Renerabbitt

I laughed at this, I only used that plan as an example because it was scanned horribly, I'm not a big fan either..actually not a fan of any of chief arrows but we can't make our own that I know of. I definitely get your point, I've certainly heard the argument before, I use my personality, site meetings, hand drawn sketches, mood boards to, design albums to bring the personal touch to my client coupled with whatever fun I can bring in between...then my work product when it hits their desk is a resounding reminder of my core skill-sets...I feel a sans-serif font best represent the feeling I mean to evoke...definitely depends on your client base right? I'm working on a project that will likely take me years as it is for my own home...I plan on making it a graphically masterpiece...I want it to read like a graphic novel...I may end up hand lettering it myself.

So here's my issue, that 3D CAD is still just vectors, it carries no information..its dumb, like a sculpture. I still have to go trace over it. Yes its amazing, yes I'm super impressed and it's got everyone pitching..but, Instead of looking at the scribble on my page that says 3068 I have to pull a 3d view and dimension tool to scale a 3' door opening, c'mon...that's not fast, I don't care who is telling me it is. Until the software can be node based so I drop a designation into geometry and have it generate an assembly...how the heck is it going to help me for a 2000 sq ft home that I'm adding 499 sq. ft to?(California anyone?) Next part that they are forgetting to mention..the interstitial setup, calling a scanning contractor/renting the device, scheduling the contractor, coordinating with the client, having the scan processed on their servers, uploading to my software, interpreting the building...not to mention that their is time wasted when you have access to too much information...I'd venture a guess that 10's of 1000's of hours were wasted by drafters trying to figure out how to create prettier renders this last year with all the new PBR tools...myself included. I can walk out of my office at 9 am to go measure/draft and have an as-built by mid afternoon. 4 walls is 4 mouse clicks, I'm drawing square rooms..even if the walls were out of plumb I wouldn't care unless it was a wall I was touching. County doesn't require you to have a 100% accurate home to illustrate an addition in the backyard....Can't remember the last time I saw an accurate as-built plan on record. It's just not necessary, in fact, I could probably get most of my plan-sets through on a blank piece of paper, honestly, I draft sometimes out of routine when I really could just walk into the counter and tell them I want to put some dropoff counters in this church I'm working with.

I just realized your local to me and that might've been a legitimate question, haha. That one was a throwaway but would typically incorporate it in as built drawings if required. Saved the client a ton as the structure confirmed my instinct. Simple point load from a California roof could be hung from a new beam with a short span to make a great room..also discovered a drop ceiling that was dropped for no reason. No way a scanner is picking up details like that. A scanner also can't point out possible dryrot or a door that's binding or a leaky faucet etc. So many reasons to get someone you trust with eyes on site measurements.

Depends on what I did to deserve to be up there.

I had to climb up into my clients attic last week

Sorry chief but I really dislike your font. The weird bubbly and squigly arms, the narrow bowls, the squigly cross stroke, the loops at apex and vertex, the narrow stem to thick bowl at the foot...all looks very cartoonish...also, a bad habit of mine is recognizing CA font and then for some reason picking apart their work...I'm usually for lifting the community up, I have no idea why I get competitive when seeing this font in plan sets. Personal gripe on my own temperament Graphite Standard was an old favorite I have since left behind Technical is nice but a little too lightweight on ANSI B..moe suitable on ANSI/ARCH D Blueprintdbt is a standard with multiple drafters I collaborate with, it is very very similar to CA's font but slightly less cartoonish...believe it was created by one of our very own users way back...Dan something. Architects Daughter is fun as well as Damned Architect I personally like to stay away from hand drawn looking fonts. I know their is an argument to be made in favor for. Great for small business, that homey feel, personal connection for clients and builders...but their is something so impressive looking about a plan-set drafted with a sans-serif font like Eurostile...I also find it easier to read....look at this way over exposed scan of a plan done with Century Gothic: Overexposed, compressed ANSI D yet still totally legible You'd be hard pressed to find a top tier commercial architecture firm around here that uses any kind of hand lettering font. It's considered unprofessional. Very few people hand drafting anymore, why are we faking it...if my work represents me I don't want any smoke and mirrors...I can't letter for crap, I've got two left hands so-to-speak...why would I try and convince you otherwise, haha. anywho...my two cents

Sent you a PM

Id be interested, give me a call at 925 300 7004 or shoot me the dwg’s to take a look at -renerabbitt@gmail.com cheers, Rene Rabbitt

Turn off all rope lights while working the scene

Sync your libraries with a cloud services or a server with all machines pointed to that location. Should be pretty seamless, only need to update one machine that way

Annie, didn't see an email address listed, I sent you a PM and left a VM with your company, cheers.

I would certainly be up for a meet and greet, great idea. I use a third party software that thrives on number of cores, gigs of RAM and number of CUDA cores..the reason for my ridiculous machine in my signature

You can always hire your Bay Area neighbor to do renderings for you and save you some time and maybe money

Sorry guys, was migrating my computers from a friends house back to my office since power has finally been restored! Anywho, I do sometimes skip creating a new folder within CAD but for the most part I dupe the folder which includes layout, AB drawing and new drawing as well as any supporting PDFs/Site maps/AP maps etc.(maybe not necessary but still my preference.) I use this naming convention for a shared office...live syncing on a cloud service. In my own personal file structure I put the job name in with the CAD folder: CURRENT JOBS(OR 19)/SMITH/CAD-SMITH/191030-DRVA Since I'm on windows I pin the SMITH-CAD folder to my quick access in file explorer. That way all my active jobs are in quick access

My personal folder structure as follows: 19/Jobname/CAD/190927-AB/filename where 190927 is the date Sep, 27, 2019 ab representing the stage of drawings. For each working session I create a new folder. If you only wanted to do this for design revisions it would make sense as well. Duplicate the entire folder, rename and THEN open the CA file. Layout linking will maintain. When you need to incorporate a design you can go back to that dates revision. ..which I also keep up to date in layout..add revisions for milestones/revisions

sent you an email a few hours ago cheers

I thought you'd ask: RABS OUTBOARD NEWEL POST.calibz Remember to raise the bottom rail

My preferred method is to build the railing to spec in a separate plan and than add to library as a symbol and place at the edge of a deck with no rail...Less fuss and no chance of it getting screwed up later..and I think it's faster

When it comes down to it, these scans are simply not a good value outside of revit or similar programs. CA is built primarily for the residential world where architectural elements are few in variation. Residential building code and your local plan-checker allow for a more organic approach to drafting...commercial is simply a different animal. Someone needs to convert a scan to a dwg/dxf/pdf, rescale, trace, interpret elevations, and you still have to redraw...you might be missing details, a scanner isn't going to get you setbacks to place the lot, it won't tell you which way the joists are running or what your sub-grade conditions are, stick framed or truss roof...and someone already spent a boatload on it...neat :). I spent years with a laptop in the field with a bluetooth measuring device and what you come to realize is it's just faster with pen and paper. 8' plate height, 2⁸6⁸LH, 4⁰4⁰CS, 3⁰ to left wall, 4:12 △, 12' grade to eave, 18" overhang, SOG, 30' Curb to curb, 25' curb to building, ..etc., then snap 1000 photos for scaling, done. Take your graph paper back to the office and draw it up in 3-6 hrs. I can tell you by looking at a photo the size of your cabinets, the size of your windows..all standard, your plan-checker doesn't care if your 3⁰3⁰ window is actually a 3²3⁰.(California energy code does though):) I can go to a split level hillside home with a laser measure and a tablet and measure the full 2000 sq ft home in 3-5 hours...add another 3-6 hours in CA and you've got an accurate model. ready to go.

I sent you a PM, I'm up in the Bay Area, willing to save you/client some $$ to get your project into CA, else GL and let us know how it goes!

I mentioned this to you in your other post found here: defaults/camera tools/full camera defaults/camera/lighting/automatic/maximum lights/

Photoshop for mine, adjusted the distortion, select the main sign and cut the rest, fill with content-aware tool, spot heel as necessary, dupe the layer, change to monochrome, export both layers as diffuse and bump respectively.

You can get some pretty powerful stuff done in 10 minutes when you learn your photo editing software's..this took 10 min tops: