CJSpud

Here's plan views and full camera views of the FP before and after using Edit Area: Didn't go looking for the frame around the TV. The corner columns didn't rotate correctly .... everything but the electrical appears to be squared up .... I will let Johnny figure that out. Edit: And obviously the mantel was stolen!

I didn't try edit area myself til now .... works fine here to. Edit: Upon closer inspection, it only about half worked .... ends up being a mess more or less.

I believe the walls being included is the problem. I think the walls are what is referred to as "architectural objects" while most of the rest of your FP objects can be blocked and rotated together. A little experimentation should prove/disprove this.

From Help: Architectural vs CAD Blocks Just as there are two types of objects in Chief Architect, architectural and CAD, there are two types of blocks. See Architectural vs CAD Objects. Architectural objects such as cabinets and fixtures can be included in architectural blocks, while CAD objects such as lines, arcs, text and dimensions can be included in CAD blocks. See CAD Blocks. Knowing the differences between these two types of blocks helps you decide which type of block can best meet your needs. A CAD block can include and also be nested in a larger block with CAD objects, text and dimensions, but cannot include or be blocked with architectural objects. An architectural block can include and also be nested in a larger block with architectural objects, but cannot include or be blocked with CAD objects, text or dimensions.

An easy way to rotate 180 is to draw a CAD line parallel to the FP objects; select them; then reflect about object .... and click on the line.

Johnny: Did you try blocking those objects first, then rotate? Or, select your objects and then rotate via Transform/Replicate?

I agree ... F1 should be the 1st place to look for answers if you can't figure it out quickly. I do like to watch the videos for added reinforcement of how Chief's tools work and are to be used. I don't like the fact that some topics in the videos are almost unsearchable (or non-existant ... ???) unless you're a key word wizard or can figure out the best associated topics to look in.

Wouldn't you think that for a tool such as "slab footing", that you'd be able to find a video from Chief Architect that demonstrates the intended usage of this tool? If there is such a video, how would one know how to find it if using the tool's designated name doesn't get you there? Please, CA, improve the search capabilities for your videos so we can reasonably find what we're looking for! I tried some other "related" search terms which didn't seem to yield any videos worth wasting my time watching based upon their titles. Maybe Chief hasn't included anything on this tool in any of their videos??? We Chief Talk participants are guilty in a similar way when we start threads and forget to list key words for our topics when we make the original post. That makes me wonder why, with our thread responses, we don't have the ability to add our own (additional) key words if we choose to?

I have been defining gable walls as having a 1.5" framing layer; a 7/16" or 1/2" sheathing layer; a weather barrier (house wrap); and an exterior finish (siding) layter for many years now. For some plans, I have seen truss designers make the first full trusses (such as for a Dutch gable) as a 2-ply truss. For my roof truss framing plans, I typically just have a single gable truss for designs with Dutch hip roofs. In 1999 I helped build an ICF house with a Dutch gable roof and the truss manufacturer's design included 2-ply gable trusses. The trusses for that project were 60 feet wide for most of the roof.

It would also be nice to have the option to include a specifically defined opening area for ventilation/HVAC ducting in a floor truss. Seems that several years ago there was a good thread on the subject and I remember experimenting with floor trusses but I am a little fuzzy about what the results of that thread were and/or what others were doing to display their floor trusses for ducting. As near as I can tell right now, all we can do to Chief created floor trusses is edit their dimensions and then do a "force truss rebuild" in order for the edited size to get fixed for plan or other views. I don't believe there's any way OTB to edit Chief floor truss webs (bracing) to create such a chase.

Yes, those would be nice options to have. You might submit that as a feature request.

"How can I get web floor joist?" Alan: Like roof trusses, you have to draw them manually and then make/distribute copies as needed. When you click on the "joist tool" there's an option to draw "floor/ceiling truss" in the drop down menu. You have some control over how the floor trusses build via the dialog. Edit: If what you meant was that you want "I-joists" to display, you just have to make sure that that is what you select for your joist type in the Floor Structure Definition:

I use customer name as well as version of Chief I am doing the plans in. Be creative .... do what works for you.

And our guidance from Dan Park from Chief Architect: https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/23-how-to-get-good-answers-when-you-ask-questions/ I don't hesitate to call tech support if I want a quick answer on something that's giving me trouble - I paid for the service and I don't feel bad using them. After that, depending on what I am struggling with, I often will try F1 (help); Chief's Help Database (website "how to" articles); Chief's training videos (although I hate the fact that some topics are difficult to search as some things are buried in videos under a different subject); and then Chief Talk. I really appreciate guys like Scott, Glen, Michael, Larry, David (J. Potter), Perry, Joe and David Michael who seem to have that uncanny ability to find solutions that make sense [there are many others such as Wendy, Jim, Jeff, Jintu, ...]. Johnny's an up and coming star. Yosuf has found ways to take Chief to another level many of us haven't even considered. Hoping Aunttieem is getting the needed help. Chief's not one of those things we learn overnight so and it is easy to get frustrated when a plan isn't behaving the way we want it to. Making an effort to put in our time studying the program and practicing as we learn is tremendously invaluable. Taking on projects without having the skills to use the program so a project can be completed on schedule is a recipe for failure. This may not apply to the OP (original poster) but I mention it as a general discussion item as there have been many Chief Talk posters that can wear that hat. Including yours truly ... sometime in the past. Again, good luck Aunttieem .... don't be afraid to post here .... we are all here to help each other .... just make sure to give us some ammo to work with. Given a good description of a problem (including a plan and/or some good images), a solution is usually just a few posts away. PS: I really like to see Chief user's real names in their signature ... gives me a little better feeling about who I am communicating with.

As suggested, the simplest thing for you to do is to "strip down" your plan .... i.e., save a copy of your plan under a new name (e.g., stripped plan) using "Save As" .... then, in your new "stripped plan.plan" file, delete everything that isn't relative to solving your problem(s). I would delete all cabinets, furnishings, doors, windows, text, electrical, dimensions, fixtures, terrain, etc. ... mostly everything other than the main structure itselt. Then save the plan (i.e., stripped plan.plan) and close the plan (you can leave Chief open ... just close the plan itself). Next, navigate (go find) your plan wherever you have it stored (stripped plan.plan) and right click on the file name to open up the list of options; then hover your mouse arrow over "Send To" and left click on the option "Compressed (Zipped) Folder". You will immediately see that a zipped (compressed) copy of your plan file has been created in the same location and that it has a ".zip" file extension and a cute symbol designating it as a zipped file. This is the file that you'll want to post to Chief Talk so someone can help you solve your problem. Back in Chief Talk, you'll need to click on "More Reply Options" once you have a Chief Talk posting window open in order to open up an expanded posting window with the extra tools needed to attach your plan to your post. Once you've open that expanded posting window, you'll see on the bottom left "Attach Files" and under that a box that says "Browse". Left click on that button and then navigate to your zipped plan file and left click on it to select it and then click "Open". Then back in the Chief Talk expanded posting window, right below the "Browse" button, left click on "Attach This File". It will take a short period of time for the file to be attached and when it is done, you'll see your zipped plan file shown right above Attach Files. All you need to do now is to go over to the right side of your zipped file listing and click on "Add to Post". The file "link" will be inserted into the Chief Talk text entry box wherever you last left the cursor prior to clicking Add to Post. Chief Talk will show your file in brackets and will add "attachment=##### along with your zip plan name (like this .... . The procedure for posting images is basically the same. The only difference is that you'll need to create and save the images you want to post in advance and then navigate to each one individually at a time to post them. I usually just save the images I post as .jpg files and I try to keep their size around 480 ± pixels wide/high so that they are of a decent size for viewing. If your images are too small, you might as well not waste your time or ours posting them. Seems like there used to be a limit on the number of images you could include in each post on Chief Talk (maybe five or six) but I am not sure if that is still true of not. It might be explained somewhere within the Chief Talk tools etc. ... I will let you go and check on that. Hope this helps you get started getting better help on Chief Talk. Please remember to preview your posts before Add(ing) Reply and ask yourself, will everyone reading this post be able to understand what my problem is and/or what I am trying to do or fix. If it doesn't make sense to you or you haven't adequately stated or described your problem or provided us with enough information, then it is likely you may not get the answers you are looking for. Someone might even mumble something to that effect in reply. I've been mumbled at before so I know the experience well. Good luck and happy Chief Talking!!!

Thanks Michael .... EEEZZZZ PPPPZZZZ if you know what you're doing. Obviously you do. Great job.

Dermot: I am aware of the wall breaks method but honestly haven't used it in awhile. Seems like I had some trouble doing it and had some segments joining back up (losing the breaks). Michael: That's an interesting method I have not tried. Is that foolproof ... does Chief really see them as being totally different wall types even though it is in name only? Another thing that I wish we could easily do is extend newels between floors. For example, where I have steel columns extending from a basement walkout level up through a deck and supporting a roof. One continuous column supporting the deck and the roof above the upper (main) level. Is there an easy way to do this .... [maybe copying a railing wall from one level to another ... haven't tried that yet]? Sometimes I think it would be nice if large posts/columns (newels) behaved like individual wall segments. In other words, have large columns that sections of railings but into and when they do, they would act as continuations of the railing wall and not disrupt room definition for a porch or deck. This would help keep baluster spacing looking correct rather than just plunging the railing wall through the posts/columns and just accept the fact that the builder will do it correctly. I just like to have everything look right on the plans although doing so takes extra time.

Dermot: Thank you. For general purposes where I don't have to alter the newel spacing, that seems to work just fine. Now I've got a headache ... you slap too hard! Not sure why I was seeing the railing line on the inboard side of the newels .... I am pretty sure I had the auto width unchecked when I was testing. I will have to go back and check that. Edit: I had "Draw Rails" unchecked ... that's why I was getting the full width railing lines. Thanks again. I really would love to have control of the newels in plan or section and be able to pull dimensions to them for precise placement. Please don't tell me we can do that already!! If I inset (offset) the newels, the railings should follow (or I should be able to have the ability in the dbx to offset them similarily) and stay centered on the newels IMO. Is there an easy way to do that I have missed?

Chief's deck railing tools are something that I believe could be greatly improved. Using Johnny's image as an example to demonstrate what's involved to get a proper appearance in plan follows. Here's the specifications for the deck and railing I am using: 1. 3.5" wide x 1.5" deep top and bottom rails. 2. 1.5" square balusters. 3. 8" x 8" newels with outside edge flush to outside edge of deck (deck has "0" overhang in this example. What would I prefer to see for the deck railing in plan views: 1. newel placement 2. baluster placement 3. railing placement 4. outer edge of the deck. What work is involved to get this look: 1. create a new deck railing wall type that gives me a 4.5" offset. Here's an image of that wall type: 2. because Chief likes to draw railings the full width of the railing wall components in the wall type defn., if you want to see the railings at actual width (3.5" in this example) in a cross section, then you have to go to the dbx and uncheck automatic width as shown below: 3. unfortunately, for plan views, Chief will not allow us to show the railings at actual width, so you have to do that manually with lines or CAD boxes. I used a CAD box with a transparent hatch fill (moved to back) as shown below. First you have to zero out (invisible line type) Chief's railing (8" wide .... 3.5" + 4.5" offset) as the inner line matches up with the inner side of the 8" x 8" newels which I don't want/like to see .... I want to see where the actual railing is positioned. 4. for the outer edge of the deck, because I made the railing lines invisible, I had to manually draw a CAD line in that location. Depending on what you want to show on the plans, I think the present options we have for railings just doesn't adequately do the job for me without some extra work. To just say add an extra no-material layer to the railing wall defn or to make the railing width (thickness) the same as the newels doesn't totally solve the problem as far as I am concerned. I appreciate the fact that there has been constant improvement in many of the tools Chief has given us. For me, I just wish we could get more flexibility with the railing tools. I would love to be able to select the newels in plan or section and move them around as is often needed. I would love to be able to have total control over which lines can be displayed in plan views. Someday, I am sure we'll get those added functionalities ... I am hoping sooner than later. There's probably a better/easier way that I am totally oblivious to ... maybe someone will slap me on the side of the head so I can see it. Just my 2 cents worth for now.

If that's a PDF from LO, looks like there might be some sort of view to LO that might be showing the grid. Go to your LO and see if you can select a boundary box in that area. If you have one, and don't need it, just try to delete it and see if that fixes it. Might be something totally different ..... guessing without the file.

Assuming your roofs are properly built over the walls etc., try hitting F12 (rebuild).

That's pretty easy to do if you add a 2nd story and create a small loft in the area you want for a shelf. There are probably other ways to do it as well but they might require some extra steps.

Michael: Yup ... here's what it looks like:

Thanks Michael ... I haven't delved into that very much.

Alan: Doesn't that defeat the whole idea of having a story pole in the first place? I don't think you can do what you want to do without going manual on your markers and any associated text. Near as I can tell, everything shown on the storypole dimensions is on one layer (dimensions, automatic) ... at least that's what I get when I select the dimension string. It's a little weird that if you set the line style to a "no material" type, you can still see the text and the marker fills but all the other lines (including the marker circles) don't show. Too early for me to wrap my head around that at this time.