DavidJPotter

If you live near Minnetonka, MN You might consider contacting Dan Baumann who either can help you or refer you to someone local who is also competent. You can certainly work with Charles Volz as above but if you must have some one physically one on one you might pursue talking to Dan. ChiefExperts.com, Inc.12304 Junction RoadMinnetonka, MN 55343 Email: dan@chiefexperts.com Office: 952-236-4427 DJP

I opened it in an AutoCAD viewer and the wall lines show perfectly but when imported into Chief the wall lines are invisible and not on an imported layer as far as I can see, weird, even when I made the background black in Chief, the wall lines appear to have not been imported at all. DJP

Chief is programmed/designed to operate from one's hard drive or in very specialized cases from a local network. Services like Dropbox, One Drive etc are in terms of Chief Architect and Home Designer Software should not actively be used to work on plans in real time. I use cloud services only for sharing and storing of inactive .plan and .layout files. To do otherwise is to invite unnecessary trouble and loss. You can easily verify this with Chief Architect Inc. Tech Support during their office hours. DJP

I can help you with your project. Please e mail or call me (see signature below) DJP

Do you own any Chief Premier software or Home Designer Software? What is your phone number? DJP

Nope. https://accounts.chiefarchitect.com/360/535464413230059 DJP

Do what Eric said: "use a railing symbol, not a wall". Or you can make a railing exactly 5' long that contains the correct baluster spacing from slabs, poly-line slabs, or soffits if you must have absolute precision. DJP

It appears that your "Drawing Sheet " and print software are properly set but the 2D CAD of your border and title block are too small (not upsized for a Arch D sheet). Also Check the scale of the drawing instance you sent to your layout using the "Scale" tool to verify that it is at the intended scale (1/4" = 1' Scale). you missed a Print Set Up setting that is causing the results to be off. Find your mistake by carefully reviewing your presettings and then try again. The print process is simple but totally unforgiving when you make mistakes. DJP

For back up I use Carbonite with my PC laptop and desktop. I also use Dropbox, ICloud and other free storage services mainly for the transferring and sharing of files with clients. I never actively use any adjunct services for "actively working on" .plan files as Chief is not properly programmed to work on remote files (you are better off only working on active files directly from your hard drive). Nothing but trouble ensues when some of my clients and students have tried to work active files from ICloud, dropbox and other such services. If you or others get different results I am happy for you, I know from others experiences that trying to do so is merely a source of unnecessary trouble and loss. DJP

I run legacy versions of Chief and Home Designer. For the oldest I dual boot into Windows XP x32, so I do not need it to also run in anything newer, OS wise. I have read other threads here about this subject and others run Chief 10 within Windows 7-10, the main "Must Have" are updated hardware dongle drivers from the dongle maker's website. I have not tried this myself but reports from other users were positive. There are much better 2D CAD programs, even free ones that have better 2D tools than Chief 10 (TurboCAD, IntelliCAD and others) that are designed to operate within Windows 10. You do as you see best. DJP

This is easily done but in terms of sharing with the client it gets a little more complicated. Do you own any Chief Architect or Home Designer software presently? How do you intend to share the 3D results with your client? Are you computer "savvy" meaning can you operate any Chief or Home Designer applications with certainty in order to share the 3D data with your client? What is your plan to implement this? DJP

I checked and Home Designer Pro is the only current Home Designer title that still has the ability to import .dxf files. Architectural used to have this ability several versions ago but they (Home Designer) has removed that ability in present versions. I can easily do this for you using Pro or Chief and then return the .plan file to you for you to develop a 3D model from the imported 2D file. I do not work for Chief Architect Inc so I do not know why they removed that specific ability but in fact they have done so. DJP

Converting a .dwg file to .dxf (which HD Architectural can import) is easy and quick to do. All I need is a copy of your existing .dwg file from your Architect. Impossible to do within Architectural, easy to do in Chief Architect Premier. Communicate to me if you like. DJP

Also there are clicks to help eliminate one's own ignorance of how the software works and there are command clicks that are originated with end user certainty. These two click categories are for different purposes. The study ones tend to reduce the overall number over Time. I think a better way to think of the subject of "Clicks" is explained above and are NOT the same things, their purposes are different. DJP

It is dependant on the DPI quality of the original PDF you are using. You might try converting the PDF page to an image format and then use that on your layout. Without knowing exactly what you used and how one can only guess. DJP

Read some of these articles on making "Tileable Textures": https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1CHMO_enUS578US578&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=making+tileable+textures&* DJP

See : http://www.jintudesigns.com/ he is the best! DJP

I suppose if one did one's own printing using color pages would be an option but most of my clients work for a living and would not spend the money for Arch D or E sized color pages. The difference between black and white versus color at the print shop is astronomical per page, so this aesthetic argument is rather lost on me. My clients want things built and not enshrined or glorified. DJP

You can also bypass the above by using the Material Eyedropper tool. DJP

Take a look at the Build Roof Dialog - Materials Tab. Those settings work on as yet to be built roof planes, on roof planes that exist then one would have to change each gutter-material setting in each Roof Specification Dialog - Materials Tab - Gutter DJP

I agree with Lew in that if you use the word "Photometric" then you must also provide a definition for how you intend for use to understand your question ( http://www.dictionary.com/browse/photometric ). I did a Google Search for the term and the results were not very enlightening to me (All my plans by the general definition are or can be "Photometric" if you make them so ). Please be a little more forthcoming as to the exactness of your question please. I always charge by the hour for my services, you probably should too. IMHO all plans should be clear and concise graphic communications of one's project. Failing that goal, they are not worth a penny more that how well they communicate the intended work. DJP

Anyone who has and uses Chief Premier can help you, Premier can export to any version of AutoCAD in .dwg format. Send a copy of your .plan file and what specific views you need and want. DJP

Barb Preston's way is workable but I prefer to use "Boiler Plate" type details that I use repeatedly to be "Added to the Library" command found in the "Edit Toolbar" when selecting a true CAD Detail (all 2D objects). You can also "Save to Library" 3D objects if they are customized enough where doing so might save a few clicks in the future. The problem with having a "CAD Detail Plan" as Barb suggests is that it can become so packed with details to a point where the .plan file can become sluggish to deal with. Using a Custom named folder in the "User's Library" in the Library Browser is a more efficient way to organize and use such things. DJP

You might also check that there is no gap between the two wall poly-lines to reduce the instances of unwanted lines but when sent to layout your best bet is adding (when found to be missing ) or eliminating such lines is the "Edit Layout" tool. It terms eliminating such lines before sending to layout, your choices are limited but with the use of the edit layout line tool you can make vector view objects near perfect. DJP

I would tend to handle boiler "plate" stuff like what you have in your zip file by adding it to a "Users Library Folder" in the Library Browser. In your present form the 2D CAD stuff in one .plan file does open and handle slowly. The way Chief is programmed what you have would be better handled in the LB and not junk up every .plan file I opened. Each .plan file just needs to have that necessary data I need to keep it and me efficient. DJP