javatom

I missed the meeting but I thought I would throw this out there.  I use two feed to the layout that are in exact alignments.  The front image is back clipped and the back image is not.  I can then control the ghosting effect of the distant outline of the other objects by changing the gray level.  It is fast and people seem to like the look.

Your walls do not line up.  Go the the curved wall on the upper level and use the align with below tool

In the roof plane dbx, go to options, boxed eave.  Uncheck the one that says "default to overhang".  Enter the actual eave edge distance there.  The fascia can be fixed by pulling the clipped roof plane out a little and it will force a fascia to rebuild.  This was a quick response and I admit I did not load the plan.  I thought this might help though.

Perry, are you talking about using the deck auto build function to do this?

Be careful with this.  You can easily end up with it looking right in standard view and wrong in vector view.  I believe the decking is handled within chief as part of the framing.

Sorry.  Lack of paying attention on my part.

Maybe you could do a screen capture with the grids showing and send it as a jpeg.

Not likely, I already live in paradise.

You should add the location.  OK I see it now at the top of the post.  Thanks.

Is there a floor above that level?

It is a specification in the terrain.

Make sure your room "type" is set to "porch".  It may be undefined and it does not know what you want to do with it.

Your stepped down area should be on the same floor as the rest of it.  You would then set it up as a separate room with the floor level (under the structure tab) set to your desired drop.

It looks like left over wall framing.  Check your walls and make sure you don't have a poly wall situation.  Then tell it to rebuild wall framing.  A porch structure should have at least 4" on the structural thickness.

click on the button that looks like a question mark.  Search for roof tools.  It will call up a lot of things for you to read and follow.

Is this for a school project?

As David said.  Chief is not perfect.  You may have to use psolids to eliminate some imperfections.  This all shows up more in vector view than standard view.  Some of these views are used for client approval and showing the builder the general look.  You may have to do a construction detail to show what the 3d is representing.

Open the stair DBX - railing - set to panels.  Newels/balusters - set spacing to 300 or vary large number to avoid newels.  Set panel thickness to 3.5.  Style - set to closed stringer.

Use Lews method for saving a backup copy.  I never change the name of the active file.  The file without a date is always the most recent version.  That way you do not have to re-link the plan file to the layout file.  The version number of the plan is put on the PDF file only.  It is also a good idea to do the work on the plan from your C drive.  At the end of your session, send it back to dropbox and overwrite the previous, now out of date, version.  Chief can not have two people working on the plan AT THE SAME TIME.

I use point markers for the center of the columns.  I then place the columns on their own layer.  If the size needs to change, I delete the old ones and place a new one with the altered size.  I then copy that one and go into "sticky" paste mode.  Click on each of the point markers and it will be placing the new size at the old location.  It is not automated, but it is very fast and it is really obvious if you missed one.

Ref sets are used in two ways.  1. as a tool while you are working with the plan.  2. as a display function on the layout.  On the layout side, the ref set can be many different things as defined by how you set it up and what layer set you use as a ref set.

I will chime in with another odd one.  Chief generated PDF file size of 12mb.  Open chief and change one door to swing a different direction.  Use chief to generate PDF again just like the first time.  File size grew to 23mb.  Go back to chief, add another detail to plan with a lot of cad lines and notes.  Use chief to generate PDF again and this time it is back to 12mb.

I'm in Coeur d'Alene.  I sent you a PM.

Turn off the temporary dimensions.

They are breaks in the stem wall.  It is showing correctly.  In the garage for instance, you would not want the stem wall where the doors are located.