How Can I Paint A Single Wall?

[Chief_fish]

Is there a way to paint a single wall?.

I have searched for it, and the only way i have found so far is like told in this topic.

When i try to open a wall dbx (highligthing a wall>right clicking>open object) it opens the room dbx instead of the wall dbx. Am i doing anything wrong here?.

Thanks in advance.

[Kbird1]

It sounds like you might have the select room option in Preferences>Architectural>Select Room before Wall ... ON   ...uncheck the box.

 

if that doesn't work and you still get the room 1st try hitting the Tab key or the next button on the edit toolbar instead to skip to the next object which should be the wall.

 

CA's KB  Article on changing one wall

http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00005/8/Chief-Architect/Materials/Changing-the-Color-or-Material-of-a-Single-Wall.html

[Designers_Ink]

Select the wall you want to paint (you may have to break the wall so the paint doesn't extend into other rooms).  Then use the Wall Covering DBX to apply a wall covering from top to bottom.

[simonas]

Is there a way to paint a single wall?

I've beed missing & asking this tool from first day using Chief.

Material Painter should/must have "Material Painter Single Wall Mode" 

[TheKitchenAbode]

In your plan view right click on the "wall" section you want. Open Object, Materials - you can assign the material finish there.

 

Graham

[KirkClemons]

This Knowledgebase article outlines the process for doing this in the software:

http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00005/

[TheKitchenAbode]

Made a mistake above. Select Wall Coverings as Jeff stated. I was really just trying to emphasize that to select an individual wall section you need to be in plan view. Not sure if there is a method to select individual wall sections in elevation or camera views, you end up with the Room DBX which is more global like. Can't remember but I seem to recall that once the wall covering has been changed by the Wall Covering method you can then use the paint can for future changes. 

 

Graham

[Dermot]

Just to clarify a few things since there were some conflicting recommendations here:

You do not need to change any preferences to select a wall in a camera view. You can always use the tab key or "next" edit toolbar button to select the wall after you have selected the room. We do not recommend changing your preferences to select walls before rooms until you understand the difference between wall and room heights. It is a common mistake for new users to change wall heights when what they should really be doing is changing room heights.

If you wish to change the material of a single wall going all the way from floor to ceiling, it is recommended that you change the material in the wall specification dialog. If the wall spans multiple rooms, or you only need a portion of the wall painted, you can use the wall break tool to split the wall vertically. If a wall is really going to be structurally different, you should change the wall type instead of changing the surface material.

If you wish to have different materials on just a horizontal portion of a wall, then the recommended method is to use either wall coverings or pony walls. Pony walls work best if you are actually going to use different structures for the two walls such as having brick on the lower portion of a wall. Wall coverings work best when you want to have just a cosmetic change such as an area or border with wall paper.

[TheKitchenAbode]

Nice clarification Dermont. The other method we have not addressed is using the Material Regions tool.

 

Graham

[Dermot]

The Wall Material Region tool works best for situations where you only need to change a portion of the wall that is some arbitrary shape.  It has the added capability of specifying multiple layers of materials and even replacing the finish layers of the wall.  An example of where you might want to use it is to define the tile area around a tub/shower combo.  The tile does not need cover the whole wall and the material region can remove the existing wallboard and replace it with a region defined using a tile backer layer and mortar layer below the visible tile layer. 

[TheKitchenAbode]

The Wall Material Region could also be used where the wall spans several rooms. An alternative to breaking the wall. If you wished to show the stages of finishing Wall Material Regions can be applied on top of each, say one for primer then another for finish paint. You could peel back a portion of the one on top to expose the next underlying one for specification purposes.

 

Graham

[DRAWZILLA]

I also like the "Wall material region" tool for that.

[dshall]

Is there a way to paint a single wall?.

I have searched for it, and the only way i have found so far is like told in this topic.

When i try to open a wall dbx (highligthing a wall>right clicking>open object) it opens the room dbx instead of the wall dbx. Am i doing anything wrong here?.

Thanks in advance.

Come on guys,  the Great Glen Woodward solved this a while back.  Simply select a wall or two,  open dbx,  make the wall NON ROOM DEF,  paint the wall,  reselect the walls that are non room def and change back to room def.

 

Or you can use the material dbx.

[SusanC]

For a single wall I draw a polyline solid the same size as the wall, make it 1/16" thick and select the color I want.  I have complete control without having to mess with the dbx.

[DRAWZILLA]

For a single wall I draw a polyline solid the same size as the wall, make it 1/16" thick and select the color I want.  I have complete control without having to mess with the dbx.

Does that automatically cut out for windows and doors?

[TheKitchenAbode]

For a single wall I draw a polyline solid the same size as the wall, make it 1/16" thick and select the color I want.  I have complete control without having to mess with the dbx.

 

You should definitely explore the Wall Material Regions Tool. It will automatically generate the Polyline Solid for the clicked on wall. As Perry hinted in the above, the Material Region acts just like the underlying wall surface and will automatically respect & wrap around opens such as doors and windows. You can edit it if required just like any other Polyline Solid. Also, you can use this in both elevation and camera views. There is on for walls (vertical surfaces) and another for floors (horizontal surfaces). As their origin is based upon the underlying surface they will automatically adjust forward according to the material thickness you set. Here's another great advantage, directional/ patterned textures will blend properly and maintain their orientation regardless of width X height sizing.

 

Graham

[SusanC]

Wow, thanks Graham!  I didn't know about the Wall Material Regions Tool.  Always amazed at what I learn from this forum.  

p.s.  Perry, no it did not automatically cut out doors and windows.  I would go back in and do that manually.

[BryceEngstrom]

I've beed missing & asking this tool from first day using Chief.

Material Painter should/must have "Material Painter Single Wall Mode" 

 

I completely agree with this.  Shouldn't have to jump through all these hoops.  Shouldn't have to individually select each wall and go to the materials tab.  Way, way too much clicking if you want more control than just painting the walls of the "room".  Incidentally, even with the Wall Covering, if the wall has an exposed end, that stays the material of the room wall.

 

The No Room Def technique doesn't work as far as I can tell.

[dshall]

........  The No Room Def technique doesn't work as far as I can tell.

This did catch me by surprise the other day.  You are correct that if you do a non room def for an INTERIOR wall,  it does not work,  however for an EXTERIOR wall it does work.  Apparently when I did this a while back,  I tested on exterior wall and it did work.  Thanks for clarifying this.

 

I get it,  not the greatest method of changing a wall material.  Hopefully CA will fix this with X8.

[BryceEngstrom]

Changing materials on a per wall basis is easy-peasey for the exterior of exterior walls.  The room definition just locks you out of doing the interior walls that way.  Could stand a lot of improvement.

[CJSpud]

Simonas:

 

This is a GREAT suggestion!!!

[B4UBLD]

Hi All,

 

Sorry to resurrect this old thread, as I know it has been beaten to death.  However, I just need a suggestion on how to UNDO the mistake of using the room paint tool (ever time I use this in what I think is a "safe" scenario, I regret the mess it makes; not again).  Yes, is is once again a bathroom with glass shower walls that have been "assimilated" into the material used for the rest of the walls in the room.  I have 1) deleted the shower walls and redrawn them (re-assimilated); 2) used the wall materials region (still don't get just glass, but have some 'residual' layers that remain; and 3) tried removing the room definition from the shower walls (nothing happens).  Can anyone save me and my hair here?

 

Thanks in advance!