robdyck

Hi Susan, yes, that little circle in the bottom right hand corner is a surface. In a 3d view, you can delete the surface and then use the convert to symbol tool. delete surface.mp4

Use the deck railing tool to draw 3 railing walls. Set them to have no room definition.

Susan, can you provide a link to the model on 3d warehouse? I'd like to see if I can make the correction.

This is how I handle it as well. Always a separate plan file for each building. There are plenty of reasons, here are a few: easily use your exterior elevation cameras (which of course already exist in each plan with all sorts of frequently used text, and other cad items) easily conform to your layout template maintain the correct '0' elevation for the main floor of each building. This helps keep the building elevations intuitive for you as you draw and for your con. docs. easily re-use and modify the plan file for the accessory building

Gene, have you examined how Chief has organized the CAD details they provide? The libraries provide a good example of how you could organize your own details. It's worth keeping in mind that CAD details from the library are open to potential problems. For example, a CAD detail may require a specific scale for correct line weight printing. Each time you place the cad detail from the library into a new CAD Detail, you may need to resize the page scale. This just causes a repetition of tasks that can be eliminated by keeping the detail in a plan file. Of course, as we update our software frequently, it's quite possible that a cad block created in a previous versions doesn't have layer properties that suit the plan file we are currently working on. This can lead to editing of the cad block that would otherwise be unneeded. When our cad details are in their own plan file, the updating of a particular detail will now be universal across any plan referencing that detail. This is great for when you need to re-use a stock plan.

It would be my recommendation that you organize your CAD details into plan files used only for CAD details. Over time, this can simplify the use and unnecessary editing of these details while keeping your plan file sizes smaller. There may be times where it's helpful to have more than one plan file dedicated to particular types of CAD details, just for the purposes of organization. Add your links in layout and this can make detail 'switching' quick and easy.

I agree.

Yes, it was just a joke! If @Bench1705markcan post the plan file, I'd gladly point out the solution to this issue! Often the roof, trim layer is locked. Unlocking that layer should allow the errant moldings to be deleted.

I agree.

There could be plenty of reasons. You should post the plan file s someone can troubleshoot instead of guessing.

Shift select the upper stair portion, go to Railing Tab and uncheck Railing On Left. Keep in mind that the handrail on the left side will still have its upper termination in the same location (where the hand rail and railing meet). For a proper handrail, you would need to add another 3d molding!

The main issue here is that the Open Below room and the Bonus Room don't have the same floor and ceiling elevations. The Open Below room is using the default elevations for the 2nd floor while the Bonus Room and Mech Rm are using customized floor and ceiling elevations. The mistake here is not setting the default elevations for the 2nd floor to match what you want (i.e. the Bonus Room elevations). Fortunately, it's never too late to fix this! Make a note of your desired floor and ceiling elevations and adjust the defaults for the 2nd floor. Don't forget to also adjust the floor structure default for the 2nd floor. Go to Default Settings> Floors and Rooms> Floor Levels> 2nd Floor and set these values to be the same as the Bonus Room. This will update any room on the 2nd floor that is using the default values! After that, make sure the Bonus Rm and Mech Rm are set to use the default value as well. Lastly, make sure the Open Below room has "Flat Ceiling" checked. By the way, you have rooms on the main floor that don't have the correct ceiling height! You'll need to thoroughly inspect these to make sure everything is built correctly. From what I can tell, all main floor rooms should have the default floor and ceiling elevations.

Yes, I see that I could have been clearer about that!

Have you made a complete break to the stairs? The upper portion of the stairs has to fit between the walls.

I didn't see this issue when I opened the plan. I will mention that you should create an Open Below room on the 2nd floor around the stairs. This room needs the same floor and ceiling elevations as the bonus room! Also, you could examine your plan for walls that don't have the default top and bottom heights and reset them to defaults.

This wall transition can be adjusted in section view, however Chief will not build the railing to match the walls, rather the railing will still match the stairs.

Keep in mind that when using a 'Complete Break' the 2 sets of stairs (different widths) will need to join at a riser line. This will mess up the wall junction at this transition because the riser line doesn't match the 2nd floor walls.

Select that wall and open the dialog. Check default wall heights. Check Roof Cuts Wall at Bottom.

For night time scenes, the same views look pretty good with the sunlight toggled off. As for lighting reality, I suppose it's pretty tough to say if Chief can reproduce the light settings on a per lumen basis close enough to use as a predictive tool for specifying the amount of light. I'd probably start in a Chief model of my home office and see if it looks close to realistic using the exact same light sources. I'd then evaluate the accuracy and make some notes. Stainless Steel: reduce both roughness values significantly (U:30 / V:10) and alter the material color to something much darker and on a black/white scale (122/122/122).

There are so many factors that affect these renderings. A person really needs to spend a lot of time learning and evaluating the effects of various camera settings, light settings and material adjustments. Not to mention the model needs to be thoroughly and accurately detailed so that the model quality is in tune with the desired rendering quality. Trouble shoot 1 or 2 items at a time by critically examining what is wrong and how to fix it. For example; review the stainless steel material on the fridge and compare it to your own fridge or a real photo of a stainless fridge; does it look close to the same? If you used a Chief library material, then probably not. It's probably not quite the right color, it's probably too light and overly rough so experiment with material settings until the material preview (using physically based rendering) looks pretty good. Then save and move on to the next material. Is the entire interior almost all one material? Is that working? Maybe experiment using various settings of white materials for walls, ceilings, doors, trim, etc. Do the faucets look real to you? If not, replace them or adjust them, etc.

I kinda thought that but couldn't remember for sure. Also, I'm not sure if the OP rotated the view in layout or rotated the Plan View or if there is a difference between those two methods. My own preference would always be that all vertically oriented text is read from the right with a few minor logical exceptions. In the OP's picture, I'd suggest the dimension is correct and the other plan view text appears to be in need of adjustment. I've only ever rotated a plan once and text adjustment was a pain. After that process I preferred to use the Edit Area tool if I run into a situation where the plan has developed in such a way that a rotation is suitable.

Dimension Defaults > Text Style > Options...