7 minutes ago, madcowscarnival said:

I have a file open currently where the "Room Name" box just stays empty unless I manually type in the text.

Did you perhaps delete the name thereby unchecking "Default"? That will produce the condition you described.

If that's the case, just check the Default wrench icon:

1 hour ago, gravattedesign said:

where is it getting this default, when the default box is checked?

Out of the box, objects are assigned to System Default Layers which are hardcoded into the software and are not user-assignable and cannot be deleted, although their name can be changed. "Text, Notes" is the System Default Layer for Notes. Checking the Default Layer box sends the object to the System Default Layer, NOT your "default" layer. You don't want to check the box unless you want the Note to go to the System Default Layer.

Did you perhaps change the name of the out-of-box "Text, Notes" layer to "Text, Notes, Foundation"?

Just set up your default Plot Plan Note (under Default Settings > Text, Callouts and Markers > Note > Saved Note Defaults) to use the Plot Plan Notes layer, and they will be created on that layer. Ignore that checkbox- you should see the correct layer in that field, with the checkbox off. And change "Text, Notes, Foundation" back to just "Text, Notes," and create a new layer for Foundation Notes.

I only see them on my desktop, and not on a mobile device... and my browsing here is 50/50 between them. One of the reasons I don't get excited if someone doesn't have there's filled out.

20 minutes ago, 5Design said:

I'm sure there's a simple fix

I'm sure there is too but I'm a little confused by your description of the issue. A drawing with notes, or better yet a plan file, and a better explanation of what you're after, would get you a quick solution. 

27 minutes ago, robdyck said:

Example...could someone tell me if I should I serve these cookies to family over the holidays?

Please attach samples. Taste test required or we're just guessing. 

1 hour ago, joeyp42690 said:

How do I get my soffit to match ceiling hight? trying to get everything straight.

Vertical location of the soffit is controlled by the Eave and Gable Sub Fascia Depth in the Structure panel of the Build Roof or Roof Plane dialog.

12 hours ago, SNestor said:

you are able to move the frieze in/out, up or down

Yep like I said, I don't spec frieze on a beam but that's a good approach.

The ceiling is still protruding past the beam, which isn't an issue on the eaves as it's usually in the soffit space, but it is on a gable. I take care of that by deleting the ceiling over room and drawing a manual ceiling plane.

Good discussion, I'm always up for learning new methods to deal with porches / railings.

28 minutes ago, SNestor said:

@Chrisb222 - I like your method...but, the frieze will only build back to the face of the wall. In the examples below I offset the railing 1.5" to move it back to stack on the foundation...then the frieze will not touch the beam in the railing wall.

 

If the beam is 3" wider than the wall it works. 

 

   

Steve, I like your method too. But when i've tried it, the soffit didn't close. And I don't specify frieze on a beam, and typically don't specify frieze on an eave either.

Your picture number 1 does reveal another problem with my method though, which I deal with all the time and that is the porch ceiling projecting past the beam.

As you said earlier, nothing perfect with porches and railings. Or decks, for that matter, lol.

The method I described still allows the soffit to reach the beam, and automatically aligns everything to stack flush with the foundation, which is the most common technique here. The only downside is the visible joint between the slab and the overhang in vector views, but it's easy to do and looks correct in plan and 3D:

40 minutes ago, Northriver said:

Great advice.

Would the same work for an invisible wall ?

No but you can use an open railing with no rail, post, or beam to get the effect (if this is what you're after):

37 minutes ago, bonddesigngroup said:

No one places a column at the extents of the concrete in the real world.  I have to create a slab that extends out past to make it work

I'm a little confused by your wording. I do often place columns at the extents of the foundation wall, but there's always a 1-1/2" lip on the slab around the foundation wall.

If you're talking about a typical 1-1/2" lip on the slab around the foundation, I do that with a 1-1/2" concrete layer added to the wall dialog. I also make the interior layer 1-1/2" so the main layer of the wall will be centered on the railing/posts:

However I do also sometimes place columns inside the extents of the foundation, and use other methods to also accomplish that automatically, if that's what you meant...

8 minutes ago, TheDeckGuy71 said:

I just want to remove the ceiling material and show the exposed rafters.

Any feedback you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

As Joe said, uncheck "Ceiling Above This Room," but also you will need to go into the Roof dialog and delete the ceiling layers:

Then make sure you have "Framing, Roof Rafters" layer turned on in your camera view:

38 minutes ago, Adam_Gibson said:

Here's the plan. It's too large to attach. Thank you!

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/34qyy46biydezivkmswo5/Untitled-1.zip?rlkey=s6n4emcde0t4iudk2b7plw7ss&dl=0

The wall above is not aligned with the wall next to the stairs, causing the lower ceiling to poke into the room:

Go to level 2 and click the wall alignment button:

6 minutes ago, Ed_Orum said:

I can't find the search feature in my Library Browser.  I don't even know what I did to lose it.  Any suggestions?

 

 

Thanks,

Lane

Click the gear icon in the lower left and select "Filters."

7 hours ago, Elliot said:

I thought the selected layer set overrides whatever is in the defaults.

No, the selected Default Layer Set simply controls which layers are visible in that Saved Plan View (SPV). The Default Layer Set won't control which Text Layer is Active for Text for that view - you also have to set those Text and Rich Text layer setting defaults.

Think of the SPV as a program of "Active Defaults" i.e., settings which that view uses (among other settings) - and defaults to - when you open that view. If you want Floor Framing TEXT to appear on the Text- Floor Framing Layer when placing text in the Floor Framing SPV, then in that SPV's Defaults, Text must be assigned to that layer. So in your Floor Framing SPV, you want the Default Text assigned to the layer for Text- Floor Framing.

In your SPV Defaults, under Rich Text and Text, hit the Pencil icon, and see what layer they are assigned to (for Rich Text hit the Appearance tab, for Text click the Line Style tab). That is where you control when and where the text appears, and it's why the program is asking if you want to turn on the Text- Ceiling Framing layer - because your Floor Framing SPV Default for Text has Ceiling Framing as the layer it's assigned to.

Depending on your preferences, you may need to create specific Saved Text Styles for specific views, but you may also be able to repeat some text styles over multiple views. It depends on your setup. 

4 minutes ago, JKEdmo said:

Tried that but didn't work.

It will cut the base if you set the window at 0" above floor instead of your 2" AFF setting:

Apparently the baseboard won't cut when the window isn't all the way down. If you want the casing to go under the window instead of the baseboard, you may need to manually edit the baseboard as described by DB above.

8 hours ago, Michael_Gia said:

Anyone know why Preferences is showing 0MB for video memory?

That refers to the memory on a standalone graphics card. Since newer Macs like yours use integrated video that shares memory with the CPU, there is no onboard graphics card hence no memory on the non-existent graphics card.

45 minutes ago, Michael_Gia said:

The glass is clear in Standard render, but milky in PBR. 

In Physically Based rendering mode, you have "Use Backdrop Image" unchecked:

However, checking it produces a lot of other unwanted effects. Firstly, since you have no interior lights, the blue backdrop is washing everything inside the room with a strong blue color. I played around with Sun and Daytime Backdrop Intensity settings and added a bunch of interior lights and quickly got this, but it still needs a lot of work (which is why I don't mess with PBR, I'm much better with CPU Ray Trace):

Also, your glass material is from the Clopay garage door Manufacturers catalog...? I changed it to Chief Standard Glass in one sash, but they look the same...

33 minutes ago, mfortune said:

Also, there isn't a "smaller box" available next to the dimensions on the polyline....

No, you can't move the Displayed Line Length on a CAD line. 

32 minutes ago, mfortune said:

the Number Style dialog didn't affect the dimensions

Oh, you meant line length displayed on a CAD line, not a dimension.

Go to Default Settings > CAD > General CAD and under Displayed Line Length Format, click Define and set your formatting there for CAD line lengths. 

Again, Number Style ONLY affects numbers within dialog boxes.

17 minutes ago, mfortune said:

Can anyone help me with getting the dimensions to show in Decimal Feet rather than Feet, fractional inches?  I have Decimal Feet selected in the Number Style dialog, but no change.....

Dimension formatting is controlled in the Dimension dialog, Primary Format panel. Number Style dialog only applies to numbers within the dialog.

17 minutes ago, mfortune said:

While we are at it, is there any way to show the dimension/angle at either end of the line rather than at it's midpoint?

You can move the dimension value by clicking the smaller box near the value and dragging.

17 minutes ago, mfortune said:

Finally, is there a way to show all digits on a quadrant bearing when one of the values is "00"?

Not that I'm aware.

23 minutes ago, JKEdmo said:

how come I cannot create fancy muntin patterns for a "regular" window?

You can. Just type Custom Muntins into "Help":

Custom Muntins

You can design your own muntins for the glazing of a window or door. Muntins are formed from a CAD block composed of lines and arcs drawn over window or door glass in a cross section/elevation view. The CAD block should cover at least half the glass horizontally and one quarter of the area vertically, but should not overlap it in either direction by more than five percent. Nested CAD blocks cannot be used. See CAD Blocks.

Creating Muntins

Custom muntins are created by drawing their pattern using the CAD tools, blocking the pattern to create a CAD block, and then selecting the window and clicking the Load Muntins edit button.

To create custom muntins

1. Create a Cross Section/Elevation  view of the wall the window or door is in and Zoom  in on the window or door.
2. Use the Draw Line  and Draw Arc  tools to design the desired muntins. Try to make them start and end as close to the edge of the glass as possible.
3. When the muntin design is complete, group-select all lines and arcs and click the Make CAD Block  edit button. See Selecting Objects.
4. Select the door or window and click the Load Muntins  edit button to convert the CAD block into custom muntins.

• If the window in question is the component of a mulled unit, bay, or box window, click on it and, then click the Select Next Object  edit button.
• If the window in question is the component of a bow window, the custom muntins will load onto all of its components - not just one of them.

If your window has more than one sash (a double-hung window, for example, has two), you must create a separate CAD block for each pane. When you click Load Muntins , all CAD blocks are loaded.

Custom muntins move with the opening and copy with their opening. They also stretch or compress when the glass area is resized. This stretching may not be perfect for non-rectangular glass areas that are resized by a large amount.

Custom muntins can be created for the components of Bay Windows , Box Windows , and mulled units. To create custom muntins for a Bow Window , you must draw them on the one component that is selectable. When the muntins are loaded, they will be applied to all of the components See Component Windows.

The Load Muntins  edit tool can also be used to add custom muntins to glass doors. See Special Doors.

18 hours ago, GeneDavis said:

door casing thing, which is to order all 14s, not 16s

Yeah we do that too. So set up your casing to divide by 14 instead of 16:

You can also edit the default so it reports the piece length in the Size column.

So for these two doors, you need 5 pieces 14' long. Right?

Again, just ignore the ft mark after the 5.

On 11/17/2023 at 8:21 PM, RRSSeattle said:

How can I make a materials list (buy / cut / lf) that provides the same type of information found in the Structural Member Reporting?

You can't, exactly, but you can modify the material list to get what you want.

In the Material List, double-click the cell for Count and change "=length" to "=(length/16)" to convert the total lineal feet into the number of 16' lengths. Change "ft" to something less confusing (I would use the ' mark, see example)

78 lineal ft:

Change formula for reporting:

(5) 16' pieces required (ignore the foot mark after the number):

Of course, that math could also be done easily with a calculator, but this way will be dynamic and update as the plan changes.

However, you can also set this up in your template plan so the Material List reports this way automatically with each new plan. Create a room, open it and go into the Components panel for the room, and change the count formula for your standard moldings there, then save as a new template. You have to save out your template with the room intact; if you delete the room, the formula won't carry forward. But once you open a new plan from the template, you can delete that room and start over, and the formula will stick:

On 11/17/2023 at 8:21 PM, RRSSeattle said:

what I really want to know is how many 8' or 16' pieces of trim I need to purchase

This will only work for one specific length so obviously, if you want to buy all 8' pieces, divide by 8. Here, we use only 16' lengths.

18 hours ago, Planstech said:

I pretty much prepare nothing but architectural drawings for single family homes

In that case, the single biggest improvement in recent years is Saved Plan Views. It's a massive enhancement to previous methods for producing architectural drawings, and will definitely speed up AND simplify your workflow. Check this out:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/search/?default_tab=video&q=saved+plan+views

19 hours ago, Planstech said:

I've tried reading the new features for each progressive release, but I don't see how it'll make that big of a difference for me.

And it won't if you don't really embrace the upgrades. So if you can get by with X4, I'd just use it for now to get rolling, then switch to the latest version if and when the workload supports it financially. 

I will say tho, the upgrades are fantastic.