rlackore

Chief is limited - it allows diffuse maps and height maps (for bump/shadow) only. More advanced tools may be nice, but I suspect that most users wouldn't have the time to dedicate to learning and using them to their full potential; and even with advanced mapping tools Chief would still be limited without better UV, lighting and environment tools. Chief is not a rendering/raytrace program - it's an architecture program that can do some basic render/raytracing.

Chief pre-defined metals will not show in render; they will show in raytrace only if photon mapping is enabled.

Am I correct in concluding that there is no way to assign a separate material or profile to an exterior door sill? I can do it with windows, but not doors.

Don't know why, but it happens to me a lot with roofs enclosing rooms like in your picture.

Here is a room, 18' exterior walls, manual ceiling plane at 17' with an air gap material definition, interior wall with Stop at Ceiling Above checked. The ceiling you see is a manual polyline solid - I couldn't figure out any other way of putting a ceiling back in.

Maybe make the shorter interior walls half walls with a railing height of 17'. Or put in a manual ceiling plane at 17', then define all the interior walls to Stop at Ceiling Above.

Preferences>Appearance>Font>Legacy Text Conversion, etc. This might have some use. Before you upgrade to a new Chief version, rename the Chief_Blueprint.ttf to Chief_Blueprint_old.ttf. Then install new Chief version, open the Preferences dbx, and select Chief_Blueprint_old.ttf for Legacy Text, Legacy Dimensions, and Legacy Material Lists. I'd don't know for sure if this will solve issues, but it may be worth exploring.

Let's say you want to use Arial instead of Chief Blueprint. Open the system font folder, delete the Chief Blueprint font, then make a copy of the Arial font and rename the copy to Chief Blueprint. Of course, this doesn't solve any kerning or special character issues that you'll encounter with replacing Chief Blueprint with a vastly different font.

You already found the fastest way - just replace the font at the system level.

Strange. Works for me with your plan:

Lew, Conceptually I understand CA's stance (and I think as a whole the CA user community does a pretty darn good job of conforming to the "official" means of communication); but if a moderator or CA employee (especially Dermot) is going to chime in on a post - here or in the Suggestions Forum - then I think it's reasonable for them to acknowledge the issue in an "official" capacity. I appreciate Dermot's explanation of how the framing labels work, but if we ignored a client just because they wrote a note on a napkin instead of sending a certified letter, we wouldn't be in business very long.

Dermot - so let me get this straight: are you just going to forget/ignore everything in this post, just because it's in the "wrong" forum? Now that's customer service! I think I'd feel differently if our Suggestion forum posts got regular responses from someone on the CA team - as it stands now we get an occasional response from Doug, but that's about it.

Which leads me to think that it's not just the font, but the internal workings of how CA handles text. Regardless, it's a PITA.

The option to restrict/un-restrict should really be in the Camera dbx, not the Defaults; but that's the case for lots of settings. If I had the energy I'd post this in the Suggestions forum, but I get the feeling that posting there is like throwing darts in the dark.

Long term solution is to uncheck: DEFAULTS>CAMERA>3D VIEWS>RESTRICT FLOOR CAMERA TO ROOM If this box is checked, then the camera won't display anything outside of the room the camera is in.

Quick solution is to use a Full Camera instead of a Floor Camera.

Do we know if it's a font issue, or the way the program version handles the font and text in general? If it's a font issue, the easy solution would be to copy the existing Chief Blueprint font, then reinstall it after upgrading - but then you lose out on any additions/changes/improvements with the new version of the font.

When I have porches like this I use a separate symbol (or built-up molding polyline) for the posts/newels, then run individual railings between them to ensure the balusters are evenly spaced. A workaround, but I don't how to accomplish what you want using a railing only.

We had this problem with all our text in X5 files when we went to X6 - it was a major pain to change everything in our templates. If we have to do this again when we upgrade to X7 I won't be very pleased.

Your plan is zero bytes - be sure to save and close the plan before zipping.

1", but I don't normally use grid snaps. Even with grid snaps at 1/4" I still had to "no locate" the wall stub - otherwise the walls auto-heal.

Okay, never mind. I made the 6" wall stub a No Locate, and then it behaves. The door is easy, just check "Ignore Casing for Opening Resize" in Defaults>Plan, center, then make 36" wide.

David, I would like to see how you accomplish the wall part. The door I had no problem placing - but the walls seem impossible - specifically the 3-1/4" stub (a longer stub works, but not 3-1/4").

You cannot perform that type of operation in Chief.

Maybe each window runs as a separate process? How many windows do you have open?