Renerabbitt

41 minutes ago, mtldesigns said:

I modeled this terrain with my main floor at 0, and I am on a hill per say, looking down to a road that is ~8' lower.  The road "true" elevation is 11.31' (NAVD88).  I want my terrain contours labels to read correctly, and not stating the road is at 0' and my top contour is at 8'.  How do I make this happen?  I thought moving by editing the complete model, would do that.

 

And where is the setting for contour dims?

would be great if you provided a plan so we are helping you in the case of a question that is quicker to answer with a video
 

1 hour ago, PLANSAHEAD said:

 Hi all. Does anyone on here provide MEP design and/or Electrical Layouts for Residential Home Plans? I am bidding on the design of 10-11 Two Family homes for a Contractor that I have done a lot of work for in the past on similar projects, and now the city is looking for such utility MEP plans. In 42 years of home design, I have never been asked to provide such things on Residential Projects , I have seen them mandated on commercial projects. They are simple ‘production oriented’ homes of approximately 2,000 sq ft per unit. I will be doing the actual house plans, looking for someone to do the MEP’s. TIA. 
Tony, 

Plans Ahead LLC

Branford,Ct

plansahead@aol.com

could do it but each muni will have a different MEP requirement..for instance, California would be more involved. Do you have an example set or county requirements?
 

3 minutes ago, CCMckeeHomes11 said:

cabinet so it doesn't have the radius fronts on them

Are you using a radius end cabinet? Use an angled cabinet instead

1 minute ago, Joe_Carrick said:

"Spiral Stair Tool" ?

This would be awesome @Medeek

3 hours ago, MannyREG said:

How are you guys importing sketchup geometry into Cheif?

It is a native function, can come in as an obj file or skp file extension. It will come in as a single object, so if you were to say frame all of the walls in sketchup, it will come in as one non-explodable object instead of individual components.
 

3 hours ago, MannyREG said:

I am torn between leaving cheif to use Sketchup and MDK's plugins to try and best create framing in 3D

You can, it is possible

 

3 hours ago, MannyREG said:

I dont want to buy Revit just to size / draw / model the bones of my Architect's models

You know that framing in Chief architect is a single click? aside from a discrepancy in macro reported cut length of rafters, have you run into an issues ? You are using the Premiere line of the product?
This was one button press:

Welcome to the Chief forums Manny

2 hours ago, larrysandiego said:

I am working on a project in Burlingame,Ca , and need some to help with home construction documents and  an ADU addition

 

Thanks,,

 

larrypapr@hotmail.com

I'm over in Oakland
The other Bay Area person that used to frequent these boards I haven't seen around much anymore.
renerabbitt@gmail.com
www.rabbittdesign.net

16 minutes ago, Medeek said:

P.S. 

Your truss looks good, however what do you if the client then wants a 7:12 pitch or an 8:12 and so on and so forth.  With a ruby program all of this is simply one click and you have a new truss that meets your needs, rather than having to create a massive library of every possible pitch and permutation.  What if the engineer calls for more bolts, the bottom line is there are too many possible solutions to the problem that is why a programmatic solution is simply the best.

This for me is just handled in a detail. I would not need to model such things nor have it be accurate. This is standard practice just to have an annotation. the 100 ft solution would be fine for me. Like I said I think what you have is cool, but I really could draw it quick enough for my taste. I also can't stress enough that I would not want to take on the liability of the truss being wrong, far safer for me to use the built in truss tools..Like you said, the pitch changes and I forget to export build and reimport and now I have a $5000 truss built wrong. No way...I did try to say though, that the hardware creation is what's interesting..that part I would import, just the hardware.
The truss is really easy to build in chief, and its really fast, and its accurate to the model. It's not as fast as your tool, but your tool isnt bound to the roof planes and ceing structure of my model
By the way don't let me be the deterrent, put your stuff up in the offering services section

1 minute ago, Medeek said:

3D Warehouse hosted by SketchUp

Absolutely, many of us use 3dwarehouse to supplement for furniture and light fixtures
 

2 minutes ago, Medeek said:

The biggest frustration for SketchUp users is not the modeling environment in my experience but the lack of parametrics, everything is essentially "dumb" geometry.

Totally Agree

33 minutes ago, Medeek said:

Once the desired look is again achieved, one would bring it back into Chief replacing the previous truss.

I edited and added to my last post after you posted this I think..and it's important to note:
 

50 minutes ago, Renerabbitt said:

The main problem I would have with an outside truss building software is that we introducing liability whereas the built in truss building tools limit liability because their creation is tied into the parameters of the building we eliminate a lot of potential for user based error 

So if I were to use your software for that particular plugin that you have, I would use it just for the hardware. I imagine there are some people that use sketchup at times and maybe there is a market for them, but just as a practice I made my own brackets in about 5 minutes and now I have them and can use them over and over again. I would block all my 4 in 12 pitch brackets together and then my 6 in 12 etc. I would store them in a block in an orientation that is typical of my truss envelops and then its just drag and drop. I honestly am not trying to discourage you, and I think this is an extremely valuable thing you have created for sketchup users. There are a few people here that are maybe beginner intermediate in Chief and I think may really like your setup where maybe its easier for them to have you build their truss for them. For the intermediate advanced, the Solid modeling tools are super fast and easy to build such shapes with unions and make parallel tool and chamfer tools as well as the polygon tool

 

31 minutes ago, Medeek said:

I guess there really is no way to program Chief like there is with SketchUp.  I originally come from the AutoCad world so before I ever ventured into Ruby and SketchUp I was already using AutoLisp to create my own routines for specific tasks and some geometry creation.  I am a little surprised that Chief does not open itself up to 3rd party development, I think it would be a huge boon for not only Chief itself but for the entire user base and the Chief ecosystem.

There are a bunch of reasons why it wouldn't be very feasible for chief to offer such a thing, but also I don't immediately see the need for such a thing. It was nice to see how efficiently your hardware was built, but in the end, a decorative gable end truss is only going to be useful to a small segment of the user base and for those users, they would probably already have hardware grouped together based on pitch in an architectural block that is a single click to drop and then a few more clicks to place. Meanwhile the truss profile is dynamic and linked to the roof as stated before. I imagine your truss shape is limited to what you have programmed? In chief we can get full dropped partial attic trusses in a few seconds etc. 
Wall framing is also auto generated as well as all framing. 
This screenshot took less than 2 minutes to build from scratch:

The main problem I would have with an outside truss building software is that we introducing liability whereas the built in truss building tools limit liability because their creation is tied into the parameters of the building we eliminate a lot of potential for user based error 

3 hours ago, Medeek said:

1.) Can one create full fledged extensions in CA like one can do within SketchUp?  For example I have tools within my SketchUp extensions that can generate various building elements, like columns, trusses, and staircases.

Though I am sure at times this is a faster process in Sketchup using your scripts, but some of the tools available in Chief far surpass the abilities of sketchup for dynamic and parametric modeling, all is not lost is what I am trying to say.

1 hour ago, AnneEID said:

Hi, 

I am an interior designer new to CA x16. I have a current full home project that I need built in 3d.  I have interior photos, floorplan, a few detailed room dimensions for Phase One spaces. No rendering needed just a build out of the 3d plan. I can take it from there.  Are there any freelancers interested? If so, please reach out with rates and timelines. 4 bedroom 3 Bath 3500 sqft.  Once we agree on services I will provide files and photos. 

Certainly
Many of us would need to see project files before quoting though as we quote by the complexity of the project. I can model anything you like :

www.rabbittdesign.net

18 hours ago, Alaskan_Son said:

Solids on the other hand are a lot easier to get proficient with.  And yes, even when I’m out of practice it would likely take just a few minutes.  
 

i’m not sure I agree about the easy adjustment either. Even after I got the cabinet built, trying to remember exactly which settings were controlling which component can be a huge pain.

Your whole response, all good points

15 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

worth the time

Kind've agree but I also kind've don't. You could get it done faster with solids...but needing to edit it would be a lot slower I would think..what do you think? This did take me all of 6 minutes to make. Doing it with solids maybe 4?
video:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/f8ho4lgpl0847bvhv6sl7/Advanced-Cabinets-and-Building-A-Credenza-In-Chief-Architect-X16.mp4?rlkey=djde6hjkymhbmwu8gcf3t4805&dl=0

24 minutes ago, MarkMc said:

I did it a little different than Rene.

That slot through is super cool Mark! nice

3 hours ago, HCremodel said:

Thanks!

Study this symbol, too much to explain

DOWNLOAD:

Rabs Credenza.calibz

3 hours ago, SteveWuo said:

Hi, I am having an issue with texture and image transfer. I create a new materials in my user catalog using a JPG image. these materials would include for example, a custom tile backsplash or flooring. or a custom paver selection from a manufacturers website. When a coworker opens the plan file on their computer, all the new materials that I have created do NOT show up on the file. I would like to know if there is a way to lock a new material into a plan file because that would save us a lot of time and effort to make our plans look great!

this also applies when i send/receive a plan file from a designer that is not in our network

any tips or input would be greatly appreciated! 

Thanks in advance!

image linked is the error message depicting all the missing files.

Chief architect looks in 2 places for missing texture files. 

1. Your Textures Folder
   
2. Or in the same folder that the plan file exists in.

What DB is suggesting is you make a backup of the plan and include textures so that your coworked can extract the zip file and have all of the textures in the same directory as the plan file
Alternatively you could transfer all of the files in your texture directory into their machines texture directory.
PLEASE NOTE, never a good idea to have your core data files be syncing to a cloud being accessed by multiple machines, so if you do plan on managing resources via the cloud each machine should have a unique short url, robs computer/documents/chief../textures etc.

34 minutes ago, Migaloo said:

I applied this to the front porch wall. I do not see a way to change the height or depth of the brick veneer.

heights are determined by rooms, so your foundation room's floor height should be adjusted to adjust the height of the stem wall

28 minutes ago, Migaloo said:

I have tried that also. 

and what was the result? what ended up happening that you didnt like?
 

3 hours ago, 447Debbie said:

The three items in the green boxes are what I'm trying to change.

I want to change the garage elevation from 1964.33' to 1967.328'

I want the 3" dip to go from 1964.08' to 1967.078'

I want the point 23' from the garage to go from 1966.08' to 1969.078'.

 

I want everything else to remain the same, with the exception of the slope which will change accordingly, if all works.

 

What tools do I need to do this since going in and changing the elevation lines is not working?

Get rid of all the other data and let chief interpolate. youre going to be grading anyways, just get all of it out of there and stick to the data you need. Remove the terrain retaining walls , they cause an automatic step. 
Put a terrain break in for your 3" drop with data on either side
 

3 hours ago, 447Debbie said:

Home Designer Pro 2021.

This forum is for the Premiere line, Hometalk is for the home designer line where people will know how to better instruct you

13 minutes ago, Migaloo said:

I am trying to show brick from the top of the floor down to the footing.

 

change your default foundation wall type to the type of wall you want (Brick over concrete masonry)

1 minute ago, SHCanada2 said:

example where you can see the blue of the polyline defining the area

Understood, makes sense thank you

11 hours ago, SHCanada2 said:

 

X16 schedules can do quite a bit as Rene indicates in another thread. After some fiddling, I also got the schedule to work for the window area as a percentage of wall area (required in Canada). Wall area still needs the polyline. But this eliminates the need to store the windows in a global variable.

 

So the request to publish the schedule total as an NVP is not actually required. The attached shows my original macro solution in the label, where the schedule shows similar output...except it does not have the "largest unprotected window"...not sure if that could actually be done in a schedule...maybe I will try

 

 

Why are you using a polyline for this?

6 minutes ago, SageDesign said:

How do I get my window schedule in Chief 16 to display "dimensions", "width", and "height" in feet and fractional inches.  It now shows in "feet" with 5 decimal places!

There is a Number Formatting column in your schedule in X16, pick the column you want to change the format on and format accordingly

1 hour ago, Vicki17 said:

Yes that sounds just right.  Do you know where I find the setting for plans vs elevations for this?

 

Hit the Edit The Active View Button for your current elevation and change the dimension default.
for defaults go to Edit/Default Settings/Camera Tools/Cross Section/Elevation and change your default for dimensions