Molding Polyline - Why??

[HannahKucerova]

Does anyone know the logic/reasoning behind why a CAD Line drawn in a plan (i.e floor 2 of plan with a foundation, floor 1, floor 2), when converted to a Molding Polyline, will appear and live on floor 1 regardless of which floor the line is actually drawn on?  I've spent years making molding polylines for vanities/cabinets/deco details on the foundation or second floor of a project and manually changing the height in the general tab of the polyline specifications to raise it up or down.  Sometimes it takes a lot of math (whaaaa whaaaa, I know) to figure out where it needs to sit. Is there some magic setting I have been unaware of this whole time?  So many other things have a reference height drop down, but not this.  I'd love to place a vanity, place a molding polyline and when I set the height at 4" know it will show up right at the toe kick line of the vanity I'm working with, instead of in the room below or above. :-(

Molding Sample.plan

[Doug_N]

I had a look at your plan, and as you said, the moulding was always actually at the first floor.  For some reason 2d polyline moldings are only referenced at absolute height, not in relation to the foor, terrain  or any other object.  You can make them move to whatever elevation that you prefer.  

 

 

or by defining the height

 

[HannahKucerova]

3 hours ago, solver said:

 

Open your cabinet, change the Elevation Reference to Absolute.

 

 

 

I feel dumb admitting this but that right there is the simplest thing that in my 7 years of using CA I have never used as you just described. Like as I type this I am thinking to myself, how, how did I not know that? I used to mentally be like, ok 96" ceiling height, plus maybe 16-18" for trusses, 1" for tile, 4" for toe kick (all variable depending on what house I was working on of course) and adjust the height over and over until I got it correct.  Sometimes the smallest things are the game changers. Thank you!

[DBCooper]

Chief always uses an absolute elevation for the molding poly height.  It looks like when you convert a 2d poly into a molding poly that the program sets the absolute height to 0, regardless of what floor you are on.  What it should do is the same thing it does when you draw a molding poly and set it to the absolute floor height instead.   You might want to report that to Chief tech support and maybe it is something they can fix.

 

There are probably a lot of ways to avoid this problem though.  One way would be to draw a molding poly instead of a 2d poly and then have to convert it.  Another thing you could do is to just add the molding to the cabinet (or soffit, countertop, or whatever) so that it's height is relative to the cabinet instead of absolute.  The really nice thing about putting the molding on the cabinet is that it sticks to it as you make changes.  And when you run into a case where you need to customize it you can just use the "make cabinet molding polyline" tool to convert it into a custom molding poly and it keeps all of the settings you need.  

 

[robdyck]

Simply some additional information for those who can use it: When generating a room molding polyline, the elevation will match the elevation of the original room molding that is being replaced by the molding polyline.

When drawing a molding polyline, it appears as though it will 'land' on the floor finish elevation of whatever floor you are one.

 

[Doug_N]

8 hours ago, solver said:

 

That's just the way they work.

 

 

There are multiple easy ways to find the correct location.

 

Open your cabinet, change the Elevation Reference to Absolute.

 

Open the Room, see the Absolute Elevation - Floor. Add the Floor Finish for your value.

 

Great explanation Eric