country

As I said, Chief probably works well for many people using auto deck framing. I have never done a patio cover. My decks either have a full roof or none and these require different supports because of frost and snow loads. Piles vaying from 12' to 16' deep and various diameters make auto impossible. The lower posts in Chief never line up with the uppers (which is necessary for load transfer) and I just find it easier/more accurate to do it manually. Copy and paste in place and multiple copy are auto enough for me. Just different needs not a criticism.

I only use the post to beam for quick design visuals, after that I do it the same as Scott. If there are revisions, which there always are, you don't have to rebuild the decks and fix their supports every time. Just select and move the structural elements as a group or individually to suit. Deck framing the way Chief does it is not the way it's done anywhere I have designed but it may suit some areas. Automation can only suit so many areas/design situations.

Thanks so much for this. I will be able to go back and review all the things I missed because I couldn't take notes.

Thank you for hosting Scott and everyone that had such good idea and input. I think there was a few nuggets for me that I will try once I am back home. Sorry about any interruptions because I was a passenger going down the road during rush hour and my iPad was working on my phone hotspot.

Quite a few years ago, the Architects in B.C. tried to shut down the home designers. There was quite a bit of tension and negotiation but it didn't happen. I didn't get too involved and then moved to another province but it would be interesting to hear from anyone there that was actively involved in the issue. I worked for an Engineer for quite a while doing all the structural details and corrections for many architects and designers plans. This was a great education and I can honestly say there were good, bad and ugly in both camps both in style and ability.

I think I just got promoted:-). Advanced eh!

As an Interior Designer, I'm sure you will be doing lots of structural changes (such as your dormer) or additions and those can only be done properly with the pro version. Chief has a payment plan and you get the purchase price of your current program taken off of the total cost. I'm sure Sales could work something out for you. As Scott said, your time is valuable. As you can see, people on this forum will also be a valuable asset if you are using the full version.

Johnny, I also use a lot of material regions and wish we could use the component join tool at the corners, with them, just as with all the other wall types. Auto join would be even better. I'll send it into suggestions once again, hopefully others will too.

Terry. Have you added Chief to the NVidia card on the newer machine?

I seem to be getting more commercial job inquiries. Most of them are from previous home plan clients or referral from them. I used to turn them all down but have now started to agree to preliminary design work as long as they know it has to go to an architect and engineer for the code review work and structure. Once the design and presentation work is complete I hand it off to the client or one of the firms I work with. I do not do any work on the plans after that as they are beyond my scope of practice as stated in the NBCC. Any architect I know will only stamp their own drawings produced by their office but engineers usually will stamp residential plans with their details and notes added.

Terry. What, may I ask, has this to do with the OPs question? After all of the help you have received from this forum, from people you seem to think are limited in education and obsolete, I would think you could be a bit more courteous. I appreciate everyone that helps me out here, architects, engineers and many, many drafts people/designers. Knowledge is not limited to formal education.

Thanks Joey and Michael.

I would like to know how to attach a post that answers someone's query. I know lots of you do this and it is a great help but obviously I am challenged when it comes to anything out of the ordinary on the forum.

If you use the search words "hole in ceiling plane" it should come up with the question I posted. It has some great answers for how to do this.

The majority of my custom homes are now using 84" doors with window headers at the same height, just as Joey mentioned. The price has come down and there is a lot more variety in styles now available in our market area.

Once you have your rooms set up, you use a rich text box with the macros you want. Once one is set up you can just copy and paste in each room and it will display the right info.

I find the transoms a little busy with the gable windows. The taller units are cleaner look. Just a personal opinion not a criticism.

You said you were using trusses so all you need to do is raise the heel for soffit clearance.

Thank you Perry. Great tip that I can add to my list that is rapidly filling a notebook.

I agree with Perry. Uneven header heights look like there hasn't been any proper thought put into the design.

This would be my preferred way of backup too.

Thank you for the video! I was missing select dormer then tab to select the upper "hole in roof" so I could delete it. Works great now.

I'll try that later Eric. When I did as David suggested it deleted the dormer roof too and I couldn't select more than one polyline to delete. It seemed to be all or nothing.

I tried that a couple times but obviously I need to try again. If it works for you, I am just doing something wrong to cause an error message, it will work for me (eventually).

I am trying to have the dormers open through the ceiling plane but after trying numerous methods haven't been about to do it. I cannot seem to generate a hole through the ceiling at the locations I require. This is currently just a design but will eventually have steel trusses. I could just do a thick roof structure but I would rather do it correct for eventual framing. Barn.zip