deesee

Ok, so it sounds like I just have to grind through it to get it over to the engineer. Thanks everyone.

Hi JJohnson, How will that help them? They need AutoCAD files. I don't have AutoCAD so I don't know, but can it "explode" the PDF into CAD? What about layers, etc?

Hello, I'm working on a project where I now need to get CAD files to my structural engineer. I need to send him all floor plans, elevations, sections, etc. What is the best way to do this? I tried File/Export....but that does one view at a time. Is that really the only way? Is there no way to do the entire thing at once?

I figured it out! I had to uncheck a key box in Mac Preferences:

Hey guys, I'm trying to use CA with my two monitors (MacOS) and I drag the Layer, Project Browser, and Library panels over to the second monitor. It works fine until I switch to another "Space" (I use the Spaces feature on my Mac and have 4 different Spaces (desktops) per monitor. Anyway, if I switch to Space 1, and then go back to CA, all of the panels show up on the same display that I have the main CA window. Are there any Mac users out there having the same issue? How do you deal with it?

I have the same problem. Have no idea how to fix it.

I'll do that, thanks Eric.

I think both methods would work. I used Eric's method for the moment since it solved my problem. Here's another question though, how would I make a wall that is on an angle...i.e. follows the stair slope? I'm basically trying to create headroom for the stair.

Man do I feel like an idiot!!! That was so easy! Thanks a bunch Eric.

Hey guys, I'm working on a renovation of an old house and we're adding a stair inside the house. As part of that work, we will be cutting the bottom portion of an exterior wall (of the 2nd floor) to allow for head clearance. I've tried to redraw the shortened 2nd floor wall, but it keeps going down to the floor level. I need to stop a few feet above that. See attached image for more info. Any ideas on how I can do that? Thanks!

Ok, I think I got it. Thanks a million!

Wow, that is fantastic! Looks just like what I wanted. Ok, let me try your suggestions.

Ok, I have tried. I've watched several videos, used the google machine, and I can't figure this out. Can someone give me some guidance on building this roof. See attached sketch. Thanks in advance Danny

Never mind! Figured it out...it was that darn "Patterns, 3D Views" layer. It was off in one of my views. Not sure how that happened, but who cares right?

Hey guys, I've created 3 elevations of an addition I'm doing. All three elevations are set to Vector View. However, one of the 3 does not show the siding texture (horizontal lines). I can't figure it out, and it's driving me nuts. In the plan, it's the south elevation marker (at the bottom) that is not displaying like the others. Any ideas? Using X8 Beta. See attached.

Thanks for the motivational words Scott. Although I'm a bit bummed about this, I love CA. I've been telling my revit friends who concentrate on single family residential that they should really take a look. I run a husband wife firm (with my wonderful wife of course) and I plan to buy another license for her. She learns better in classroom settings so I'll need to get her in to one. So, onward and forward! Happy New Year!

I am new to CA...I just purchased it the other day after test driving it for 30 days. There is a lot to like and I will definitely stick with it. However, I have to say, I am very disheartened at how badly CA handles exporting to CAD. It is just not user friendly. Again, I come from the revit world where I can export all of my sheets ("pages" in CA) in one fell swoop. All of the layers export and the views in AutoCAD look EXACTLY like they do in revit. In CA, I have to export each page, one at a time, and although the look is almost exact, I find things like hatches that are transparent all of a sudden, section views only have like 3 or 4 layers, and line weights are a mess. OR, I can export each view (a floor plan, an elevation, a section) from within my .plan file, also ONE AT A TIME. I really, really need CAD exporting to be better as I work with lots of structural engineers who will send these dwgs back and tell me to clean them up first. I don't have time for that. What tips can you guys give me on how to handle this better? Am I missing something here? As I said above, I really, like CA...I am going to stick with it...but this is my first honest to goodness complaint.

What can I say Larry, you're the best. Thank you so much!

Holy cow!! I just realized you made that video right now just to answer my question. What can I say!? You Sir, are my Xmas Santa this year! I feel like I owe you money or something! Blown away. Thank you!

What an awesome answer and I thank you for taking the time to respond, and the for the video as well. I will keep chugging ahead. Happy Holidays!

Hey guys, Feeling a bit frustrated here since I'm not sure what's the best way to work with Chief. I come from the Revit world so that may be interfering in how "I expect" things should work. But I realize this isn't revit, so it is what it is. My question is, when you guys annotate, i.e. keynotes and text notes, do you do that within the view itself or do you do it in layout? What I'm finding is that the layer sets is messing me up. I'll get a floor plan all nice and pretty with notes, dimensions, etc. Then I change the layer set to a plot plan view, and now I've got all these extraneous notes that I don't want to show in the plot plan. I then ask myself, do I change the layer set, the notes, or do I have a separate layer for notes on a floor plan, another layer for notes on a plot plan, etc. Anyway, it just seems really nuts that way so I figured, does everyone else just get a specific drawing all nice and pretty (with appropriate layers on and off), THEN send it to layout, and do the notes there. Any advice in this regard would be wonderful and most appreciated. Thanks!

Well, this is interesting, it worked well for floor plans, but for sections, it didn't. Is this because Chief Architect Sections are really just CAD lines derived from the 3D Model?

I opened your CAD file and it worked great, I could see more than just the layers I got. What is the secret? While I'm asking, did you do layer cleanup in Chief before you exported? This looks a lot cleaner than what I have in Chief.

Hello everyone, I'm still a newbie to Chief so thank you for the help. I'm trying to export to AutoCAD so I can send plans and sections to my structural for engineering and when I open the exported files in AutoCAD (I'm on a Mac)...all I see are the following layers: 0 CAD Default Lines CAD Default Patterns Cross Section Lines So, the result is that no matter what you click on, it's all on CAD Default Lines...not very useful. Why is Chief not exporting all of the many layers I have available within the program? I checked the Reference Manual, but it wasn't much help. Thanks in advance!

Hey guys, Thanks so much for showing me that there is a workaround to get this done. 'Till next time!