KTKArch

Members
  • Posts

    63
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by KTKArch

  1. Hi Lew, Another project they presented was of a church's education building that they wanted to alter a few classrooms to get a dropoff counter installed. In 35 minutes the 3rd party $75K backpack scanner they hired was walked through and around the building. They paid $80 for the point cloud file and the entire 3000 sf building was documented. A few more hours and the entire building as-built was done in 3D CAD (Revit). The presenter said he 'runs away' from scans that are 1 or more inches out of wack, so resolution and experience is a must when you have scanning done. But small projects can be cost-effective if you manage it right and have the right tools. A CAD program that can pull in point clouds is definitely one of the right tools.
  2. You should have seen these files. The scan picked up failing/bowed rafters/trusses. It's all in where you take the scanner. An odd space like the dropped ceiling would be easily found and investigated with eyes focused on all the specific/various discrepancies showing up. It will also find walls out of square much faster than hand measuring with. Until costs come down significantly we will always find a point where handwork will outperform technology. But that will diminish along with cost and familiarity. As the scan is doing the measurements faster, you are left with more time for discovery.
  3. May 2019: The Pikes Peak Railroad Station complex was scanned in 3 days. CAD As-built was completed in about a week (two employees). It did take a quadcore computer at least 24 hours to compile the 600+ GB point cloud scan as there were a hundred plus scan locations. They now have a measurable photo record of these historical buildings. 1/2" max variance in accuracy. They hired the $250K scanner @ a "known friend's" deal of $2k per day, high cost, but you can't hand measure a 10+ acre site and multiple buildings in that time frame for that price. This final scan showed stone joints, sagged roofs, railroad tracks, trees, anything that was there at that time. In a photo-realistic file that looked much like a Chief 3D model. Just made up of billions of points where the 'paint' surface was on each object.
  4. Resolution and accuracy is the key to point clouds. Those counter guys are skipping that part to keep files small or using inferior scanners. Whether its a pencil or a computer/laser it's only as good as the operator. In I.T. we called this "PEBKAC" Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.
  5. The example shown at the conference was of the entire railroad station complex for Pike's Peak. These were historical buildings and the system they used captured everything. All the as-built company needed was the building info so they could just put their Revit walls, floors, ceilings between the frames made by the points. Since an overlay photo was created with the point cloud scan it was easy to discern wall planes from 'clutter' but this is also possible without the photo. Then doors and windows can be made to look like the ones in the scan. Even historical moldings were captured and recreated by cutting the sections as needed. And everything in the point cloud is measurable at any view angle. The resolution of the scan showed the joint depths of the stone retaining walls. If you need to remove cats and desks just group select and delete. There is always enough wall left to define the as-built cad locations.
  6. So I just returned from a demonstration of current high tech and its use in the future of home design. I must say, Point Clouds from laser scans are the way to go. Sure the high end is 1/4 million $ scanners and drones/aircraft. But even a $75K backpack scanner at the right resolution will take a 6-hour site measure and office drafting time down to a 30-minute walkthrough/around and 1 - 2 hours in the office for 3D overlay. Can't put out $75K...hire it out and markup 3rd party's price for the walkthrough. You not only get the building but the topography as well. Fences, trees, and neighboring buildings will get picked up. Great for landscaping and the all-important tree schedule. You will be able to simply measure tree trunks at whatever height the local jurisdiction requires from the comfort of your desk. If you find any boundary markers. Put a recognizable 3D item over them to locate them in the point cloud. Want to verify the scale of the point cloud? Measure one or more items that you can verify later and scale as needed. Better resolutions reduce and eliminate this but dramatically increase your file size. So a good scan will be within a 1/2" of accuracy and you know those pesky double-thick interior walls you can't get to? Or that one that goes off at an angle or stairs that follow a curving wall. No guessing the radius or if there are multiple slopes on the roof. Its all in the point cloud at less than half the time and cost of hand measuring. Still can't 'see' it? Watch when the countertop installer measures up the next kitchen with one. The countertop fits like a glove after a simple scan is fed into the CNC machine. If the countertop installer can make it work we can too. So Chief Architect, when are you going to simplify importing point clouds into CA?
  7. Wind vs Ground shake...WA has the same ground problem but once in a while an EF1 tornado will suck a perfectly good roof right off the top plate. The shearwalls are solid but with only 110 mph design winds that joint becomes liquid to tornadoes. Back on the main track. Sweden's codes require outswing doors. Better for weather and wind. Security? Their Locks and Hinges are great...but, they also require that anyone must have access to a toilet at any time, so there is also a second security door after the front powder room.
  8. Followed MarkMc's idea. Placed Polyline on 'level 38' in the background and made it very light blue. In grayscale, this color may not even print. On 11x17 sheet 2'x2' is a good grid size. 19-15 Bruett AB1 Floor 2 w grid.pdf
  9. The description you gave is not ADA compatible. Review ADA guidelines chapter 3 and especially sections 306 and 308. Hospitals will/must care about compliance. 34" Rim height max. 27" knee clearance for the first 8" of depth to 11" of depth at the toe kick setback which is 9" Above Finished Floor AFF. Then another 6" setback. Cabinet can then hang on wall or drop to floor. This toe clearance width has to be 30" clear centered on the sink/faucet no matter how wide the cabinet is. This is important when hiding the clearances behind operable doors in kitchens etc. You have to use 32" minimum width cabinets to account for the cabinet sides' thicknesses. Attached are some examples. The 3D is a 6" high cabinet set max 34" AFF, adjust per type of sink and its rim height. Vessel, drop-in, undermount, etc. The 'cabinet' below is a polyline solid stretched to the width of the cabinet. The 2D has the relevant dimensions per ADA.
  10. Single bar style rolling clothes rack symbol needed. I remember using one once but can't locate it again and my search of ChiefTalk and libraries aren't coming up with anything. Anyone know where I might find one. It's needed just for space planning today. Thanks. Never mind...Found it under Garment Rack ... not clothes hanger. Getting older just doesn't pay some days.
  11. In years past and on earlier versions I had to disable the on-board graphics chip at the bios level. Those Intel chips are notorious for messing up CA and are much slower.
  12. Found a lot of nice points about roll-in shower drains in a few threads. Still looking for how to draw the pan itself in Chief. So that the structure and floor slopes are all in place too. Since the default shower pans in the libraries all have 2" thresholds one cannot just drop it in and place it 2" below the floor level. So what are your solutions? And is there a symbol out there I'm missing? Thanks.
  13. Thanks, It begs that question because it is at the extents of fitting. But just touching it makes it go gray and when it does draw it, it forces the exterior layers inside...and then it crashed the program. I'll try to recover the plan and see if all these problems go away by 'downsizing' the dormers a bit.
  14. Auto Dormers, originally correct when placed in the roof. But after a minor repositioning, the exterior walls reversed layers - placing the exterior of the walls on the interior of the dormer. Since these are a unit you can't select walls, or it, to reverse the layers back. Simply touching the dormer to make any minor adjustments turned it to a grey box. At this stage the interior walls are cut but the roof reverts to normal and no dormer appears. Selecting the grey box opens the dormer dialog but no change to the view. Eventually resizing the dormer's width locked X8 and forced an auto shutdown of Chief.
  15. I can confirm not being able to rename a wall type created by 'copy'. Frustrating! Next is more of a cabinet option problem. I have a kitchen plan with different drawer fronts (slab) than door fronts (framed). For the 'tip-out' trays under sinks and range tops, I thought that I would use a bottom hinged door and get the opening indicators to show these 'tipped out / opened'. But since its now a door, it wants to be framed, when I set it to slab, all the doors in that cabinet become slab of course. A 'tip-out' false drawer option would fix the problem. For now it will have to be noted as tip-out since cad lines for the indicators would have to be adjusted with every alteration of the cabinet.
  16. Thanks for the link. 4k (Ultra HD Medium) performance of the nvidea 960 seems reasonable per this info and cost. The 970 makes a great case for upgrading to too. Seems the 950 is a bit brain damaged. I'll keep an eye out for Fry's next promo code offer since the 960 can be had for well under $200 then.
  17. You can put copies of the same 'view-to-layout' window on different layout pages and then just slide the 'view' inside the window up or down to show the area of the schedule you want. As the schedule grows/shrinks this will need additional/continued coordination.
  18. Hi All, Updated my presentation screen to a 65" 4k TV. Note it is not for production, client show & tell only, (and the Superbowl party when the Seahawks get back in it in '17 ). Its attached to a first generation i7 cpu 16 GB system. It has HDMI 2.0 capability so I'm looking for a low cost 4k HDMI 2.0 video card to push the Chief screen images out to it. Since Chief does not use the GPU to render, it doesn't have to be a Titan card. I'm looking at the nVidea 950 and 960 cards as the current lowest cost, single cable (not split screen) cards out there. Since each card has multiple version options has anyone found how well the 2GB vs 4GB, 'low # vs high #" of shaders etc... performance with Chief at 4k resolution? Is HDMI 2.0 still limited to 6' cables? Most of what I've found online is pre 2015. Thanks for your input. Karl
  19. Be sure to check out AIBD.org and the Texas group(s) under TIBD.org for fellow designers to collaborate with from your area.
  20. Hi Tommy, How about we go over Wall Material Regions. It seems like this is going to be the way to produce panelized wall systems that are used in 'modern' designs.
  21. Hi guys. Another CA user here in Renton. Also a member of AIBD and a few of us there are CA users too. We are having a meet and greet next Saturday Nov. 14 9-1 at the Highlands Golf Course. Come out and meet us if you get a chance. Let me know if your coming and I'll see to it there is pizza there for you.
  22. Contact me at info@ktkarchitecture.com if you need local (Renton) CA help.
  23. So what I found as a quick fix is to place a wall on the lower floor. Then drag it up in elevation to the railing's floor. The railing itself is set to the upper portion's dimensions off the floor etc. ex 1-3 Issues: Must remove or add wall texture to deck beam(s). This texture must be rotated 90 degrees to match wall. ex 4 Decking runs through wall's exterior whether last plank is deleted or not. But works if last plank is dragged 'skinnier'. Maybe even shorter at other ends. Ex 5, 6, 6a No idea how a lower floor wall is going to react over time being only located above its floor. Expecting trouble here and with the idea that other lower floor walls will 'see' this wall if they intersect it. 2D sections will have to be highly hand modified as it appears that beams and planks are going to be showing when you don't want them and gone when you do.
  24. X6 allows you to copy walls. If your first floor garage walls are in the same place between floors and the second floor level already exists simply select the first floor garage walls, copy with ctl-c and move up to the second floor. Press ctl-alt-v and your second floor walls are put in place directly over the first floor walls, Tested with the keyboard commands (windows 7), should also work with the program's mouse commands. And no you don't have to use ctl-alt-c to copy in-place, just ctl-c. Always use ctl-alt-v when you place your selection 'in-place'.
  25. My client wants a deck railing that is basically a solid wall on the bottom 2 feet and a baluster railing for the top 1-2 feet. Would you use a 2 part panel and a railing wall? Has anyone successfully used a short pony wall system? This seems to ignore the lower wall definition only using the upper wall definition as the railing. In attached file - on left is standard railing. on right is a pony wall with lower wall set to plan's standard wall for 2' and an 18" baluster railing on the top portion. All that is shown is the 'top' portion. Example1 = real life similar