rlackore

I suggest sticking with one program. If you need/want CA for what it is, then learn to use its CAD tools. CA can't rival AutoCAD or other dedicated CAD programs, but it doesn't make sense to invest the money (and time) into a separate CAD program if you'll be producing your document set with CA. That's my two cents.

Draw two lines. Select one of the lines. The intersect/join tool will then show up in the toolbar (unless you've messed around with customizing your tool bars). Fourth icon up from the bottom.

See attached picture.

View> Angle Snap Grid

I'd say that if you protect the training time for a new employee, and not expect production output while they are learning, then 1 month will achieve basic competence in all aspects of the program.

But with this method, aren't you're placing ALL your annotations on the same layers (as defined by the annoset) for EVERY 1/4" drawing. What do you do when you're producing 1/4" floor plans, 1/4" reflected ceiling plans, 1/4" framing plans, etc? I don't understand.

Opened the plan - I get opaque glass in all windows and doors.

Are the wall types identical? Did you try using the Join Walls tool? Have you tried defining the problem wall as Through Wall at Start or Through Wall at End? I'm just spit-balling.

Select the foundation room: Room Specification>Structure>Monolithic Slab Foundation Select all four foundation walls: Wall Specification>Foundation>Footing>Align Footing on Outside Wall Specification>Foundation>Footing> Width 10" That's it.

Wall Specification dbx > Foundation > Footing > Align Footing on Outside.

Number Style is a global setting. Change the Primary Format of the dimension to achieve what you want.

I don't recall if this was an issue in X5. You kind of simulate brick molding by setting the exterior casing overlap to a negative number, but I agree that the masonry opening should be defined by the casing (brick molding). The sill won't show up either.

Post the plan.

Painting one wall of a room with the spray can will paint all the walls of the room, regardless of whether one of the walls is of a different type. Select the room, open the Room Specification dbx, click on Materials>Room>Walls>Plan Material and assign the Use Default material. Close out of the dbxs. Select the walls you want to paint (don't select the glass wall), open the Wall Specification dbx, click on Materials>Interior Wall Surface, and assign the material you want. Be aware that with interior walls, you have to be careful with which side is the "interior" and which side is the "exterior."

If you can live without the skewbacks, you could use an exterior lintel and assign it a rotated stack bond brick material. If you're really going for a jack arch with 0-degree camber, you could build it with p-solids and assign a hand-built row-lock soldier material (very tedious) for standard, artistic, and ray-trace views. However, I have no idea how to assign a pattern file that will render properly in an elevation or vector view; though I guess you could hand-draw each line.

Place a Recessed Can into your plan. Select it and click on Open Symbol. Click on 2D Block in the dbx, and notice that the CAD block assigned to the Recessed Can symbol is called "Mini Can". Close out of the dbx and return to the plan. Open the CAD Block Management dbx, scroll down to "Mini Can", and insert a copy of it into your plan. Explode the "Mini Can" block, edit the text to whatever you want, then re-block it, and name it something else, like "Mini Can Existing", or whatever. Now you can open any "Mini Can" symbol (Open Symbol) and assign your new block to it.

I'm assuming the pdf has a graphic that you want to apply to the wall sign. Images in pdf documents are embedded and can be extracted if the document isn't protected. The steps are easy. Open the pdf in a pdf viewer/editor. Select the graphic by clicking on it. It should highlight. If you use Adobe Reader, it will highlight in blue. Right-click and copy the image. Open your favorite image editor (Microsoft Paint works fine), and paste the image, then save it somewhere. In Chief, create a new material and assign the Texture Source to the image. Under Scale, select Stretch to Fit. Assign the new material to your wall sign (p-solid, material region, whatever). Here's a quick and dirty wall sign created with a material region and the steps I described above, using a graphic copied from the X5 User Guide.

Doug, I sincerely apologize for being stupid. You are correct. Sorry for wasting your time.

Thanks Lew.

Sounds to me like the leaders became associated with specific objects, such as cad linework, walls, text, etc. Then, when the object is moved, the leader moves with it, often giving wild and undesirable results. I'm not aware of any way to prevent this association - if I did, I would turn it off.

Here is my plan file, set up at 1/4:12, Print Preview enabled: Here is my layout file, sent at 1/4:12, Layout Line Scaling enabled, Print Preview enabled: I would expect the line style scaling to be the same.

Jim, Nice pdf. Coming from an AutoCAD background, it's always been annoying to me that CA auto-scales dimensions, labels, and line styles according to the screen zoom level. If my Drawing Sheet Setup is set to 1/4:12, then I want my line styles to display at this print scale (relative to all the other geometry), regardless of the screen's zoom level. Here is an illustration of why I'm frustrated with CA's paradigm: I set my Drawing Sheet Setup to 1/4:12. I create a new line style to show a sediment fence. In plan, I enable Show Line Weights, which displays my new line style RELATIVE to the other line styles: When I sent to layout at 1/4:12 with Use Layout Line Scaling I get this: Why don't they display the same? Sheet Setup is 1/4:12, layout box is 1/4:12. I only get the "correct" output if I DON'T enable Layout Line Scaling, but then I lose the benefits of Layout Line Scaling. Further, in layout, enabling/disabling Show Line Weights DOESN'T affect the auto-scaling of line styles. I'm sure I'm missing something, or not thinking about things correctly. Maybe someone can set me straight.

Doug, Have you ever considered a hardware certification program, similar to what some of the AutoDesk products participate in? I think a lot of CA users, both current and future, would appreciate having something more to go on than "mid-high end." Some solid specifications, or certified hardware, would help us nail down our budgets and and avoid making an under-powered or over-powered purchase.

I think CA has created a confusing issue, using the display of line WEIGHT to also control the display of relative line style SCALE. Combine this with Use Layout Line Scale when sending to layout, and it's a complete mess.

Brilliant, though for me it's counter-intuitive. In order to prevent the line styles from scaling (in terms of length of dashes, etc), I have to check "Show Line Weights". I've always had this unchecked. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.