glennw

Ross, If you make both the brick wall layer and the timber wall layer the main layers (in the Wall Type Definition dbx), you should get what you are after.

Johnny, Isn't it funny - some users want all auto to save time and effort and others want no auto so they have complete control. And then there are those who want auto until it doesn't auto the way they want it.. And then there are those........ I agree with Yusuf, what particular "auto" feature do you want to disable - what do you mean by "shut down partially". What does "partially" mean? You can turn off Auto Rebuild Walls/Floors/Ceilings - but this is probably something that you would want to leave on - depend what level of auto you want. I guess if you shut down all auto, you are left with a 2D cad drafting program. I guess I am one of those users who like everything to auto build along the way - I like Chief auto adjusting things as I work because then when I get to the end, I know that everything works - there is no tidying up to do. I would hate to do a whole lot of work and then expect Chief to fix all my mistakes by trying to rely on some auto fix routine - that is just a recipe that leads to a whole lot more work. In my opinion, it's better to let Chief work it's magic as I proceed.

Ceiling drawn from inside

Michael & Scott, The reason is not quite obvious when you are dealing with trusses. Trusses build from back of sub fascia to back of sub fascia. The reason becomes more obvious when building the same geometry without trusses. As I said in a previous post, the framing will only build to the edge of the ceiling plane. If you draw your ceiling plane to outside of the main wall layer, Chief will frame the ceiling over the wall. If you draw your ceiling plane to inside of the main wall layer, that's where the framing will build to - obviously incorrect.

It is a little tricky to select them, but it can be done. Firstly, turn off the pitch display by opening the baseline dbx , and on the Line Style panel, uncheck Show Length. Or, do what I did in the attached pic, and make the text size smaller. If you then zoom right in, you can select the individual parts of the baseline polyline. I don't have time to go through all your post and work out exactly what you want, but the above may help. Can't we already do this?

The terrain breaks are too close together and don't have the correct elevation data to make them work as you think they should. I would forget the terrain breaks altogether and use more elevation lines (and/or greater height differences) to get the steeper slope required. I think you are wasting your time using terrain breaks I would also get rid of the elevation points and use Elevation Lines or Elevation Splines. Elevation lines are really just elevation points at about 2'0" strung together - much easier to control than elevation points. Just draw then like normal contours. Very easy to copy them and move them parallel , or adjust them as needed.

I believe that Chiefs recommends building ceiling planes to the outside of main layer (under normal circumstances) is because the framing will then build over the main layer and have something to sit on. Users should be aware that whether you draw the ceiling plane over the inside or outside of the main layer will make a difference to the height of the ceiling plane. A ceiling plane drawn to the outside of the main layer will be higher at any point than one drawn to the inside of the main layer. This height difference is the distance specified as the Automatic Birdsmouth Cut height reported when Trusses (No Birdsmouth) is unchecked.

I would avoid using a roof plane in that sort of situation as it has the potential to cause too many problems. A roof in the guts of the house is not a good idea. I would create a room and use the new Shelf Ceiling option. It will auto frame the walls and the ceiling. PS Ah, I just realised that this is an older post. Oh well, it still may help - and it's good that we have the new tool.

Larry, You sash and frame sizes are all set to zero. This essentially creates a pass-through which you can't select in an elevation view.

The problem is definitely being caused by the polyline Terrain Breaks on the landscaped mounds adjacent to the road on the bottom of the plan. Do you really need them there? And they are so close together - with a large Transition Distance. What are you trying to achieve by using them? Terrain breaks are usually used to make a vertical step in a terrain - same as retaining wall (a retaining wall is just a terrain break with a wall). On thinking about this a little more, I think it is just that you are not using the Terrain Break tool correctly. Either for the correct purpose or technically correct. As I said, it is designed to build a vertical break or step in the terrain by placing terrain elevation data above and below the break. It would appear that you really don't want a vertical step in the terrain where you have placed the breaks - although that is just a guess on my part.

If you don't want quantities by floor, open Preferences...Material List...Report Style...Include These Columns...uncheck Floor. Generate a ML using Calculate From All Floors. Sorry, no time to look at your file, Chief is probably correct though.

It has nothing to do with the height of the trees, it has to do with the display order. Select the tree images and open the dbx. Go to the Line Style panel...Drawing Group...scroll down and select 1 - Front. This will make the tree images draw on top of other objects. By default, images go to the very back. You can also access the same tool through the Edit toolbar which may be a better way because you get dynamic feedback as you change the order.

Here is a bit of a variation https://www.screencast.com/t/fMtUkgJuTX

If you try building the roof after making the front entry wall a full gable wall, I believe the gable will build too large and try and continue the 2 side roof slopes up. ie, the gable will be too big. It IS possible to build the roof automatically though. You need to build a small room (with invisible walls if you want) just inside the front doors. Give the room a ceiling height of about 95" (adjust as needed). Make the front door wall a full gable wall. Auto build roofs. Once you have the roof correct you can delete the invisible walls - as long as you don't build roofs again. Why are a lot of your walls Attic Walls -- this shouldn't be needed. The Gable Over Opening is not working because of the restricted space. This tool will not increase the height of the gable roof. It will normally try and build the gable with the default baseline height

That is an interesting concept for doing asbuilts and renos. Try select the walls and making them Invisible, No Room Definition and No Locate. I suspect that this method will bring up further complications though, and make it inpractical.

Joe, I am assuming that the OP wants to graphically see the materials in a floor plan view. I don't think he wants the materials notated.

Open the stair dbx and go to Style...options. Uncheck Automatic Rail Openings. You will need to delete the auto opening that Chief has placed in the rail. You can also change this in the defaults. You will need to control you rail openings by using doors, invisible wall sections, etc. It is actually the rail opening that determines the location of the posts, and the rail opening is placed by the stairs.

Scott, Even though you haven't assigned a material to an object, Chief has default materials for various objects. If you go Defaults...Materials, you will probably find that the Grey3 Siding material is assigned to an object (probably Walls (Exterior).

Dan, I strongly advise you not to use Rotate View. As Michael says, it rotates your "drawing board" - and everything with it. It really doesn't rotate the plan - just your view of the plan. This also means that the coordinate system and snap grid are rotated (that's what you are seeing with the arrow keys). Doing this will not rotate the plan in layout views. I would use Edit Area (All Floors).

Dan, For rich text, try selecting the text and on the Options panel...Size, check CAD Style Font Sizing.

Try Preferences...Reset Options...Reset Toolbars

Rotate it using the Rotate option in the Symbol Specification dbx. Have a look in the manual if you are stuck.

Perry, Yes, my mistake. The ceiling height needs to be lower or raking. I will now take my bat and ball and go home!!! I use this method because I don't do framing and I don't do interior views, except in special cases. I think it is also the best way to do auto roofs - which I do n 90% of my work.

Perry, If it is an invisible wall, there is no opening and no wall above the opening..duh. This is not a bay or box window with different floor or ceiling heights - it's part of a room.

Scott, OK, I have the boxing gloves on. You did not explain why an invisible wall is the way to go And why aren't you considering the auto roof build - you should be!