glennw

Mick, FIR may be hard coded, but there is no problem changing the framing name from Fir to something else. Or...I guess you want automatic, which would be ideal.

Here is another auto build roof. I had to make a room of the garage pushout to get the small gable. Otherwise everything else seems to build OK. It is best to leave Auto Rebuild Roofs toggled on so that hen you change a room or wall you get instant feedback on what you have done.

If you follow the steps in the help file for the different types of roofs, all should be revealed. Pay particular attention to the roof settings in the wall definition dbx.

I assume you are talking about a Dutch Gable? In which case you can use the Dutch Gable tool. Open the Build Roof dbx>Roof Styles and pick the one you want.

Another way that seems to work. Place a wall that contains studs you don't want included in the ML on their own layer (say an existing wall). Uncheck the M in the layer display options for that layer. The wall will not be reported in the ML (which is probably what you want anyway). But...also, the studs won't be reported either, even though they are on a different layer (Framing, Wall) with the M checked.

Scott, Maybe not! You should be able to filter the studs by height by using the Lumber Reporting Method Control in the ML. The reason your studs are coming in at the same height is probably because you are using Lineal Length which is not filtering the studs by length. The is reporting the studs of the same width and height by totalling all the stud lengths. For starters, try using Cut List - this will sort the studs into their actual length and ignore any set lengths (Buy List) as defined in Structural Reporting. You may need to edit your Structural Reporting defaults - but I don't think you will need to. PS. Make sure in Build Framing, you have Use Wall Framing Material checked, otherwise chief will use the framing default.

Scott, I am guessing that all your studs are all the same size and height? If they are different sizes and heights, there may be ways to do what you want.

I assume that you want the drywall to extend down and cover the face of the concrete step? You can do this by setting the Brick Ledge depth to 12" in the Wall Type Definitions dbx. The problem is that the baseboard builds hard up against the concrete and not the wall lining. So you would then need to do the skirting manually with a molding polyline. I would never build it like that. I would always take the wall down to the lower slab to allow for any adjustments to irregularities in the concrete pour. Like this:

Instead of making that corner from solid walls, you could try making it a hollow wall junction made from thinner walls. Post the plan for more detailed help.

Use Centre Object to centre the windows and doors.

Scott, I can't find one. The best I can do is to enlarge the Safari window and then use View>Zoom In repeatedly which just about gets you there, but far from satisfactory.

I have had this happen as part of an ongoing problem i am having with Chief. What do you see if you go Preferences>General>Unit Conversions after seeing this message? Do you get the same error message when entering a distance into any dbx? What happens when you draw a dimension and/or what happens to existing dimensions? I suggest that you keep the Chief session open to help with trouble shooting. But, does closing the existing plan and opening a new plan result in the same behavior? Does the problem resolve with a new chief session?

Have a look at Repositioning Cameras in the help file.

There are no differences between the mac and windows versions. Well, there may actually be the odd minor thing because of the different operating systems (like the way the title bar and menu bar work, for instance), but for all practical purposes, there is no difference.

Just so you know for future reference. It sounds like this to me: This is a real quirk, and I could never understand why it was designed that way. The "All On" layerset turns on the "Walls, Main Layer Only" layer, which actually turns off the display of all wall layers bar the main layer. It's a bit like multiplying a positive number by a negative number - the result is always negative. Go figure! I have always thought that there had to be a better way.

You can do it by dragging the top and bottom of the wall (rail) up or down. BUT, you can't do that while it is a rail. Open it's dbx, uncheck rail, drag the top and bottom heights, check rail. Tommy may have a different technique.

Or... once you have your scale factor, you can also do it in the PDF Box Specification dbx. Open the dbx and make sure Retain Aspect Ration is checked, in either the Width or Height, leave the existing size and add "*your scale factor" (multiply by your scale factor). Click OK. It always amazes me how many ways you can skin a cat in Chief.

Scott, If this is only a Chief problem it may be the setting at Preferences>General>Troubleshooting>Mouse Movement Optimisations.

Use Draw Order and send To Back?

I usually make my Terrain larger than the actual building lot and then designate the lot with a thin Terrain Feature.

When you input x and y coordinates without Polar checked, you are not entering line lengths you are entering x and y offsets from the start of the line. ie, you are telling Chief that the endpoint of the line is so many units in the x direction and so many units in the y direction from the start of the line. So that if you go x=20 and y=20, the line will be at 45deg and 28.284 units long. If you want to enter line length (Distance) and angle, you need to check Polar. Or, you can use Polar unchecked and have a line go horizontal by entering the line length in x and enter zero in y - this tells Chief that the line end is offset by the line length in the x direction and a zero offset in the y direction. You are better off using Polar though - less confusion when the direction is not 0, 90, 180 or 360.

Eric, You lost me. That plan belongs to another thread? The plan we are talking about is "I have covered porch.plan"

If you are after something like this. Place two breaks in the bottom edge. Use Change Line/Arc on the centre section. You can use Convert Curve To Polyline if you require a smoother curve. Ah, I just reread your post and noticed you need an ellipse and not a curve - same technique though.

Mick, The plan I downloaded only has a foundation, level 1 and attic. Level 2 is just a .pdf - not a Chief floor plan. Did I miss something?

Rocky, There should be no need to do this. Things should build automatically. I spend a lot of time looking at the plan you posted in another thread and finally gave up looking for a solution. I believe the file was corrupted some how and you would be better to start over and get things to work automatically.