Appearance of plan walls under different layer sets

[kwhitt]

I was wondering if it was possible to have walls use different fills under different layer sets.  For example, on working plans the standard walls showing all the layers out of the box are fine.  However, on kitchen and bath plans I use walls, normal without walls, layers and want the entire wall volume shaded in a light gray.  I can't seem to do this without changing the entire wall definition which messes up my other sets.  Any ideas on how to accomplish this?

 

Also, I noticed the color toggle removes any fills when deselected.  What I'm looking for is a gray scale representation with the fills desaturated.  This is something I thought the color toggle should do, but not the case.  I'd appreciate any feedback on the above.  Kevin

[glennw]

This way springs to mind.

A bit messy, but doable.

Have one layerset that displays your normal walls with layers, colored hatching etc.

Turn Walls, Hatching off.

Have a another layerset with Walls, Layers turned off and Walls, Hatching turned on.

Use the Wall Hatch tool to hatch the walls, open the dbx for the hatches and change them to solid with transparency and select a color, etc.

Now when you change between the 2 layer sets you will see the difference.

[kwhitt]

Glenn - thanks for the reply.  I'll give this a try as soon as I get to the office.  Do you happen to know if there is a way to display in gray scale with all hatches and fills?  As stated above, when I toggle color off, the fills disappear.  Kevin

[glennw]

Kevin,

 

I am not sure.

If I toggle colors off I still get the wall fills.

Maybe something to do with your wall definition colors.

There is a setting in Preferences - Color Off is or Greyscale or Black and White, but that shouldn't make any difference.

Probably best to post a plan.

Color Off, Greyscale:

 

 

Color Off, Black and white:

[Chrisb222]

I have wanted to do something similar but haven't been able to accomplish what you're trying to do, due to Chief's limitations on controlling wall display. At least within my limited knowledge.

 

I have, however, come up with a solution I'm comfortable with, that I understand, and that gets me close to where I want to be.

 

I like to show standard floor plans dimensioned to rough framing, but kitchen layouts to the finished wall surface. And I never want to show layers unless it's a wall with a brick or stone veneer. The two screen captures show an example of my finished drawings, using wall definitions and layer settings. 

 

You can see how the floor plan has a 3-1/2" thick interior wall and the kitchen plan has a 4-1/2" thick wall, and the exterior wall is gray on the floorpan and white on the kitchen plan.

 

This is working for me but it would be nice if the wall display had more flexibility.

 

 

[kwhitt]

Glenn & Chris - thanks for your input.  Seems I have a couple options.  Chris - liked your disclaimer about the framing dimensions.  I've run into this a time or two myself...

[LeeDrafter]

On 10/30/2019 at 6:54 AM, Chrisb222 said:

I have wanted to do something similar but haven't been able to accomplish what you're trying to do, due to Chief's limitations on controlling wall display. At least within my limited knowledge.

 

I have, however, come up with a solution I'm comfortable with, that I understand, and that gets me close to where I want to be.

 

I like to show standard floor plans dimensioned to rough framing, but kitchen layouts to the finished wall surface. And I never want to show layers unless it's a wall with a brick or stone veneer. The two screen captures show an example of my finished drawings, using wall definitions and layer settings. 

 

You can see how the floor plan has a 3-1/2" thick interior wall and the kitchen plan has a 4-1/2" thick wall, and the exterior wall is gray on the floorpan and white on the kitchen plan.

 

This is working for me but it would be nice if the wall display had more flexibility.

 

 

 

This looks similar to something I am trying to do. How did you make the wall grey in one layer set and not the other? Did you just use the wall hatching tool, or did you do it some other way? I am trying to accomplish 3 different wall fills for the same walls in 3 different layer sets. It seems like I can only use wall hatching for one of the fills, wall type definition fill for the 2nd, but I don't know how to achieve the 3rd. Any ideas? Thank you

[Chrisb222]

On 11/5/2020 at 7:34 PM, LeeDrafter said:

This looks similar to something I am trying to do. How did you make the wall grey in one layer set and not the other? Did you just use the wall hatching tool, or did you do it some other way? I am trying to accomplish 3 different wall fills for the same walls in 3 different layer sets. It seems like I can only use wall hatching for one of the fills, wall type definition fill for the 2nd, but I don't know how to achieve the 3rd. Any ideas? Thank you

 

Only one wall type definition, with no hatching. Done with just layer settings.

 

The first view has Walls Normal, Walls Layers, and Walls Main Layer Only all checked. Gray fill is in the Wall Def.

 

Second view has just Walls Normal checked, which does not display the Wall Def fill color. This type of view would always have a white wall fill.

 

Methods to get additional different views easily would be to set up different wall line colors on the Layer panel, which I do for walls and doors on floor framing views*, use hatching as you suggested and turn the Hatching layer off on certain views.

 

[LeeDrafter]

Thank you Chris, I think this will work for me just to turn on and off "walls, layers" as you suggested. Using that method in combination with wall hatch, I should be able to make 3 different fills (or lack of fill) available. It's too bad there isn't a way to change fills or wall definitions per layer set. If I needed more than 3 fills, I don't think this would work. Thanks again for your help. 

[LevisL]

If you need 3 or more different fills, you can also check 'Use Layer Color' under Pattern Appearance in the Wall Definition dbx. Then change the layer color in your different layer sets.

Here's an example of my set up. In my working layer set, I have the attic walls layer set to blue so I can quickly distinguish between attic walls and normal walls (on my print set, both layers are set to black). Then on my floor and roof framing layer sets, I change the walls to a light grey.

 

In my case, I have the line colors of each wall layer also set to 'By Layer', but you could also uncheck that and just have the fill change color when you change layer sets.

[LeeDrafter]

7 minutes ago, LevisL said:

If you need 3 or more different fills, you can also check 'Use Layer Color' under Pattern Appearance in the Wall Definition dbx. Then change the layer color in your different layer sets.

Here's an example of my set up. In my working layer set, I have the attic walls layer set to blue so I can quickly distinguish between attic walls and normal walls (on my print set, both layers are set to black). Then on my floor and roof framing layer sets, I change the walls to a light grey.

 

In my case, I have the line colors of each wall layer also set to 'By Layer', but you could also uncheck that and just have the fill change color when you change layer sets.

Thank you Levis! that's exactly what I was trying to figure out. That will work wonderfully! 

[LevisL]

1 minute ago, LeeDrafter said:

Thank you Levis! that's exactly what I was trying to figure out. That will work wonderfully! 

Good to hear!

[schaeffwes]

Hi, I found this thread and have tried to follow along and the principles makes total sense to me, I am just struggling to figure out how to execute it.  What I'm trying to do is to modify the "Kitchen and Bath Plan View" layer set so it ends up looking something like this where the whole thickness of the wall is black:

https://www.battlefieldhomes.com/chief-architect-premier-x3-bedford-ii-2014-x3-layout-2/

 

By default, the standard interior-4 wall is defined as follows:

1/2" drywall (with no fill)

3-1/2" stud wall (with a gray custom color fill)

1/2" drywall (with no fill)

 

In the Working Plan View (working layer set), "Walls, Normal" and "Walls, Layers" are displayed by default, which results in a 3-layer wall with a gray core layer and unfilled drywall layers.

 

And in the Kitchen and and Bath Plan view (kitchen and bath layer set), "Walls, Normal" is displayed and "Walls, Layers" is not...and this results in a 4.5" wall with no fill.

 

I've messed around with the layer colors and the wall definitions but I can't seem to figure out how to show the walls with the different colored layers on one view, and a solid black full thickness wall in another view.  My workaround has been to hatch the walls and then use the eyedropper to fill them in black, but the wall connections don't fill properly so I'm trying to find a 'real' way to do this.  Any guidance would be sincerely appreciated! Thanks so much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SNestor]

@schaeffwes - like this? 

I've used the main layer only...turned off casing. Everything is "black". Arial for the room label font. You could probably create a "plan view" to give you this exactly. Of course...you cannot change/control the wall fill. It's either on or off. 

 

Just FYI...you can also turn off the window labels...I just forgot to do it.

 

[rgardner]

1 hour ago, SNestor said:

Of course...you cannot change/control the wall fill. It's either on or off. 

You can kind of do this by using wall hatching instead of the wall fill.

[SNestor]

23 minutes ago, rgardner said:

You can kind of do this by using wall hatching instead of the wall fill.

 

Actually...I was wrong. You can control the wall fill color by the layer. @LevisL posted the correct answer above.

I never used that feature and forgot where it was buried.

 

So...create layer sets with varying color of "walls, normal" and assign the fill to "use layer color"...and you are all set.

 

Each plan view can have it's own layer color....and you can create any type of view you'd want.

  

[LevisL]

11 hours ago, schaeffwes said:

I've messed around with the layer colors and the wall definitions but I can't seem to figure out how to show the walls with the different colored layers on one view, and a solid black full thickness wall in another view. 

As you've discovered, there's not really a way to have layers filled in some layer sets, while having no fill in other layer sets. It's either the layers all have a fill, which you can control the color as I described above, or some layers have a fill and some don't, as you have now, and control the fill of the main layer only. You can't have the drywall layers have no fill in one layer set and be filled black in another layer set.

 

If you don't want to see the drywall and siding layers, I'd simply turn on the 'Walls, Main Layer Only' layer, as @SNestor mentioned.

 

Or, you could maybe increase the line weight of the 'Walls, Normal' layer in the layer set where you want the whole wall black, which would kinda mask the drywall layers. I just did a quick test and going from a line weight on 20 to around 60 should hide the drywall layers... at least on my screen. Didn't print it out to confirm!