LevisL

I just found this thread as I was having difficulty creating a custom peakhead window. Nice work as usual by @DMDesigns, but while this video did help, I stumbled upon an easier trick to quickly get a peakhead without fussing around in the Shape tab. Instead, on the Arch tab, select a Tudor Arch, set your height, and make the radius zero. Boom. Done!

Two advantages to this method:

1. You get a nice crisp peak at the center (you can only get close with the shape method)

2. It doesn't automatically change it to a single fixed window like the shape tab does

I'll make a suggestion to add 'Peakhead' to the list of arch types we can choose from, but in the mean time, now you know how to quickly get one!

20 hours ago, Larry_Sweeney said:

Like the title says. I would like to change the default fill colors for some framing members in plan display. Such as making the sill plates a light green. Looked through the Defaults and did a search, but came up with nothing.

18 hours ago, Chrisb222 said:

You can specify a default fill but it's adopted by all framing members

I use a similar approach for my roof and floor framing plans. The trick is to use a fill with 'Use Layer Color' checked. Then you can change the colors of the layers to control the fill. I created extra layers to get more color control.

One slight drawback to this method is that the edge lines will also be the same color if the 'By Layer' is checked under the Line Style tab. I'm okay with that, but if you aren't, you could always uncheck 'By Layer' and pick black I guess.

21 minutes ago, Chrisb222 said:

I found this thread looking for tips on editing truss members and thought I'd update the information here

 

It's actually very easy to edit chords and webs using CAD lines which do not need to be 90° angles or even straight-- multi-segment lines work too

 

See examples, I was actually surprised but very pleased this worked:

 

 

Resulting trimmed web member:

 

 

 

 

Just placing this here for future seekers

 

 

 

You don't even need to draw a cad line! Just select the top chord and side chord and then use the trim or extend tools. 

Give that little "room" a shelf ceiling and that should solve your problem

2 hours ago, BruceKC said:

1.  If i send an elevation view (in vector view with shadows on) to layout, is there a way I can reduce the "graying out" of the foundation or adjust the intensity of the gray fill? 

Try adjusting the shadow intensity.

2 hours ago, BruceKC said:

2.  Is there a way to set the defaults for edge lines and pattern lines in Chief so that the elevation view edge lines and pattern lines always come in the same?  I can't find a setting for that anywhere in Chief. Thanks everyone!

Edge lines should be controlled by your layer set. For pattern lines, it's by pattern, so you can adjust them by editing the materials. Use the rainbow tool and click on the material in an elevation view.

I use a line weight of 0 so they are as thin as possible. 

11 hours ago, schaeffwes said:

I've messed around with the layer colors and the wall definitions but I can't seem to figure out how to show the walls with the different colored layers on one view, and a solid black full thickness wall in another view. 

As you've discovered, there's not really a way to have layers filled in some layer sets, while having no fill in other layer sets. It's either the layers all have a fill, which you can control the color as I described above, or some layers have a fill and some don't, as you have now, and control the fill of the main layer only. You can't have the drywall layers have no fill in one layer set and be filled black in another layer set.

If you don't want to see the drywall and siding layers, I'd simply turn on the 'Walls, Main Layer Only' layer, as @SNestor mentioned.

Or, you could maybe increase the line weight of the 'Walls, Normal' layer in the layer set where you want the whole wall black, which would kinda mask the drywall layers. I just did a quick test and going from a line weight on 20 to around 60 should hide the drywall layers... at least on my screen. Didn't print it out to confirm!

5 minutes ago, Michael_Gia said:

If there ever was the ideal end user that Chief was designed for, then you are it. 
 

Chief and Softplan, I would say are your two only choices based on what you wrote. 

I would agree, except for this:

18 minutes ago, Ty_Tradeswork said:

Modern, highly architectural, often with unusual elements (at least, unusual for residential builds), like slanted walls, display features made of unusual materials

Chief doesn't do slanted walls. There are workarounds, but basically manual similar to how you described working in Rhino, Sketchup, or Solidworks. Or using roof planes as walls, but there are problems with that method too.

Pretty much everything else though, as Michael said, you could do in Chief.

I was in the same boat as you Steve... actually I just replaced my late 2013 iMac with very similar specs as yours. I opted for a 2020 Intel-based iMac for now. I decided to lease this machine from Apple on a two year term so I can upgrade again when Apple starts supporting real-time raytracing. That should also give Chief time to figure out what they need to do to run on the Apple chips! Plus I anticipate the Intel based iMacs will lose some resale value once the iMac line gets the M chips, so that was another reason I chose to lease vs buy.

Not an ideal scenario, but I too didn't feel like going back to PC.

Just as an FYI, I think you'll be forced to upgrade if you want to run X13 at all. The new rendering engine will require a Metal maxOS GPU family 2 card, which my 2013 iMac did not have.

As I said, I fully anticipate that Chief will eventually run on the M1 or subsequent chips, maybe just not as soon as we'd like. 

SSA is not transferrable, just FYI. You might want to adjust your price if were including that.

There are website that will convert an image or pdf to dwg/dxf for free. I would do that and then import into Chief.

jpg to dxf

https://convertio.co/jpg-dxf/

pdf to dwg

https://easypdf.com/pdf-to-autocad

Might need to combine multiple line segments to create polylines once in Chief, but shouldn't be too hard.

6 hours ago, rgardner said:

I think it is good advice but I don't think there will be any issues with the m1 mac mini for basic work other than not being able to run RTRT like most computers.

I think once they get the bugs out, that will be true. From what I've been told, they want Chief X13 to be compatible with the M1, but it's not there yet. So for those hoping to participate in the public Beta, whenever that is, they might be better off holding until those bugs are worked out.

5 hours ago, rgardner said:

with the sheer amount of people who do not understand the new features coming in x13 I am wanting to know is this actual information you have on a hypothetical beta being run on this or are you confusing the fact that non rx cards will not be able to use the rtrt NEW feature that most computers are unable to take advantage of without the GPU upgrade?  

I’m not confusing this with RTRT. I was considering upgrading to a Mac mini M1, but I was told to hold off for now.

34 minutes ago, Chrisb222 said:

 

Looking to get a mini M1. Reviews seem to say that even programs running through Rosetta, like CA, are faster than running native on the Intel chip. Is this your experience?

You might want to contact Chief before buying one. I heard the M1 is not playing nicely with the new rendering engine coming in X13 yet... 

23 minutes ago, rgardner said:

Make the program do 90% of the work for you by learning to use the automatic tools how they are.  At the end you will probably have to manually over-ride the auto roofs to adjust a few things. but why spend the time to manually draw all the roof planes if it will automatically generate something that is close for you in most cases. 

My thoughts exactly! I always get as far as I can with the auto roof then manually override for the couple problem areas.

I've gone back to sketching as-builts on my iPad as well. I find it quicker overall to complete. Also easier to just carry the iPad, laser and tape as opposed to lugging around a laptop on site. In addition to Morpholio Trace, there's Procreate which is also very good (I have both). Lots of brush choices, stamps, as many layers as you like, etc.

I love drawing with the Apple Pencil over pen and paper because you can easily undo or erase when you screw up! There's also something about a nice architectural sketch that is just so satisfying, though mine look nowhere near as good as Robert's!!! Nicely done btw!

I picked up some good tips from this guy and bought his Procreate pack. It was well worth it.

https://architect-entrepreneur.teachable.com/p/30x40-s-procreate-pack

As for line styles sticking when making blocks, I know that they will sometimes lose the line styles when you associate them with a symbol. I don’t know if it’s all symbol types, but I’ve seen with electrical symbols. If you explode some of the stock cad blocks associated with symbols, you’ll see that the dashed lines are actually individual line segments (I know dishwashers are like that for sure) It’s annoying though. I wish the line styles would just work.

Did you name your cad block after you made it (before adding it to the library)? If you haven’t, it’ll be named ‘block1’ or a subsequent number in CAD block management. 

2 hours ago, joey_martin said:

Thanks Steve. I am going to have to learn plan views I'm afraid, so this certainly helps. Really worried my Anno Set method will go away soon.

Once you get used to saved plan views, you'll never want to go back!  You can choose to assign your anno sets to a view as you have them set up, or you can override the anno set for a specific item. Between that and reference floors, these views are really powerful and a big time saver.

Another big plus is you can have multiple views of the same floor open at once, like the floor plan, electrical layout and framing plan all open at once on different tabs. Really great.

Hop on the bandwagon!

Looks like you rotated the plan view by accident. Just rotate it back -90º. Tools>Rotate Plan View...

8 minutes ago, ClarkeThrasher said:

Nope you got it wrong, want new addition walls to show studs but want preexisting walls to NOT show studs.

What Glenn is saying is use two different wall types for existing vs addition. For the existing walls, change the fir framing layer to something else that has no framing, like Insulation Air Gap. Then you'll only get studs for the addition.

1 hour ago, SNestor said:

Why doesn't the roof plane trim these pieces off like the other components. Weird...

Does your dormer have a different roof slope than the main roof by any chance? I find soffits don't miter properly when joining different roof slopes in certain situations. Although in your case, that pointed end of the soffit shouldn't even be pointed at all! Maybe report that 

For that room, uncheck 'Flat Ceiling Over This Room'. Then adjust the structure thickness of your roof plane to match the depth of the parallel chord truss (or draw a ceiling plane with the same slope as the roof plane). Then you can draw a truss. You might need to adjust the shape of the truss envelope a bit. You can also edit the truss detail to customize the webbing to match your picture if you want.

1 minute ago, Alaskan_Son said:

See if CAD>Boxes>Insulation does what you're looking for.

That's what I was thinking too. Way easier than stretching CAD blocks or messing with patterns and offsets.

1 minute ago, LeeDrafter said:

Thank you Levis! that's exactly what I was trying to figure out. That will work wonderfully! 

Good to hear!

If you need 3 or more different fills, you can also check 'Use Layer Color' under Pattern Appearance in the Wall Definition dbx. Then change the layer color in your different layer sets.

Here's an example of my set up. In my working layer set, I have the attic walls layer set to blue so I can quickly distinguish between attic walls and normal walls (on my print set, both layers are set to black). Then on my floor and roof framing layer sets, I change the walls to a light grey.

In my case, I have the line colors of each wall layer also set to 'By Layer', but you could also uncheck that and just have the fill change color when you change layer sets.