CElder

While I do appreciate any tips or tricks that would save me time, I work for one builder who has been in business longer than I've been alive and I don't get to just go in and tell them how I'm going to draw or label a plan and tell them to get used to it. I haven't been able to get most of the automated labels, especially for doors and windows to read and locate themselves how we like them. I would love to be able to turn that drywall layer off but if I set my layer set to "Main Layer Only", I lose my brick layer. I already changed all my wall types so that all the materials outside the framing (foam board, siding, etc.) are an invisible line type so I guess I could just change so the drywall layer is the same way. I find with the Manual Dimension tool that it picks up a lot of extra items that I don't necessarily always want but I don't want to turn them off in the the default because I do sometimes need to grab those for a dimension. I guess I can try to find a happy medium to get used to using that tool instead. Obviously, I must have accidentally reversed that wall direction, although I can't imagine why or when I would have.

I've had this issue numerous times before. This time, it caused a real problem because I didn't catch it and now it has caused a real-world mistake on a jobsite - my boss is not happy! I've attached a screenshot to show the location of my issue. I used the Interior Dimension tool to snap the string of dimensions circled in red. When I originally pulled it, the dimensions all snapped to the interior of the rooms at the framing layer, which is the way I wanted it. I went back and checked my prior revision and it was correct there, 10'-7" in the bedroom, 4'-6 1/2" in the walk-in closet. As you can see the two dimension ends where the arrow points have both changed their snap location to the wrong side of the wall, therefore creating a 7" error in framing dimensions. I've also attached the plan file, in case that helps. Can someone please explain why this happens and/or what I can do to make my dimensions stop randomly changing where they are snapped to? hager20_0330.plan

Absolutely BRILLIANT!!!

Awesome! I had no idea that existed!!! Thanks so much!

I'm having an issue with some extra lines showing up in my layout view on an elevation drawing. I've attached pictures of my plan view and my layout view. Three extra lines appear in layout, which are circled in red. They are not CAD lines drawn on my layout page. I have updated the layout views numerous times I've looked at my plan in "ALL ON SET" to check and see if there is something turned off that might be showing up. My roof planes and sidewalls are identical on each side. This just happened on this last revision. My previous layout did not have this issue. I'm completely stumped. Can anyone help?

I have my exterior material (siding) layer set to "0" on purpose. When I started using the program, my dimension snaps would change on me all the time from the frame dimension to the outside of the siding. My boss was getting really angry with all the "mistakes", so setting that material layer to "0" has solved that problem and works fine for what we do. I only work for one builder and that's how he wants the drawing to look. If you think that has something to do with why this is happening, please explain. If not, please don't judge. I did not go in and use the material painter on those walls. When I drew them, that's how they came up. The entire reason for my post is that I don't understand why they aren't being drawn with the default materials on them in the first place. I shouldn't have to go in and change every wall back to "default" after I draw it. What is the point of having a default setting if the wall doesn't default to the setting?

All of a sudden, recently, my wall materials are freaking out on me! I've attached a sample plan file that I had just started working on. My default settings are for siding exterior, drywall interior of exterior walls and drywall both sides of interior walls. I couldn't make it happen this time but occasionally, both sides of an interior wall will come up with siding on them. Along the same lines, notice the siding on the two walls where a porch is indicated. The siding changes to a different color and profile when I create a porch room on the outside. Can anyone offer any insight on why this is happening? Thanks! crazywalls.plan

Wow! So many different ways to go about working around. Thanks everyone! I've been so busy, I'm just managing to get back to read all of this. Chopsaw's seemed to be the best for how I want it to look. I clearly have some learning to do because I have figured out how to make my own 3D blocks but can't get any text or other 2D linework to show up in my 2D block (the "W" and "D", for example here). There must be a step in the drawing process that I'm missing when I create my blocks but that will have to wait for another day! Thanks again for the help everyone!

I'm trying to create one symbol for my standard laundry set. I want it to have a bounding box that is set 5" behind the appliances so they will stop with that much clearance when I butt them up against the wall and 1" to the front for minimum clearance if I ever want to put them in a closet. In the attached plan, the grouping on the left has the individual appliance symbols with a CAD rectangle that shows the perimeter and location of my desired bounding box. In the combined symbol (on the right), the bounding box extends the entire 6" of excess space to the front. I've tried doing an origin offset, like I think it says in the help topic but that doesn't change anything. Can someone help me? washer-dryer.plan

I'm getting really frustrated that I'm repeating a lot of work because of things this program does that my old program didn't. Most recently, I un-mulled all the windows in an entire home so I could change the size and grille patterns. When I went to look over my changes, I noticed a bunch of my window center dimensions were missing. It's like they disappeared when I exploded the windows. I also have trouble keeping my wall intersections from changing when I've set them so that the materials show correctly. There are other things but I'll limit my questions to those for now. There has to be something I'm doing wrong. Can anyone tell me how to make that stop happening?

I'm finally catching up - reading/watching all of your great examples! I do work weekends, unfortunately, but I had to set aside the job this situation applies to to finish up some revisions for a different job we need to get started next week. I was going to use SNestor's work around with a filled polyline covering the actual wall but the video DRAWZILLA shared was AH-mazing!! I'm new to CA after using an AutoCAD architectural product for 15 years. I never used it correctly, drew all my elevations line by line so I never had the capability of using the 3D features. I chose CA because it's specific to custom home design and I want to learn to use it as properly as possible to give our customers the 3D preview experience that has become more and more the norm. This forum is SO helpful to an "old" newbie trying to teach HERself a new trick!! (Guess I should put up a profile pic so as to avoid confusion with my very unisex name! ) Thanks again to everyone who joined in the discussion! Looks like we all learned something new today!

Maybe I'm doing it all wrong... I often have a situation where I have a partial exposure in one area of my basement so I set the foundation in that area as a pony wall with 8" foundation at the bottom half and 2x4 exterior framing at the top. My plans require a separate Foundation page and Basement Framing page so I have set up layer sets for each so that only what I want showing on each page will show up when I transfer to layout. Here's my dilemma... How do I get only the 8" concrete wall to show in my foundation layer set and not the framing? I see I can change the view within the wall type setting but I want one page to show the framing and the other not to so it doesn't seem to work properly when I do it that way. I'm very new to Chief so am open to suggestions if there is a better way to get the two separate page views.

Ugh... That's what I was afraid of. I guess I'll type up some cheat sheets for myself so I don't have to reinvent the wheel every time. Thanks for the reply, Joey!

I'm trying to set up my floor elevation defaults and I have a couple of questions. Is there any way to change the defaults on my absolute elevations so that my SWT can be absolute 0? My boss has always operated on that type of labeling system and I'm going cross-eyed trying to do the math in my head every time I need to change something. The main floor (C) line is set to 0 and grayed out in the default floor setting I'd like that line to read 12 5/8" so I'm just wondering if there is a work around that involves not having to change it every time I start a new plan. Under Foundation defaults, it notes to add 1-1/2" for the sill plate to the foundation wall height. Does that mean that everywhere I have a foundation wall, I should label it as 97-1/2" tall (for a 96" wall)? Or just in the foundation defaults it should be 97-1/2" and in the floor and room defaults I would label as 96"?

Thank you Alaskan_Son! I have the 3D shelves all created already. Just trying to make my plan look a little cleaner. These answers have been very helpful!

That thought crossed my mind as a "cheat" but I was just wondering if there is a more legit way of doing it. I'm teaching myself how to use this software after cheating my way through AutoCAD for almost 15 years. Trying to do as much the right way as possible but I suppose the "right way" is whatever way gets my plans drawn, right? Thanks for the suggestion and for letting me know I'm not the only one who thinks of creative ways to work around a problem!

My company uses epoxy coated wire shelving in closets as a standard and I created custom 3D objects for the different standard arrangements we have but when I insert them in the plan, the detail is so small it looks messy. I'd like it to appear as just a long dash CAD line on the plan page but still show properly in 3D views. Is there an easy way to do that?

I have attached my company logo to the layout templates I created using FILE>IMPORT>IMPORT PICTURE but when someone from my office tries to open the layout on another copmuter using a second license, the picture doesn't show up because it can't find the file location on a different computer. I work from home so we do not use a common network that I can save to. There has to be a way to work around this but I can't figure it out!!