Michael_Gia

I guess it’s a regional thing. Price list from my supplier, behold…

Pre-cut studs here come in 93-1/4” so with 3 plates = 97-3/4” for when you want an 8 foot ceiling. Or for 9’ ceiling we use pre-cut studs of 105-1/4” and then when you add 3 plates = 109-3/4” for a 9 foot ceiling. For 10 foot ceiling studs are cut at 117-1/4” from a 10’ stud, so ceilings are 121-3/4”. I thought this was standard across North America... Isn't it?

I always try to place the “0” origin somewhere near the middle of my house/building. What is truly the best practice for this? Or is it not that important so long as he origin is somewhere close by?

Seek out the one they call Scott Hall... Youtube + search slab or foundation etc. Unfortunately you’ll find that you can’t control that level of detail with Chief. Just use auto detail and manipulate the fills to represent what you need.

Thank you Glen. I blame the American and Canadian lumber industry for not switching to metric as the real culprit for keeping North America in the Middle Ages with regards to this subject. maybe one day...

This is true. I wish we worked in metric. So much cleaner and easier. Oh well... They only ever use metres or millimeters on a plan, and you always know which is which at a glance. For example, you know by looking at a dimension if It’s metres because there is a comma separating the decimal portion and usually 2 or 3 decimal places, as in 10,34 for metres. When it’s in millimeters there is never a comma or decimal place and only a space for thousand separaters. Example 2 354 for millimeters. Such and elegant and precise way to operate that is universally understood and you get the level of precision of a millimeter (approx 1/32”) without messy decimals or fractions!

Yup, put one kitchen block on layer called “kitchen A” and the other kitchen on layer “kitchen B”, for example. Then you could switch them on and off as you like. Or save views with one on and the other off and show them side by side. Important to keep them as blocks though.

Why not just put each kitchen block on a different layer and turn them on and off? Keep them placed in the same kitchen.

Ok so that’s the challenge then. Somenody post a simple “test” plan with a few lights. Save a “test” view and set the “test” raytrace settings and hit raytrace. The raytrace setting should be set to number of passes, maybe 10, only, so it’s not too long of an excercise.

Someone should post a plan with a fixed view and raytaced scene and then we can all report back on how long it took to render 10 passes on our systems. Post screenshot of completed number of passes which also shows the Raytrace in question. Wouldn't this be the best bench mark comparison? Of course post what system you used if it’s different from your profile description. ...and be honest.

Chief just has a hard time snapping to a lot of things. It’s random as well. Sometimes it snaps sometimes it doesn’t, regardless of dimension defaults. It’s worse in elevation or cross section views. Try snapping a dimension to a window height.... lots of aggravation and frustration. I’m forced to draw lines and set them at the height I need and snap to those lines. Although the story pole tool has helped greatly in this regard.

Here’s a schedule.... (Oops, looks like I forgot one window label macro)

...I really wish that “number style” selection box at the bottom left of every dialogue box would have this kind of functionality. At the moment it’s pretty useless.

Hey there. First use this macro to convert your window dimensions in the “Label” tab. Then show “Label” in window schedule.

Bullshit. It’s happeming on Mac as well. Really freakin often. Too often!!! CHIEF! FIX YOUR DAMN TOOLBARS!

Hey thanks! Worked like a charm. Now why didn't I think of that?...

This is a great tip except!....You can’t rotate the orthoview if it is sent as a plan view only if it is sent to layout as image for some reason. At least that has been my experience. Can’t rotate, not even with the “Transform/Replicate” tool. So this is why I send as image and resize since your tip about “fill building to window” doesn’t work unfortunately.

...need to make room fills as transparent. Whoops

I send top ortho view to layout as image and place it over the plan. The image will have to be scaled and then point to point place over your plan view. The image is even set to “back” by default so even that is already set up. Here’s an example. (Assuming I understood what you were looking for)

Hey Scott, it wasn’t a solution to create the rebate only a way to snap a dimension to where the rebate should be for his slab. That’s how I interpreted OP’s question. I wish I had a solution for you...

Dont forget to designate one concrete layer as main and the other as interior or you won't get the snap. Of course it would be nice to control how that line appears on the wall in plan view...

Not sure but you might have to define your foundation wall with multiple concrete layers. That is, if you have a 10” wall and want to dimension 4” into that wall then you should define a wall with one 6” layer concrete and another with 4” layer concrete. Then you could snap to the layer that is defined as structural.

Mac here as well.

Ok, so remember when every once in a while the toolbar would suddenly disappear or rearrange itself beyond recognition? It used to be cute right? I called tech support and the fix is easy enough... 1) close Chief 2) rename toolbar folder 3) relaunch Chief 4) import your saved toolbar. The only problem is that now it happens every damn day. Anyone else experiencing this?

Yes, that’s what I did. I first changed all my existing window labels and then went in and changed my window defaults. I know next time to use a defaulted metric plan. In this case the client asked me after the fact to send him all measurements in metric because he was buying his furniture in China and his decorator there requested metric measurements. I’ve already started building the house here in Montreal.