VHampton

X-14 misbehaves on occasion. It's got bugs for sure, as is common with many new releases. In the past, everyone ran Windows only though, so in recent years it could be a Mac related thing. Where on the other hand, sometimes the quirks are PC related only. It can be hard to tell. Your select issue has happened to me with shift selecting. Functionality comes and goes, but thankfully it's rare. A quick close and a restart often fixes... but per my observations... please be sure to report whatever weirdness arises. The folks at CA would sure appreciate, and in the long run, everything gets smoothed out with the latest patches. Cheers.

As a general observation in your first post Mick, it was mentioned that this typically happens w/ the start of a Layout. Does loading the wayward font into system folder resolve the issue (of the program from asking for it)? Abadi may never be used (by you) but what happens if it gets dropped into operating system's font inventory? Again the only time I've encountered this is in importing other people's work, like a surveyor, designer of engineer. Sorry for stating the obvious, but usually a shift select of their text - (to convert everything to a default) will eliminate the inconsistency. I tend to agree Graeme and Rene that the font(s) could be hidden in a CAD detail somewhere. What's curious though, is why this only recently started happening w/ X-14...

I get this when working w/ imported surveys on occasion. After changing to an alternate font, the program appears to recognize the replacement. Maybe it's going to the first available font? (in alphabetical order) Abadi comes before Arial for example. Edit: 100% agree with the next response. If the font is locked up in a block, that could be why it's not possible to shift select it (to make a universal font change) Not sure if the below helps for future viewers of this thread. It's fairly recent (dating from last year): The information in this article applies to: QUESTION When I open my plan in Chief Architect, I receive the following message: "The following fonts are not available on this system. Missing fonts can lead to unpredictable text sizes." ANSWER Chief Architect uses the fonts that are located in your Windows Fonts folder or in the System/Library/Fonts/ folder location on a Mac. This message appears when Chief Architect is unable to find a font that is being referenced in the plan or layout. You can choose to replace the font with another font that you do have installed. If you are working with another Chief Architect user, we recommend installing the missing font so that there are no discrepancies between saved versions of plans. Installing Fonts on Windows: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/314960/how-to-install-or-remove-a-font-in-windows Installing Fonts on macOS: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201749Please be aware that the Windows and macOS operating systems render fonts differently on-screen, using different row and character spacing. Even when all fonts are present, therefore, the text in a given file may look different on different systems.

possible solution... Build (copy and paste) the same set of stairs in a new plan file. Turn off the stringers and risers. Delete every tread. There should be nothing left except for the railings. Convert the remaining railings to a symbol. import the new symbol (3 rail sections) into the active plan file. Raise or lower the imported railing symbol to create the equal spacing as necessary. ...It's pretty close to what you're aiming for. Edit... sorry. Just noticed that you're working in X-13. Either way this method will be the same in any of the latest versions. stairs.plan

That's a neat cottage Eric. Nice choice of colors and stone. ...on the roof oddity, it's hard to explain why curved roof planes will often "ghost" out in plan view and elevation. The key to avoiding strange behavior appears to be in making sure that the breaks are nice and clean on the valleys and ridges. Any edges which aren't 100% parallel have a tendency to go haywire as soon as they get joined. Regarding the joinery, the option to lock the radius to the surface edge appears to be the correct one. (see attached) Lauren... if you can upload your file, then maybe it's possible to take a look. I had a similar project with a lower swept roof which merged into a straight upper. Sure enough it was behaving badly at times, but with careful shape shifting, the strange behavior can be controlled.

The architecture in our region has hundreds of homes in this vernacular, and when Chief was able to generate curved roofing, (around 2009) it was literally a gift. I've done many houses over the years with radial roof lines. The attached cottage is a recent one... The key in working with curved roof section is to find a slope that you like. Write that radius down. You might ask why... and the answer is that Chief will always start acting up when it comes to editing and connecting curved roofing. Snapping valleys together or joining ridges can result in some interesting behavior with roof planes going off on wild tangents. It happens without fail. Build the roof without curves, and once everything is positioned nicely... then go back and "curve" them using the desired radius. It should go much better.

In 3d or 2d view... Is the Room Trim Layer turned on? The screen capture of your project shows it unchecked. (2nd screen capture) I just took a quick look at a current project file, and "Roof Trim"... aka 'shadow boards' have their own layer. (1st screen capture)

Yes - auto-rebuild framing creates lag. Auto-rebuild anything for that matter. These tips are also relevant: Work on Files Locally By far, the most common reason for slowness is working in an unsupported fashion, such as over a network server location, external hard drive, or USB flash drive. In addition to experiencing slowness working in files, working in this type of unsupported fashion is hazardous because it can lead to file corruption and data loss. For these reasons, it is critical always to work on files that are saved on your local hard drive. This means that you should copy the file from a network server, external hard drive, or USB flash drive location to your computer's hard drive before opening it in the software. Then, make your changes, save the file, exit the program, and then copy the file back to its network server, external hard drive, or USB flash drive location. If you are working on your computer's hard drive, and are still experiencing slowness, then please continue with the information provided in this article. Check the system requirements. The system requirements for the current version of the software can be located online at: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/products/sysreq.html If you primarily notice slowness with regards to 3D Camera views, check to see what video card is in your system. Please see the Locating your Computer's Specifications Knowledge Base article to learn more. If your video card only just meets the minimum system requirements, then you may want to look into replacing it with a video card that is mentioned in our recommended system requirements. Update your video card's driver by following the instructions in the Troubleshooting 3D Camera View Display Problems in Chief Architect Knowledge Base article, then verify that the appropriate card and driver are listed in Chief Architect's Preferences under the Video Card Status panel. If you are using multiple monitors, make sure that your system's video card fully supports this functionality. You may experience slowness, particularly with 3D camera views as well as library and dialog previews if the video card is taxed by three or more monitors as well as the rendering. You can test shutting the system down, disconnecting the extra monitors, restarting the system, and then attempt to run Chief Architect on a single screen to see if speed improves. If you are looking into purchasing a new system and want to make sure that it offers good performance, please view both our recommended system requirements and our Chief Blog article. Simplify Fill Styles and Patterns Avoid using complex fill styles and patterns extensively in your plan and CAD Details. If you use a custom Fill Style that requires drawing many tiny lines on the screen, this can substantially slow down working in floor plan view for such tasks as zooming, moving, and placing objects. Particularly for elements of your design such as the layers of your wall type definitions, roof planes, closed polylines, rooms, and landscaping features, try to avoid the use of many fill patterns. Material patterns, such as complex stone or tile patterns, in views which utilize the Vector rendering technique, such as Cross Section/Elevations and Orthographic Overviews, will also slow down the generation of the view as well as actively working in it. If you must add these types of detailed CAD elements for hatching and fills to your design, make sure to do so as one of the final steps when your plan is near completion, before creating the layout, and expect to encounter slowness with the file after doing so. Slowness in 3D Views Avoid working with multiple 3D camera views open. Every time you make a change to the plan, the program will redraw the entire model. Depending on the complexity of the design, this may take a long time. You can see how many view windows are open by selecting the Window menu. Open view windows are listed at the bottom of the menu.

Same observations as per Mr. Garnder... Are the objects in your plan low surface count? For example there are really great looking cars in the 3dwarehouse, but they can be often be close to 20MGB per object. One or two cars will add up quickly. The same goes for furniture. As an experiment, open up an auto-archived version of your plan file, and delete a bunch of 3d objects. Then see what happens w/ the file size.

The 3D warehouse has a wide variety of submitted user columns. .skp models can be "shape shifted" in the x, y and z axis quite easily. https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/search/?q=columns&searchTab=model

Unfortunately X-13 doesn't generate the shape with the number inside (aka the callout) and the size. EDIT: (In Version X-14 however, the callout and the sizes can be achieved.) With X-13 ...The way to show a Door number and the door size (width x height) is to use a custom "macro" in the door's label option. See below. Then ....uncheck the "Use Callout" option when the Door schedule is opened. Now the door number and size will appear, but not with the callout shape - meaning a circle, or square, or whatever option was selected. (%schedule_number%) %automatic_label%

Agreed. Using a 1/2" grid is best right from the start. If by chance the OP had placed walls with a 12" grid however... then it's conceivable that walls could have been positioned at various increments within that 12" x 12" parameter. ...so for example, walls placed at 1/8th" or 3/4" increments would have to shift accordingly. It's a little bit of work, but that will fix everything in terms of being spot on with 1/2" dimensions - no matter which version one is working with.

Selecting the wall, and clicking on the dimension string is usually the best way to force the desired number. CAD lines can be a help as well. When placed on the same layer as manual dimensions, this method can be used to round up or down. (Placing a line on both the outer left and right exterior walls (of the foundation) is a great way to ensure that the overall dimension string adds up). One observation... many new plans (created from a template) will have "grid snaps" on by default. Usually the reference grid as well. If by chance those features are on, try turning them off. This may assist w/unwanted snapping. ...Just a wild guess... but the walls might be wanting to snap to the reference grid.

Thank you for the kind words. Modern has become more of a trend these days, and it's always good to have some diversity. My findings on shallow (or flat roofing) however, is that the snow loading requires the structure to be in the I joist variety - or as in Alan's project, some kind of truss work. In colder climate regions, there's almost no way around not using engineered lumber unless there were some steel involved to reduce the spans. To that end, we always use TJI's in the floors to avoid any kind of shrinkage or reverberation (Jurassic Park effect). There's nothing's worse than seeing a cup of water jiggle when someone steps across a room - particularly in a new home. ...Per the attached progress image, the only Douglas fir that we use is in the wall framing. BTW... I was looking at your elevations Gene, and the rakes could definitely be made more delicate (if you wanted them to) by simply keeping the rafters tight to the siding. With this approach, the rake flyers and sub-fascia can be done with conventional material (like 2 x 6's). Then the finished trim won't become excessively bulk if you'd like to steer away from that appearance. If gable end overhangs need to remain heavy however, then the appearance can always be softened by using different trim colors. My guess is that 9 times out of 10, the roof framing is going to overhang beyond the outside wall - just as you have it shown - and therefore, it's inevitable that the fascias and rakes are going to be a tad heavier. That's a very nice design by the way. If you do a search on "skillion" roof styles there are many examples.

I joists for the roof framing - with a dropped ceiling (for HVAC) What we typically use is anywhere from 14" to 16" flat roof joists with a minimum of a 2 x 6 depth for the interior "drop" The ideal flat roof aesthetic is when the exterior flows into the finished space - and to Alan's point it does indeed appear like a continuous slab. In the image of the first post... that sloped roof appear to have a rather large rake - which would probably be made from a Versatek or Azek material - if not a build up of T & G siding.

Glad to be of help. My logo is likewise colored, and similarly, I like to keep all the image files colored as well... even though they can be set to b &w. On a side... Any viewport (on a layout page) can be toggled as color on or color off. I could be wrong but it appears from the quoted text that maybe you wish to have grey scale on certain pages, and color on others? If you click on a view port (when in layout), the dialogue box will appear. That's where you can control each layout sheet individually. Hope this helps... and all the best in gaining more perspective with the program.

can you place a window? If so, then that could solve. A poly-line skin on the outside wall can cover the opening.

That is strange. Colors should stay put. The default toolbar has a toggle on the far right - for color on & off. But still... that shouldn't be happening randomly in both plan and layout. As an experiment, what happens if you click on the image file, hold the shift key, and then make it into a CAD block? Maybe that will prevent the color from changing.

That may very well be a screen capture. Coincidentally, I had just responded to Joe about a CAD resource for roof ventilation... The same web page - ARCAT - has wall details (for Stucco) in CAD in case that's of any interest. https://www.arcat.com/product/Building-Envelope-Insulation--154615

ARCAT is web site which has a compilation of many brand name vendors from all the various divisions of construction. It's a helpful source for product details (in CAD): https://www.arcat.com/products/building_products_categories.shtml These came up in roof vent categories: https://www.arcat.com/manufacturers/rafter_vents https://www.arcat.com/product/durovent-baffle-170969

Really nice work Alan. I cant't help with the PBR question though. ...Have you tried changing the glass setting? Maybe to a different type of glass? The refraction in that rendered view is probably true to the real world to some extent, since glass will act like a mirror when it's got something very close behind it. Observation... The darker tone is showing up in the edges as it would with real glass. Aside from exploring another glass type/setting, how about making one of the sample sections paper thin - like 1/8th of an inch. Maybe you'll pick up a bit more transparency? Again, I have no absolutely idea, but it can't hurt to try.

The program can build the top rail if you want. ...but as far as glass coming past the treads & stringers ...and the metal stand-offs... it's poly-line solid time.

That works. Obviously the program isn't quite set up to build more than one level below Floor 1, but it's possible The method in the plan which had been attached was set up so that the ground floor is still on Level 1 in Chief.

Yep. I see the frustration. It is possible to build a first floor as a Pony Wall. By lowering the first floor elevation, that will allow a lower elevation for the floor framing. No walls on the foundation level, even though the cross section shows otherwise. Untitled .plan