DavidJPotter

This is what I finished on Christmas Eve, a model of a new home in Sussex ,England

Merry Christmas and a Happy new year t all! David and Linda Potter

I rarely use my copy of X1 (the main reason I have versions 9-21 is to be able to service those who still use older versions). Ray Tracing is dependent upon the speed of your CPU and RAM. Are you using a laptop or a desktop? DJP

I used "Got to Meeting" for years and then switched to "Zoom Meetings", both work well with Chief and there are others that people use. I am not aware of any user at any time successfully using "Remote Desktop" by Microsoft. DJP

This person can make such a door for you https://www.chieftutor.net/ DJP

The "Poles" are applied via the Railing wall Dialog box once put into your plan, you specify the "Newels" to be "round" and there is an input box for their diameter. Then on the "Rails" tab of that same dialog, you can assign "Round" top and bottom "rails" to complete the construct. DJP

Watch this: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/2428/adding-accessories-to-the-backs-of-cabinet-doors-and-drawers.html DJP

Downloaded your plan file (thanks for sharing!) and used the "Define Material Tool" several tunes, went smooth as glass, sorry. I would suggest you check your software drivers and de-frag the hard drives etc as it looks like it is your machine. DJP

"Best Way" is what is best for you. I do personal, live online tutoring, thre are several web sites and YouTube channels to choose from: https://www.chiefexpertsacademy.com/ https://www.chieftutor.net/ Chief Skills on YouTube https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/ https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/database.html Just take it slow and methodical, study followed by practice doing what you just studied on a simple test plan to assure your understanding. DJP

As has been posted you can set the snap grid increment in General Plan Defaults". Personally, I learned Chief before the advent of "snap Grids" so my "profile.plan" has them turned off. Actually, I have several students that use snap grid and are happy with it. A salient point on anything in Chief is to fully study a tool in the reference manual and then practice using that tool in Chief, otherwise you, to some degree are the effect of your own ignorance. To be honest, I have not studied every possible tool in Chief Architect Premier because I do not commonly use every tool that exists in Chief but the ones I do use, I have studied and practiced with so I can just use them and not have them as an opponent. DJP

I can help, email or call me, please. DJP

I'm your Huckleberry! Let me see the 2D plans for an estimate please, DJP

Please read this Knowledge Base help article called "How to create a Drop Ceiling" DJP

Have I done something to offend you, Dear? DJP

Then why offer plans at all? I usually say that "dimensions should be determined or veriefied in the field" Anyone who is so unimaginative or inexperienced that would slavishly follow plans and not their common sense deserves whatever they get. DJP

I agree with Chop in that the most common sizes of layouts I use are Letter, tabloid, 18x24, 24x36 and occasionally 36x48, What I did was to create my own customized templates for those sizes. On occasion, I just open the current layout and resize the "Drawing Sheet" (File - Print - Drawing Sheet set up) to the size I now wish to use and then quickly rearrange the text and scalng for the new larger or smaller size, whichever method seems best at the time. DJP

DJP

My advice is to completely forget about doing anything so utterly foolish. I assume you have never done this to a plan file and so are naive about the matter. I have and my advice is to NOT DO THIS EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES I have done this and I can assure you "Nothing" good came of it. You can change the orientation of the drawing after it is sent to layout a lot more easily or is it is the orientation on the property then move the property lines and terrain plane and NOT the entire ".plan file" structure in plan view. When you rotate a plan make sure "Angle Snaps" is "ON", otherwise you can lose the entire plan. You should make a "Save As" copy of the existing plan as insurance against anything going wrong due to the rotation. If you do successfully rotate the plan without shooting yourself in the foot by doing so, thereafter all your text and other annotations that exist in planview will remain orientated in the original orientation what a PITA! Or try it and see for yourself as I did yeats ago (I am probably just a crazy ole man any ways) DJP

I agree with Chop in taht you did not say if the picture is from Chief Architect or is a site photo. You did not say what version of Chief or Home Designer you are using. You did not say how you created this, whatever it is and you did not clearly state what you wish you had instead. Please be a little more clear as to what is what DJP

What version of Home Designer Pro are you using, please? Whatever it is, I can and will help you, contact me, please. DJP

I agree with Dermot as to HD Pro but even it is limited by default to how large a native page size you can print to (18"x24"), most residential homes are printed to 24" x 36" or even 36" x 48" paper (it depends upon the size of the home in square feet). The point is to create construction documents that can be easily read by other building professionals who will assist you in permitting and creating the home. DJP

As Tommy said and I agree, learn the tools, dialog boxes, settings of Chief and use it as a tool, and not a misunderstood "partner", this is NOT "rocket science". I gave up waiting for Chief to "do" things long ago and just caused them as I needed and wanted. DJP

The last time I had a overly large PDF file, what I did is to print it using several different PDF printers I have on my PC (Foxit Reader, Microsoft PDF, Chief PDF printer and even Quicken PDF printer until I got the file size I wanted. I do not even remember which one worked (I do not care). DJP

I use the free "Foxit Reader" to print and view PDF's and it has an internal command to "Reduce File Size". I rarely have to use it. The Free Versions also has the ability to add and subtract text and lines which I occasionally use also. When I get un-emailable sized PDF's I first try printing them using a different device to print them other than "Chief Print to PDF" which is quite uncommon anyway and have had success getting a smaller but sharp and crisp PDF to share with others. Only once is the last ten years have I created a PDF file that was too large to email as an attachment, I shared it via my "One Drive" account just fine. DJP

Make sure your mouse and video card drivers are up to date for your devices. Make sure you have no malware or viruses, physically carefully clean the inside of your computer case (I usually do this myself once a month). The only time I have had Chief (any version) crash and freeze was from one or more of the above. DJP