orthographic display problem

[diyconsulting]

Hey guys,
i almost never use orthographic display images, however, with my current model it is a must. In perspective, the structure looks awful because of its small footprint and large height!

Trouble is, when i display in orthographic, it is showing joins between side walls at corners and joings between side walls and foundation. This structure is meant to be precast as a single unit.

How to i stop Chief from showing the joins???
The only way i know how to do it is to change the viewtype to standard instead of vectorview

Would i have been better off creating a polyline solid instead of walls, doorway and monolithic foundation???

[keithhe]

"Would i have been better off creating a polyline solid instead of walls, doorway and monolithic foundation???"

Yes, and easy to do

[diyconsulting]

im a little miffed that it does this.
i must have set something up wrong surely?
even in standard view, it is still showing the internal walls running through to the outside layer???

[Curtis Johnson]

I just experimented a wee bit and discovered that if I don't mess with the materials defn. of the concrete, I don't see any lines like you do in a 3D orthographic view. However, as soon as I make the concrete a general material and then give it some transparency in order to see in the wall, those lines show up in an orthographic 3D view. If all else fails, you can at the last edit those lines (remove them) in layout.

[Curtis Johnson]

Here's what I am seeing when I change the material properties of the concrete in the front wall (only). In the 3D orthographic view, those wall lines show up only for the wall I made the change to while there's no evidence of this on the back side where the other three walls meet at the back two corners. Maybe that has something to do with it ... maybe not.

[Curtis Johnson]

When I change the back wall to the same wall type as the front wall, I get those junction lines at the back corners.

[diyconsulting]

When I change the back wall to the same wall type as the front wall, I get those junction lines at the back corners.

yes thats exactly what im getting too.

It kinda suggests to me that the wall type "concrete" in this situation isnt actually being generated correctly in chief. The program believes that the adjoining wall must run right through to the outside (as it would for any other walltype). however in reality, with a continuous cast concrete structure, such as the one drawn, that in fact is not true. Im thinking that perhaps there needs to be some way of telling the program that the 4 walls form a precast structure that does not have any joins in the wall corners?

[Glenn Woodward]

I am having trouble getting the join lines to show for the walls.
I get the line between the slab and the wall, which I guess is expected.
But no matter what I do, I can't get the join lines for the concrete walls to show as per your pic.

Can you post a plan so that I can have a look on my machine and see if there is any difference.

[diyconsulting]

I am having trouble getting the join lines to show for the walls.
I get the line between the slab and the wall, which I guess is expected.
But no matter what I do, I can't get the join lines for the concrete walls to show as per your pic.

Can you post a plan so that I can have a look on my machine and see if there is any difference.

Hi glen,
Here is a copy of the file.

I have tried reversing layers, changing material, rejoining corners...nothing seems to work. Knowing my luck, the problem will probably go away if I redraw walls.

[Glenn Woodward]

DIY consulting (name?),

The problem is caused by the fact that you have different materials specified for the various wall surfaces - I don't mean in the Wall Type Definitions dbx, but the Wall Specification dbx, on a per wall basis.

In a 3D view, group select all 4 walls, open the Wall Specification dbx, Materials tab.
Start by clicking Exterior Wall Surface.
Note how up the top it says No Change - this indicates that there are different finishes on some of the walls.

Select Plan Material and choose Concrete.
Same for Interior Surface.

No more lines.

Did you change this setting after drawing the walls?

[diyconsulting]

DIY consulting (name?),

The problem is caused by the fact that you have different materials specified for the various wall surfaces - I don't mean in the Wall Type Definitions dbx, but the Wall Specification dbx, on a per wall basis.

In a 3D view, group select all 4 walls, open the Wall Specification dbx, Materials tab.
Start by clicking Exterior Wall Surface.
Note how up the top it says No Change - this indicates that there are different finishes on some of the walls.

Select Plan Material and choose Concrete.
Same for Interior Surface.

No more lines.

Did you change this setting after drawing the walls?

you are right Glen.

I think that has fixed it.
Why does it draw walls right through to outside just because there are different materials?
Should that make any difference??
Also, i have a line between foundation slab and walls. how can i remove that line??? (do i choose monolithic slab)

[Glenn Woodward]

Do you want a mono slab?

On second thoughts about the walls.
Instead of changing them to Concrete, change them to Use Default - that will tie the Wall Surface material back to the material used for the wall definition. Use Default is up at the top of the list.

To get rid of the slab/wall junction lines, you really need to get rid of all the wall and slab lines:
Go...3D...3D View Defaults...Surface Edge Lines...check Use Layer Settings.

In a 3D view (Camera View Layer Set)...Layer Display Options...Slabs...change the layer color to a grey to match the concrete.
Same for "Walls, Normal" layer.

The only problem with this is that you will loose your corner lines as well.
I think it is all or nothing.

PS. Withe the edge lines removed, you can get more definition between the walls by using the rainbow tool.
In a 3D view, select the rainbow tool, click on a wall.
In the define material dbx, turn up the Shading Contrast.

[diyconsulting]

Do you want a mono slab?

On second thoughts about the walls.
Instead of changing them to Concrete, change them to Use Default - that will tie the Wall Surface material back to the material used for the wall definition. Use Default is up at the top of the list.

To get rid of the slab/wall junction lines, you really need to get rid of all the wall and slab lines:
Go...3D...3D View Defaults...Surface Edge Lines...check Use Layer Settings.

In a 3D view (Camera View Layer Set)...Layer Display Options...Slabs...change the layer color to a grey to match the concrete.
Same for "Walls, Normal" layer.

The only problem with this is that you will loose your corner lines as well.
I think it is all or nothing.

PS. Withe the edge lines removed, you can get more definition between the walls by using the rainbow tool.
In a 3D view, select the rainbow tool, click on a wall.
In the define material dbx, turn up the Shading Contrast.

As always Glen,
you are a wealth of knowledge...ever thought of going into teaching???

Oh just a quickie whilst I think of it...is there anyway to be able to add floors in such a way as there is a gap between them....kind allows me to split the individual floor modules of my design apart vertically (say by a metre os so) so that the "modular design" is more apparent!

[Glenn Woodward]

As always Glen,
you are a wealth of knowledge...ever thought of going into teaching???

Oh just a quickie whilst I think of it...is there anyway to be able to add floors in such a way as there is a gap between them....kind allows me to split the individual floor modules of my design apart vertically (say by a metre os so) so that the "modular design" is more apparent!

Do you have a name?

I would love to get paid for teaching Chief, but I don't think there is much of an oppurtunity here in Oz.
And, why would users pay when they can get it here for free!!

Can you elaborate what you want with the floor thing.
You can certainly build a 1m gap between floors.
I don't understand how this will look in 3D - do you want to see a 1m gap?

[diyconsulting]

Do you have a name?

I would love to get paid for teaching Chief, but I don't think there is much of an oppurtunity here in Oz.
And, why would users pay when they can get it here for free!!

Can you elaborate what you want with the floor thing.
You can certainly build a 1m gap between floors.
I don't understand how this will look in 3D - do you want to see a 1m gap?

hi Glen, AJ's the name.

After much swearing and cursing...here's the finished product. 500mm air gap between modules.

I figured out that the way to achieve this is too create 500mm floor's between existing floors and set the materials for each to invisible wall. One must remember to go into wall properties in the defaults settings DBX and turn off "auto redraw attic walls".

I really really wish that the chief programmers would add a function to freeze room settings for each floor one has preset. It is an absolute pain the backside when chief keeps recalculating numbers when you insert a new floor between existing ones. The top floors end up a complete cumulative mess. This one got so bad, I had to write it all down on paper first so I could make sense of it all (and its only got 9 floors. Imagine if you had a 90 storey building and some bright spark asked for an additional basement level. The top 88 floors would progressively turn into a complete and utter numerical mess to fix up! It could so easily be solved with a "lock absolute elevation and relative heights" buttons in the room specification dbx!!!