LevisL

Thanks David. Using the trim command worked perfectly. I was trying to avoid using the Edit Layout tool or making my section a CAD Detail.

Hi folks! I need help from the experts to create a custom truss. For whatever reason, I just can't get Chief to make the truss have the shape I want by dragging the shape outline. Here's what Chief creates: So, I went in the truss detail and made the adjustments I want: But now a lot of the framing members I added or modified have the wrong mitres on the ends. How can I fix this?

I get the odd crash, but I definitely wouldn't say it's often. Maybe once or twice in a week. I have my autosaves set to 5 minutes (the OOB default I believe), so I usually don't end up losing much work even if I do have a crash. As for the PDF file size, yes they are larger, but I'm not getting anywhere close to what Scott says (85MB). For me, it's still manageable and not worth switching back and forth between Mac and PC just to create a PDF. Here are the file sizes for the last 6 CD's I completed: 11x17, 15 pages - 13.1MB 11x17, 5 pages - 8.6MB 11x17, 14 pages - 12.7MB 11x17, 9 pages - 8.1MB 17x22, 9 pages - 10.9MB 17x22, 12 pages - 7.7MB The last one I did with Bluebeam before switching over to the Mac version was 17x22, 14 pages - 2.8MB.

make that 2000! I was having problems deleting nodes off a molding polyline last week and was thinking the exact same thing! I did find out what my problem was though... if you try to combine nodes from a line with the 'no molding on selected line' checked to a line with the molding on, they won't merge. Just FYI in case that's what's causing your problems!

Adrean, I made the following suggestion after we had this discussion. https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/1478-boxed-eave-options-for-eave-and-gable-end-intersections/

I think the framing back clip, whether the folks at Chief find a way to keep it for X7 or give us a viable alternative, would be better than a checkbox for each truss. With the approach you're suggesting, I think there would be issues when a user would want to show a truss in one view but not another (e.g.: trusses perpendicular vs parallel to the section line). It would work if you only had one section, but I typically have 2 or 3 (at least one widthwise and one lengthwise)... and I think Scott and those guys have way more than I do!

True enough! I almost always end up converting my sections to cad details (for many reasons), so I forgot about that.

You would definitely have extra lines on the roof plan with that method. Myself... not a fan of that. But to each their own!

Not quite that simple Mick! That's the first step, but then all the soffits are sloped. In my image, the soffits are level, except on the gable ends (well I fake it, but that's what I want to show anyway!). My method: 1. Uncheck boxed eaves 2. Extend the attic walls manually on the corners of the gable ends to the edge of the roof plane 3. Add a piece of trim at fascia level. I use a slab, but you could use a solid or a molding. 4. Take camera views that don't show that the rest of the soffits are really sloped! It would be nice if we had an option for this style of boxed eave in the roof dbx. I see houses built like this a lot up here, so I'm definitely not the only one that would benefit from this.

I don't know about Bill, but for myself, as I think Joe alluded to, I want to see the architectural stuff (walls, doors, windows, etc.) beyond the back clip and just a single truss so I don't confuse whoever reads the plans with all the webbing of the trusses beyond.

If you uncheck 'Hide terrain intersected...', just add a terrain hole manually in the shape you want. You'll have to change it separately if you change the shape of the house, but it's an option. As for moving the terrain to a different level, you're right that you can't just move it up or down, but you can cut and paste it onto a different floor. It'll copy as a polyline which you'll have to re-convert to a terrain perimeter (I imagine the same goes for any roads, sidewalks, driveways, etc.). If you copy over your elevation data at the same time, the automatic contours will re-appear as soon as you convert your polyline back to a terrain perimeter. It might take a bit of time, but it's doable.

I use trusses on 95% of my projects... and here I was putting trusses on all sorts of different layers to get rid of the clutter of webbing! If only I would've known about this feature... I second that!

Something like this Richard?

Yes. Thanks Jim and Dshall. I definitely picked up some useful tidbits from this discussion and the videos. I guess there's a few different ways to achieve an offset with the tools we currently have, but it should be more straight forward. The fact that I've been a user since X1 (definitely not a novice, though still a rookie compared to some of you guys!), and I didn't know some of these tricks just confirms that. I know we all learn something new about the program everyday, but it shouldn't have taken me 6 years or so to figure out how to do a simple odd-angle offset quickly! BTW, sorry to the OP for starting this whole offset discussion! I didn't anticipate my comment opening a can of worms like that!!!

Yes. A stretch command would be nice. I would also like an offset command. I know it's been requested before. Right now, offset can be accomplished using transform/replicate, but it takes a lot longer, especially if you're offsetting a line that you're unsure of the angle. It then becomes multi-click process (Open dbx of line you want to offset from, copy angle, close dbx, open transform/replicate dbx, click copy, click move, click polar, paste angle and add/subtract 90º, specify offset distance, click ok) I think those are the only two I really miss. Other than that, CA's 2D tools are good enough for me!

Good point Jim. I usually don't have framing turned on, so this works for me!

You could also create a new layerset for that section and turn off the attic walls layer. That way it will still show correctly in your 3D views. I made a similar change in my default template to have distinct elevation view and section view layersets, this being one of the reasons.

Thanks Gerry!

Thanks for the reply Gerry. I had found your post in old ChiefTalk before posting on here (http://www.chieftalk.com/showthread.php?57706-Chief-Cut-Fill-Workaround), but unfortunately, the links to the videos no longer work. Would you mind re-posting them here if you still have them? If only Chief would give us the volume of the terrain, then one could note the volume before and after modifying the terrain and do a simple subtraction to calculate fill volume. Seems to me like it shouldn't be too difficult to extract that information from the terrain, but then again, I'm not a programmer!

Why does the terrain dbx have a volume that shows 0 cu.ft no matter what thickness you make it?! Just having that number would make it easy to calculate what I want.

On the project I'm currently working on, the client wants a walkout basement where we don't have enough slope in the grade to easily accomplish one. I'm trying to calculate cut and fill volumes to see if it's possible to make the walkout work by building up the grade on one side with the dirt excavated from the basement. Long story short, I tried calculating this manually and got really confused and frustrated, thinking there's gotta be a better way (not to mention quicker)! The cut volume was easy to figure out... area of basement x average depth into the ground, but then calculating fill volumes when the grade slopes down and away from the house and there's an existing cross-slope to deal with, well my eyes kinda crossed too!!! Just curious to know if any Chiefers out there have figured out a clever/workaround way of calculating cut and fill volumes with the tools we have in Chief.

I've done a few like this using molding polylines for the horizontal joints and slabs for the verticals. Worked pretty well. The reason I use molding polylines for the horizontals as opposed to slabs is that the moldings recognize the windows and door openings automatically, so you don't end up with moldings in front of openings (unless you move an opening after you put in your molding).

Weird that it won't let you define a custom paper size unless you have a Mac. Better switch your computer! Kidding aside, I have the Epson Stylus Pro 3880 and I really like it. It prints up to 17x22. A bit more than your HP and just straight printer, not an all-in-one, but it's an option. Looking at Epson's website, they have a line more similar to your HP. The specs for the WF-7510 indicate you can create custom paper sizes up to 13x44" so I imagine you could do 12x18".

I thought I had noticed that too. I couldn't figure out why it was happening. Wasn't sure if it was a bug. I think it was on the first plan I brought over from the PC version. I used Arial Narrow and whatever the slight difference is between the Mac and PC fonts is was causing the text to wrap just a bit differently. I noticed it when I started printing a plan and some of my title block info was overlapping the borders instead of staying inside. Overall it was very minor, but I did have to make some adjustments.

Well I learned the hard way too!