Smn842

Although there do need to be improvements to delays when files are missing, I would like the option to keep track of what files (with full paths) are being referenced and not just what's missing to keep things well managed as I suggested here: I can see from using developer diagnostic tools that Chief goes through a lot of locations trying to find referenced files which is great, but it means even with good practices the odd unexpected location can creep in which in turn leads to more cases of missing files when upgrading Chief, new PC etc and then more of these slowdowns.

I always go for the highest DPI I can get for the size monitor I deem most suitable for my work and set text scaling as required for good UI size fonts as this gives the sharpest looking text and details and reduces eye strain. Text scaling on Windows has improved vastly over recent years and support for this font scaling in modern applications is now generally good and even for mixed font scaling across multiple monitors its getting a lot better. It's only older or poorly written applications which will have a fuzzy look when using Windows text scaling, everything else will benefit from more pixels per character/inch. As most 43" are only 4K resolution (102.5 DPI at 4K) I am currently using 3 x 32" 4K and 3 x 27" 4K (recently upgraded from lower res) which are 137.7 DPI and 163.2 DPI respectively. These are at 125% and 150% text scaling which gives near identical real world text size for the same font as 137.7 /125 * 150 = 165.24 and text on both is notable sharper than the 96 DPI monitors used to aim for. I work mostly in software development and appreciate Chief users may benefit from a 43"+ monitor, but sharper text and details is a benefit that's often overlooked. I recommend two or even three 32" 4/5K monitors to friends when asked about higher end setups (three is nice with one in the middle). I have tried 43" and larger but the lower DPI at the moment and large size make multiple monitor setups difficult and impacts off angle colours/brightness even with IPS screens, whereas arranging smaller monitors around you gives higher DPI and a more consistent focal length which is easier on my older eyes.

When using font scaling above 100% characters should be crisper not fuzzy as they're made of more pixels. However sadly some application don't correctly support scaling properly and hence Windows just scales all the existing GUI which gives it the fuzzy appearance. This can be overridden on a per application basis but if the application doesn't allow larger fonts to be used for its GUI then this reverts to the original small fonts issue. I currently run 4 x 32" 4K monitors at 125% scaling plus a couple of 27" 2560x1440 at 100%. This is so I can develop software and easily test for scaling issues. This give a worse case scenario of mixing scaling settings but since I started doing this a couple of years back I've noticed that many modern applications handle non 100% scaling fine and the best manage the mixed scaling (dragging between different monitors with different text scaling) as well. For my other PCs/laptops I always go for all high DPI monitors as the sharpness is so easy on the eye. I've tried 40 - 45" monitors but they were all 4K resolution so for me that size is one for when 8K is a viable option.

I think you need to check today's date

Most terrain parts are missing from Interiors so a toolbar is probably not needed and that could be the difference you are seeing generally. I use Premier so cannot confirm but you can verify with CA Support and also check the product comparison here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/products/compare.html

I've developed various software for desktop and web that has had the challenge of rendering rich text within fixed areas without cropping or wrapping at different points when rendered on devices with different screen DPIs, font metrics, browser vs desktop rendering and different OSes. It's true that problems often originate outside of the software presenting the issue, but there are many cases where this is true in software and applications need to work around the problems as I'm sure CA has done for other issues. There are various approaches depending on what is important for the application, such as retaining wrapping locations for multiline text, retaining box size (so shrinking text/spacing) in addition to preventing character cropping. It's a problem that can be solved although it can be harder than it appears depending on the level of low level access to the rendering system/library used. For the software I worked on in most cases text boxes were effectively resized by small amounts automatically to retain wrapping and avoid character cropping but without impacting the saved size unless edited (to avoid needless saves). It was also often useful to have an additional small margin inside the box that wasn't considered part of the calculated sizing after editing, but could be used during rendering as this would avoid overall text box size changes where users wanted them to be accurately positioned or aligned

I always limit Chief to 3 of those monitors all using the same GPU and that's what I've always stated to support but this is always ignored. I see I've been down voted for stating what has happened with my support cases and given I managed the development of complex GPU related software for global corporations and have offered virtual machine images to prove my case with GUI issues (not 3D rendering ) and got a response saying Chief doesn't work in virtual machines. I don't know what else I can do - there seems to be a blinker vision with some issues.

I have 6 monitors and the odd issue with X13 but disconnecting one of my two GPUs isn't an option as each only supports 4 monitors. Interestingly some of the issues aren't related to the dual GPUs (lifetime in software development often using GPU rendering) but support just see the multiple GPU config and that's end of case.

Many vendors used to host their videos where the video file was basically read by the browser and played. This allowed the easy save to disk options, but was wasteful if people didn't watch the whole video as part or all of the file was read, and this also added load which could be an issue if lots of users connected at the same time. Hence many videos are now hosted by third parties that specialise in video streaming as they have the resources to cope with variable loads and can more efficiently stream only the content that you actually watch which is the feature that often breaks the old save as functionality. Such services also have an interest in avoiding downloading to allow videos to be updated and in some cases adverts included dynamically. The last time I checked CA moved to using Vimeo, but the download issue with such services can be worked around by using one of a number of browser extensions that basically download all the stream and then recreate a full video file which can then be saved to disk.

From the reviews I've read about real time raytracing with these drivers for a GTX 1080 the performance was terribly poor even compared to the 20xx series which is quite a way behind the 30xx cards. So for some applications (and perhaps Chief?) I could understand companies not wanting to support use of the older cards as it could make features appear unusable and it adds another area of possible driver bugs to contend with.

I second the suggestion of getting glasses specifically for monitor distance. I would also be concerned of neck strain of that stand and the distance difference from top to bottom of the screen increasing eye strain (even people with great eyesight experience eye strain adjusting eye focus so frequently) I have zero ability to adjust focus (surgery not age related) and although I usually wear multifocal contact lenses I have glasses to wear over them to fix any residual astigmatism (affects sharpness and contrast) as well as adjust focal length to be perfect for the distance I work at. I similarly have glasses just for monitor distance to use when not wearing contact lenses. Both options give me sharp vision on my 6 x 32" 4K monitors (so large area and small text) something neither bi-focal glasses with the height issue and just two fixed focal lenses, or varifocal with distortion at the edges could do. I also found a significant drop in eye fatigue with this approach. I buy these various non full correction glasses online at sub $40 (often around $25) a pair as my optometrist said their systems weren't really geared up for anything other than my normal full correction/varifocal glasses and also extremely expensive.

This is another reason why 3D mice are so useful as you can just pan and zoom as required with the other hand. Another lesser known benefit is even when in modal dialog boxes the currently active 2D or 3D plan window can still be moved around using a 3D mouse which can be useful if you forget to check something that's not quite in view before opening the dialog.

Perhaps the pole should be 'how many would ray trace with Chief if it was way faster'? Even though I upgrade PC's regularly and try to get the best balance of overclocked core speed vs number of cores, ray trace has not appealed since we've had PBR. As I use a 3D mouse the rendering on the new PBR + Ray trace on X13 didn't look that good to me as I move a lot in 3D views. I am more interested in the consistent lighting model mentioned and hope that will fix the issues of materials looking so different in standard, pbr and ray trace modes as well as the bleed of colours from backdrops and other areas radically changing the internal views.

...now if only we could control door inset (like windows) so they can be correctly positioned. Covering up cavity gaps gets onerous as does symbol workarounds for the cases where the position is way off where it would be in practice ;-) Before anyone asks - I've submitted this several times as a suggestion which pictures so just hoping it will make an appearance one day!

Do you have the same text scaling on all monitors and what is the resolution of each? I was testing a six monitor setup recently, not for Chief, some other software I use but I wanted to make sure it wouldn't impact other software. I found mixed text scaling settings caused serious issues with Chief and not just the usual blurry font issues on some monitors when using applications that don't support mixed DPI modes, just system wide life Chief.

If you use a 3DConnexion mouse in multiple versions of Chief Architect and notice it loses any custom settings/speeds when running one version then another (on Windows at least) then read on. Background (for the interested, otherwise jump to the workaround) Technically this is a bug / limitation in the way Chief registers/configures itself with the 3DConnexion software but given how few people this probably affects I've not reported it as its less important than others and importantly there is a workaround. The root cause is due to the way Chief lets the 3DConnexion driver store its settings and identifies itself with the same ID string "ChiefArchitect" for every major release. Applications have the option to create their own 3DConnexion settings file but Chief relies on the 3DConnexion software to do this for it. This means the 3DConnexion software creates a settings file for Chief based on the ID Chief provides when registering for 3D mouse events. The result is multiple versions of Chief sharing a single settings file. Although this sounds like a good approach the 3DConnexion software also stores the executable name and ensures this matches before using the settings due to another default setting. An example of the top part of the 'ChiefArchitect.xml' file which is stored in the %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\3Dconnexion\3DxWare\Cfg folder: This file was created after using X11 and adjusting the 3D mouse settings. If another version of Chief is then used the 3DConnextion software finds the settings file that matches the name Chief provides 'ChiefArchitect' but as the exe name doesn't match it ignores the settings and uses the defaults again. If the mouse settings are updated again the 3DConnextion software over writes the old file with a new one with the applicable Chief exe name and the problem keeps repeating. Workaround From a browse of the 3DConnexion SDK there are various ways to configure the 3D mouse, but to work around the issue and share the same settings across versions (which is my preference) all that needs to be done is to add all applicable Chief exe names in "ExecutableName" elements as below, in my case just those for X11 and X12 to the "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\3Dconnexion\3DxWare\Cfg\ChiefArchitect.xml' file: After this the 3DConnextion software matches the 'SiOpenAppName' value and exectuable name and all is well :-) Please note there may also be other files that appears to be specific to each Chief Architect release in this folder as below but these appears to be due to using the 3D mouse before Chief registers itself. After that these files appear to be ignored and only the ChiefArchitect.xml is used. Extra note added Mar 2023 If you install a major upgrade of Chief on the first use of it the existing ChiefArchitect.xml file can be removed entirely when the 3Dconnexion software resets the settings as the exe name doesn't match. In that case the original file is moved to %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\3Dconnexion\3DxWare\Cfg\bak and renamed ChiefArchitect.bak. If you haven't got a backup of the original with your customisations simply close Chief, copy that file back to the folder above and rename the extension to .xml, make the changes I mentioned above for the required Chief version numbers and restart Chief.

I often run a mix of resolutions as I have a lot of monitors shared between my two main desktop PCs and I don't see that particular issue. However I do see an issue with mixed DPI scaling modes meaning some applications and parts of Windows that don't support per monitor DPI awareness can look less sharp on the lower DPI monitors (assuming highest DPI is main monitor) due to the default Windows scaling. Sadly this mixed DPI issue is related to the text scaling preference and not the resolution, so even a 27" 4K monitor set to 150% scaling next to a 43" 4K at 100% scaling (which yields a similar text size) will still suffer from it. Windows was quite late adding adequate API support for mixed DPI across monitors for applications to be able to handle this correctly (and its a fair bit of work to add full support hence even Windows isn't fully compliant). Hence many applications currently only support a system wide DPI setting which is mainly to resolve problems with high DPI 4K and 8K monitors. So currently the only way to get the best quality on multiple displays is to use multiple identical size and resolution monitors.

Another thought is do you have a mix of settings for text scaling across the displays? When I've recently tested Chief with a mix of text scaling across three monitors I saw the same issue. Mixed text scaling settings across monitors is still an issue for many applications (and also parts of Windows itself) due to those applications only supporting system wide scaling, not the more recent per monitor support that was added to Windows.

Same here, its a game changer. One additional benefit for me is when modal dialogs are open the 3D mouse can still be used to move and zoom the previously active 2D or 3D view. It may be my less efficient work flow (part time user is my excuse!) but I've had a lot of occasions when in a dialog box that I've wanted to go back and check something on the plan or view that's out of sight or too small. Now I can still use the 3D mouse without exiting the dialog.

For me it depends on the plan complexity and whether Chief is doing a full double plan type save. I had some plans where Chief was creating 500MB undo files on many edits. With a SATA SSD that was causing obvious small stalls during editing but once I moved to NVMe (or RAM drive) that became the lesser issue but I still often noted a chunk of CPU creating those files (around a second but still noticeable). I found a CPU difference when measured with some dev tools across plans evens producing similar size undo files, so obviously the plan content has a significant impact. I agree I don't see a reason with 10 vs 50 undo files would make any difference as I've not noted and reading of existing files other than to use them for undo. I just find a difference with none or any as expected, but as 50 can use a lot of disk space I usually go for 20. The reason I favour a RAM drive for Chief and other apps that create a lot of temporary files is a) I have 128GB and b) it reduces SSD writes. I recorded writes for a few days and noted Chief and equally I/O intensive devs tool I use were making 150GB+ writes per day. In theory the more durable SSDs will still be fine for years but it does seem a little wasteful for temp files!

Although undo's seem less likely to be your main issue: Chief writes a lot of these as they are created after every operation. Many undo files are basically a full before and after plan file so can be disk and a lesser extent cpu intensive to create. The best way to check for impact is to temporarily disable undos entirely. Try it to asses the impact and then as suggested set to a smaller number. If undos make your workflow laggy when editing then using an NVMe SSD or RAM drive is the way to go. With 32GB RAM a ram drive would probably be the way to go and the fastest. On the general topic as per other comments: PDF's can have a big impact on Chief so converting to images helps a lot.

I've not tried a recent Safari, but different browser have different capabilities (with or without add-ins) and some videos are made available from web sites in a form all browsers can download. It's just becoming less common without add-ins for the reasons I mentioned earlier. So it's mainly due to CA and their choice of delivery (Vimeo from the videos I've seen) as part of their web design, but I don't think CA are wrong to go this route as its a simple way ensure good video performance globally and its still easy to still download even if an add-in is required.

I've been frustrated by the lack of inset control on doors (like we have with windows) ever since I started using Chief. I raised a detailed suggestion via support two years ago covering various examples where I need to be able to change the inset either to around the middle or the 'wrong' side as Chief see it versus the opening direction. For workarounds all I do is either make it two way to put the door more in the middle if that's near enough or make a symbol out of it. I did experiment with wall layers and even tiny sections of thinner wall but each created their own issues.

I didn't look at the page source before the change, but the way its accessing the video means its not a direct link to a video file and hence the save link as type functionality no longer works (it makes a separate request which streams the video). This is getting very common with video links to optimise delivery by only streaming what is watched and to prevent downloading so people always view the latest version (and on some sites get adverts etc) and also cannot easily distribute it. All these download tools are doing is to make the request to stream the whole file and then download it.

Although you can capture videos using screen capture as Lew mentioned (I use Snagit for example) another approach is to use a download manager tool to get the original stream file. This can also be done manually if you're a techy but such tools make it simpler. These utilities are designed to optimise downloads by using many connections or downloading many items from a page and many offer video download. In my case I use Internet Download Manager and it will offer download Chief training videos: