Metric Plan - Convert Imperial Plan Template?

[sea_lyons]

I've spent a fair bit of time tweaking my Imperial Template w/ text styles, sizes, colours, etc. I now have a one-off situation where I need to complete a small project in metric units.

 

Is it possible to make copy of my imperial template and change a few settings so that it's now a metric template? Versus starting over with one of Chief's standard metric templates and changing multiple items like text styles etc? Which would be a huge time suck for such a small project...

- signed an Imperial loving Canadian 

[richoffan]

signed an Imperial loving Canadian   Despite all the BS - Luv ya Canada......eh

Can you just open the dimension defaults and set your secondary format to metric? Or just copy your template and set the primary to metric if you don't want both.

[sea_lyons]

43 minutes ago, richoffan said:

signed an Imperial loving Canadian   Despite all the BS - Luv ya Canada......eh

Can you just open the dimension defaults and set your secondary format to metric? Or just copy your template and set the primary to metric if you don't want both.

We'll be friends again soon hopefully lol 

 

Yes, I've done that. But everything in the dialog boxes and my temporary dimensions still show up in imperial which is causing issues...

 

I was managing until I was trying to make a shelf 50mm in thickness/height. I can enter 50mm in the DBX but that automatically changes it to 1 15/16" - which I guess is actually 49mm? So I thought I'd add 1/16" or 1/32" of an inch - but that makes it 51mm on my elevation. I won't admit how many times I went back and forth on that one haha....

 

Long story short - I think I definitely need to start with a metric plan...

 

 

 

 

[JKEdmo]

34 minutes ago, sea_lyons said:

I was managing until I was trying to make a shelf 50mm in thickness/height. I can enter 50mm in the DBX but that automatically changes it to 1 15/16"

 

That's because 50 mm in fact is 1.968503937 inches, so Chief is correct.  You may be wanting 2" nominal but what Chief shows is actual dimensions.

 

I think if your project uses products based on imperial sizes (North American / Canada?), then you use imperial template with secondary units showing metric conversion.

 

For example, 3/4" plywood would be 19 mm converted.  Or, a 48" wide sheet of plywood is actual 1219 mm. 

 

However, if your project is elsewhere (e.g. Europe, Oceania, etc.), you'd want a pure metric template.  The products you'd be using would be primarily metric based with slightly different sizing.  For example, 20mm plywood.  Or, you'd use 1200 mm wide plywood which is smaller than 48" plywood.

 

Hope my thinking is clear.  I bet there are others who could add to this.

 

Jim

 

PS:  earlier in my career I worked in metric.  Far easier to use IMO.  Imperial is a big pain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sea_lyons]

10 minutes ago, JKEdmo said:

 

That's because 50 mm in fact is 1.968503937 inches, so Chief is correct.  You may be wanting 2" nominal but what Chief shows is actual dimensions.

 

I think if your project uses products based on imperial sizes (North American / Canada?), then you use imperial template with secondary units showing metric conversion.

 

For example, 3/4" plywood would be 19 mm converted.  Or, a 48" wide sheet of plywood is actual 1219 mm. 

 

However, if your project is elsewhere (e.g. Europe, Oceania, etc.), you'd want a pure metric template.  The products you'd be using would be primarily metric based with slightly different sizing.  For example, 20mm plywood.  Or, you'd use 1200 mm wide plywood which is smaller than 48" plywood.

 

Hope my thinking is clear.  I bet there are others who could add to this.

 

Jim

 

PS:  earlier in my career I worked in metric.  Far easier to use IMO.  Imperial is a big pain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Jim. I wasn't doubting Chief's conversions - just had a bit of a chuckle over it. 

 

I'm in Canada but designing something for someone based in Portugal. So I need a fully metric template for this. It's a one off so was hoping my imperial template could somehow be converted to metric to save me a ton of time on creating a metric template from scratch. All the things I've tried only get me metric dimensions on my elevations but not within the rest of the program or dialog boxes. 

[Alaskan_Son]

50 minutes ago, sea_lyons said:

We'll be friends again soon hopefully lol 

 

Yes, I've done that. But everything in the dialog boxes and my temporary dimensions still show up in imperial which is causing issues...

 

I was managing until I was trying to make a shelf 50mm in thickness/height. I can enter 50mm in the DBX but that automatically changes it to 1 15/16" - which I guess is actually 49mm? So I thought I'd add 1/16" or 1/32" of an inch - but that makes it 51mm on my elevation. I won't admit how many times I went back and forth on that one haha....

 

Long story short - I think I definitely need to start with a metric plan...

 

 

 

 

 

Ya,  it's definitely best to start with a metric plan if possible.  I think the best approach is to just open an empty metric template and Import all your various settings as desired.  Chief made this a lot easier in X17 but could still be done in X16.

 

That being said, the problem you're seeing is actually due to a limitation Chief has with cabinets in Imperial plans.  I've never been 100% sure why, but cabinets (and by extension shelves) are one of a very small handful of items that Chief limits to specific increments (in this case 1/16").  Most items can be set to a much more exact dimension without issue.  Try this quick experiment in an Imperial plan to see what I mean:

1. Draw a couple otherwise identical shelves using both the Shelf tool and a 3D Solid and enter "50mm" as the thickness for both.
2. Dimension each of the 2 "shelves".  You should see that the Solid will show 50mm and that the Shelf will show 49.21mm
3. Now open the dialogs for your 2 objects one at a time.  If your change your Number Style to Decimal Inches, you should see that although they both displayed 1 5/16", that they do in fact store more accurate values when Chief allows it (which they do for almost everything).  In the case of Cabinets though, Chief just happens to limit them to 1/16" increments.  Again, I'm not 100% sure why but I wish they didn't.

[sea_lyons]

20 hours ago, Alaskan_Son said:

I think the best approach is to just open an empty metric template and Import all your various settings as desired.  Chief made this a lot easier in X17 but could still be done in X16.

Didn't know this was possible - I'll give it a shot, thank you.

 

20 hours ago, Alaskan_Son said:

 

Ya,  it's definitely best to start with a metric plan if possible.  I think the best approach is to just open an empty metric template and Import all your various settings as desired.  Chief made this a lot easier in X17 but could still be done in X16.

 

That being said, the problem you're seeing is actually due to a limitation Chief has with cabinets in Imperial plans.  I've never been 100% sure why, but cabinets (and by extension shelves) are one of a very small handful of items that Chief limits to specific increments (in this case 1/16").  Most items can be set to a much more exact dimension without issue.  Try this quick experiment in an Imperial plan to see what I mean:

1. Draw a couple otherwise identical shelves using both the Shelf tool and a 3D Solid and enter "50mm" as the thickness for both.
2. Dimension each of the 2 "shelves".  You should see that the Solid will show 50mm and that the Shelf will show 49.21mm
3. Now open the dialogs for your 2 objects one at a time.  If your change your Number Style to Decimal Inches, you should see that although they both displayed 1 5/16", that they do in fact store more accurate values when Chief allows it (which they do for almost everything).  In the case of Cabinets though, Chief just happens to limit them to 1/16" increments.  Again, I'm not 100% sure why but I wish they didn't.

Interesting! I see what you mean.

 

Off topic but when resizing doors/drawers, it will only allow you to change by increments in 1/16" but the "Front Height" can/will be in increments of 1/32". Should maybe go in the suggestions - but IMO it'd be more useful to have both of those properties be editable. Personally/as a designer, I'm more focused on the Front Height than I am on the Item Height so I'm having to edit by tiny increments to get the Front Height I want. And even then it can still be a hair off (annoying when trying to match several cabinet faces).

 

/end rant lol

 

[richoffan]

Caitlin,

What's your dimension default set to? I have found it will over ride many of the other functions. Try setting that to 1/64 or even 1/128. It can make layouts a little annoying so I'll switch back and forth. 

[richoffan]

That's just weird. It'll allow the change to the reveal but not the drawer. Sounds like suggestion fodder.

[mthd97]

I would consider exporting the imperial floor plan as a DWG and then opening and importing it into a metric template and start modeling over the top of it. That way everything new is metric and it would eliminate many dimensional errors that can occur in transitioning. Another tip is to keep walls and room sizes and other things where possible to nearest 10mm. Check the materials sizes available in Portugal match your elements in your new plan.