robdyck

You don't have the "line drawing" on in your view.

I must admit I don't run into this often. What's the best way to have a railing (no room definition) that will follow the terrain? In the picture, I used a terrain retaining wall to develop / divide the slopes, and a ramp to model the railing at the edge of the driveway / retaining wall. Is there a better way? If I need to adjust the slopes, I'll have to recalculate the ramp elevations. I'm unsure if a railing can be a pony wall and a terrain retaining wall, but I'll play with that shortly.

@SNestor 4:51 of the video: One of the things I'd be doing differently is with the lower roof. I'd have it build TO the upper wall, not under the upper wall. Now I realize that probably won't put the ceiling where you'd like, but I'd also be using a ceiling plane for the vaulted ceiling. I use No Special Snapping, and I draw my roof planes up to the sheathing layer where they butt against a wall.

I'll see if I can today yet. In your video I really liked your expression about Chief's behavior! Random bs that just drives a guy insane! Right now, I've got a plan almost done...except I have a wall material that won't generate properly in elevation or section views...but only from the front! From the sides and rear it's fine. Curses, Curses, Curses!!! If I take a cad detail from view, there's nothing! And I'm supposed to print this today.

Just to clarify my suggestion: I wasn't intimating that the Room Type carried any special properties that would help with the building of the original offending walls. However seeing a room type as UNSPECIFIED makes me wonder if the rooms STRUCTURE properties have been addressed. An examination of the image below reveals a few oddities: The ceiling height in view "elevation 1" measures 9'-1 1/8" but the room in view "elevation 1" appears higher...perhaps 12'-1 1/8" as indicated in the dialog box. the top plate height is somewhere in between those 2 elevations. Chief's modeling of walls won't like this 'discrepancy' or ambiguity of structural elevations. So my only point was that it's helpful (to Chief) to ensure the model is accurate by addressing the properties of each room for the purpose of the original topic...to get those odd walls built correctly.

I still don't know what's going on here...but it's time to eat! L8R y'all!

You are talking about text formatting in the forum, correct? Base cabinet?? I am lost

Screenshots from a layout window. 1. Camera view sent to layout using "Current Screen As Image". For this particular file it was acceptable. But let's say I want to send a clearer picture so the client can zoom in for a better view. Then I'll use "Export Picture" at 3000 or 4000 wide and drag that file into layout. When I want clearer pictures, I'll also print at 600 dpi.

In my experience "live views" can be jumpy, not images.

I'm certainly not arguing too hard against live views, but I'll send all my pictures to layout, one after the other, so they are all in the same spot. Select them all, change one dimension to resize them all at the same time, and distribute along a line. Boom, 2 seconds. Or deal with the BS of a camera view jumping around despite a saved and untouched view...or not...maybe it works maybe it doesn't but it can't be trusted, can it?

Any jpg can be cropped and resized. As far as a reason NOT to use the send Current View as Image' feature? When a higher resolution is desired. I typically export pictures at 3000 pixels wide. I've found that to be a happy medium between picture quality and file size.

Of course. My thinking is that its just an indication or a 'cue' that the rooms and their properties have been addressed.

Hey Steve, just trying to offer my take on it. I've done around a hundred split-levels...I've at least got some ideas as to what works. And yes, you have a defined ceiling height, but not the room. And the ceiling height is defined incorrectly, at least for the purposes of building it correctly in Chief. That's my take on it. And it works.

@SNestor One of the issues with your test plan is that the rooms and the ceiling heights haven't been defined. Chief would like a proper ceiling height in order to decide where a wall should be built up to. These ceiling heights should match the top plate height of the exterior walls for the roof covering that room. Then, and only then will Chief's functions work correctly. No offense intended but this test isn't ideal because Chief needs more info. It's a bit of a 'cart before the horse' type of test plan. These screenshots are taken after the rooms were defined, and then I adjusted the walls properties. No polyline editing.

I think this is one of Chief's big drawbacks...its forced automatic walls. A carpenter can build a wall any shape very easily...we cannot. I'd give my left.....well let's just say I'd give a lot to have true and full polyline control of a wall shape. Edit the polyline, and the wall would FRAME to that polyline and give you edge control for finish material wrapping! Oh but a boy can dream!

Some of these additional posts could be confusing. See above. You cannot "send" a picture to layout and choose its aspect ratio. Exporting an image from a camera view is different than sending the view to layout. Importing an image file into layout is different than sending a "current view as image" to layout and its also different than copying / pasting an image into layout.

Hey David, can you clarify? Can you "send" that result to layout? Or do you need to bring the resulting file into the layout using the 'import' tools?

Yes, totally in jest! What can I say...I'm a sarcastic guy and sarcasm often comes off as complaining. I probably don't use enough emojis to properly communicate my intent. Which leads me to wonder: What would it take to get a modern selection of emojis on this forum...much like Chief's great selection of cabinet libraries?! But you emphasized a great point about the libraries that's worth keeping in mind...it ain't Chief's fault about all those cabinets!

I wouldn't use a 'live view' for anything!!! It's waaaay too expensive in smashed furniture and computer monitors plus the resulting behavior and language is hard to explain to the kids!

2 quick options: 1. send to layout as image. You will need to manually replace this if you make a change, but at least you won't be pulling your hair out every time the image 'jumps' around. This image won't be the highest quality but it may be good enough depending on your final printed size. 2. From the camera, use Export Picture, and save that file at your desired resolution. Import that jpg into layout and resize as needed. Same as above, you'll need to replace the image if you make changes but you can get better picture quality, although it will come with an increased file size of the final pdf. Note that if you make a change using option 2, and export the picture and replace the file (keeping the same file name), the enxt time you re-open the layout file, the pciture will be updated. The layout file MUST be closed and re-opened for that update. Another way to get the file to update is to replace the file path with anything else, then again, replace the file path with the correct file path.

I've made feature requests for polyline control of floor trusses. Maybe I typed it up wrong and someone at Chief read it as 'add more cabinet libraries'!!

Because you can't edit their polyline. Of course, you can edit the floor truss in its truss detail, if you trust Chief and its settings to hold your work.

Use a roof truss, you can edit its shape (polyline), width, layer, webbing. If you must use floor trusses, you will need a separate truss at each height change. Warning: Floor trusses in this instance are not as reliable to hold their shape (my experience).

The only thing I could suggest there is to drag your dimension from the ends of those cad lines you drew as opposed to somewhere along that line. But that may be what you did? I don't work in CAD details for elevations or sections so I'm not really familiar with behaviors for those views. I keep everything (text, dimensions, notes etc) in the section or elevation view and send that view to layout.