a few weeks later that materials costs were fluctuating wildly, and my work was worthless. I REALLY wanted to be able to give clients instant budgets for different designs. But the quantity lists alone are pretty value for the contractors I send work to.

Thank you. A little bit of each of you answers helped. I turned off "Scale Images" on the schedule. That seems to have fixed it. I also had adjusted the wall section callouts text size in the Note Specification and that was the final fix. Thank you both.

Is there anyway to include callouts from two different drawings views that have different scales, without the callouts populating in the note schedule at different scales/sizes? I'm doing a building section at 1/4" scale and a wall section at 1" scale. The callouts in the note schedule look like this, attached. I've played with it for a little while and I'm not getting results.

Gene, Are you using these symbols within Chief or are you using Sketchup to provide the drainage drawings?

This has always bugged me so I figured I would ask the GODS. This might just be me, but the Plan View Specification dialogue box, General tab, Save Options, Never Save, seems pretty useless to me. If I have all my layers set up correctly. I open a plan view, for giggles here lets say I open a roof plan. I want to take some rafter span measurements, so I turn on the layers for all my walls. I take my measurements. NOW, if I have "Never Save" clicked, when I close the view shouldn't the layers NOT CHANGE in the saved plan view......I mean not save, I mean not change from my perfectly set up layers? This option has never worked for me. I really want this one thing to work right. Sure, I could click "Prompt to Save" which works correctly, and just say no when it prompts me to save. But why doesn't Never Save not work correctly? Or do the GODS just hate me?

I don't think it was fixed. My blueprints definitely look different. I use standard Arial font and the font just looks different on the page. Instead of waiting I wanted to move forward. So I ran through all our notes and details and did the old standard.... grab all text nudge left once nudge right back to original position reposition any wandering text that overlaps It REALLY sucks when you open a client file from 3 years ago.

They are aware, and working on it. But please submit a bug report so it stays a priority on their list.