Can CA draw stairsthe way I like

[Sal Genovese]

I haven't found a way for chief to show stairs correctly in plan with break lines or when two flights are one above each other. I hope the attached picture clarifies my question. right now I do a work around with cad box filled solid white and cad lines. Any Ideas are appreciated
Thanks
Sal

[cgirerd]

As far as I know, you still have to do the break lines with CAD lines and fill... unfortunately... Many of us have requested the standard look with the break lines but it hasn't happened yet.

Christina

[quickdraw]

This is one of those CA things that drives me nuts. A lot of times I like to tuck in a closet or a pantry under stairs and there is no way I can show both in plan view.

I am always having to explain/apologize to the clients and promise that their const.docs will look right.

Clients expect a lot more accuracy from CAD than they do pencil drawings.

Would it really be so difficult to do the programming in CA so that half the stairs show up on one floor and half on the other with the diagonal break?

[Bill]

Tim O' produced a line style for stairs that is see through.

This line style can be applied to the stairs in Chief and will allow items below (under) the stair to show through on the floor plans.

Great for you half-baths and closets under stairways.

I will look and see if I have it in my dat file and post it here for you guys......Yep, I had it in Version 8.

Paste this at the end of your "Linestyles" section in the Material.dat file.

*Stairs,Solid line for transparent stairs---------------------------
A,.5,-.0001,["",STANDARD,S=.0625,R=0.0,A=0.0,X=-0.0,Y=-.03125],-.0001,.5

Thanks go to Tim O'Donnell

[quickdraw]

Thanks Bill.

Still it is wierd things like that that make me wonder if the people who design CA ever did any drafting in the real world.

There are a zillion features in CA I may never need but when it comes to something basic like a stairway or a clean elevation with window labels you need to do all kinds of work-arounds.

Odd set of priorities for an architectural cad program.


I guess what I really need is a spell check for this forum.

[Bill]

YEP and you're welcome

[Coffcons]

Bill,

Thank you to both you and Tim for this, though I can't seem to find that darn Data file. Can you help me find it? I have Chief 9.54.

[Bill]

Originally posted by Coffcons
Bill,

Thank you to both you and Tim for this, though I can't seem to find that darn Data file. Can you help me find it? I have Chief 9.54.

Sure, go to Windows Explorer (or My Computer) and navigate to the folder where your CA installation is.

If you went with the default settings on installation it will be:

C:/Program Files/ART Inc/Chief Architect 95 Full Version/Material.dat

The linestyles are all the way at the end of the text.

BTW, if Windows asks you for a program to open it with, use Notepad, since it is a text file.

HTH

[Coffcons]

Thanks, Bill,

Got it.

[BretK]

Dan,

It's in the main directory for v.9.5 (as well as v10)

C:\Program Files\ART Inc\Chief Architect 95 Full Version

It is not in one of the sub folders.

[Tim O'Donnell]

use a CAD block in combination with the line of mine that Bill posted to do this...9set the line type in the layer line style for stairs for a one time setup) ...I'll post a zip below of the *.alb file with these two blocks:

[Tim O'Donnell]

here are the up and down blocks

[Bill]

Originally posted by Tim O'Donnell
here are the up and down blocks

Thanks Tim.........Those blocks will come in handy I am sure

[Bill]

Hi Tim,

I downloaded the file, unzipped it and placed it in the Libraries folder.

When I open CA (V10.04a) the library folder is there under CAD Blocks, but it is empty?



Is it just me or waa hoppen?

[Tim O'Donnell]

Bill,

I uploaded a new zip...see if that works..