Windows default to wrong location

[avonside]

I am using trial version of Premier X3. I have changed wall type to a build-up of External brick skin, insulation batt, block inner skin, finish plaster. I have set the block inner skin as the main wall to ensure that internal walls connect properly, now when I insert windows they always position themselves within the block skin and not the brick outer skin.
Please can anyone tell me where I am going wrong ?

[Joe Carrick]

Windows always install relative to the Main (dimension surface). Wall definition should have the main surface defined as the outer structural element - what would normally coincide with the exterior edge of the foundation and be the surface that is dimensioned to.

[David J. Potter]

Welcome to our Forum!
Another thing to look at is that the software, though very cleverly and intelligently made has no innate intelligence of its own.
It follows its preset default settings and or what you tell it to do.
The default settings can be altered by you to fit the kind of construction you are doing but the software (I assure you) doesn't "know" a thing unless you tell it what to "be or do".
Window Defaults are where you should study and look for the right settings for the conditions under which you are drawing.

No software on Earth can or will read your mind or anticipate what you intend to do without your guidance and custom settings based on knowing how to guide the tool to the intended product; which Chief Architect Premiere can easily do, once learned.

DJP

[avonside]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the replies.
If I make the outer brick skin the main layer then the internal walls insist on joining to it, not the internal block layer as intended, this is how I encountered the problem in the first place.
Maybe someone could crack that instead ?

[homeview]

you can leave the main layer wherever you want.
select the window defaults or any window, go to 'sash & frame' and enter the amount you want the window to move in the 'inset' field. use a negative number to move the window out from the main layer & a positive to bring it into the building...you can actually move the window right out of the wall.

it's a real pity that we can't do the same for doors, perhaps next version..been saying that for years now.

regards, brian