CJSpud

Todd: I think one of the greatest suggestions I have seen for not having a plan get bogged down while you are working in it is to have your layer sets established such that anything you don't need to see, have it turned off in that layer set. For example, if you are working on roof framing, you sure don't need a gob of stuff on for that: turn off cabinets, fixtures, electrical, architectural blocks, stairs ... probably other stuff as well. The set up of your layer sets and anno sets can really help you with your work speed. I still am a bit forgetful about paying close attention to this myself, but when I do, it really helps. It is all about getting into a good work practice methodology and sticking with it and/or refine it as you go. If you digest some of the posts from users like Tommy, Scott, Perry, Joe, Jim and many many others and see how they work, this should help you in deciding what methods may work best for you with the way you work on your projects. There are lots of ways to do things and hopefully you are chipping away at refining those practices as you learn and work with Chief.

What sort of objects are you trying to move to the back?

Jim: Here's the plan so you can see what settings are on/off: Subfloor.plan

Jim: You said: "Floor Surfaces- I've yet to figure out how to only show the subfloor sheathing in a framing view." Certainly you didn't mean something like this (?): If not the above, what type of "view" are you talking about?

Can you post an image of what you have? This sounds a bit strange "unless" you've done some editing that you haven't revealed to us.

Gracias

Thanks Jintu.

Jim: My model was exported as well ... I just didn't see the file on my desktop as it was "hidden" amongst some textures I have temporarily saved there. It opens up just fine in a new plan.

Jim: I haven't done this before (export 3ds) so just tried it on a test model I have open in which I have been playing with the roof settings. It is just a 4-sided model with a hip roof, no terrain, no foundation. From the 3d full render view, after clicking on the Export 3D Model (3ds), all that showed up on my target destination (desktop) were 5 texture images (.jpg) for the model [roof shingles, Chief wrap, siding, OSB sheathing and hardwood flooring]. I wasn't expecting that so I guess I need to go read about exporting to 3ds. What did show up was almost instantaneous ... no chugging along slowly ... but I was expecting the whole model to show up in a file and not just some of the textures being used in the model.

Jintu: I spotted the following on the Corona website which I am not sure what it means - can you comment on this?: What are the minimum software requirements? You currently need an x64 3ds MAX 2011-2015 running on Windows Vista or newer.

Nice Joe. What Cheryl apparently wants and what you have created are much different than the simple vertical partitions I was talking about.

I personally would prefer a very simple method of creating different partition layouts within the cabinet dialog box ... as I mentioned, the vertical version of the horizontal shelves tools we now have. I am not interested in spending extra time deconstructing/reconstructing symbols from the library or anywhere else. One of the big selling points of using Chief is our ability to do lots of things with various 3D objects quickly and I appreciate that. I appreciate that we can get creative with existing tools and get innovative and create custom objects if we have the knowledge and time to do such things. For my project, I looked at the various specialty cabinets in my bonus library and didn't feel any of them were anywhere close to what I needed. Doing one PL solid and then making a copy was quick and I was done. I would have preferred to add the partitions via the dialog than using PL solids. Cheryl's a real nice lady so I think she deserves something better .... don't you Chief? I am all for vertical "shelves" with X17 .... OK?!?! Maybe just a shelf rotate command ... that ought to be fun figuring out.

My head isn't near as attractive as the ones she puts on the wall so I am not too worried. I only have one Michelin "point" and I don't think that's near the trophy that will be seen hanging in her home or shop.

Here's a perfect example of where being able to specify vertical partitions within a cabinet via the dialog box per Cheryl's suggestion would be nice. The center wall cabinet has an open area at the bottom in which I have placed a couple of PL solids to create 3 open cubbies that can be quickly accessed without having to open any cabinet doors. It seems like it ought to be super easy to program this in the same fashion as the horizontal shelves work with control over number of partitions, dimensions, etc. As Cheryl has pointed out, we should be able to place these vertical partitions in cabinets with (or without) doors on them. Please add this feature for v17 Chief.... thanks! By the way, this set of cabinets is going to be a work area for building arrows etc. for a customer lady who's an avid bowhunter (and taxidermist). She just got her 16th elk with her bow this fall.

I haven't looked at your plan but the strategy I use for building roofs in Chief is to let the program build them for me according to the wall roof settings I input for each wall. Once the roof is built, if there's any editing that needs to be done, then I go from their manually. If you are experimenting with the look, I would suggest the same methods.

Mull = join them together as one, i.e., "block them" It is better to do the filled rectangles in plan ... if you move your view around in LO, then you'd have to separately move the rectangles as well.

Joe: Interesting. How many different plan files do you have for all the various detail types you keep?

I think "in" was a typo. For ICF projects I frequently spec trusses to bear directly on the wall tops and use Simpson's META style embedded truss anchor which comes with a TSS plate which protects the truss from any moisture absorption from the concrete in the walls. Perhaps something similar will be used for the block walls and anchoring trusses.

Next you need to create a layout file to put together the plan sheets that will form your construction plan set. Individual floor plans (foundation, basement, main level, 2nd story, floor framing, roof framing, etc.) can be sent to the desired plan sheets by "sending to layout". You can also send elevation views, sections through your home, 3D camera views, door-window-room finish and other schedules to layout sheets as well. If Chief's provided CAD details work for your plan, you can send them to your layout sheet(s) as well or, if needed, modify Chief's details or crate your own using the CAD tools. You will probably need to include project information and appropriate construction notes, etc. as may be required by your building department. Once your layout is complete, print it as a PDF file ... the most common file format for printing home construction plans. Chief provides PDF995 for doing this (v10) or you can use other free PDF creators such as CutePDF which can be found on-line. Read up in your manual on any of the steps you don't understand. As you are working, you can click on F1 (help) to find information on specific tools you are using. If you have your v10 "Users' Guide", I would suggest looking through that as it should provide you with good information in creating your project layout. Good luck.

Do you have "Always Update" checked for your Sun Shadow in your Sun Angle Specification dialog box > Earth Data option? It almost looks to me like you may have changed something in your plan but for some reason your plan shadow didn't update. If you have a zoomed out 3D Full Overview camera view tiled vertically beside your plan view and then open your Sun Angle Specification dbx > Earth Data and have it drug over to the side such that you can watch both the 3D Full Overview and the plan view, you can then change the Date and Time data in the the Sun Angle Spec. dbx and watch the shadows change immediately provided you have "Always Update" checked. If that doesn't work and the shadows still looked messed up, you need to try to post your plan again. Follow Michael's directions in his "Post the Plan" thread and it should work. The key to posting plans is "YOU HAVE TO SAVE YOUR PLAN AND THEN "CLOSE YOUR PLAN" before making a compressed copy of it. You don't have to close Chief, just your plan before doing that. To me, your image can't be the way you are showing it unless you made some change to your plan OR your plan shadow didn't update.

CA is headquartered in northern CA ... i.e., Coeur d'Alene, ID .... half of everyone that lives there is from CA ... therefore NCA. They actually have pretty strict codes there since the Kolifornians brought them with them. Not much threat for earthquakes, at least not until they have a big one.

Perry: My county (Idaho) goes from the Oregon border on the west to the Montana border on the east .... one of Idaho's largest counties .... but I hardly do any work in this county. Most of my work is in/around two sets of sister cities in Idaho and Washingto .... Lewiston, ID/Clarkston, WA and Moscow, ID/Pullman, WA, all with building codes. I have also done many designs out in rural areas of ID and WA and some back east. There are lots of "independent" DIY'ers and I don't have a clue who designs the homes being built by real builders - I think many come right out of plan books and some are "altered" by the contractors on an as needed basis for energy performance. Truss builders usually take care of the roof design for snow as there's very little roof framing that I have seen in this neck of the woods.

5/8" dry wall on the ceiling is most common around here but do-it-yourselfers on a budget (or just going cheap) will sometimes put 1/2" on the ceiling. I live in a county with no building codes so it is possible to see just about anything under the sun if you look hard enough. Check your local requirements if you have building codes in your (or your project's) location.

Adam: Here's a link how to identify a true Saarinen table: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/identify-genuine-saarinen-dining-table-53249.html I think this is the link I used to find the tulip table patent. Some images I looked at on the Internet (actually 2D drawings) showed the top thickness at 3/4". Not sure if the image was an original or not.

Steve: Here's 3 images of a quick model I did. To me, the shadows shown are pretty much what I would expect to see from Chief. In the plan view shadows on the terrain, there's some squiggled lines that are showing for some reason. The terrain is flat so not sure why they showed up.