KilgoreTrout

You can put rich text on any layer and even have the text change color with the layer color. What you can't do with rich text is control the text using "text styles" like you can with regular text. What you can't do with regular text is have one piece of text that uses different fonts, colors, or sizes.

You can't really break a dimension line into two completely separate dimension lines. You can add, remove, or move extension lines to change what the dimension line is measuring though. You can also copy a dimension line and modify each one to give you two dimension lines.

"I guess I missed the Chief 101 video." There is a pretty good overview video that covers all of the basics on the main video page. It's almost an hour long but well worth watching. Several times. "When you hit Escape the current task is ended & you are put in the previous task mode. I prefer to be returned to the Pick mode on any Escape. Can that be changed?" Try using the space bar instead. "I want to change all text & dimensions to use Arial Narrow. Can you do a global change?" You should be able to modify all of the text styles in your plan defaults. Actually, you will probably want to modify lots of things in the plan defaults and then save it as your own template plan so that new plans can use your defaults. See if you can find a training video on templates for an overview.

Works for me. Are you using the latest update (16.4)? If I remember correctly, there was a bug in one of the earlier versions having to do with line weights. Are you making sure "By Layer" is unchecked? If it is checked, then the program will use the layer settings, not the settings for the cad line. If all else fails, post a plan or contact tech support.

You can do it in the "task manager". Control-Alt-Delete will let you bring it up.

Make a copy of the siding material with the texture and/or pattern rotated to the same angle. Apply the new material to the exterior wall surface. If you have a gable, you might need two materials with opposite angles and then split the wall using the break tool.

Isn't it obvious Lew? They won't tell you where it is because they enjoy driving you nuts. Actually, in some cases they will tell you exactly where it is by drawing a circle around the problem poly. Unfortunately, if the poly is not visible on the screen, then you probably won't see the circle around it either. Rather then just turn layers off and on to find it, save a copy of the plan and start deleting things until you find it.

If the sink is inside the cabinet and the only way to select it is to use the tab key, then you can't move it using the dimension. If you place the sink outside of the cabinet and then drag it over the cabinet, you can move it using the dimension. As far as I know, Chief has always worked this way and this is not a new problem in X6.

As far as I know, cad details are always saved in the plan. Take a look in the project browser or the cad detail management dialog. One caveat, they are not "live" views so any changes to your model will not be updated in the cad details. So if you are creating a new section view and expecting to see any changes you made to a cad detail, you will be disappointed.

Based on your other post, I assume you already figured out the wall versus room material issue. It's a good idea to keep your questions on topic so that threads don't get "hijacked". As for importing catalogs, If you download a CALIBZ file from the Chief web site, you can import it using the "import library" tool in the library menu. You can also drag the library file and drop it right on Chief. I think you can also just double click or "open" the library file to import it.

Not sure what you did but there are lots of ways to solve this problem. Most important is to recognize the difference between changing the material for the "room" versus changing the material on the "wall". They are two different things in the Chief world. Also, you can put things on the wall surface and paint materials on those to change the look.

I tried a google search and this came up: http://southpark.cc.com/clips/188247/where-is-wendy

2. SSA also gives you access to more libraries.

Personally, I think that is a big load of hooey. All you are doing is trying to rationalize your illegal and unethical behavior. The bottom line is it's stealing, plain and simple. Stealing software is no different then stealing anything else. It hurts the software company and the legitimate users of the software. You can try and rationalize it all you want so that you can sleep better at night but it won't change the fact that it is wrong. I hate having security on software but as long as people are willing to steal it software companies are going to try and prevent that.

Are you placing the post under a beam? Does your plan have terrain? I think there are times when the program does not have enough room between the beam and the terrain (or floor in some cases) so that it won't create a post and will only create a footing. This is just a guess based on your statement about it not being a layer issue. You probably need to post (pun intended) the plan or contact tech if you need more support (pun also intended).

The locate objects panel of your dimension defaults can help you control what your dimension lines pick up. If you double click on the dimension tool, you will go right into the current defaults. You can tweak the settings and then draw. Also, there are different dimension tools that do different things. You may want to play around with the end to end or the interior dimension tools to see what they do.

I never have to change any of my settings with the updates. Upgrades is another story though...

As far as I know, none of the Chief products has ever done chimneys automatically. You can drag the top of the fireplace up or place your own chimney on top of it using another fireplace, poly solid, slab, soffit, etc. Sometimes I use soffits because I can wrap moldings around them for more details. Chief has two different fireplaces. One is a freestanding one that bumps against walls and the other one goes through walls. You get one or the other depending on where you first place it. If you place a fireplace in a wall, you get a handle to move it through the wall. You can drag it so that the masonry is flush with the inside or outside of the wall. You don't need to use the control key to do this. If you are using a free standing one, you won't actually get a hole in your wall and will have to manually add your own hole using a pass-thru.

Sometimes control-A will pick it up.

No, but if you start drawing your walls by right-clicking, you can draw them continuously which might be even faster in some cases.

Also, just an FYI, if you do decide to purchase Chief, I believe all new licenses come with one year of SSA which gives you access to all of the training videos, free tech support, ability to download all libraries, and the ability to download X7 when it comes out (assuming it is released within the year).

Assuming that you are using one of the overview cameras, then your camera will orbit around the center of the model. If there is something in your model that is way out in timbuktu, then your center will not be where you want it to be. Find it and fix it and your camera tools will work right. Also, you can always just use the full camera tool and the center of orbit is set by the camera focal point (where you stop drawing the camera).

If you click on a wall in a camera view, you are probably selecting the room instead. You can use the tab key to select the wall and you should pay attention to the status bar to make sure you have selected what you want.

See picture. You need to lower the right and left sides and then move the top inside corners into the center. It looks like they still have to be about 1" apart though which makes a slight flat spot on the top. I don't know if someone else knows how to make it a point.

You can make it yourself. The side windows are easy, just use the "match roof" button. For the center window, you can play with the settings (sides and top inside corners) on the shape tab to get something close.