Help Database

Creating a fence with a solid lower portion, and a railing on the upper portion, is easy to do in Chief Architect.

To create the lower terrain wall

1. Launch Chief Architect and Open  the plan in which you want to create the fence on a solid wall.
   
   
   
2. Select Terrain> Terrain Walls and Curbs> Straight Terrain Wall , then click and drag in a straight line to draw the solid lower section of the wall.
   
   
   
3. Once you have the solid section drawn, use the Select Objects  tool to select it, and click on the Open Object  edit button to display the Terrain Path Specification dialog.
   
   
   
4. On the General tab, set the appropriate Height for the solid section.
   
   
   • For the purposes of this example, we set the Height value at 36" and left the Width set at 6".
     
     
     
5. Next, select the Materials tab, and click the Select Material button to open the Select Library Object dialog. 
   
    
   
   
   • Choose a material for the bottom solid section of this fence. For the purposes of this example, we browsed to Chief Architect Core Catalogs> Materials> Masonry & Stone> Stone> Stacked Stone.
     
     
     
6. Once you have chosen an appropriate material, click OK to apply the change and close the dialog.
   
   
   
   

To place a fence over the terrain wall

Now that we have the first section drawn, we are ready to draw in the fence on top of it.

1. Select Build> Fencing> Straight Fencing .
   
   
   
2. Click and drag out the fence centered within the Terrain Wall.
   
   
     Make sure that the fence is completely contained within the Terrain Wall. If it touches or goes past any terrain wall edge, the fence will drop down to the terrain rather than staying on top of it.
   
   
   
3. Once you have the fence drawn, use the Select Objects  tool to select it, and click on the Open Object  edit tool to display the Fencing Specification dialog.
   
   
   
4. On the Newels/Balusters tab, to the right of Panel Type, click on the Library button to display the Select Library Object dialog. 
   
   
   
   
   • Choose a fence panel style for the top of this fence, and click OK.
     
     
   • For the purposes of this example, we selected the Chief Architect Core Catalogs> Architectural> Fences & Railings> Decorator> Acapulco fence panel.
     
     
     
5. Once you have returned to the Fencing Specification dialog after choosing a fence panel type, set the appropriate Railing Height, Newel Width, Newel Height. 
   
   
   
   
   • For the purposes of this example, we set the Railing Height at 36", increased the Newel Width to 6" so that it would be the same width as our Terrain Wall, and set the Newel Height to 42" to it extended above the Railing Height.  Finally, we set the Newel Type to Square from the drop down menu.
     
     
     
6. Next, select the Materials tab to choose the appropriate materials for this section of the fence, and click OK.
   
   
   
   

To place caps on the fence posts

1. Select Library> Library Browser  from the menu to open the Library Browser window. 
   
   
   
2. Next, browse to Chief Architect Core Libraries> Millwork> Finials & Caps> Caps, choose an appropriate Cap, and click in your 2D floor plan view to place it
   
   
   • For the purposes of our example, we choose Cap 01.
     
     
     
3. Use the Select Objects  tool to select the Cap, and click on the Open Object  tool to display the Millwork Specification dialog.
   
   
   
4. On the General tab, set the Floor to Bottom Height value to the appropriate value so that it rests on top of the Newel, and make any appropriate changes to the Height, Width and Depth value. 
   
   
   
   
   • For the purposes of our example, we set the Floor to Bottom to 78".
     
     
     
5. Select the Materials tab to set the appropriate material to match our Newels and Terrain Wall, then click the OK to apply these changes.
   
   
   
6. Position the cap appropriately over the end Newel of the Fence Railing.
   
   
   
7. Take a Perspective Full Camera  view to see the results.