rlackore

The only way I've been able to create accurate face-mount rail systems is to build them with symbols (or solids) for the newels/balusters, and molding polylines for the rails. Of course, these won't join up with any other automatic railing, such as at stairs or landings.

Here's an example. Arched Doorway.calibz

As Bryce mentioned, build one arched opening using p-solids and moldings. Save this to your library as a block and define the stretching planes correctly. This will give you a symbol you can import in and stretch to the correct opening width. The downside is you will get some minor distortion in the arch molding, depending on how much you stretch.

Which dormer wall do you mean (end wall, side wall, etc)? And what are you making the wall flush with (wall below, exterior wall, etc)?

The technique described in the CA Reference Manual gives you a very simple coffer at the perimeter. Dennis calls it a modified cathedral, which describes it more accurately in terms of WYSIWYG. IMO, your best bet is to stick with what you've been doing: create complex trayed/coffered/beamed ceilings with molding polylines, soffits, and p-solids.

I just upgraded to X6 this morning. While in a Section view, with more than one CAD line selected, the Trim Objects icon doesn't appear in the tool bar. With one CAD line selected, the icon appears, and the tool works as expected. In other views (Plan, CAD Detail, etc.) the tool functions as expected. Shouldn't it work in Section view the same as in other views? Anyone else experiencing this issue?

Jared, I'm talking about the physical chunk of wood (or plywood, etc) that should be drawn in cross-section, just like the physical chunk of wood that is the tread.

I notice that CA doesn't draw a stair riser in cross-section. I can adjust the thickness of a stair tread in the stair dbx, but there doesn't appear to be a similar function for the riser. Am I missing something? Thank you.

Your correct, my mistake. They were 750Ti cards, not 780Ti cards.

Glen and Curt, I understand how to control things when auto-building roofs, but CA is poor in auto-building complex, multi-pitch, multi-height, multi-angle, multi-style roofs. In complex situations, it's much easier to draw the roof planes manually. Unlike auto-build, manual placement doesn't offer any control over the critical parameters prior to creating the roof plane; and after the manual roof is placed, the dbx is nearly useless in terms of setting up a consistent, accurate heel height. What I need is the ability to edit a roof plane and control the heel, seat cut, etc.

The problem with modifying the roof baseline is that with auto-framing turned on CA will raise the effective plate height to the new baseline height. I can turn off auto-framing, and then the sections will behave, but then I have to give up auto-framing.

We just slapped some low-end ($150) 2GB Nvidia GeForce 780Ti cards into our five year-old workstations. There has been a great improvement in the speed of all rendering methods except Painting and Watercolor, both of which are still dog slow.

I placed the roof planes with a 12" rafter, just as a starting point. If I draw a truss, the profile is completely screwed up, because CA doesn't know what to do with what is essentially too small a heel height. So, yes, the heel height is controlled by the roof plane; the problem is that with a manually drawn roof plane, I can't go back and modify the heel height, say to 16", which is a realistic figure and will allow CA to draw a satisfactory truss profile. Modifying the rafter depth doesn't do anything - with a 8" pitch on my manual roof planes, CA always calculates a 10-3/4" heel, no matter what my rafter depth is (even if I enter 100', it still calculates a 10-3/4" heel). So, I was hoping somebody knows another method of controlling the heel for a manually drawn roof plane. Or, maybe someone can confirm that I'm screwed, instead.

I've manually placed some roof and ceiling planes. Now I want to add trusses and be able to control the heel height precisely. I know about trusses and the auto-build roof procedure, but it is often easier to place roofs manually. Messing around with the rafter depth is hit or miss, since CA doesn't allow independent control of how the rafter seat is cut. If anyone has a suggestion for me, I would appreciate it.