MarkMc

3 hours ago, KevinMyers said:

how to shape cabinets to go under steps

Depends if you need to have the doors work or just to place there.

Here's one way to start. Shown is the beginning of making working cabinets and another just a face.

The procedure for just making faces is a lot less work.

1. Start with an elevation. Mark the end of the cabinet run with a line.
2. Take a detail from view
3. Go to the detail and use the line that is bottom of stairs, add to it and resize to get a polyline of correct siz in the location you want,
4. Close that pline and convert to a solid.
5. Copy and paste into plan.
6. Convert back to a polyline, then to a countertop
7. Set thickness and height off floor.
8. Add moldings with proper offset (sample included)
9. Convert to cabinet door symbol, rotate so it is vertical.
10. Set a stretch zone and change the bounding box (open the symbol included to see settings under advanced sizing.)

If you want functioning cabinets you have to do something similar to what is included in the attached X15 plan. You will likely need 4 cabinet to make it work.

If you want backs on the cabinets you need to make those as well (or just reflect a door symbol and live with the rails and stiles OR make a single new solid...)

You may need more than one door symbol.

Good luck trying to hinge the one on the far left or you image..

Angle cabinet.zip

7 hours ago, EPChief said:

Barndo with 12' outer walls but want the inside to be at 9' and 10'. 

Depending on how you intend to build it and what is  9 and what is 10 ft. and what you want the attic space floor to be like you could-

A- set ceiling default ceiling height to 9 ft. Turn OFF auto rebuild roof. Then select the 10 foot rooms and change the ceiling height.

OR B-

You can set the ceiling height to 10', have roof set to raise 2'

Then wherever there is a 9' ceiling change the ceiling finish to drop down.

On 12/21/2023 at 11:45 AM, DBCooper said:

If you "paint" the pull from the library onto the cabinet,

I believe that is where this thread started.

On 12/21/2023 at 12:21 PM, DaniellaZV said:

I see you attached a sample but I truly don't know the steps I am supposed to even take in order to view what you've so kindly provided for me!

It is a library containing one Style Palette named "    Hardware" , import it into chief (name has spaces to start so it ends up at the top of the user library). Once in library select it and click on a base cabinet it will paint the attributes onto the cabinet similar to dropping hardware on....see what it does. Then go back to the object in the library, right click it, open object, click the gear symbol (set properties), when that opens select "Help" or hit the F1 key.

When in doubt (even when not) open all dialog boxes (DBX) and or go to Help (F1) That way you'll be up and running in not time (though some Chief training is worth every penny

18 minutes ago, Ed_Orum said:

I am just down the road from you in Newburgh.

The P.O.is New Paltz but am actually closer. Physically in Modena.

Do mean proximity fixed?  First string is set to 18, second string is set to 36.

Both were pulled over the cabinets 

Then start to drag and snaps to the fixed distance

1 hour ago, 5Design said:

Any ideas (first snip)?

You are using a wall elevation. There is a wall where you get dimensions but an invisible wall behind the island.

Change to a backclipped section.

OR setup a default set to do cabinet elevations manually (that's what I use instead of auto dims but you need several for different sets conditions so you can just click and drag)

Snip 2- could copy one camera in place, move forward, change technique to line drawing no squiggles or such and gray lines. Stack the two in layout.

An oddity here is that rotating a pull in the main "Door/Drawer" tab of the DBX has no effect. It must be done from the "Front/Side/Back" panel.

Front side back panel below

@DaniellaZV once you have one cabinet you are happy with make a style palette that only uses the hardware. Then you can paint other cabinets with it. (sample attached)

Hardware only SP.calibz

On 12/14/2023 at 4:42 PM, JennaJenris said:

Kitchen and bath designs, how do you go about laying out a house based on the blueprint?

As a KD I 

• always drew at least the adjacent rooms though sometimes just added windows etc. approximately. 
• If I had prints always drew the entire structure. It's just too fast and easy in CA and often got me more work from the contractors or architects. (Also great to show the client what thing look like from other spaces or entering the front door.)
• Sometime took photo from doorway to next room. Placed a billboard with the image just past the doorway in plan. Billboards outside sliding doors and large windows too.
• Allways had at least a full exterior, roof and foundation which can help with renderings.
• Roof also helps avoid issues when venting out.

For larger projects my preference was to draw the entire house. Easier to see spacial relationships. If multi story helps avoid problems.

After switching to remote drafting for others 

• I had a lot of larger projects. Usually continued to draw entire structure. 
• I prefer tracing a dwg when possible. 
• If supplied with a PDF I converted that to DWG (now adays I use AB Viewer for that) Have always had a separate cad program (TurboCad Deluxe, AB viewer) so I could turn off layers or delete unwanted clutter before importing into Chief. Not always necessary if file has layers but often converted PDFs don’t. In any case makes life easier.
• In all cases import the dwg into a CAD detail in Chief. A separate plan is a good idea. Then copy and paste to working plan.

I had one client that just drew separate rooms which has pros and cons. On the one hand it can be easier, on the other can be annoying for renderings and does not show relationships of spaces. It can be easy to miss the effect structural changes in revisions have on adjacent spaces. (Note that there was a project with several ceiling height changes on the same floors. The person that drew separate rooms had never learned how those are done and had a hard time making their revisions until they understood)

One other thing I fiddled with a bit at the end was to draw entire structure. Then save as. The purpose was to allow different cabinet defaults in separate plans. The downside though was the aforementioned structural changes needed to be done on each plan. I eventually ended up just using style palettes for different styles in other rooms with the kitchen set for the cabinet defaults.

1 hour ago, Jake1976 said:

Does anyone know if it's possible to show an object on a different floor without moving the object?

Reference display- defined a layer and applied to objects, selected reference dispaly (F9) then "change reference floor display (ctrlm, shift, g) copied the layers set and changed to only show what is wanted.

20 hours ago, ACAaron said:

Due to, when I create the working .plan file (copy the the As-Built), I now have to associate everything to the texture file location, or manually copy items to the library.

IF you keep working in the folder they sent you there is no need to associate textures since Chief will be looking in that folder. To do that:

In the existing folder copy the plan file, rename it and use that to create the as built. 

20 hours ago, ACAaron said:

Is there a way to tell CA to copy all textures NOT in the library, to the library? 

Not exactly. The method Scott suggests will copy ALL of the textures not just the ones not in the library.

One way to deal with it if it's important to get the new textures is:

Copy the plan file to a different folder and open it in Chief.

Then create a backup that includes "All referenced files"

\A DBX will pop up that says

One or more files needed for this export could not be found. That will be a list of textures not in the library (well mostly, you may have some of them but Chief can't find em.

Do a screen shot of the list, 

then go to Plan Materials, ctrl select the noted textures and "Add to Library"

An easier solution would be to ask the supplier to name all custom textures in a way that they are easy to find. I often use a space and the first few letters of the project. The space makes the texture show at the top of the list in Plan Materials. (Note the WGH2_3 back listed- that goes back to when I first though of doing that for clients some years ago)

11 minutes ago, jtcapa1 said:

I'm wondering if there is a way to save some time and open or import a complete 3d model made in sketchup into CA that is NOT a symbol?

No, 3D imports will always be a symbol. You have to draw in Chief.

Depending on version of SU, could export a 2D dwg  (or pdf floor plans) of each floor then trace in CA. You will be able to snap to lines of a dwg but not a pdf.

10 hours ago, GeneDavis said:

Things go blooey if I try to zoom or pan or do anything with the mouse.

I get that though it does clear eventually. My solution is to assign keyboard shortcuts to all rendering techniques. If I want to move, adjust anything I switch to standard view (VS for me) then back to RTRT (VP for physically based). EZ, fast, no lock up.  Handy going to glass house to find lost things too.

Changed closer to settings from vert lights I use. Changed sun and backdrop intensity. Altered glass in left cabinet which works in Standard view. Replaced glass in right cabinet with opening no material for RTRT. 

Standard 

RTRT

Vert lights.zip

On 11/10/2023 at 9:38 AM, AshleyErnest said:

anytime I add in the hoops, they get wonky.

Aside from making separate symbols on way would be to:

make a material for the mullions set as stretch to fit. First you have to make the glass area of the material blank in a photo program then save as png

Then..

Make a custom door symbols from a wall cabinet, that is"

3/4" thick; separations set to what you need in the job; reveal set to 0;

Front is side panel inset with a slab door- use the mullion material on the frontuse a single slab door for front,

Back of cabinet also a side panel inset but a custom door symbol that is a slab 1/4" thick set Y origin for it to offset 7/16 into the cabinet. Make that glass.

I did a quickie just using your graphic to see what it would look like resized. Didn't take the time to go to photo editor but have done that in the past.

Here is how you Gothic Mullions (hoops) resize.

1 hour ago, DGail1 said:

an anyone help?

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00099/accessing-your-archive-files.html

Did this for someone some years ago but couldn't find it. Here's one way, I already had most of the parts. Didfn't bother to add the custom drawerbox but should give you some ideas. The front side tape might be better done using side panels but this works too. Stretchers are put into the back so you have to adjust them to work with the front.

Personally I wouldn't bother with it. Was a KD for a few decades and never needed this level with anyone (some 2 dozen suppliers) I got cabinets from. If I did on a regular basis I would use a dedicated cabinet program.

I suppose the stretchers could be easy enough if we were allowed to use a custom symbol for separations. I'd rather see time spent elsewhere though- like splitting up front, sides and back in Style Palettes

Stretchers and edge banding.zip

1 hour ago, CAuserBarb said:

I'm looking for a cabinet door w/ just a half arch to render w/out mullions

Placed Chiefs door in blank plan. Open object (X15 would be open symbol in earlier versions) 3D tab. Change smoothing angle to something over 90, I used 130. 

In a 3D camera view use the delete surface tool to delete just the mullions. When selected they highlight. Then save as symbol, cabinet door, set stretch zones for width and height. 

Plan attached with two symbols included. 

arch door.zip

23 hours ago, TSarantopulos said:

I don't know if CA aver got a workaround or fix for this, but I really could use it.

 I must have been out somewhere when this thread showed up. But has been answered before with method using two cabinets. PIA but can change to symbol or block though I never bothered. Can be cleaner if you also make shelf symbols to use in only one cabinet which I have for closets. In any case here's one variation.

Open Corner.zip

Not sure what is going on with your's since no plan attached. This one works just fine. I left the room dividers visible for clarity. Might be an issue? Plan attached.

elevation.zip

1 hour ago, saraolson said:

Is it possible to change the tolerance of the cabinet labels?  Cabinets that are 17 1/2" wide are currently labeled as 18" wide.  

Thank you

Sara

(Please fill out your signature with version, some computer info helps along the way-there are posts detailing this.)

Yes

by setting default label to "specify label" From there it depends on which version of Chief you are using.

Once setting to specify label you need to have a nomenclature identifier, Like B for base, followed by a dimension macro set to the tolerance you want. This gets tricky when that nomenclature changes - like to 3DB. 

IF in X14 or above look for information on "number formatter: in the forum to see how to write a dimension macro.

There are a couple of folks on the forum who sell a cabinet label macro that can account for "some" nomenclature. You could look into that- likely not expensive. BUT FWIW what is out there would not work for any of the brands of cabinet that I worked with. So find out what setting they offer for that before getting into it.

There are ways to shortcut some of the process using with a library of user configured cabinets with correct starting nomenclature for each. That can be used with the "replace from library" tool or with style palettes -both of which are separate topics. 

4 hours ago, StockmanBuilders said:

Any suggestions?

 Split the front vertically. Add the shelves to the side with the opening. First set number of shelves, then distance between. Last set the bottom shelf distance from previous to match the bottom right side distance.

Converted a cabinet door to a molding, had to mess around a little with repeat distance and height was odd.

curved wainscot.zip

OK got rid of it. I was hesitant at first anyway.

I have 2020 v9.1 (or 9 ??) Exe file and dongle but supposedly can't sell it ? Haven't used it since 2011/12. Even have a compatible copy of Envisioneer 7 or so.

I prefer Chief.

1 hour ago, RobUSMC said:

I would like to hear what others do or any suggestions.

I used a system where ALL of the information for any brand was contained in library objects (now style pallettes). This included methods to include details.

That all ends up in a schedule. It can also automatically show up in a selected plan view.

The schedule gets copied and pasted into a spread sheet. A little sheet manipulation then allows every: cabinet code, mod code, sides, hinging...whatever is needed to be placed directly into an on line ordering system. Most of the systems I came across allowed that information to be drag and dropped into it. It never took a full day, rarely 4 hours for a big job. Lot of modest kitchen orders were done in an hour or two including checking.

With some though you could likely figure it out from that. OTOH...

I can teach it to you and set it up to start (or completely per brand and advise for a while). Not free.

I am away until August 8th. In Seattle tomorrow then no contact till the 8th. If you are interested email me or PM before by the time I am back.

I intended to write up a booklet (not video but may include a little) with this and some of my other stuff but life gets in the way. Maybe get it done a little after IBS if you want to wait for the cheap way out.

Edit- I should add that I also used part of this method to write orders for brands that did NOT have an online system but needed a printed order. The only difference was I had to put in prices. I may have a very old vid of placing order on line laying around somewhere.

Consistently used this with  QCCI, Mountaineer (basically Rich Maid codes, a lot like CWP),& Showplace. ...a few orders with both Luxor & Elmwood.