CJSpud

Where's the plan??

Without looking at your symbol the images look great. But how do you place it on the wall ... I can't seem to get it to stick.

I found a short video on the website that clearly showed how it hangs on the surface of a wall. I do like what you did .... if used as a see through 2-sided fireplace you would need to get rid of the fireplace box behind the flames.

Since your FP model is direct vent, I suspect you may be putting it on on exterior wall. I haven't studied the PDF closely but for your symbol, you may want to include a piece that goes through the wall. Since this "flue" or "vent" is hidden in the wall from 3D views, you could just detail this for plan views by adding the appropriate CAD box to your 2D CAD detail for your symbol so that it is obvious that it vents to the outside. Here's a video showing a range/cooktop hood being created: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/10151/creating-custom-objects-polyline-solid-hood-symbol.html?playlist=87 There are many other videos available that may be appropriate if you do a search for "symbols". Here's the first page of the search I did: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/search/?q=symbol&default_tab=video

Just do it in an elevation view ... cross section camera of a wall. Establish a game plan on how many pieces you want for the box and then start by placing the PL solids on the wall, resizing, etc. You may have to go back and forth depending on how you work it to get the pieces to your FP at the correct positions/depths in relation to the wall's surface. There are some Chief videos on working with PL solids in elevation (cross section) views if you search the video libraries. Once your done you will want to save your FP to your library for future use if needed.

I see Robert's fits/inserts "into" a wall where as this model actually is suppose to hang on the outside of a wall. You should easily be able to create this FP IMO by using PL solids. Somewhere in Chief's libraries there are images of flames that you can insert into the box for realism similar to Robert's symbol.

If you want a really nice 3D symbol for this FP, I would suggest contacting someone like David Michael and see if he would do it for you ... for a fee. If you have some time to work on it yourself, you could used PL solids etc. available in Chief and see how it works out for you. I guess it depends on how big of a hurry you are in and whether or not you feel up to trying to make the symbol yourself. Edit: I see Robert has graciously helped you out.

Does using the cross section slider help you at all for your floor overviews? It keeps your "slice" all in one plane in the event you have rooms with different wall/ceiling heights. I use the roof for flat ceilings or cathedral ceilings; for vaulted ceilings you need to uncheck ceilings in the dbx and put in your own ceiling planes. For 2-story structures the main level ceiling is created by the 2nd story floor platform. Not sure exactly why/how you are doing ceilings with macros or PL solids. I am not much of a macro user so admittedly, if there's a way to do ceilings with a macro, I am lost as to how. Why not just use Chief's standard tools for your ceilings?

How is it appearing?

Michael ... thanks... you have rather quickly shown a procedure that likely would have taken many of us fellow Chief users much longer to complete. Love your videos ... short and sweet and to the point.

Must have used a pumper to pour those curbs.

I don't know if this is the problem but in your dimension defaults, locate objects, do you have electrical checked?

If you want to really get your elevation views showing your siding to look correct (a full height piece starting at the bottom) you may have to mess with the vertical offset until it is OK. I haven't done that in awhile although I have done so in the past.

Here's what Jonathan is telling you - just make sure the texture scale matches what you are trying to do. I my example I am using fiber cement siding with a 7" course exposure height (I could have listed it correctly as 8.25" with a 1.25" overlap but I am not doing a materials list or getting too picky about that so I kept it simple):

I always wanted something like a whole bunch of "V's" connected together to represent metal lath for CAD details showing stone installation layers. Maybe a line style of nothing but V's would work? I've created the wire lath with CAD in the past. Never had a need to mess with line styles before. Maybe I need to check that out. If they were close enough (almost touching) that would sure be an easy way to do it.

" I use 82.5" for doors and windows unless the design and/or the manufacturer's spec's calls for something different. " Sometimes a customer will want something non typical so then I will move them accordingly. If you look at some door manufacturer's specifications for RO's, that's a good place to start from for your header heights. I have Jeld Wen entry doors and the height of those pre-framed units is about 82" ... which, if using 82.5" for the RO, you have 1/2" of wiggle room for shimming or squaring up if going in an opening that isn't so square (heaven forbid ... but it happens). Generally speaking, I like to keep the sight lines across the windows and doors more or less equal for most conventional home designs. Anything different (shaped windows; windows in rooms with vaulted and cathedral ceilings, etc.) then you put the RO's where it makes most sense for the design. For bedroom egress windows, depending on the window style and/or size, you may not have the flexibility to move the RO for your window headers very much.

I use 82.5" for doors and windows unless the design and/or the manufacturer's spec's calls for something different.

Mark: Here's the link to Chief's videos on layer sets and anno sets: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/?utm_source=Chief+Architect+Premier+19.2.0.39+x64&utm_medium=software&utm_campaign=Resource%3A+videos#playlist-100

Mark: You can create a new layer and then change the text style for that new layer. You can do some remarkable things with well setup anno sets as well ... for many different scales and text styles to match. Chief's out of the box layer sets and anno sets can do a lot for you if used wisely but often they just don't seem to work for everything a person wants to do so you need to start adding more to suit your needs. There's some pretty good stuff on Chief's website on using layer sets and anno sets. Do a search ... I recently watched a couple of good videos that Scott Harris did - if you can find them I think you'll get quite a bit out of them.

Create another Text Style and the text height to whatever you need.

Thanks ... they have some nice details.

This thread is dedicated to the use of elevation points as one of several methods that can be used to control the behavior of Chief's terrain generation. Late yesterday afternoon D. Scott Hall hosted a GoToMeeting on terrain and the use of elevation points was one of the things that was discussed in the back half of the meeting which was all that I attended. Chopsaw made a point that he does some of his own site surveys and that these surveys result in many survey "elevation points" that he inputs into his Chief Architect terrain models to generate the terrain for each project. Scott was of the opinion that a better terrain might result by using very small terrain regions in the locations where survey points were taken/are known. That is quick and dirty background for this post. I often use elevation points when I create terrains around projects I do. I usually am not working from a survey done by a surveyor - I just create a terrain that is more or less representative for a projects "estimated" terrain to wow the customer. Around my area building departments for residential construction haven't required site surveys for new plans. I am only required to show arrows designating the direction of drainage (i.e., the slope of the land). Since I haven't put in enough time to really get good at doing terrains (become a terrain guru), using elevation points, just like using elevation lines or regions, is hit and miss. I often end up moving these elevation inputs many times to get a terrain I am happy with. I think we've all experienced those terrain areas that seem to go berserk and it can get frustrating at times in trying to get rid of those "spikes" in the terrain when they occur. I am not criticizing Chief's terrain program ... like everything in Chief, it reacts to the data inputs we give it. Back to using elevation points ... Rich Windsor posted an interesting test he performed on a small terrain using elevation points and small elevation regions in the thread "Terrain Guru Needed". Very interesting, thanks Rich ... that is certainly one way to get better acquainted with Chief's terrain tools ... by experimentation. That is what Scott and Glenn were doing when I got into the terrain meeting yesterday. Many years ago, Roger Rhines, who used to be a regular participant on ChiefTalk ... and a very experienced and knowledgeable user I will add, posted a plan on a thread that was about how to create the terrain for a driveway to a basement garage where the driveway had retaining walls on each side. I saved that plan and ... hopefully with Roger's blessing ... am posting it here for others to look at to see how Roger created what I thought was a very nice terrain for the subject at hand. In his plan you'll note that he used quite a few elevation points to generate the terrain. I occasionally will look at Roger's plan when I am stuck trying to accomplish something in a terrain I am working on. Check it out. See how Roger used Chief's terrain tools to create a very nice terrain. Below is a terrain for a house project I am just about done with ... mostly done with elevation lines and regions. Sunken Driveway & Road_Terrain_RogerRhines.zip

Thanks Scott, Glen, et. al. I wasn't watching my emails and didn't realize you were doing it today so missed out on at least half the meeting ... darn. With regards to Chopsaw's comments about points, I think they can be useful in some situations. Many versions of Chief ago, Roger Rhines posted a simple plan with a nice terrain on it and in that plan, he used quite a few elevation points to build his terrain model. I don't know if I still have it on my old computer, but if I do, I will post it in a new thread on Terrain Points. Scott: Are you going to summarize this meeting's nuggets? Someone else? Thanks again.

Lance: Doesn't Chief cut off the siding on the outer edge where the siding butts up against the trim. In other words, I don't think Chief will automatically tuck the siding into a J-mold trim piece. What is wrong with what you are showing for your 3D view? You can always show the trim build in a CAD detail. Perhaps adding your custom J-mold to the outer edge of the Smartside trim can more closely resemble the real world look ... but delta rib style roofing and siding from the Library for 3D views is just an image ... it doesn't have the ribs projecting out from the flat base parts. So even if you can tuck the siding material into your J-mold trim, I don't think it will look right if you zoom in with the camera. Not so sure that trying to mimic real world conditions is worth the effort. What I see in your image, whatever you did in adding the darker J-mold looks good to me for a 3D view, even if it isn't truly in a J-mold shape in your plan. Below is a nice 3D detail of ribbed steel tucking into a J-mold. If you wanted to create a really nice detail similar to this, you might just make a copy of this and bring it into a new CAD detail and then trace over the parts you don't want to figure out yourself (such as the siding with the ribs and the J-mold) and then add the Smartside trim next to the J-mold. It would take a little time to do it but it sure would be a nice detail showing the builder how to install the trim. Even if you do a 3D detail, I would suggest doing at least one 2D CAD detail as well ... these are easier to dimension, etc. http://www.fabral.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/bluebook.pdf I think you are probably done with your trim by now and yes, I can see where it can be painfully slow going around each opening in you plan. Have had to do some of that myself.

Play with the properties of the exterior wall block material(s)?