Lighthouse

Thanks Alan,, I had tried that, but because of the shape it was crossing itself, but the method actually does work

I'm trying to make a copy of this shape that is 1/64" smaller all the way around. "Resize" doesn't work because it does it in proportion to the length of the line, so the longer lines get resized more than the short ones. The function I need would make a copy that is parallel to the line all the way around. I'm designing a part that fits into another part that needs a little bit of clearance. Is this possible in CA without moving each line individually? Because of the curved shape, that doesn't work. Thanks!

got it, thanks very much!

it's not listed under "columns to include". Can I create a custom column? And will that column actually be linked to the model?

I want my passage doors to be 1 3/4 thick and my closet doors to be 1 3/8 thick. The door schedule only shows width by height. Is there a way to show thickness? I realize I could put this in the comments field of the schedule, but I don't know why the door thickness is not considered a relevant field. Am I missing something? thanks

huh, that's how it's supposed to look. I'm using x12, must be a bug that they fixed :-(

I'm trying to show a drain pipe path through the house, with horizontal and vertical turns. I created a 4" cylindrical molding (but I've also tried it with square moldings, so the cylinder is not the problem. I can make 90 d turns in plan no problem. When I try to create a vertical turn, it offsets the molding. It seems to create the molding from one edge, rather than the center, so when I create a vertical turn it offsets the molding by it's own thickness. Am I doing something wrong (I hope) or is this a bug? Plan attached. 3d molding polyline.plan

yes, the hash mark that determines the end points on a dimension. I have made it 1/32 in the dimension default but it still appears on the screen as about 1/4", I can't seem to get it any smaller

I'm working on some very close in details, trying to dimension to 1/64". I have my full size dimension default set to 1/16 for text and 1/32 for arrow. But when I measure something, the screen display of the hash mark on the dimension is more like 1/2", and kind of covers what I'm trying to see. Is there some way to control the display size of dimensions besides editing the dimension defaults? thanks X12

Eric, yes, that is the DBX I used, and those are the selections I made. I've attached a simple test plan to illustrate the issue test.zip

We have two HP Omens, 15 and 17" that work great.

Hi, I changed some basement floor heights manually. I then went to "reset to defaults" and selected "foundation" and "change bottom wall height", but it doesn't change it back to the default. Is it possible to reset defaults for settings (floor height) that have been changed manually? If so, why doesn't "reset to default" work? thanks

I couldn't find anything in the forums about how to adjust siding height so I called tech help and they gave me a method that others might find helpful. I wanted to adjust lap siding so my first (bottom) course was a full course, which oddly is not the default in CA. In a typical first floor platform using 11 7/8 I joists, CA starts with a half course of siding, when then screws up any storey pole attempts to align doors and windows with siding courses. The tip, which may be know to everyone but me, is to use the "adjust material definition" under 3d/materials, or the rainbow tool, in an elevation view. In the dbx you can adjust the vertical offset to move the siding up or down to land on a full course. Cool!

hmmm, my son actually suggested that but I didn't think it would work because I would be creating another floor at 7' above the floor, where my ceiling height is 9'. So would I create a new floor that was 2' tall and define it as "open below"?. That seemed like it would create all kinds of other problems, no? My "solution" was to create windows in the non-window inset wall sections, then cover them with PS. The difficulty was expanding the fake windows into the corners and against the other windows so that little wall sections were not generated between the windows. I found that you can control/drag a window to overlap another one, but you can control/expand the window to do that. Where I had a fake window between two real windows, I could only drag one way or the other. I was able to specify a wider width in the dbx, and then drag it where I wanted. I'm sure that explanation made no sense, and I'm equally sure no one else wants to do this :-)

ok, thanks, I'm watching the video to get a better handle on this

here's the final result. painful, but I can post the method if anyone is interested

Hi, Here's a strange one- In my camera views, the siding is horizontal, in the elevation view it's vertical. In the wall dbx the material appears vertical. If I create a rotated copy of the material, I get the same issue, the orientation flips 90d depending on the view.

Thanks Rick, I didn't even know about wall niches- that's perfect!

I tried your idea, and made the middle window into a wall by eliminating the frame and changing the glass to a color. Then I put a PS around the whole thing, and put a hole in the PS, to make a frame that extended out to the face of the siding. Thanks for the idea!

that's a great idea, thanks. I think the only problem is that it will recess the windows, but what about the sections of wall between the windows that I also want to recess? I'm assuming that when you say "recess to main layer" you are referring to the window dbx? Maybe there is some way I could make a special window that looks like a wall, for the sections in between the windows

Hi, I would like to inset a band of windows, so they are recessed into the wall about 3". This horizontal window band would also include sections of wall between the windows. I would have a 2x4 wall that was padded out to 2x8 above and below the windows. I can't figure out how to model this. When I try a material region I can only recess the area about 1". A pony wall allows an upper wall and lower wall, but that is only two wall planes, and I need three: 1) lower 2) windows 3) upper. Please see attached sketch. Any ideas much appreciated.

that's what I had to do. thanks for your help. I'm not sure I understand why I can't change them as a group after the fact, but I guess if I set things up right in the first place it wouldn't be an issue.

ok, so that is what I suspected, they can't be changed globally after the fact other than by group selecting? I guess if I lock all the layers but those it will be quick- or is there some method I can't remember of only selecting things on one layer without locking the other layers?

I'm working on a foundation plan with a lot of interior footings that I want to locate. I used the manual dimension, point to point, to add the dimensions. Then, I created a dimension default layer called "foundation defaults" that was set to 1/2" as the smallest fraction. I chose "foundation defaults" as the active default in the foundation plan, but my dimensions still show small fractions, rather than rounding to 1/2" as they should in the default. When I select an individual dimension, I see that it is still using the "1/4" dimension defaults", rather than the "foundation defaults". Is there a way to get all dimensions to change to the foundation default that I have created, or do I have to select each one manually to correct it? thanks!

Is there a way to get Chief to cheat siding courses? Good carpenters create a story pole to get siding courses to align with window heads and sills, which often means cheating the interval spacing. For example, 4" clapboards might be cheated to 4 1/2" in a particular area to make them align. I know that I could create a material region and assign a different siding with a wider interval. It would be ideal if I could actually just grab individual pieces of siding and move them. Any workarounds besides material regions or polyline solids? Similarly, I would like to be able to control the amount the siding overlaps the floor platform. In some designs, I like to change siding materials at the subfloor level, rather than at the bottom of the floor platform as is Chief's default. I can adjust the wall manually, but then I'm moving the whole wall, not just the siding. Ideally I would like a setting the controls the top and bottom of the siding relative to the wall plates. Does that exist? thanks