raltd9245

It seems that quite a few people from the old forum have not switched over or have left Chief. For instance our Friend from Portsmouth who always had qreat input. Her postings are sorely missed. Anyone know where these people went.

Great thread. Always re-thinking detail management and am using separate plan, different floors but the different floors serves no real purpose in my system. Just spreads things out too much. Love the idea of a separate detail plan for Foundation, Windows etc. but don't manage my Layouts well enough to keep those detail plans up to date and that looks like what I'm going to change. Managing Layout is as important as any aspect in CA, associating files etc. and that's my weakest and hence most time consuming task in CA. Again great thread and thanks for the ideas.

Larry,

Right on. In my case even thought I've had Chief since version 4, I've always used VCAD to finish my projects. I'm slowly trying to more and more in chief and with the complexity of the program these days it is difficult. These discussions are a great help for all. Thanks for your input. Joe is a visionary and from what DSH says a great golfer.

Ron

Storing your details in a user library as CAD blocks works well. It uses less memory and compute resources than other methods. You can also leverage the library searching capabilities. Editing these details requires exploding the block.

 

Storing your details in a plan, or layout file is another option that has been used by many for years and at some point in time was a better option because details could not be stored in the library. It uses more compute resources because every detail in a plan is loaded into memory when the file is opened. Searching is somewhat less good, but if you have a relatively small number of details this is not a big deal. They can be slightly easier to manage and edit if they are stored as CAD Details instead of blocks. Referencing details from multiple plans using this method can result in unexpected changes to another layout so one needs to be careful if you are editing a detail for one layout that is used in another. But on the other hand if you need to correct a detail for all layouts that use it, this is much more efficient.

Doug,

Storing is an area that should be investigated. I have trouble because I forget that a detail is not in the layout folder. I for one keep hoping that dbx or something will be worked out to help us with this.

Ron

The choice to do iPad for room planner was made several years ago when it was the dominant platform. Today if we made the choice of which to do first it would more than likely be Android.

Dan,

When is room planner going to be available for Android? It would be nice to have it. Thanks.

Ron

I must be missing something, I don't see any blinking in your videos, it looks ok to me.

It's the sunglasses Perry.

I'm not sure that's really true.  The problem is more likely one of the users not always copying everything when systems are upgraded.

I thought it was automatic with the last couple of upgrades.

Ron:

 

sorry I wasn't clear

 

but I was agreeing with you

 

the Disto Plus was overkill

 

If I had to do it again I would get the $100 Stanley

 

Lew

Thanks Lew. My draftsman has a Disto and it is great he does more remodels than I do. If it weren't for the price I would own a Disto. It would be great if Chief published their app for Android. It seems like the are catering to the MAC people. That Scott Hall has juice with them. He is a suckup and a looser at golf.

Having trouble with text when exporting .dwg files.    Text loses auto sizing and can end up anywhere on my drawing after I export the drawing file.   As well, the text is garbled at the receiving end.  Any hints?

 

Thanks

When you get an answer please publish it. I have the problem all the time.

I am tending to favor using CAD Details in separate Plan File(s) since they can be named. The Plan File can be set up at the desired Scale and with appropriate Anno and Layersets.

That way I won't have to Block the Details and I can easily edit the CAD Detail to update any Layout with detail revisions.

By having a set of secondary Plans, I can segregate the details (Door, Window, Foundation, Framing, etc) and AFAIK, there's no limit on the number of CAD Details in a Plan File.

Using Floors to store details seems to be a problem because we can only have 30 floors and there's no way to name the Details something other than Floor 1, Floor 2, Floor 3, etc.

So I'm voting for CAD Details in separate Plan Files. I used to work on much larger commercial projects and needed a Spec Book and a Detail Book. Since most of my projects are now fairly small, I'm going to just put the details on the standard layout pages.

Initially, I was thinking the Library but making revisions is too cumbersome.

Standard Details can obviously be in the Default Layout but they still need to be created someplace and sent to layout, so CAD Details seems to make sense at least as a starting point and as a way of being able to make revisions easily.

I still wonder why the programmers can't figure out how to trace the location of layout stuff without it being in the same folder. Again it is a PITA.

I'm planning on revising my detail management.

What's your preference for handling details?

 

There are obvious pros and cons to various methods and I'm trying to decide which system works best.

 

If you have some other method that you like better than any of the poll choices - please explain what you do and why.

 

Thanks

Great idea and discussion Joe. I don't have a set plan and think I should. As many of you know I still do all my detail work in VCAD translate it to DWG and import to Chief. I can draw much faster in VCAD than in Chief for the work I do. I am very open to new ways of storing CAD Details though.

No, keep it b/c you never know when you want to work on an X5 job. Plans cannot go back once the have been brought forward to X6

Its a PITA not being able to do that.

Ron:

 

I think the  Disto  Plus can do 1/16" at 300'

 

the Stanley was 1/4" at 100'

 

If I remember correctly

 

way to many models since then to know what they can do

 

1/4" should be good for most measures

 

I would model to 1/16 then as needed accept up to 2" discrepancies

that couldn't be resolved

 

final plans were set to 1/2" or sometimes 1" depending on need

 

Lew

Lew you did not read once again. Disto is better but much more expensive. I have 1 or 2 remodels a year the Stanley works just fine and I haven't remodeled Michael Jordons house so 300 feet isn't a problem.

Mike:

 

Yes, ALL sonic "laser" models are worthless

the laser is for visual only - not used in the measuring

 

I bought a Leica Disto Pro in 2005 for $700

 

soon after that they introduced $100 models sold under the Stanley name etc

 

I thought I needed all the fancy features the PRO offered

yet ended up using it in simple mode - I still have it and use it

 

I'm not up on the current models so shop wisely

and beware of feature it is....

 

Lew

Disto is the best but pricy. I baught the Sanley due to the fact that I do very little field measuring. I tested it against a Disto and the measurements were within a 1/16" goo enough for me.

Ron:

 

if I tried that by hand it would look like a 5 year did them

 

actually, the 5 year old could probably do better

 

Lew

Lew I started drafting at my Father's side at 7yo. He had me do a measured plan of the first floor of our house. WOW that was 68 years ago. I could not draft like that myself today. Oh how times have changed.

Ron

You had some nice hand, I remember back in the day, when I went to computers, people hated those generic looking computer drawings, now they love them. I actually lost a few clients but told them to get with it or use someone else. Eventually they all came back. I used to shadow the elevations by hand vs. the bland lines.

Thanks Perry. That was kind of a transition to Computer drawings. All Ink on Mylar with press on letters. I had pages of standard stuff and copied onto stickybacks. By the end I was pretty fast with ink. Then in 1984 the price of pc cad came down to a place I could afford. Almost $ 20,000.00 for software HP Vectra Digitizer and Pen Plotter. Never looked back. Started with VersaCad.

Sorry posted trice

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Perry:

 

I understand its a lot easier

 

never did hand-drawing - couldn't even try -  can't draw a straight line with a ruler

 

Chief makes it possible for me to do some of this work

 

that's why we make suggestions - to make it even easier

 

just look what an "antique" ver 9.5 is - back then we thought it was "super"

 

Lew

Lew here is how we did it in the old days, before the 80's

The pinheads in government don't care about costs.  They have a money machine!  (us)

Why does there have to be constant code changes?  These guys meet more than the original Congress of the US.

Pretty soon we will have the safest most energy efficient homes that few can afford!!

I get really concerned at the divide between reality and the code designers. It's sort of like software upgrades. Hey it's time for a new code release let's make some changes.

I give out lots of Rep. points, just because its fun

I don't think this is the Dan envisioned it going.

You guys at CA must of noticed that if you have the layout open along with the plan.....  if the moons aren't aligned correct,  the program with slows down unmercifully or it hangs.....  come on guys,  get it together.

Scott,

I don't think they have their earphones turned up. BTW I think Joe is ahead of you on points. Are you still beating him at golf.

Ron

Hey Joe is up by 1

Reputation Points ???

Hey this is fun giving these even though they are as useless as teats on a bull. Great entertainment !!!!!!!!

I'm really sorry Dan but they don't work like you intended.

Hey Scott, You shouldn't post anymore until you learn toy spell

IAE, a Rose by any other name is still a Rose.

Man does Scott ever get any work don between, golf, posting, and his vids. Or does he have a large office with minions doing all the work.

All joking aside, we hope that users will spend a bit more time composing good responses to questions to get these points. Points are accumulated when you click the up arrow next to a post or next to content in the gallery.

 

You get 10 points each day to award to posts you like, 1 each day to award to posts you don't like.

 

With luck this will help boost good answers. It's not about how much you post but how well you post.   

Dan,

Not to be disrespectful, but, I would be more comfortable if you guys spent time on what many of us find inportant, PLEASE

Don't mess with Scott!  He is an 'insider' and can destroy your reputation with a 'single click'   :)  Just pulling your chain... I value all you guys, but have to be sarcastic, it is my nature...

 

On another note:  The final episodes of 'Breaking Bad' are now on Netflix!  I know Scott is a big

 

 

Yes, but Scott is a major suck up. I can remember when he was bad mouthing his Son's MAC now because Chief has ported over he is all in 100% with apple. I bet he sends a check to Dan once a week to get the reputation points. I just can't fathom how a guy who lives under a bridge can afford all of the things he does. And golf too. Do you thing he may be doing something illegal.