How To Customize Cabinet Door, Drawer And Panel Styles From Core Catalog

[sunyaer]

I am trying out Chief Architect X6 Premier. Is there a way to create user cabinet catalogs by using the core catalogs with customized cabinet door, drawer and panel styles? The customization needs to include not only color, but also door framing style, which may not be available anywhere in the core catalog.

 

By using the core catalog, I want to maintain the base / wall cabinet specification structure, in which I can customize further the way as with the core catalogs.

[Dennis_Gavin]

The short answer is yes. Cabinets can be modified and then saved and put in a folder.

Just know that this program is not like 20-20. If you are selling a line(s) of cabinets yourself

Chief is probably not the software you need. There is no automatic pricing and inventory.

IF you are a remodeler then I think it is a great program.

[sunyaer]

Yes, I am a remodeler. What I need is not pricing and inventory, but the design to show to clients in order to close the sale.

How to make the modifications, such as changing the framing profile of the cabinet door and the profile of the drawer? But I want to keep the base / wall cabinet specification the way as in the core catalogs.

[Dennis_Gavin]

There are also catalogues you can download like Medallion, Kraftmaid, and a bunch of others. Probably not available in the trial version.

[sunyaer]

Could you please give a hint on how to modify the door framing style with your own, as asked in post #3?

[steph_en]

Could you please give a hint on how to modify the door framing style with your own, as asked in post #3?

 

Go to Help under Tools, select "Use Reference Manual"... When it opens, Ctrl+F and type Cabinets... Reference Manual is your oyster.

[sunyaer]

Could you please shed more light on how to do it? Just looking through the manual doesn't help much now for a beginner of this software.

 

In the core catalog, the cabinet doors have a 3d symbol. But I think this 3d symbol is just a visual presentation, the actual block should be the door. So the question is: how to create this 3d symbol and the door block by modifying the cabinet doors in the core catalogs. I am experienced in other 3d modeling software such as autocad but new with Chief Architect. A brief process with steps would help and be appreciated.

 

Thank you in advance.

[Joe_Carrick]

The 3D Symbol is in fact a 3D Model/Object.

 

If you want something different then you build it up from solids in a blank plan and display it in a 3D View.  Then use the Convert to Symbol Tool to add it to the Library as a new Cabinet Door.

 

Changing an existing 3D Symbol is possible to a certain extent, but it takes some knowledge of the tools available and it's not something that is really easy to explain.  If you could explain exactly what door in the core catalog you want to modify and what modifications you want to make then I could give you the steps to accomplish it.

 

IAE, nothing in the core catalog can actually be modified and stored in the core catalog.  A copy that you place in the user library can be modified.

[MarkMc]

one place to start is with the various manufacturer catalogs. Open a new plan, draw 4 walls and take a perspective view. Then go to a manufacturer catalog and start dragging cabinet doors onto the plan. Click OK when it asks if you want to place as a free standing object. Look at the 3D view. As you find door styles you will need add them to your library, one at a time and rename each one to something relevant to you. I use several brands and keep a folder with door styles for each.

It is a bit tedious but you can find a fair amount of what you will need.

Whatever you can't find you will then need to make as Joe outlined. When making your own it is a good idea to check them on a wall cabinet in 3d. Change the size a few times to make sure your new symbol works properly. You may want to keep the help section on stretch zones and planes open until you get doors to behave properly. This is most important for doors with muntins.

[sunyaer]

In the core catalog, the 3D view for a cabinet door is a base cabinet. There is also a plan view for the door. How to make changes to the framing section of the door? Is it possible to create a base cabinet 3D image and a plan view for the modified door?  

 

Attached is the recessed panel EP images. What I need is to make changes to the door profile and save it in user catalog.

 

I have been able to pull a door into a plan view, but couldn't figure out how to make changes to the profile. I also want to create the base cabinet 3D and plan view drawing for the door which will be saved in user catalog.

 

Thanks again for your help.

[sunyaer]

This is the door in a plan view I pulled from the core catalog.

[Joe_Carrick]

The short version is that you are better off creating exactly the door that you want in a separate Plan.  You can use any of Chief's Tools to create the 3D shapes that will make up your door.  I would suggest first creating a Molding Profile for the Frame, then use that as the Molding on a Molding Polyline drawn in Elevation View.  Add a Panel to the center (maybe use a Primitive Solid Box) of the appropriate size and move it into place.

 

Display this 3D set of objects in a perspective view and assign whatever materials you want to the frame and the panel (unique names for the materials is best - MyDoorFrame and MyPanelFrame would work)

 

Now select the "Create Symbol" Tool and specify that the symbol is to be a Cabinet Door.  This will create the Door Symbol which you can then use on any Cabinet.  It will also create the appropriate Plan View of the Door (2D Block).

 

Note:  Any Cabinet, Door, Window, etc that you customize in Chief can be saved to your user Library and recalled for use in the future. 

[MarkMc]

Here is a zipped plan file you can play with, call it a kit.

There is one set of parts for a door with just an framing bead, and on the wall next to it another that a molding Pline for the lip (outside edge)

I also placed a finished door in the plan- you want to open the symbol and look at the "sizing tab" -I almost always have to set these by trial and error, just can't remember what they should be.

You can change the molding profiles.

 

Both have a recessed panel -somebody smarter than me (Joe?) has to tell you how to make raised panels in Chief- I don't know how. If I need that I use other software. You can snag a few raised panels from the 3d Warehouse (sketchup which is what I'm more likely to use if I'm making a door) or raised panel doors there and edit them till you have a panel to use.

 

I made some notes in the plan and elevation about what is going on in each and why I use the view. If they don't show check the layers that show.

 

Once a door is the way you want it:

Save as- name the file for the new door, then delete everything else but the door parts- walls cameras, text profiles- everything.

Go to a perspective view, select: Tools, Symbol, convert to symbol, select cabinet door from drop down, check off "add to library" and  "advanced options".

 

Note- this door is made with separate rails and stiles- there is also a way to make the that out of a single object. If I have to go to the trouble of making a door I want the texture of the rails and stiles to show correctly (going in different directions) so I go to the trouble to do it this way.

 

There may be simpler ways to do all of this in which case someone will hopefully chime in.

 

As noted earlier I snag as many existing doors as possible from the over 40 mfg catalogs- there area lot to pick from.

FWIW I sell cabinets (5 mfgs- none with catalogs in Chief; 3 supported in 2020) and I primarily use Chief.

 

[Joe_Carrick]

Mark,

 

You can make a raise panel by using a Box with a molding polyline around it.  Together they can be turned into a raised panel.

[MarkMc]

Thanks Joe-thought you'd know

[sunyaer]

Thanks a lot, Mark and Joe, I'm almost getting there.

 

There is a problem with the door. When it gets scaled to fit various sizes in the width direction, the stiles get narrow or wider. That's not something we want, right?

 

I feel that it has something to do with the stretch planes when adding 3D symbol to the library. How to set up the options to fix the above problem?

[Joe_Carrick]

Set a Stretch Plane at x=0 and one at z=6. That will limit the stretching to the center width and 6" above the bottom of the door.  That way the rails and stiles will not be modified.  BTW, you can make this modification to the symbol in the library by right clicking on the library item and opening the symbol dbx.

[MarkMc]

Are you having trouble with the one I included? Checked and it seems to be working properly on mine. I use the -3,+3 for adding muntins.

[sunyaer]

Joe's method fixed the problem. There seem to be two small things.  One is about the material change. When material eyedroper is used to change material, the rails are not changed at once, which require another click. I used Mark's door provided in his model. I guess it's might be that the rails are not included in the whole block. Is there a solution?

 

Another thing is regarding the smoothness of the edges of the rails, stiles and 3D beads. I noticed some jagged edges in the door in a model using library created with Mark's door in his model.  Is it that the lines in Mark's model are not 100 percent straight? And how to fix this?

 

Why use -3, +3 for adding muntins?

[MarkMc]

If the frame is made from a single p-solid with another subtracted from it then all change at once- but grain also goes only in one direction. pic below Checked and don't see jaggedness you are talking about on my machine. Molding lines are straight as far as I can tell, perhaps the molding profile has some roughness and you can see it? Since you have the plan you can change any of the parts you think might help. Don't get why you had issues with the door I loaded? Sizing should have been x -3,3 and z 12" works properly for me? Why--3,3 pic below

[sunyaer]

But the doors in the core catalog have the right grain orientation. Is this possible for doors we make using the method in question?

[Joe_Carrick]

In order for the grain on rails to by horizontal and the stiles to be vertical you would need to make your door with separate pieces and use a copy of the material rotated 90 degrees for the rails.

 

When making any symbol, it's important to consider exactly how you want the symbol to perform. Materials can be different for individual elements of a symbol or the entire symbol can be just a single material. If the symbol is made up of just a single shape then it can have only one material. Some shapes - depending on how they are made - can be exploded into individual surfaces. In that case a separate material can be assigned to each face. It that set of faces is then converted to a symbol the symbol will have those materials.

 

Try this: Using the Primitive Solids, create 2 or 3 solids and use the boolean operations to add or subtract the solids so that you have something unique. Then explode that shape and select some of the faces and assign different materials. You can get some very nice results.

 

One way this can be used is with a single box shape to represent a piece of lumber.  By exploding the shape you can apply an end grain material to 2 faces, a flat grain material to 2 other faces and an edge grain material to the last 2 faces.  Now you have a very realistic piece of wood.  This can be converted into a symbol and subsequently be used to build a piece of furniture, a cabinet door, etc.

[MarkMc]

But the doors in the core catalog have the right grain orientation. Is this possible for doors we make using the method in question?

I don't know how to do it ay other way than what I show. Which works but as you see adds a step when changing texture. Hopefully someone else knows an alternate. I've tried more than a few variants with no success.

If no responses may try something over in the Q&A forum. I have at least one plan using catalog doors where the grain doesn't work once I changed textures and not sure what I did or how to fix and ought to find out.

[javachip24k]

I made a few doors in Sketchup just to try it out using side and top rails as different components and it seems when used in CA the grain runs in all the right directions.

Here is the door samples.

Door Collection.zip

[MarkMc]

Those behave the same way the one I made in Chief (which also has the grain correct) does-

that is click the eyedropper tool, select a texture, apply to the doors. IT will change either the rails or the stiles and panel depending on where you click. (middle and right in attached pic)

 

So it takes an extra click and an extra material definition.

Doors in the core catalog, along with many (most?) in the manufacturers catalogs show grain correctly for both rails and stiles AND the entire door changes when a new material is applied and it shows the new grain correctly. (left in attached pic)

So the question is how to make a door that does that?

 

I have tried blocking, exploding, adding faces, exporting in every file format and reimporting as a symbol. I did not mess with the exported files first but based on the sketchup import I don't see that as a likely solution.