parkwest

Senior discounts on CA would probably cut Chief’s annual revenue in half.

Interesting how the state which has Silicon Valley doesn’t have pdf readers in their building departments yet the cowboys in the wilds of Idaho do.

Call me old-fashioned but I still like the idea of having a hardcopy of the plan with the signatures of the homebuyers on the cover page and each page with their initials as part of the contract documents. And I don’t see construction on the jobsite going “paperless” any time soon. ps. I am impressed with the new T520 so far. The only downside is it is so quiet I have to actually go in and look to see if it’s printing. Where did the whirling, banging and clacking go?

I just bought the HP T520... scheduled for delivery tomorrow. I have an HP 450C that still runs good... just got tired of keeping one computer around running Windows XP just to use the plotter. I am looking forward to the increased printing speed and I want to try putting together some 3D models using the self adhesive polypropelene and foamboard. Years ago I had the HP 1055CM but the ink cartridges were so big that the ink cartridges dried up before I could use up the ink... and the cartridges ran about $200 a piece. Bigger is not always better when it comes to plotters.

Robert, are you just “trying to design” one house for yourself? If so, wouldn’t it be smarter to just hire someone to design it for you? I mean if you factor in the $2800 for software, another 2 or 3 grand for a souped up gaming computer to run the software and money you will spend to hire someone to “make” your design work so you can get it past the plan reviews... wouldn’t it be better...?

How many have gone from watching the nfl to watching track and field?

Have you checked your saved views?

And area distribution works great for landscaping...

One of the reasons I went Design/Build back in the late 80's... One ship - One Captain. Here, truss manu. always sends engineered drawings for review before building trusses... just in case something has changed. IMHO, I would say whoever ordered the trusses is responsible. But, like Glenn said, stick frame over hips should work.

I took a quick look at the deck in question and... FYI, I have never seen a 6" I joist? You'll need something structural to support the cantilevered deck. You might want to drop the deck about 4" below the door sill... And 1/2" deck planking over 3/4" foam??? If you want someone to go over this project with you, let me know...

Have you checked your wall type for that railing to make sure it's an outside railing?

What would happen if you renamed your new file and then imported it into CA?

Preference - Render - Video card status

I have been labeling my wall types based on the wall type definition, then using specify label and adding “%wall-type%” to the auto label under “specify label” button. It would be nice if chief could use the “material” column in the wall type wall layers to set up some kind of auto label function.

That would be nice, David! I thought the same thing... I have had negative feedback from people when trying to get them to use the 3D viewer... they say they don’t want to learn how to use the viewer, they just want to see the outside of the house.

I use snagit along with my space navigator mouse to create a quick fly around of the exterior. As you can see in this video, it’s important to get the camera end point centered on the middle of the house. On this early attempt to do this, it’s important to have the sun follow camera, to keep the front out of the shadows..

One of my favorite new features... one step closer to fully automating layouts.

It appears that you used the new template with the new saved plan view setup. Saved Plan views is a new feature that came out in x10. It works great once you get used to how it functions. There is a recent thread on here where this is discussed.

As a builder, I would prefer to have too much flooring material ordered and delivered (and returned at end of job) than not have enough material.

Thanks Joe! I just thought it was a glitch in the software.

I don't see why not.

Dan Bauman has a good video on this topic...

I just use a span table from the I joists manufacturer to keep the spans reasonable in placing the pony walls. The I joist supplier supplies all engineering and specs when they deliver the floor joist package. I attached a photo of a foundation plan I had sitting on my desk as an example of what works for us here in the treasure valley. Make sure to leave gaps in the pony wall footings so MEP has room to crawl around down there.

Could you make symbol blocks of your different kitchen designs and save them in your user library? Then you could just swap in and out the different designs until you get the one the client likes? If you wanted to, you could draw one big room and set up a virtual kitchen design center and place all your kitchen design options in the big room and rotate around from kitchen design to kitchen design.

That was a good article, Diane. I have never had a client that wanted to buy the rights to my plans. I have had customers try to use my plans for multiple houses, ie. passing the plans on to a relative so the relative could “share” in the customer’s cost of the plan... without my consent.