robdyck

If they are the actual terrain, they default to #37, however they will be in whatever order you choose to put them in. Chief doesn't do the drawing, they just supply the tools.

It's helpful to read the description of the drawing order #'s. Terrain perimeter is on #37. You could: put your terrain on #36 move the terrain to the front of 37 move the p-line to the back of 37 move the pline to the front of 38 move the image to the back of 38 and so on and so on

My first thought would be in the railing tab, to change your plan display to a hatch pattern for the rails. Or the Hatch Wall tool.

It's super quick to draw the correct polyline for your molding in plan view...you just need to use the slope gain factor.

You're welcome. If I've got a mostly brick home that I need to show the client in 3D, I'll make several different brick textures for everything, sills, soldiers, sailors, running bond, 1/3 offsets etc. Another tip: Lets say you want to add a trim row in a herringbone pattern. You can make several different images of individual bricks, import the images into a cad detail in chief, place a few of the bricks manually and use a screen capture to create the a herringbone texture of the same brick. Obviously it's not the most high quality image but it will be clear enough for the purpose. I feel it makes it easier to be creative with the design when you can properly visualize it and present it.

My personal preference is to use an interior wall, and in elevation view, I'll add the siding using a solid. I like that option because it's the dumbest option... meaning it won't continually change or jump around on me. I find it just as quick as any other tool / method. But then again, you were asking for expert opinion so just disregard this!

If someone knew what they wanted, it'd be easy enough to make it for them... including soldier courses.

What are you having trouble with? Draw some walls to make your room in the corner, and change the structure in the structure tab. Just add 6" framing layer. Even better, add a 5.5" framing layer and a 3/4" sheathing layer.

You can also use a materials list polyline.

Yes.

Place the image in the very back of the drawing order, #38, then cover with a p-line with transparent white fill on #37. Adjust transparency as needed. Another option is to double click the image, and adjust its brightness.

Same issue to deal with using a wall that has stone on both sides at the exterior of a covered entry. It's simple to add a doorway so that stone appears within that doorway, but not around the ends of the wall. I'll probably just change the wall def to a single layer of stone after I frame it and retain its framing.

Cladding material wrapping would be a great option to have. I think the above suggestion worked better in X11. Now I've got a small gap in 3D.

You can also add a short invisible wall perpendicular to that wall. It'll need to be 1/2" thick, with your drywall material as it's only layer. Make it a through wall at both ends.

Make your own brick texture...Check out the link below. https://brick.com/masonry-designer

Use a lighting set for each camera. I save my lighting sets with names that correspond to the camera they are to be used for. Experiment with a very low sunlight setting (1000). You can also change its color to affect the hue of the scene. Adjust the PBR camera technique settings. Perhaps don't have shadows on for each interior light. Again, experiment. For the island, you could add rope lighting under the countertop, or just an 'added light' (think flashlight) to cast more light into that area. Playing with those should get you closer...

Absolutely agree. Not at all easy. A bit of math with your slope gain factor will get you the right shape to draw the molding in plan view, then convert to symbol, and place accurately. Note that I had to rotate my moldings 44 degrees, not 45 in order to get them to line up with my sloped ceiling.

It would be a bit simpler to discuss the setup in Chief by first reviewing a typical drawing set from a previous project, then thinking about the steps, tools, saved views, layer sets etc that would be needed to produce similar or improved results. As far as complexity, if your 3D views will be generating a million plus surfaces, that may reduce the operating speed of Chief when your'e producing working drawings, whether its floor plan views, or interior sections / elevations. You may need to review your hardware specs at some point to ensure your machine is capable of producing renderings without slowing down plan views and sections / elevations.

I think a 3d molding would work but you'd need an intimate knowledge of all the spacial coordinates (x,y,z) in order to enter them for each segment. I'd go with Graham's suggestion.

What he said! Adobe recognizes the text. Chrome does as well. I wouldn't know about any other pdf apps. I've included a quick vid of the link in action. Note that the opening page is from a pdf open with Adobe Reader. weblinkpdf.wmv

Hey Joe, I was referring to Charles' response about providing hyperlinks to Chief's 3D viewer, which I place in my layout file. Printed using 'Chief Architect Save As PDF'.

Those should work when place directly in Layout, no need to open Acrobat. At least they do for me. I should've clarified my response as I assumed the OP's goal was linked callouts for navigation within the pdf.

No. If you can handle listening to this guy, check out the video. This is what I use. Goes with me every where.

No. You'd have to do that in a pdf program that has that functionality, like Adobe Acrobat, for example.

I hate to say it, but this is entirely dependent on your skill level with Chief, as well as how much tweaking and adjusting your design will get. Just focusing on the island for the moment: Define your cabinet / pilaster / panel layout in plan view before adding the details. The details can be super quick if you disseminate the process before you start. The furniture molding can be drawn in mere seconds. It can be replicated 30" up and replaced with a different molding. Applied moldings for the pilasters and panels can be drawn in plan view, converted to a symbol, rotated to be vertical and stretch planes adjusted, then placed and sized around the pilaster and panels almost as quickly as you can type this sentence! It's a good idea to define and organize your moldings before you start!