CA SHORTS - Arched Alcove The Quick And Easy Way In Chief Architect X17

Our best tips and tricks are reserved for VIP. Join here:    / @rabbittdesign8482   Learn how to build a clean arched alcove in Chief Architect — complete with a radius ceiling, double-wall cavity, and perfectly fitted cabinetry. In this quick tutorial, I walk through: Creating the alcove as its own room Using non–auto-merging walls for control Matching wall thickness by adding an offset Converting the doorway to an arched opening Handling curved-ceiling lighting placement Using X17’s zero-offset placement tool for cabinets Perfectly filling the alcove with built-ins This technique is ideal for niches, wall recesses, built-in cabinets, shower alcoves, or any design where you need clean, controlled geometry with a curved ceiling. 00:00 – Intro: Building a Radius Alcove Quick overview of what will be created: a recessed alcove with an arched ceiling. 00:00:18 – Drawing the Alcove Room Creating a dedicated room for the alcove and setting the exact depth using tab-input adjustments. 00:00:36 – Using Non–Auto-Merging Walls Why disabling “Auto Merge Colinear Walls” makes this trick possible. 00:00:49 – Extending the Second Wall Section Drawing a wall continuation to establish the alcove’s thickness. 00:01:00 – Matching Wall Thickness by Adding the Offset Copying the distance and adding it to the wall thickness to create the double-wall cavity. 00:01:17 – Converting to a Partition Wall Marking the new wall type as “Partition” so framing behaves correctly. 00:01:34 – Adding the Doorway Opening Dropping a door opening into the alcove and preparing for the arched shape. 00:01:44 – Double-Wall Doorway Settings Opening the door specification and disabling casing/jambs through double walls. 00:01:58 – Converting the Opening to an Arch Using a custom tool (or Chief’s options) to convert the doorway to an arched opening. 00:02:04 – Pulling a Camera View Adding lighting and examining drywall transitions, floor continuation, and geometry cleanup. 00:02:33 – Ceiling Light Placement Trick How to place recessed lighting when the alcove uses a curved ceiling (not recognized as a standard ceiling plane). 00:02:56 – Filling the Alcove with a Cabinet Placing cabinetry inside the recess, overriding auto-attachment to the doorway. 00:03:10 – Using X17’s Zero-Offset Placement Setting cabinet offsets to “0 in” for perfectly snug placement at each wall. 00:03:22 – Final Fit & Resize Controls Using the new dimension-resize handles to perfectly fill the alcove cavity.