Boxon1

Thanks, Eric, I am really thrilled how fast I got the answer to a problem that took me the entire day...

Eric, you are genius. I can't thank you enough. After I deliver this job, I will have to return to the file and figure out how that happened, but at this moment Iam just extremely happy that you found the solution.

This is updated file - after I made wall framing. Framing looks normal. Can this be some problem with the ceiling framing? MacBain Av - AS BUILT.plan

I just did, thanks. If you have any suggestions about the signature, please feel free to suggest.

By the way, I am using X11.

I am working on As-Built recreation of a house, built in California, in a period of 1960-1980 (with several remodels and additions). The framing was done somewhat differently than it is usually in the other parts of the States, and the existing Plan Set is hand-drafted and equipped with very few dimensions. Most of the dimensions are site-verified, and I made some progress making a plan file, but the Chief doesn't seem to like the way this house was built. At this moment I encountered a problem that I never had before (using Chief on a daily basis since X6): After I added the roofs, this strange white belt appeared around the entire lower part of the house. I painted part of this in red, so I can identify what is it - looked like some strange belly-band, but piercing through the roof plane. -After I painted it red, it appeared to be a second ceiling plane - probably some kind of the second floor, that I can't access by DBX of any room. By the way, the room DBX shows the normal height of 97-1/8", and nothing above. No second floor. Also, at the perspective view, you can notice a gap in the exterior wall, where this ceiling plane ends. By the way, I can modify the platform option, because I need it to show properly first-floor floor joist - I already tried that. Whatever I do, I can't get rid of this plane. Any kind of help will be appreciated and welcome since I tried every trick from my bag... MacBain Av - AS BUILT.plan

So did I. David's both old (and new) videos are great for learning, but I must admit that I also used a lot of Dan Baumann's stuff. These two sites taught me how to use Chief properly.

So far, Chopsaw's method works just fine. I need that to be accurate mostly in 2D, for roof framing plan. As it comes to some 3d presentation, I just intend to add one single perspective view, and get rid of this Plan File ASAP.

Chopsaw, this is an amazing video. What was most unbelievable was that I tried the same, but made Psolid from section view, and wasn't able to rotate so it rests completely over sheathing. The trick was to make solid from the plan view. Thanks, Man, you did a job on it!

Major problem was that roofer insisted on accurate roof framing plan, and I was too stupid to say "Yo, man, if you need such a detailed plan to make 2 crickets, don't even start the job"... Luckily, I am doing this job on hourly base, so I will have his scalp ...

Sorry, I should have warned you - framing is in layer set "Framing - first floor with rafters", or something like that.

What we need is the ability to assign some kind of "local coordinate system", without complicated calculations and brainstorming - like in AutoCAD - Grab object and click "assign user coordinate system".

And dream in Chief. But today was one nice nightmare.

Softplan and Sketch-up and every other software that I don't have use for, because most of the clients insist on Chief. Not to mention that after all these years I bread by Chief...

I am uploading, but goes slowly. Looks like not my day. 1016_N_Arlington_Mill_Dr-PROPOSED-V3.plan

Well, I have that idiotic habit of pushing things untillI find how to do it, but in this case, Chief won. I was able to make a Psolid placed on the roof, at exact 6:12 pitch (not a big deal), but when I need to rotate that 2x12 to ledger position, it just won't budge. I am about to give up and hit the sack.

I tried that, but problem is that ledger in not placed flat on the roof but at some strange angle. After losing the whole day on this, I am ready to give up. I even tried playing with blockings, rafters, PSolids, but angle is still a problem.

Hi Guys, Another cry for help: I am working on an addition that should use trusses over a simple gable roof. A piece of cake. Only, client insists on having two small roofs at the ends of the house (pic 1.png). There is no structural change, the ceiling in both rooms is standard flat GWB's, and roofs are only "curb appeal" request. So, the cheapest solution looks to me like making standard trusses, nail the sheathing, and create 2 slightly bigger crickets over the sheathing. -Unfortunately for me, I need to deliver accurate roof framing plan, and - here comes the problem. I made standard trusses and then framed roof after trusses were placed, in hope that it will look like 1b.jpg (image property of Decks.com), giving me a section 3.png, but all I got was a mess from picture 2.png. I need to create standard framing for crickets, and literally put them on top of the main roof. Any ideas how to do that? Any suggestion or a link to solution is welcome.

Dermot, thank you, this was the option that I was looking for. I am trying to do things as they should be done. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work. I tested my shallow arc (polyline solid made out of box, with lower pline converted to arc), and it did nothing. It may be that arc is to shallow (15 ft. span, 1ft bow), but I will test that from the start. On the other side, Perry's method gave instant results, in spite of the fact that 100 segments are a bit extreme. And there was no problem to turn that into one nasty 3D molding polyline... That's just the way I am - extreme all the way.

This is working like a charm. Maybe I exaggerated a little, made polyline with 100 segments, it is probably slightly memory heavy, but works like a charm. Perry and Glenn, you are the Kings!!!

That is my biggest problem - I have 15ft. long arch, that I made as a solid object - I don't need to play with wall and pass-trough's, because it's only purpose is to visually divide room, so it will be just a small frame nailed for upper floor joists (as shown at image). But... I have a arch segment, covered with moldings at vertical faces, these molding should follow the line of arch bottom arc, and, as a cherry, arch bottom edges are covered with a little corner molding, that should bend as arch bends. I have like 7 arc's and they should all be perfectly aligned. Now, these 7 broken polylines just look like a car crash. Now non of them is aligned, and it looks like mess. I even tried to Ray-trace that, in hope that Ray trace will smooth these arc's, but nothing. Looks like Transformer's living room... So I was certain that there must be some setting for that, like "arc smoothing level", but just can't find anything similar.

Perry, actually this client is amazing, but because of that, he deserves something that looks good. This 15ft. arch is broken into 4 crude polylines, and that is not really acceptable. Anyway, thanks for the link, I was looking for that...

Hi, guys, I have this problem that I just cannot solve. Arc's are just refusing to look smooth - whatever I do, they look segmented (broken). Not just arc's, but, even worse, if I use arc as a 3d molding polyline, it's even worse. There must be some setting for that, and I just can't find it. This was made in X7, PC is more that sufficient, with 4GB video card. This is driving me crazy, not to mention that client is not very happy with 3D views... Any idea?

Yusuf, this really looks great, but usually we need to really build what is in our drawings. Did you ever tried to bend 2x6 like that? What would be count of human labor hours for bending, and what is total price of that stud? Also, what is load-bearing resistance of that stud?

Thanks Man, I was thinking the same, but hoped that someone will find some truss editing tool... If I edit truss manually, will it still behave like truss, or I will loose that?