X17 Cabinet Elevation Line Weights

[JonathanK]

So in my quest to provide a nicer, cleaner, more professional looking set of plans for our customers, I've started delving into the world of cabinet elevations.

We provide cabinets, and back in the day I would manually draw everything.  That is obviously not scalable, so now I want to get our template setup so that we can get this done "automatically".

One thing that I've been noticing, and this is where I'm looking for help from the other kitchen designers out there, is that I want to be able to set my casework a different line weight than my doors, different from my countertops, different from my walls, etc...  The nice thing is, is that it looks like CA has different layers for these items.  But the problem is, is that the auto-countertops derive their line properties from the base cabinets; the crown molding gets their line properties from the wall cabinets; the doors and drawers get their properties from their respective cabinets.  So even though you change the layers to be what you want...it's just one big blob that looks bad.

Am I missing something here, or will we honestly need to manually draw all this stuff to work correctly?

I've attached a couple of snips.  One is where I'm at currently, the other is a little bit of where I'd like to head.

[robdyck]

6 hours ago, JonathanK said:

Am I missing something here, or will we honestly need to manually draw all this stuff to work correctly?

For these types of views, you will need to pick your poison. Chief has all the tools...you can create molding polylines from a cabinet, and you can make custom countertops. BUT, that overrides a lot of function / feature just for line weight control. My own suggestion would be to find a balance of line weight display that works for you but doesn't 'fight' Chief...which sooner or later becomes a losing battle. I'm familiar with the sample you referenced but...and this is a big but...that's a different software AND definitely a different pay scale! Chief can do a great job of telling the story while working within it's natural boundaries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by robdyck

[JonathanK]

Thanks, Robert.

I agree that the elevations are acceptable, and even look pretty nice.  My biggest question is that why are there different layers for these objects, but when you change them it doesn't actually change anything.

 

I don't want to have to manually draw countertops to get the countertop layer to "work correctly".  Or manually draw moldings for the crown molding layer to "work correctly".

 

Why don't those layers work correctly with the layers as provided, on the cabinets as provided.  They work in plan view...why not in elevation view as well?

[DBCooper]

I can't answer your questions about why the automatic moldings and countertops don't have better control over the elevation display.  Sounds like maybe you should send Chief a feature request though.

 

Just as an FYI, you don't need to manually draw your own moldings and counter tops.  Try group selecting all of your base cabinets and using the "generate custom countertop" tool to convert all of your auto counters into custom ones so that you will have better control over how they display.  You can also use the "make cabinet molding polyline" tool to do the same thing for the moldings.  If you wait until the design is fairly complete, this should be a pretty easy change and certainly much easier than manually drawing anything. 

 

[Chrisb222]

5 hours ago, JonathanK said:

Am I missing something here, or will we honestly need to manually draw all this stuff to work correctly?

 

I don't know what you mean exactly by "work correctly" since the software is working how it was designed and intended, but if you send your elevations to layout as Plot Lines, you have complete control over every line in the drawing. You can also add lines. It's not automatic, but by marquee-selecting lines you can edit them pretty fast. Certainly faster and easier than manually drawing it all from scratch.