jtcapa1

Since updating to X8, I think I was remiss in transferring all my library items over. I don't have the one called "Kitchen accessories"

I use them so infrequently, I don't want to make them. I'll download the Pennville catalog from CA. Thanks Mark.

Indirectly, that answers my question. I'm missing the library which has those in it. I had previously type in that word "valance" and all variations, but nothing showed up. So which manufacture catalog do you find them in please?

For the life of me, I cannot find those underused finished cabinet valance panels which typically go over a kitchen sink. I used to see them in previous versions of CA, but cannot find them any more. Anybody know where they are hidden and under what name? Thank you. -=JT=-

I rarely use such a large external display, except for presentations. I've strained my neck while trying to use one for CAD work.

I've got the Bosch and the Distro and both are very accurate. Distro is also Bluetooth enabled so when I get motivate I can use it with my laptop to do as-builts on the fly.

Thanks for the feedback Bill. I was hoping that it was already part of CA, but I was simply not seeing it. I hope it is in X8 as it is long overdue. I really hate using so many work-arounds in my plans for something that is really so simple for CA to incorporate.

Has anyone solved the problem of attaching balusters to the outside of the stringer instead of on top of the treads?

I just wanted to ask the users here if they have the same problems we have in the State of Washington with our Energy code. Specifically, dealing with fresh make-up air? New homes have to be very tight so, make-up air is designed into the house in either the windows (ports) wall (ports), intake near the furnace with a timer, or heat exchanger worked into the furnace. On remodels is has always been loosely enforced. For example the simplest solution was to call out window ports on any new windows in habitable rooms, knowing the rest of the existing house was going to be leaky, but with the very low U-value windows, many manufactures don't offer window ports. Then there is the in-wall fresh air intakes ports, which I've never seen used. Or the air intake near the furnace which is on a 12 hour timer. All of which are linked to the Whole House vent fan. Most of the contractors and even building inspectors tend to look the other way on remodels, so nothing gets installed. I'm wondering what other professionals have run across with this "fresh air" issue on Remodels?

Also, when I'm doing corrections from the Building department and they want my new information "clouded" or highlighted, I've got the highlight in yellow direction with all new notes, and they stand out perfectly.

The cost is minor by comparison to the effect. I absorb the extra cost, as I rarely spend over $100 for 4 color copies of a complete set, edge bound and delivered to my front door. It only gets expensive if I have to do it several times. I'm using colored transparent fills more and more for some hatching area's as it communicates much better than a busy hatch pattern. Some sheets are still B/W with Grey scale, like elevations, but one CA changes their export to layout to include scaled color images, I'll stop using B/w there too.

That is very clever! Great workaround. Although I think the poster wanted something for the "interior" and shutters only work on the "exterior" right? Having more control over the casing would be a nice addition to the CA updates, I run into this problem all the time with oddball casing trim.

You raise a great point HumbleChief, the paper scribbles are a great backup which I use again and again to double check things, mostly to find out why something does not fit or dimension out. I'm assuming that if you took the time to draw it in the field right, you'd not need the dimension notes? Still, I'd almost want both. My thinking is that Room Planner is a bust, for those of us with CA already. We have what we need to draft up an as-built in the field, as long as that process does not make us look so stupid to our clients as we curse and fumble getting the devices to communicate to each other. There's got to be a better way. It is close, but I'd have to make a fair number of logistal adjustments in how I input data and work with a tablet to get it right. I did take my mouse and the detatchable keyboard on one project, but that was almost like bringing my full laptop. It is learning to draft using my finger or pen device that is my problem.

Thanks Jon, They have a great true 3d rockery wall that I just love using in my models, although I have reached a point of massive polygon counts which will slow CA down quite a bit. That is the danger with some of these cool Sketchup Models, they are memory hogs.

Sorry for the delay in responding, but I've tried many times to use the tablet running full CA and the Distro Laser. It all works fine...mostly. For some odd reason the Distro Bluetooth stops communicating with the CA program and I have to restart it all to get it to find the device again. Might go into some kind of sleep mode if I don't move fast enough. What I have discovered is that the accuracy of the Laser measuring device is too accurate, in that I get all kinds of fractional numbers I don't really want. When I measure a room with Laser and paper, I always round up or down before I write down the dimension. CA does not do that, but there is a setting in the Laser which allows for say 1/2" increments instead of 1/32" The real challenge for me is putting in the rough walls, windows and doors using a tablet and my finger or pointing device, it takes me two or more tries to grab, pick and drag those objects on a small tablet, then put in a dimension, the activate the wall I want to dimension/move and activate the laser. Those steps take me so much longer than just writing it down on paper, that I've always stopped and reverted back to my old ways. Maybe I'm just much of an 'old dog' to learn these new tricks, or they are not just as user friendly as I had hoped. It does not save me time, it actually takes at least twice as long to measure up something using this new method. Granted I've got and accurate plan when I'm done, but normally I don't want to spend 4 hours at my clients home doing this, when I can be done in 1 hour using the old method. I may keep trying though.

I had a client that wanted one in their custom house and I had to use Sketchup with a rotation addon in order to get it just right. Once the symbol was created, it imported just find and looked great. The rotation as the stair rounded a stairway could only be achieved with this tool It is basically a molding profile in the shape of the slide, but CA will not rotate molding polylines, whereas SU does have macro's which allow for that feature, so as it is turning around the outside curve of the stair landing, the outside edge needed to rotate to keep both side level with each other. This is not the first request for indoor stairs either. And yes Washington is a Legal Marijuana State.

It would be nice for CA to add this to their list up future updates. It would be a simple child dialog box when making a garage.

Does anybody have a good Rockery texture image I could use like I do with the Cultured Stone images for rock fascia? Trying to find a good looking way to create a fast rockery wall in the terrain.

Well MS is not very forthcoming about the bugs in this new OS. I ended up with the Login bug which gave a "Critical Errors" message asking to have you sign out. Its a recursive loop. Error message keeps popping back up, essentially making it impossible to log into your account or computer. Had to search the web for a while to discover this has been plaguing MS Win 10 for some time. You end up either having to revert back to your previous version, find a restore point, or create a new login user. My new recommendation is wait for MS to work out the bugs. You'll be much less stressed.

I'm not using Room planner, Just Full CA X7, but I'll try that. Thanks Perry

Let me know how the communication goes between the bluetooth and CA. Mine crapped out after about 15 mins. Not sure why yet.

I tried not to let my clients see my fumblings, and later when I came back to my office and used the Big Boy computer with a mouse, I manage to complete the as-built and send it along to them. Honestly though, the connection issue between CA and Disto may be an issue. Memory or Bluetooth connectivity? I don't know, but would like to hear from anyone else that is using CA X7 and a Bluetooth input device to see if they are having any connectivity issues.

Well I prematurely tried my first "as-built" with the Asus Tablet running X7 and the Disto installed. I spent some time pre-drawing the outline of the house before I went to the site, which can save time. But all in all it was a real mess. It did not help that the Real Estate agent had a 1 hour time deadline either. Everything started out well, but here is what my inexperience discovered that was difficult. 1.) The ability to actually draw walls by picking the icon then pressing the stylus down and dragging, did not work as I'd hoped. The touch pad is sensitive and my technique is flawed, as I kept either falling short of the target, or short of the wall I was trying to connect too. Plus my fingers flying way from the stylus and nicking the screen caused all kinds of oddball walls to appear. 2.) My ability to pick an errant wall and grabbing an end point to create a new wall or drag it one direction left or right, up or down, was dismal 3.) Once the walls were roughly in place, I attempted to measure the inside wall to wall lengths by picking the wall (then hit select) then tapping the dimension I wanted to highlight and change, go to the Disto and take the measurement, which would put in the surface to surface length (I forgot to set up defaults to dimension to the surface). And this worked for about 15 mins. I then got some kind of error message that told me to call Chief Architect and the Disto stopped working to transmit the dimensions to CA. So from then on out I had to take the laser dimension and use the popup keyboard to type in the dimensions, and I discovered that keyboard does not easily have the "feet" and "inches" characters available, so I had to mentally convert the feet and inches from the Disto to all inches and type those in. That was not easy. I finally ran out of time and had to resort to paper and pen to quickly finish taking all the dimensions. This is going to have a steep learning curve.

Any idea how to fill in numbers on a tablet? If there is no keyboard attached?

Thanks Perry I'll have to jet to Office Max and pick one up