ebdesign

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Posts posted by ebdesign

  1. Nicinus,

    I think of "Show Line wgts" as a VISUAL aid to help me distinguish between different line styles in the same view. w/out it enabled, all line work displays the same thickness, regardless of the assigned wgt. It makes linework "pop" in a video or screen capture, so I will enable that if I remember to do so. Normally, I don't have that enabled while I'm working. I also use it as a kind of pre print check for elevations & sections in layout as I use the "Edit Layout" tool. AS Glenn said, what you see is largely determined by your screen resolution.

    What "Use Layout Line Scaling"  controls is the PRINTED output. A line w/ a specifc wgt will print exactly the same thickness regardless of scale or source of the view. All you have to figure out is what wgt do you want to assign to this layer/line/object in a specific layer set. Drawing scale is NOT a consideration at all. I generally advise to start w/ a basic line or a wall, determine what line wgt prints how you want, & then go from there (up/down) w/ the line wgt you use for each layer.

  2. When you send any view to layout, be sure to select "Use Layout Line Scaling" in the Send to Layout dbx. Leave your Drawing Sheet Setup/ Advanced Line Wgt Options in plan @ 1=1/100.0mm. Have the same exact thing in layout.

    Then it's just a matter of getting each layer's display properties what you want for each particular layer set. A line wgt of 25, for example, will print the same thickness regardless of the drawing scale used in layout. You can print the floor plan from plan view or from the layout, they will look the same as long as the layer set is the same in both views.

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  3. ".....make it a solid"?

     

    Use a 3D molding polyline drawn in elevation.

    Draw an arc in elevation over the top of the window & then use "convert polyline" to assign the molding. Once you have something to see in a camera, play w/ it in that camera so you can see the results of your edits immediately. There are brick soldier courses in the library.

    Once you have what you want, move it into place if it's not already where you want it.

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  4.  

     

    Y is Z in elevation

     

    Yeah, that takes some getting used to. I think it works better though, because you're always dealing w/ all 3 axis in any camera, even in sections/elevations where you can only see 2. But you can move stuff along that hidden axis, & movement stays consistent regardless of camera orientation. Very handy.

    CAD details are only view that only has X & Y axis, left/right, up/down.

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  5. I "print" the pdf in color. Other than a nice colored rendering of some sort on the 1st pg, there's not a whole lot of other colors present, some dark reds, blues, greens- all linework. The pdf looks great on the monitor & the actual printed hardcopy (grayscale) is crisp too.

  6.  

    The whole idea behind having defaults is to be able to decide what conditions a designer wants/needs to exist ahead of actually developing a model. It is a fundamental principle of "best practices' in BIM software. This should go without saying. So whether you want Chief to apply the finish flooring and ceiling materials (from the first floor, and only the first floor!) to the basement room in your model by default, or you do not (b/c in my area it is the rare exception and not the rule that basements are finished), the software should allow for this flexibility. And if it does not, then it should be clearly documented, at least. As with slope slabs, it looks like Chief could do a much better job in this area.

     

     

    MickeyToo,

    Add this to the Suggestions forum. It's a legitimate request & a suggestion no one should have any problem w/.

  7. A great deal of the basements I do up here are completely unfinished; maybe a room or two is conditioned. So I would disable the finished flr layer by default in the basement if I could. 

    A basement room type w/out a finished flr, room moldings & finished cl'g would be perfect & then  auto rebuild foundations can be left on longer & my floor camera will show what I want.  As soon as you assign most any room type (& disable auto rebuild....), you get a finished flr layer, etc automatically, so I'm not sure what the problem would be; but then again, I don't want a finished flr in the basement by default.

    The ability to do that in the foundation defaults beforehand would keep us all happy. Choice is better than no choice.

  8. Sounds like MickeyToo  wants to leave "auto rebuild foundation"  on, so that the basement/ foundation stays current w/1st flr walls abv.

    "auto rebuild foundation" has to be disabled in order to remove the finish flr layer. You can't even got out of the basement room spec dbx after you've removed the finish floor layer w/out agreeing to disable "auto rebuild foundation" (if it was on to begin w/).

  9. How do you open the floor defaults dbx before the floor is built? Only default available beforehand is "Rooms" & if you remove the finish floor there, every room/every floor that uses the default floor finish doesn't have a finish flr anymore. I think that is how it works.

    Unless I'm not following you Joey. that's very possible too.

     

    Mickeytoo,

    I hear you. how it works for me, basements come in as "Unspecified" room type.

    It's one of those values that are hard-coded in Chief & no way that I know of to get that correct beforehand.

    It's the same as  new flr clg hgts coming in at 97 1/8". no way to change that either- before the fact.

    Chief has 3 room types w/out a finish floor- garage, porch & slab. Use them.

    Gotta do it every time you build foundation.

    if you leave auto build foundations on, you gotta live w/ it until you're ready to take over.

  10. There's not really a table of contents, but you can use the drop down to narrow your search.

    There's plenty of videos by users explaining how they do it, but I would always start w/ the Chief videos 1st when dealing w/ a particular subject.

    Drink lots of coffee.....or Red Bull.

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    • Upvote 1
  11. Thanks Rob for the pointer.

    Just drag/drop the *.skp into Chief plan view.

    Easy-peasy. That would be the easiest way.

    SketchUp Pro '14 cannot import  *.shp files that I can see.

    Chief may not be able to handle latest *.skp files. although I go back & forth w/ *.skp files outta my version w/ no problems in X6 that I remember.