VHampton

Bingo. Draw the shape you want in a cross section, and add it to the Library as a molding. Go back to the plan view and trace the bay with a line - convert to the new molding type, and it should be fairly close to the desired look. You may have to adjust the vertical axis a bit, bit this is by far the fastest way to illustrate it.

Make a new wall type. Take a 6" interior and copy it. Change the width to something like 1-1/2", and call it Interior 2 or Furring wall. When they frame the room in the field, the cabinet wall will be viewed more like a component of the millwork, not necessarily part of the structure.

It could be a number of things... Try turning off undo-redo under your preferences. It's it's set to anything over 3 or 4, that could be why there's a lag. If your machine starts working at lightning speed again with the Un-do re-do off, then you'll know why. It's a memory issue, and nothing to be too concerned about. Secondly, as mentioned, if you've got a new object in the plan with multiple surfaces, that can really bog down the program. Be careful what you import, especially from the 3d warehouse. They have tons of great models, but if they get into the 10 MB range, take a look and find something with a count thats under 1M.

Could be an issue with the sketch-up file which is know to have glitches from time to time. Not every import for the warehouse will make it through the import process, and when it does go wrong, it will freeze up your Chief program. Test the import process out with another .skp file and you'll know if it's just that one bad file in particular. Also.. regarding the FTH warning, you can turn that off... this may help: https://discourse.paraview.org/t/potential-ms-windows-10-performance-hit-due-to-fth/405

Hi Sharon... Quick observation. As a fellow Mac user, I happened to notice that the new release was slightly glitchy. It had a few quirks with text disappearing, as well as delayed reactions (blue screen) when opening viewports from layout sheets. Aside from adding more memory which is really easy to do on the larger Macs... the option to upgrade to Catlina is highly recommended. It somehow optimizes the graphics hardware, and all this to say, that the Beta release is far more stable, and all of the above quirks have been resolved. I was also using High Sierra, not wanting to make the leap to Mojave. Long story short, the Catilna release has some very nice features, and it's very subtle change to the system. Have a great day, Val

good point... Sharon had mentioned that she has X11 not necessarily an "interiors version". Either way, customer support is awesome. Friendly, supportive, and very quick to respond.

Hi Sharon, The release has been out for a couple of weeks now. I had decided to email customer service last week, since I was also checking the locker pretty regularly, and likewise my SSA is all up to date. They will make sure that it's available for you right away. It only took a couple of hours for the response, and there it was - in the locker. Best, Val

Usually a 3ds file is the way to go. I work with a few landscape architects, and 3d designers, and this format is typically what works best for them. Thanks for posting your computer spec. I'm curious how well the model works with your hardware. I've been looking for a gaming set up which is better equipped to handle the software. It sounds like a 9 core computer should spew out models pretty well.

You're very welcome. Maybe they are being driven by budget. Your initial instinct is a much better design solution than what they might be after. In any event, the jumbo hip roof can definitely be framed on top of what's there. Even that funky little hip roof.

Hey Rob. I had a few minutes during lunch today to have a look. If you tried a hip roof to match the existing house (on the rear of the kennel), It may harmonize a bit more with the existing dwelling, rather than having a really wide, low pitch hip on the back. The center section to bridge the gap between both old and new can be 3-1/2 in 12 - which is perfectly fine for shingles. Either way, good luck with your project. All the best. Val vet roof option.plan

The ridge on the small hip roof on the right should travel across. Then it can valley down on both sides nice and clean. Basically, it's still a cricket, but one that totally eliminates a snow or water catch. Also, agreed that the small hip on the right is a strange anomaly on the roof. It shouldn't be there. The new hip roof will basically be "over-framed" on top of the existing. Just wondering why the plate heights aren't all the same? It would be a cleaner looking addition perhaps, if the fascias all lined up. .

In the interim, you could do a back of an entire plan file from an older project. Save it to a folder from which you could pick and choose textures from. By way of example, any texture that I take off of Google gets copied and pasted into this file, where I'm able to pick and choose textures which are often "out of the box".

Interesting. On the Chief import, every layer was checked as being on. This is definitely a good question for and Auto Cad user. This link shows how to display xref layers when they don't always appear. Unfortunately if one does not have the program, it will be difficult to make the adjustments. https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad-architecture/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2018/ENU/AutoCAD-Architecture/files/GUID-332E0EC6-2AFC-4A48-99E3-DDC40BA524CC-htm.html

You're absolutely right CS. I tried dragging this one into Chief, and I got the same result that you did. It seems to be missing some layers. Question for the OP... why did they only give you the Miami "hardscape plan"? Could that be why only a portion of the project is showing up?

There is a good possibility that the plan view contains "blocked" items which are disappearing when you do the import. Often times a grouping of items which become part of a block will vanish because they become a layer unto them selves after the import into in Chief. Secondly, ACAD files sometimes have white line work, or the objects are way off to the side of the screen somewhere. I would try this... Change your default background color to black (temporarily). Just like the AutoCad users do (by default) After you do the import, go to the layer set options and turn on the "All On" layer set. Things should appear - even the blocked items. I can't be of much help beyond this - as my ACAD experience is extremely limited, but I have encountered your problem before when working with other offices, and it's pretty common. You'll hopefully get a good answer from a Cad guru if the above doesn't work. Good luck. - Val

Just a quick reply to say that if you have an autoCAD background, then the cross over to chief cad work should be quite easy. If this may be of help, here is a step by step... Save your auto cad .dwg files to the desk top, or pull them out of whatever folder you keep them in. Open a cad detail window in chief. In a plan view, the ‘cad detail management’ drop down menu will give you the options to create an inventory of details for your project. I use use two monitors which makes this quite easy... Drag the auto cad file from the desktop straight into the chief plan. You will get a dialogue box to walk you through the import. Once complete, you can draw away as you normally would with the other software. Making a block of these details by shift selecting (and then using the block tool) will allow you to add them to your chief library for future use on other projects. Theres an icon for adding to library in case you’re not familiar with that yet. The chief tools are are very similar to what you’re used to, but probably slightly unfamiliar due to the icons.

The only way to get a really crisp resolution is to zoom in on the pdf as close as you can - before taking the screen capture. It won't "pixelate" too badly upon import into Chief Another option I came across is this nifty dwg/dxf converter. Choose your image file, and hit the convert button.The end result can get kind of wonky, especially if there are tons of notes and dimensions in your image file, but it does work, and sometimes really well. https://jpgtodxf.online/

You're very welcome Gene. Glad to be of help. This new feature - in being able to shape the viewports - has come in very handy. Previously there was no way to deal with the overlap of one viewport on top of the other, and now we can.

Had the same question when the new release came out. Hold down the control key first - and then click on the viewport. The viewport will provide a singular grab handle with which you can shrink the box size.

Ben, You may have an app hang problem. Program freeze ups usually require a minor fix. If Windows lets you see the possible issue after the next misfire, then you'll know for sure. Try this and see in the meantime - and see if it does the trick. It will work the same even if you're using Windows 10.

Turn off the undo-redo option in the Preferences. You'll see the difference right away. At the very least change to setting to only 1 or 2 re-do's.

Maybe something had to give since now that the view-port can be clipped on an angle? - like you would with a poly-line. Who knows. Each release can be like stepping into a new car. New buttons and gadgets etc. But sooner or later we get the hang.

Yep - I missed a step in my own reply. You have to click on the view port after the control key is held down. All this to say - I do see the potential for being able to customize a view port, as we already can do with poly-lines. This is a handy upgrade, and often why I make daily visits to the forum when the new releases come out. ....program changes invariably cause those Homer Simpson moments whilst we figure out all the new stuff!

Answered my own post. Hit control key. Look for grab handle at top of view port. Drag grab handle - and entire view port stretches. Note to self. Thank you.

Question... I tried grabbing the corner of an image sent to layout for resizing the view. Now it seems that you can not "stretch" the viewport.. The entire corner comes along when you grab it. In other words the viewport is behaving like a polyline. Is there a way to turn off the new feature?