ComputerMaster86

What I am having an issue with is the legacy Temporary Dimensions in X16 would reference the wall dimension layer when I would click on a door or window. It's doesn't seem to be doing that in X17.1 release. Its referencing the interior edge of the main layer of the wall. Below the screenshots were taken from X16.

I wanted to like the changes to temporary dimensions but, something clearly is off. Playing around with settings this is definitely not productive. Why is it referencing the inside of the porch wall??? Temporary dimensions are not referencing the wall dimension layer???

How does one make use of room labels in a 3D View might be a better question to ask?

I don't understand it. The macro %Floor Number% works. What am I not understanding here?

Has anyone ever successfully in a 3D Orthographic Floor Overview (Dollhouse) type view added text and been able to use the %Room% macro. It's a shame that using %room% doesn't appear to work.

I believe I have experienced this in the past. I should have created a report when it happened.

I would consider myself to be a one man band and don't normally have a need to share any Chief files with other users. I am the only employee at my part-time morning employer that knows how to use Chief Architect. I own the software. Things could always change in the future, who knows? Questions I post here on the forum and bug / suggestion reporting, might be about the only time I share chief files. With that said, I have been using the new "Project Management Mode" for a while now and have generally come to like it overall. I feel like I am a little more efficient from not having to navigate between Chief Architect and File Explorer as much. I like how it bundles plan and layout files into the concept and construct of a project. Although as Renee has pointed out, files are not always stored in a .caproj files unless you manually export one or more of your projects. I am choosing to store my recent Chief files inside Chief using the new "Managed Mode". I make use of chief's new backup tool. The way I do versioning within a project is super easy. I do see areas where I think Chief could improve on the new managed mode. I personally would like to see the ability to expert all projects as separate .caproj files by right-clicking on a "Top-Level Folder" or "Folder Tag". Maybe as a secondary option bundle all projects together in a single zip by right-clicking on a "Top-Level Folder" or "Folder Tag". I perceive my project browser is going to get bloated with projects in the future. I think we need a more robust method to add and remove projects from the project browser with out completely loosing them or deleting them. I have used the term "Archiving" when talking about this. It may not always be formal archiving. I like and use the new back-up tool but, it's not a complete solution for what I just mentioned. A secondary thing I would like to see a "Trash Bin", like we have for the Library Browser. I am super careful but, I am also human. It would be super easy for me to not think straight and delete something I didn't intend on deleting. A trash bin would provide a little extra piece of mind and the option to retrieve something from a "Oh Crap! Why did I do that ?" moment.

Just throwing this out there. I have been actively using the project management mode. I feel I am overall a little more efficient with X17 because I am navigating between Windows Explorer and Chief Architect less. It so easy to start a new project using a template project and the new "Managed Mode". Open Chief Architect (May Already be Open) Duplicate My Project Template Give it a Name Versioning is also super easy because my template projects has this folder structure set-up inside. I just right click and duplicate the Ver ## folder giving it the new version number. + Docs + Images + Ver 01 + Layout File + Plan File Doing this in "Windows Explorer" there just seems to be a little bit more monkeying around. Plus you may have to navigate back into the chief program and hunt for your files to open them. Now there is definitely room for improvement with this new "Managed Mode". I have made a few suggestions directly to Chief on the matter, as well as other Chief users, and maybe they will get implemented in X18. Who Knows?

It might be just my imagination but, I have been using the "Technical Support Center" or the "Beta Reporting Tool", more and more, to give Chief Architect suggestions directly. I am really starting feel like it's alittle more impactful. There is one new feature in X17 Chief added that came directly from a discussion I had with them. It's the new top and bottom girt (horizontal framing) control. What's fascinating is, I don't believe I specifically asked them to implement that in X17. I get involved in a lot of post-framed buildings but, I don't expect chief to be a pole-barn program. It's nice that they did implement that feature. Based on my experiences it does seem like Chief will listen and take in people's suggestions. However, just mentioning things on the forum doesn't always seem like the best way to get Chief to acknowledge the suggestion.

I am not trying to stur the pot but, are you guys making your requests known to chief by using something like the beta reporting tool? Chief has said multiple, multiple times that just simply mentioning something on the forum does not always result in a feature request logged into their database. Get in touch with them and make your request known. to them. Help them understand your request and wants for the software. I get the feeling people don't always do this.

If you are trying to type in a "Quadrant Bearing" measurement, chief will let you type something like n33 45 16w and chief will know what is degrees, minutes and seconds. You don;'t have type any degree, minute or second symbol if you add a space between each value. That is the format degrees space minutes space seconds. I believe that also works for "Azimuth Bearing" where you would omit the letters.

Chief doesn't recommend storing the back-end data that it is managing on Dropbox or another cloud provider as it interfers and messes up the project management mode. Chief uses the phrase "It voids the warranty".

Everyone is going to have different feelings about X17 but, there are a bunch of small improvements and new features that are really going to be beneficial to me. Together they all are going to help my day to day work flow and help me save time, small bits at a time. It all adds up though! These things are... The rework of "Angle Snaps / Angle Guides". This is a huge biggie for me. I work with a lot of 2D drawings, like 2D steel layout drawings. The X17 "Angle Snaps" are boat loads more useful to me and a lot easier to work with. You can read about the complaints I used to have for angle snaps on this forum. Great work Chief! "Select Next Edge" edit toolbar icon. This is super helpful in selecting really short line-segments or overlapping segments that are part of a interconnected polyline, like a molding polyline. I have struggled in the past to turn off a molding on the edge of really short segments of molding polylines. A person can specify a hotkey for this edit toolbar tool and cycle through (toggle) the different segments of a complex multi-segment polyline at a fast pace. Both "Line Separation" and "1st Line Offset" under your various "Dimension Defaults" is now affiliated with a special dimension snap mode. It uses the values you have specified under "Line Separation" and "1st Line Offset" under your "Dimension Default". If you are manually placing or repositioning dimension lines, it will snap the distance specified for "Line Separation" when referencing another dimension line. Likewise, if you are manually placing or repositioning dimension lines, it will snap the distance specified for "1st Line Offset" when referencing something like a wall. Definitely a time-saver for cleaning up dimensions in a plan view. When using "Continuous Draw Mode" you can press the "Tab Key" to enter a precise distance and it will let you continue with "Continuous Draw Mode". In X16 and prior pressing the "tab Key" would end "Continuous Draw Mode". This works for drawing walls and drawing polylines. After a wall segment is drawn or a wall segment is broken into two or more segments, you can use the edit handle to continue drawing with that same wall type. What is different in X17 is you can now use "Continuous Draw Mode" when doing so. In X16 and prior "Continuous Draw Mode" was not available for already placed wall segments or wall segments that were broken into two or more segments. Basically they expanded the occasions where "Continuous Draw Mode" is available. We now have sub-folders for organizing "CAD Details", Cross-Section / Elevation Camera Views, 3D Camera Views and Plan Views. I was starting to think that sub-folders would never happen. If you have a growing collection of "CAD Details", you will welcome this. We can now drag and drop items stored and listed under a plan file in the "Project Browser" onto our layout page. This is very handy useful feature. Hex Color Codes. If you ever tried to reference a color by typing or copying and pasting RGB values this process was made easier. You can type or paste HEX Color Codes into the color chooser dialogue box. RGB is three separate number values. HEX is only one value. Easier to type or copy and paste.

You can turn off "Managed Mode" and work the way you did in X16. Under "Preferences" > "Project Management" de-select "Use Chief Architect Project Management". If you are using "Chief Architect Project Management" Chief is going to manage your files for you. It's going to be a lot more difficult to store files on Dropbox and still work on them. You might want to consider turning "Project Management" off to store files on Dropbox.