In this video,
we will be giving an overview of the toolbars in Chief Architect and how to use
them. Toolbar customization,
as well as the specific use of many tools within the toolbars,
will be covered in other videos.
Please also note that we will be working with the default out of the box
toolbars so if your toolbars were imported from an older version or were
otherwise customized in any way, they may not match what is shown here. However,
the overall functionality will be the same.
Should you need to reset your toolbars to their default state,
access the preferences dialog, which is under the edit menu on windows,
or under the program menu on Mac. Then under the reset options panel,
simply press the reset toolbars button.
This will rebuild the toolbars restoring any missing toolbars and eliminating
any customized or migrated toolbars.
There are a large number of tools available in Chief Architect that are
accessible through the programs menu, but for efficiency,
the most common tools have been grouped together into toolbars for quick access.
Tools that not applicable to the current view will be grayed out and inactive
such as CAD or text tools while in 3D view or camera and material tools while in
plan view. Similarly,
the available toolbars may change based on the type of view you are in.
For example,
you will have a different set of toolbars while working in plan view than you
will while working in a layout.
This way only tools that are relevant to the current view will be available.
Typically speaking,
tool icons are simply shortcuts to a specific tool or object that then needs to
be manually drawn or placed on the plan such as walls, windows, cabinets, etc.
However, some icons automatically create something on the plan when pressed.
For example, a manual dimension must be dragged across the plan,
where as the auto exterior dimension tool creates dimensions once you click on
the icon. Some toolbars also have a dropdown selection as well.
These allow you to quickly change certain settings like the current plan view,
layer set, or dimension default. Looking at the preferences dialog,
there are two different toolbar styles, child tool palette and drop down,
which is the default style. Looking at the toolbars,
you can see that many of the icons have an arrow to the right of them that can
be clicked to expand a list of additional similar tools.
For some icons,
these are effectively the same tools just with different preset defaults like
walls, doors, and windows,
where as others are similar types of tools all with distinct functions like the
roof or framing tools.
Switching to the child tool palette mode,
you can see the toolbars are condensed as the arrows are removed and now when
clicking on a tool icon,
the tool pallet side window displays all of the tools of that type.
The tool palette is not entirely necessary to use with dropdown toolbars and you
can close it if you like. However,
it will open again automatically if you select a tool icon while using the child
tool palette toolbars.
Neither toolbar style is inherently better than the other,
they are simply different styles,
so it is recommended you try them both out and see which method you prefer but
for the sake of this video, we will set it back to dropdown.
Many tools have default settings that determine how the associated object is
going to be created.
You can access these defaults through the program menu by choosing edit,
then default settings, then browsing to the default you want to change.
We can also use the toolbar icon to take us directly to a specific default by
double clicking its tool icon.
This will open the default dialog for that tool or type of tools.
Some tools have multiple defaults and instead will open a list of defaults
allowing you to choose which default to change. For example,
hinge doors and sliding doors both have interior and exterior defaults,
so double-clicking these door icons will allow you to select which default you
want to edit,
whereas other door icons open directly to their respective defaults.
For tools that perform an action automatically like auto exterior dimensions,
since clicking the icon activates the function,
you will have to go through the default settings dialog to modify its defaults.
The overall layout of the toolbars is called the toolbar configuration.
The default configuration has your file management tools, resources,
plan and project tools, camera and navigation tools, architectural design tools,
and annotation tools.
The architectural toolbar contains some of the more common tools that you will
be using while drawing, allowing you to easily access things like walls, doors,
windows, cabinets, et cetera. However,
this tool work can be quickly swapped for a more specialized set of tools by
switching to a different toolbar configuration. In the upper right,
we have icons for the default kitchen and bath design, terrain, mechanical,
electrical and plumbing, and space planning configurations.
Clicking the kitchen and bath configuration, for instance,
swaps the architectural toolbar out for the kitchen and bath features toolbar,
which has some similar tools like straight walls, railings,
and basic cabinet tools,
but adds things like cabinet fillers as well as a collection of pre-customized
cabinets. Similarly,
the terrain configuration gives quick access to many of the terrain tools,
so if you can't find the tool you're looking for,
be sure that you are in the right configuration.
New toolbar configurations can be customized to your liking,
though is addressed in another video.
You can also change configurations by right-clicking any active toolbar icon or
a blank toolbar area.
This opens a menu with additional toolbar options such as toggling on or off any
of the side windows, including the tool palette,
choosing what toolbars are visible in the current view,
opening the customized toolbars dialog, and locking the toolbars.
Lastly, the edit toolbar is located at the bottom of the screen,
but you will not see it until an object is selected.
The edit toolbars is contextual toolbar in that it shows special functions to
pertain specifically to the selected object or objects. For example,
with a single window selected,
you will have a list of general actions such as next to select the next nearest
object, open object to open the selected object specification dialog and so on.
With a single door selected, you will have the same list. However,
there will be a few additional door specific tools like change opening hinge
side and change swing side. If a door and a window are selected together,
you will have a more limited list of tools that apply specifically to both door
and window objects. However,
this can sometimes add new icons for actions that specifically require a group
selection to function such as the make mold unit function,
which will join two openings together. Furthermore,
certain functions will only be present if the selected object is in a specific
state. For instance,
when selecting a wall that is slightly misaligned with a wall on another floor,
you might see the align with wall above or align with wall below icons. However,
once you press one of these icons,
the wall will then be aligned so the condition is no longer met and the button
will disappear.
Certain edit toolbar icons have a set of optional secondary functions that
display when the icon is pressed. Many functions have a sticky mode,
for instance, which allows the same function to be made several times in a row.
For example,
the copy paste button copies the selected object and immediately puts you into a
paste mode allowing you to click anywhere to paste a copy of the selected
object. Once this is done though,
you will revert to your previously selected tool. Click and copy paste,
then selecting sticky mode will allow you to repeat the paste operation and
create multiple copies at one time.
While it is not necessary to select any of these secondary buttons to perform a
primary action.
It may be beneficial to explore the various options these functions provide.