VHampton

Thank you as well Mark.  

For years I've been ignoring the value of "rubies" and macros.

Somehow I wound up going down the rabbit trails of our old forum and there were some posts circa 2010. 

Thank you both once again. This is a great help. 

Excellent. This is exactly what I was looking for Rene. 

Thank you so much!!

2 hours ago, Renerabbitt said:

#{ratio.round(2)*100}%

Thank you so much Rene.

I have the macro for width x height, and figured that it should be straightforward enough for a label to indicate  "15 sq. ft."

Unfortunately I'm not adept enough at the macro process to fully grasp how to make this work.

But I will keep at it!   Really appreciate the tip. 

Is there a way to create a macro for the square footage of a window or door?

A local building department requires a glass to wall ratio.

If the window label could indicate square footage vs. width and height that would be quite a time saver. 

Thanks in advance if there is such a thing.  

The tray ceiling tool can offer varying depths. The required ceiling "niche" can be as minimal as 2" if necessary. 

What this does however is "drop" the entire ceiling while leaving the floor components above untouched. 

(If this is for modeling purposes only, then perhaps it's a viable option.)

The cross section however will show the newly added ceiling thickness. 

Option B...  

• Change  the "z" axis offset for the custom light fixture.
• Calibrate the input so that the flange passes through the sheetrock layer.  

This might require having to "flatten"/reduce the depth of the symbol to get the bulbs to poke through as well. 

23 hours ago, DeLayDesign said:

I would assume this is a wall and probably draw it that way, however you could do it in a number of ways.  One I didn't see yet was using poly molding for the entire post.  You can build it all together similar to what @VHamptondescribed but taking it a little further with the molding and eliminating the poly solid.

This is really clever Adam. Meaning the use of moldings. 

Within 2 minutes I've got a viable column which is extremely easy to resize in plan view. 

Better yet, it can made into a symbol for future reference as an "adjustable" column.

Thank you!  

Everybody's got their something.

3D solid for the columns, w/ a molding for the bases. 

All of the above work.  

The cabinet idea was clever. Soffits as well. 

Good questions is right... I've just begun using the time tracker after all these years, but lean on the plan view for the results. 

One way to confirm the time usage is by going to Manage Auto Archives.

The auto saves should provide an indicator of the starts and stops on the clock.  Both in layout mode and plan mode. 

To lean on the side of accuracy, the majority (if not all) of the work is done in plan mode vs. layout.  Those findings should be more accurate. 

Yes... sorry for not adding the details. 

Per Eric... the auto roofing works incredibly well. My guess is that they were manually constructed perhaps, and this is where that minuscule variation can cause a blip. 

So you did the right thing in using the rainbow icon to highlight the sheetrock which pointed to the wonky roof. For whatever reason, that section of roof on the left side didn't have a clean edge. 

When the join roof tool is used, right before they join, look for a slight grey highlight. I could tell that the edge was "off' by the way the left roof kind of turned into a big triangle. (Usually a sign which indicates that you shouldn't join them). 

Solution... deleted the problematic roof, and copied and pasted the good one from the right side. Problem solved. 

All fixed.

Roof issue - fix.plan.zip

Frames per second controls the speed.

If the 15 is reduced to 7, it's much better, but still on the fast side. 

Thanks for posting, I'd like to learn more about this as well. 

Terrain modifier tools has a flat option. 

It works like a poly-line. That may cover up the jagged lawn you've got going on there. 

To answer about the band-aid question... yup.

Many grass textured poly-line solids have been made just to perfect the model.  

Terrain tools have gotten far easier to use with each version however.

Looks like you're taming it quite well. 

All the best. 

Thank you Chris. Your observation is spot on.

I've got every single "snap" setting turn off. 

What's deceptive, is that even though the sheetrock looks perfectly aligned on 99% of the plans, often times it's not. 

I tend to work extremely fast.

When the snap tool is toggled off, this allows the mouse flow and object movement to be much more fluid. 

Maybe it's time to change the approach. : ) Thank you my friend. 

Interesting. 

There's no apparent property setting which would create a mysterious glow.

What happens if the porcelain gets changed to another material? Like a color perhaps? 

Example... the base board and shelving above are fine.

Can the toilet take on those properties as a test. 

question...

what's the material for the symbol? Is it porcelain? (see below) Not emissive. 

What happens if you use another toilet symbol? Do they all glow like that? 

Amazing. Thank you Steve! (and William)

That was the fix. 

Wall control w/ the Inner surface tab.  

This allowed for the perfect sheetrock merge. (per William). 

All good. The walls are seamless. Really appreciate the insights.  

This one particular plan file has been acting up and it's never happened before. 

That's why I posted the out of the box chief plan, since the issue was happening there as well. 

Thank you. 

It's strange because I noted that as well.  

When in camera view (overhead perspective) that minor 1/8th offset is enough to force the siding to disappear. 

So when an outer wall T-bones into the interior walls (at a 3way intersection), I'm trying to figure out which one gets the seniority.

hmmm.... I've got them lined up almost perfectly.  

Been using CA for over 20 years and this is a first. 

Here's the project where I can't stop the siding from coming through.

The walls are spot on in terms of sheetrock alignment.  

Attached is a new plan in X-15. I drew a few outer walls and (1) interior. 

The exterior siding and sheathing extends into the room despite the int. & ext. walls being aligned. 

What exactly is the setting to prevent the siding from bleeding through to the interior?

Can't seem to figure this one out.

I've tried toggling the wall start and end options. No luck. 

Thank you in advance. 

Untitled 1.plan

17 hours ago, Doug_N said:

Great solution thanks.  I contacted the company which is actually local to me.

You're quite welcome. Foam moldings enjoy an incredibly long life span.  

A stucco skim coat should result in even further durability. 

Agreed w/ Shayne. Foam molding would be the ideal solution.

Many US companies carry basic profiles. But a company as Shayne pointed out would be the way to go.

Draw the profile, and they will cut it.

The fabrication is similar to a CNC machine for wood, except that it's cut from a foam block, and the tool is a super heated wire.  

Try this place below as well... Also located up North.

Check out the video. The process is quite simple. It's also pretty amazing. 

https://www.mouldexmouldings.com/pages/our-process

Aside from the Jason's wise observation on the auto rebuild possibilities (which is the best place to start), here are several suggestions. 

Take an archived plan file from the manage archived plan file menu. 

• Reduce the terrain.
• Lower the undo/redo number. 
• Select a number of the larger 3D objects in the model and delete them. 

See if the plan speeds up. 

3D objects

Too many have potential to bog down any plan. Even smaller projects. 

Anything from the 3D warehouse should ideally come from CA...

...otherwise be on the lookout for objects that range between 5-10 Mgb with many "surface counts".

If one introduces enough of those into the plan file, it's more work for the program. 

Terrain

A large terrain perimeter can slow things down.

It looks like there's a few acres of it in the model. 

Undo/Redo 

If the undo/redo number is set to anything above the single digits, it'll be placing a strain on the system.

Each time you make a move, the system has to take a snapshot of that occurrence.  

Granted most computers come with ample memory these days, but 16GB graphics cards work best.

So do machines with 64 GB of memory. 

The specs. appear such that 8GB of memory comes with that graphics card.

By all means this is suitable for CA, but the above can certainly be of help. 

You're welcome.  Keep on Chiefin' On! 

To add to your findings, a suggestion might be to make a copy of the outer wall, and change the fir framing to stucco. 

This works well in lieu of a solid railing with a cap.  The rail wall appears to be all stucco. 

Pretty outstanding.

I was thinking the same. If there were only a way to make a second terrain. 

Anyway, I pity the fools who tell Mr. T it can't be done.