Custom dishwasher symbols not inserting into cabinets

[YoderW]

I'm having trouble making the custom dishwasher models I created and imported behave like the others in Chief. When I try to use mine, they leave a gap between the top of the dishwasher and the bottom of the countertop. I'm importing them as interior fixtures, checking the "Inserts into Cabinet Front" box in the Symbol Options, changing the origin offset so it sits how I'd like it to, I've even tried matching all the symbol and object settings that the other dishwashers have, no matter how insignificant they seem. The ones already in Chief (the GE catalog, specifically) seem to stretch to match the cabinet they're placed in, at least in height, so this gap doesn't happen or isn't visible. I could just change the height of the object before placing it, I guess, but I don't understand why my imported models would behave differently with all of the same object and symbol settings applied. Can anyone help?

[Evolution]

Is the "stretch plain" available? Did  you create the symbol in CA? Have you done a search on the Forum. I remember seeing a thread similar (not a dishwasher) at some time on the forum. 

 

[YoderW]

I don't see "stretch plain" anywhere in the settings for my symbols or the CA symbols. I created them in Blender and imported them myself as .dae files, but in the past I've managed to get all of my other custom models to behave properly (wall-mounted, doors, insets, etc). I did search the Forum, but the only threads I could find were relatively old, and the solutions weren't really applicable. 

[Ridge_Runner]

I think Bob meant did you check that you had created stretch planes for your symbol in the "sizing" section of the dialog box (dbx)?

 

edit: You have to be in the "open symbol" dbx and not the "open item" dbx to set stretch planes.

 

[YoderW]

Oh I see now, I was expecting a toggle so I overlooked the stretch planes boxes. Thank you! I guess I'll just have to play around with the values until I find what works. The CA tutorial video helps a bit, but I'm still not totally understanding it. I assume having to set the origin offset for the dishwasher's Z position to -4 because of the toe kick is throwing everything off. The smallest I can get right now is a 1-2 inch gap at the top, and it doesn't seem to want to stretch in the width at all. I've attached what it currently looks like and the best settings I've found so far. I can't seem to get it to do this well trying a stretch zone rather than two planes. 

[YoderW]

I didn't think so initially since the dishwashers included in CA and the bonus catalogs didn't have them set up, but those seem to stretch on their own whereas mine won't. I've copied all the symbol and object settings I can find from one of the bonus dishwashers, but it still doesn't stretch in the X or Z dimensions. So I tried the stretch planes since that is what Evolution suggested I check. 

[tommy1]

Looks like you need yo change the symbol origins.

[YoderW]

I've tried messing with the origin both in CA and the original Blender file before exporting, but CA seems to ignore the Blender origins. I've attached the symbol as both a Chief library file (with the current best settings I can find applied) and the original dae.

Low Cost DW2.calibz

Low Cost DW2.dae

[rlackore]

I'm stumped.

I tried your symbol - no joy.

I converted your .dae to a symbol - no joy.

I converted a box in X11 to a symbol - no joy.

I converted a box in SketchUp to a symbol - no joy.

I re-converted a Catalog dishwasher to a symbol - no joy.

All my efforts duplicated the settings from existing Catalog symbols.

[Joe_Carrick]

Here's my version.  Symbol Name is "Low Cost DW4.

 

I basically did the same thing Eric did but my settings are probably a little different than his.

Low Cost DW-JC.calibz

 

Note that generally DW symbols in Chief don't include the toe kick as they insert into the face of a cabinet.

[YoderW]

Wow, thank you both! What did you do differently? The only thing I see that's changed is the size of the symbol in the object settings, but that should be stretching to fit anyway and doesn't fix it for my original symbol. 

[Joe_Carrick]

The height in the Size settings had to be reduced to account for the toe-kick.  I know that seems backwards but it's the inverse of the symbol height vs cabinet front height without the toe-kick.

[TheKitchenAbode]

3 minutes ago, YoderW said:

but that should be stretching to fit anyway and doesn't fix it for my original symbol. 

 

I believe you will find that when a symbol is first inserted into a cabinet that CA does not size it to fit. It checks the symbols defined size and if the cabinet opening is large enough it will insert it at that size, if one of the dimensions is to great it pops up a message that the cabinet opening is not large enough and to resize the cabinet. The symbol stretch zones only come into play after the symbol has been inserted and you change the cabinets size.

[YoderW]

Okay, I think I got it now. Thank you all so much! 

[TheKitchenAbode]

Your symbol does not work correctly because for some reason, the actual symbol size and the bounding box size/position is mismatched, maybe when it was first converted to a CA symbol something got corrupted.

 

Suggest just placing your symbol in a plan, not in a cabinet, adjust the symbols size to be proper, ignore the bounding box. Then convert it to a symbol, then place it in the plan again and open up the symbol and set the origin offsets and bounding box as they should be to insert into the cabinet door opening size. Save this to your library and all should be ok.