DavidJPotter

Just use a symbol that you can locate where you need it to be and then use a "light source" for the light, which has its own dialog box to get the lighting effect you want. DJP

I always charge by the hour and make sure the client understands that the billing ends when he and his wife say, "This is exactly what we want", then I print to PDF and share files with their Engineer in AutoCAD file format, then I am done. For my training and drafting-design services, I charge $75.00 per hour, others and you may charge more or less, that is up to you and your client base. When I know the project will require more than $500.00 I ask for a retainer and then bill them when that is used up. DJP

Zowie, you are WAY too pickie IMHO. That is the only solution possible. I get that what Chief58 made was not the same style of cabinet and sink but that is the way to a solution for your stated problem, use your cabinet and your sink but just two cabinets and then two sinks. What exactly is your objection to a straightforward solution? DJP

The scale is not indicated on exports unless it was exported directly from paper space and that view included the intended scale. I suppose you were merely lucky when you choose "Feet" as the scale. When I imported the drawing into X10 I chose "Inches" and of course it was not properly scaled there by, My point is that had the drawing been exported from "model space" it would have natively imported into Chief at that same scale (1' = 1') since it had not been downscaled to fit on a fixed size sheet of paper. The file was also "x-ref'ed" within AutoCAD which Chief is not programmed to read properly, "X-Refing" is an AutoCAD only device. Such files do not commonly work when imported into Chief, DJP

I have observed that the sun setting needs to be way down to off to handle its lighting effect as opposed to Standard or Ray Tracing. If you have not already watched this video, you should as it will address some of your concerns: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/2426/physically-based-rendering-technique.html DJP

Duncan, after a second look at your .dwg file, I did find some text-numerical numbers for topo but that would be insifficient for any kind of auto-creation of topography. Once properly scaled you could then sketch in over those values, Chief topo-elevation splines or lines and get a topo but the file would still have to be rescaled up to full size first to be of any use. DJP

The .dwg you are trying to import contains ZERO terrain data and is also exported from AutoCAD Paper space so that it comes into Chief UNSCALED. So you are wasting your time from the get-go. Site Plan files should be exported from "Model Space" only from AutoCAD. AutoCAD and Chief both use real world scale (1' = 1') and so they can exchange files easily if done correctly. Your file came directly from AutoCAD "paper space" ( a file down-scaled from model space to fit on a piece of paper (paper space) and so is useless in terms of accuracy because it must now be rescaled to represent a scale of 1' = 1' to be of ANY accurate use in Chief. Also I say that there are two layers called "Contours" in the AutoCAD file but when imported into AutoCAD or Chief those layers were NOT visible and so for a topo would be useless. Obtain a topo file from the AutoCAD user with NO "Xreffing" in the file directly exported from "Model Space" and only then will you have anything useful in Chief much less any useful topo information. DJP

I am often asked to share plans that I have done for others. I have and never will do this, they plans belong to my clients, the renderings are mine. But I have worked for a couple of clients that had me sigh agreements not to share anything and so I do not share renderings or plans of those clients. DJP

Read your employment agreement that you signed when you worked there if any. That should contain any clear answers you may want, otherwise, get a lawyer. IMHO, the plans belong to them, the renderings are yours. DJP

I have versions 7-20 on my PC and they all get together just fine, deleting X9 will NOT affect X10 at all. DJP

I do not use that keyboard command (ever) and so I have no such crashes. That you do is something to report to Tech Support (they love any problems that can easily be repeated on other PC's or Mac's). If I were you, in the meantime, I would just stop using the keyboard command that causes the crash and alternately use "right-click- New - New Folder" which I use all the time with zero crashes. DJP

Like Eric said, or at least implied, if your settings are wrong, the resulting model is WRONG always. Chief is a bunch of settings and input boxes so when you allow out of agreement settings to be present you have constant trouble. Get yourself educated and informed as to actual settings in your existing spaces, room dialog boxes, Default Settings etc and then things will make more sense and the plan file will magically smooth out. The FIRST thing I do when straightening out a .plan file is to check all Default Settings and then make sure all extant object's settings are in agreement with those properly set Default Settings because this is always what is missing with "problem plans". DJP

Like Alan said, it is more the end user and NOT Chief related. After having used and taught Chief since 1994, I just draw, it matters not what I am drawing because I have seen it all and done it all, now it is just create, create, create. Chief is merely a tool, not an opponent or evil fairy God Mother, it is an inanimate tool which you control or not from moment to moment. DJP

There is a layer in Display Options for the Elevation Camera set called "Patterns-3D" that can be displayed or not at your choice before sending to layout. If you want patterns to show but darker, their default line weight can be changed in Display Options before sending to layout. If already on layout you can use the "Edit Layout Tool" while on layout to alter line weights of perspective and elevation-cross section views by selecting the tool, left click on a line in the view you want to change and then by way of the resulting dialog box change "Pattern Lines or Edge Lines" for that view. In order to actually see the line weight changes you, of course, have to have the "Show Line Weight Tool active to see, visually, the changes made. DJP

Chief Architect's critics are not the last "word" relative to the survival of the company. Chief Inc has been doing well in the business world since the early Nineties, doing what they do and keeping their own council and will probably continue to grow, no matter what others say it should do. Carping and nay-saying do not change the fact that you are dissatisfied and that I leave the future to those whose job it is to decide what they do. Just because you have an opinion, does not mean it is somehow "Truth" and law to me, it is not and that is all I am saying. Dissatisfied people have always been there, no matter the historic period and the World still turns. DJP

Such matters are often topics of discussions here. Frankly, I could care less. I did not at first "like" PBR but I came to understand it better and now use it all the time, no matter its failings relative to Ray Tracing, it still gives quality views and a very short time. Chief is responsible for paying its bills, not us. They have survived this long and their business has just grown and grown since I started using it back in the mid-nineties. They have people like Dermot Dempsey, Scott Harris, and numerous others who care about Chief Architect and its users. They pay their bills and they know who their "public" is, I'll bet they just keep on making the right decisions long after I am gone. Enjoy what you have today and let tomorrow take care of itself. DJP

Those dashed lines are on a layer called "Ceiling Break Lines". The cannot be selected or deleted. Their purpose is to indicate that a roof plane underside is intruding into your flat ceiling (Like Eric indicated above in his post). To handle this you draw your roof planes at the proper plate height (you do this by having the "Ceiling Height" setting correct in each Room Specification Dialog and especially in "Edit - Default Settings - Rooms - Ceiling Height". How this often happens is when you build roofs and then alter a ceiling height in a Room Dialog box. Unless you have "Auto Rebuild Roofs ON", roof planes do not update or respond to Room Dialog Box setting changes after they are first built, so if you raise a ceiling height without rebuilding roofs, you get "Ceiling Break Lines" as a result. DJP

I had not (during beta Testing) nor so far, had any trouble using point to point dimension tools at all. The first thing I do when I install a new version is to turn OFF the snap and visual grids, never figured out a useful purpose for those things other than to waste my time. DJP

You should post a copy of your troublesome plan so others can see if they get similar results. DJP

I have been helping others here since 1999, I was not trying to discourage you at all, rather as others have indicated, your post was vague leaving us to guess what the answer to your question might be. A clearly stated question backed up with a copy of your plan and or screen capture images of what you are seeing or not seeing then helps us, help you. People like me like to help others with Chief Architect Problems. DJP

Your post makes no sense other than you are having difficulties with ceiling planes. Please be a little more specific about what kind of trouble. Your implied question seems to have been " is anyone else having trouble with ceiling planes?", my answer would be "no", they have a dialog box with settings and the tool and object are fully described in your Reference Manual and Help files, read them and then apply and make sure they are turned "on" in the camera type Display Options dialog for that camera while viewing. DJP

On a first floor, you just alter the floor height setting on the structure tab. On the second floor and other upper floors, you have to take into consideration that lowering the floor of a second-floor room directly affects the room below (lowering its ceiling), the rules of physics do not change in the physical universe any more than they do in a virtual environment. DJP

In this case, the overhang is just a mini mansard roof built on the edge of the flat roof as an Architectural decoration, so it does not "look" merely flat. The roof border is probably around 20/12 pitch and in plan view is probably just a foot or two deep. It is similar to creating a manual roof return when the auto roof return setting fails to work and you have to then step into and draw a manual return, only in this case, you are creating four full returns of 20/12 around the flat roof of the entire building. DJP

Never mind, I finally found the blankety-blank thing. Thank you for assuring me that it WAS ACTUALLY there to find! Oy ve! DJP

Thanks, Chop, where is the p41;3o8njh b=[69[614q8 gv! I have looked till I am going blind (I guess I am). DJP