DavidJPotter

I have Versions 7-19 of Chief Premier and many Home Designer versions and titles on my PC and I have never had anything like what you are saying happening on my PC for many years. I agree with Lew, in that you should contact Tech Support on Monday for help. DJP

Deactivate the license and then uninstall it on the current PC or Mac. Then reinstall it on your new PC or Mac. When deactivating the license write down the serial number as you will need that when activating it on the new PC. DJP

Glenn, I did not know that, thank you for the help! DJP

Yes, a "Road" object does but not a "Driveway": two different objects programmed differently. The OP is asking about a poly-line driveway, and not a straight "Road" object. DJP

You level the driveway by leveling the terrain since the driveway follows the slope of the terrain. So I would insert flat regions along the width of the driveway which once properly adjusted leaves the terrain sloping that the driveway relative to itself, flat over its width. I am not saying this is "easy" but is the way to address it. Not sure what you mean, by "select an area" do you mean of a terrain object like a driveway, if that is your question then the answer is "NO". Terrain and those features that rest on terrain are affected by terrain elevation objects only, there currently is no other method. DJP

Thank you, Dave!

Then I would assume you are sending them to layout as an "image" instead of a vector view-plot lines view Then I would assume that is because of a poor quality PFF file, get a higher resolution copy if you can. Like the old joke goes " Doctor, every time I do xxx, it hurts" "Doctor then says, don't do that!" I mean for what ever reason that action is failing, abandon it until the issue is resolved. That is my advice, you are welcome to pursue it or ignore it.You also may have a video driver that needs updation. DJP

The images you posted are too pixelated to be fully useful. You need to take your plans to a blueprint shop and let them scan them, page by page into an high-resolution image format so someone else can clearly read what they say. Only then could a competent user give you an estimate for creating a 3D model of the 2D plans. I would guess that such a job might take around ten hours to do depending upon how much detail you need to be placed into the resultant 4D model. I do this kind of service all the time. Like K Bird said, I will need to know what software (Chief Premier or Home Designer) you currently have, so your .plan file is in a format that you can then view and edit the results. DJP

Thank you, great job! DJP

When I import an entire room from another program it is a group of individual objects (symbols). Sorry, you had to find out the hard way. But it as it is and only does what it is programmed to do. DJP

Chief doesn't like you to build a " Room under a deck room" (actual error message) so I would approach it from the deck not being named a deck (just make it look like a deck "room" without the name. The build a room with a room specification dialog, under what appears to be a deck above it. The rest will depend exactly on how you intend to structurally build those rooms in the field. The screen room will just be a room with windows in it with their "glass" set to screen (I commonly use a glass block material set to emulate screen, you make the each glass block about an inch wide and the pattern set to 1" grid pattern and make the "glass block semi transparent by way of its properties tab. You make the "windows" aka screen panels with no casing so they look like panels. DJP

You should be able to just to left click drag the bottom stair tread away, deletion is not the best method. DJP

I have only done a few steel structural buildings over the years. In each case, I was successful in terms of Construction Documentation. It comes down to how you created your custom wall types and how you assigned the metal studs to that custom wall type. As I have said many times here, to gain an accurate Materials List from any Chief model requires attention to details of how you construct your 3D model. A perfectly constructed 3D model that matches the intended structure in EVERY detail from Foundation to Roof ridge is the only model capable of then producing an accurate Materials List. This level of expertise is way beyond the ability of the average Chief Premier user who only has a casual education in how to get perfect results. The last time I had a client who wanted to produce a Materials List, I told him up front that such a 3D construct commonly takes ten times as long to create as opposed to mere Construction Documentation and plans. In my thirty years of use, I have only had one client that was willing to spend that kind of money for a Materials List. Such decisions are up to you to make. It is what people do not know that gets posted here for answers, that is what this forum is for. It is a lot easier to just measure the length of walls times the intended spacing of studs than to build a relationally correct 3D model for the purpose of doing that simple match. DJP

Patterns are on their own layer in all layer sets called "Patterns, 3D" check to make sure that layer is checked:"on" in each view's, layer sets dialog per instance. DJP

I am not a MAC user, I am a PC user. Early in my career, I had an incident similar to yours. I was like you devastated. What I did about that was to NEVER again depend only upon "Auto Save" alone (Autosave did not save a freeking thing). What I do is to manually save every few seconds manually while I work and if the plan I am working on shows any hinky behavior I manually save it to a new name before proceeding with it (I have the save as, as a back up for that work so far) You can do as you wish but I strongly recommend that you call Tech Support, they know Macs and PCs and if any help is possible they can deliver it. In the mean time, I also recommend that you do as I did and protect you from losses by doing manual saves. My sad incident was in 1999 in Version 6, since then I have NEVER lost any plans to crashes or corruption Chief Premier is a wonderful program but it is not and probably will not ever be "perfect" in every way, so it is up to you to step in and take full responsibility for its short comings and foibles. My personal skill level has dramatically increased since 1999 as well. I work a lot with newer users and this sort of thing often happens to them because they are new and still relatively untrained. You can do something about it and I recommend that you do. DJP

Not that I know of, call Sales or Tech Support for a "real answer". DJP

are those lines 2D CAD lines or are they invisible walls or something else? DJP

Great job Chop! Chop's video should underline an important understanding for you in that Settings control everything in Chief. If your settings are wrongly set or guessed at (like it appears you did some of that) you get problems and wasted time. Take the time to really study and practice with Chief off your production time so you do not continually waste time guessing. It took me over a year back in 1995 to really do this myself but it makes a vast difference to Know as opposed to hope for the best. New users need to fully understand the Chief is not a problem solver, it is a wonderfully crafted mechanical aid but has no intelligence, judgement or experience. Only you can provide these vitally important factors to get your work done. DJP

The only time I ever had crashing problems was back in Version 6 in 1999 and it came down to a corrupted mouse driver which I updated solving that problem. If I had such a problem again that is the FIRST action I would take to handle. DJP

I have my Library Browser set to Vector view and it is faster than X8 in my X9, try that. Also strongly consider calling upon Tech Support. They have wider experience than any of us and want to help. Setting your LB to Standard then weighs heavily on your video card (but you have a good one already, probably not the cause but vector view is faster than standard generally). DJP

You did not mention what PDF software you are using (I guess "Save to PDF" that is part of Chief?). I have never seen this occur on my PC (I would be very concerned if I ever did). This is certainly an unwanted problem, if you have an active SSA call Tech Support for help during their Pacific office hours. DJP

In your posted image I do not clearly see what you describe in your post. I do see an incomplete roof system auto generating unwanted artifacts because in is not finished and joined. Explain some more and post an example plan please, we all still want to help. DJP

Here is my You Tube take on your problem: DJP

Scott, I am in a similar state of mind in that I find the current state of electrical connections annoying and vexing but I also continue to assert that end user intervention and intent to succeed can overcome that tool's weakness (I do what I have to do when creating electrical plans). DJP

I have been Teaching Seminars and doing on line tutoring in Chief Premier since 1999. I am not an Architect nor am I a State Licensed Structural Engineer but anything that needs to happen with house plans and how that is accomplished in Chief I can do and help you to do. Data about my on line help services can be read here: http://djpdesigns.com/tutoring.html , I am available on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9AM to 7PM Central Time for tutoring. Let me know when you would like to get started! DJP