CJSpud

Another simple option, although it takes a few clicks, is to just draw a line between the two points you want a dimension for; give it arrows on each end if desired; then show length (and/or angle). You can do the Ctrl D step as well.

Could it be that you have a vertical footing you don't want????? How would I know?

Sounds like an "OLD" issue Chief had many years ago. Have you tried making one of your porch walls "no room definition"? I just downloaded the new update and haven't seen this problem "yet" ... and ... you shouldn't have to mess with wall settings IMO. Might be a quick fix though.

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Could it be possible that your roof planes and ceiling planes are disconnected at the eave/bearing area thus causing Chief to not associate the two together? Just a guess ... haven't got Chief open to experiment.

Did you try doing a rebuild (F12) of walls, floors and ceilings after making your changes? Sometimes that fixes things for you.

Have you worked with Annotation Sets yet. You should check them out if not. If you are not working with "anno sets", then you'll have to select your dimensions and assign them to a different layer.

When I was first learning Chief (v7), I wanted all my roofs to be generated automatically. I admittedly had a phobia about learning to do roofs manually. Now, I find that working with roof planes manually is fairly quick and not as time-consuming as one might expect. Yes, I do make an effort to use as many of the auto roof tools (roof and wall defaults) on each project and then, if there are any issues, I just manually fix what didn't generate correctly. So, if you just change your auto defaults for whatever changes your builder wants to see, and then tweak manually, it doesn't get much more cost effective than that IMO.

Ben Palmer sometimes uses a technique where he only partially displays patterns on his plans, I assume to keep things clean/not too busy. Or, maybe it is just a style thing for Ben. Although I haven't used this technique myself, I really like some of the elevation views I have seen on some of his work in the past. The PDF included I found on his site shows what I am talking about: http://www.houseplansaz.com/plans/admin/plans/pdf/2977.pdf I don't recall if he adjusted the pattern properties to make the lines lighter in the past plans he's posted.

Michael: Very informative ... great technique for editing trusses.

Some offer it ... some don't. If you want it, find a company that offers that feature. Whether of not touch screens are an advantage or disadvantage ... don't know and don't care. Personally, I don't like my screen all junked up with finger prints, smears, smudges, etc.

My suggestion is to first correct the front side 7:12 roof plane such that it has a 1' overhang per your default. Then make the front 7:12 roof plane cover the hole front side of the 2nd story. Next, using the break line tool, edit that front 7:12 roof plane such that it is shaped around your front false gable roof planes. This should only take a minute or two. One thing that you'll notice is that on the front right intersection of the 12:12 false gable roof plane with the 7:12 main roof plane, is that a sharp point is projecting down below the horizontal bottom edge of the fascia on the front eaves. That's what happens because of the intersection of two differently pitched roof planes. Change your false gables to 7:12 and the pointed projecting should go away. Solver's image looks like there's a problem with the right side gable return for the bumped out false gable. It appears to be lower than the gable return on the left side.

I didn't open your plan but seems to me that the "Gable/Roof Line" tool might be a good option to try. Then you might get by without messing with walls or rooms below.

Thanks for the link. Some very nice stuff.

Not sure that this is it but you might try going to Preferences > General > and check your settings under "Save Dialog Size and Position". I have mine checked for "Always" ... I think that was the Default out-of-the-box.

Did you find the "auto dormers" layer?

Hard to understand how that truss was generated without being able to look at your plan.

I prefer to just use Chief's core library textured materials .... most of the time one of them is close enough to use.

Is it possible that the moldings are generating "inside" the wall surface rather than on the outside, thereby hiding them from your view?

If the break stairs tool isn't available in X7, then that was probably a new feature in X8. Did you try a search on Help (F1) for a stairs break tool. If you can't find it, you might want to consider upgrading .... lots of nice new stuff has been added in X8 and X9.

Here's the last two images of your stairs problems I am going to post. As you can see, the camera tools are very important in checking out a design and diagnosing problem areas in a plan. I use the back-clipped camera a bunch in evaluating problem areas in the plans I prepare. Check up on the code stairs requirements before you revise your design.

I think you need to "regroup" and do a very close examination of your plan ... maybe in all areas. I've only taken 2 cross-sections and one camera view and can identify major issues with the stairs as well as with the floor system support beam location. That's all I've looked at.

Time to regroup ... your ceiling height is not according to code requirements (80" min.).

Michael: Yup ... lots of ways to deal with the display of points. It really boils down to how much time does one want to spend either presenting things (showing the toilet dimension, e.g.) and/or making things look professional for the customer. When I do dimensions such as Scott was talking about, it is most often shown during the design phase (if things are a wee bit tight, I want my customer to know about it ahead of time) and once the design is finalized, then I typically will remove the spacing dimension from the final plan. In my case, I use the point to point dimension tool for this as the dimension I want to evaluate is often on an angle of some sort (not horiz./not vert.) so the point to point dimension tool works best. I have on occasion used a double arrow line for this type of dimension, but not all that often.

Michael: My guess as to why Scott would use a double-arrow line and dimension for dimensioning a toilet (etc.) to some other object would be so he doesn't get any point markers. Those extra cross-hair lines from the point markers can get a bit annoying and clutter up a plan. Scott may have a totally different reason. I may be way out in left field on my guess. Thanks for you comments on the CAD default settings being "view specific" ... I will have to check that out.