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Awesome RR ! How did you get your casing to sit outside your building like that ?

Absolutely awesome Yusuf ! That took allot of skill and patience to achieve what you did above in X9. The very close following of those node points in both planes was what allowed the bending of the 3D polyline by the looks ? I would not have been able to work that out without your help. No doubt you would also be able to put a molding on top of a 3D solid using the same method as here. To save us time and much hard work it would be very good if CA allowed us to automatically put a molding on a selected double curved edge. I have been asking them to do that with the backsplash edges. Well done !

Awesome ! Well done Yusuf we all knew you are a Chief Master. It looks like you used polyline solids to achieve these results ? I did try to use a polyline and to convert into a molding when placed on a wall but I could only get it to bend one way. It would not wrap around the wall like a backsplash did. So how did you actually go about shaping your molding profile out of another polyline solid right inside a double curved arch ? I can see your boolean operations from your pictures above but how you actually shaped the edge of it, has go me baffled ?

Hi, If anybody is interested, I asked this same question above in the Archicad forum to see how they would solve it over there. This is a video from a lecturer of Archicad in Europe who solves it in that application. I would like to throw down a challenge to anyone who is a Chief Architect Master to make a video on how they would create a similar molding in Chief Architect so we can all benefit from it. If it’s not quite possible right now it would be great if we could do it in a future version of Chief ? I tried it in Chief X10 but I only got as far as RR and I posted his video over at the Archicad talk forum so others could see Chief in action. If you are a one eyed Chief supporter then please don’t hit the negative button just come up with a solution, if you can’t then just see if any Chief Master here can. You can use any other CAD application if you wish including Sketchup as we can import from that application. Enjoy and have fun ! Edit: This is as far as I got in CAX10, please see the picture below of a backsplash on a backsplash. If we could somehow edit a rectangular profile and turn it into a molding and then if could automatically extrude on the path of the edge or something like that ? Then this proposed method would be possible in CA. CAX10 CM.pdf

Yes, some good tips I picked up from that video above is to use an electronic level to get your roof pitch. I can use my finger to draw walls in CA on my tablet and I have a harness to be able to carry it around with me. It would be nice if we had a rectangular mode to draw walls with in CA. Please watch this video below from about 4 minutes in, to see what I mean. This is Vectorworks Architect and I personally don’t have that application but I like how it draws walls in rectangular mode. This method would help greatly for doing as built surveys as well if we could have this method working in CA. Notice how it ignores any overlapping walls that are affected when drawing a rectangle in a corner or right next to other walls. Pretty neat ! We have space planner rectangles but we need to be able to control the wall thickness on as built because they will vary quite a bit.

I tried for an hour to get the gable parapet walls to produce correctly and I tried a couple of methods but the walls did not model correctly just yet. First I peeled back the gable roof and the automatic gable end wall in the attic space disappeared. I then extended the bottom ground floor wall up into the attic space and then tried to break the top of the wall but my break tool wouldn’t show up on the screen. So I abandoned that method and I drew a wall in the attic space and I was able to break it and shape it into a triangle but the wall didn’t look right in its connecting to the bottom wall. I could not get the wall capping to work on that attic wall because it was greyed out and not available for that wall type. I think I will take a close look at that entertaining video made by DS Hall and see if I can’t get it to work. I will post his video method below for those who might be interested in his fine method ? https://youtu.be/W13WXMGjMys My results. Wow ! I even got bonus edge routing on the inner side of my gable wall, please see the first picture below. I will have to use a molding polyline to get capping and other treatments. I could use roof planes to cap the wall ? Gable Prapet Routed edges.pdf Gable Prapet other side.pdf I am not sure what caused the routing of the gable wall on the inside face at the ends ? Is it the gable roof base lines or is it something else ? Edit: Routing on the edges are from the gable wall being checked as attic wall. When unchecked it disappears but I had to lengthen the wall on each end by approximately 4 inches. Please see 3rd picture below. Gable Prapet not routed edges.pdf

I can also do basic levels with my version of the Leica Disto on a tripod. Laser level is preferred for a more sloping site. Yes definitely more work needs to be done with the space planning tools to be able to use them easily for an “as built survey” that is definitely the way to go. I hope some makes a suggestion about this ?

I never thought of doing it like that but it makes sense to use the space planning tools for each room because they remain static until you build the house model. The problem is when you get odd shape rooms. So the space planner has to become more developed for that method to work properly. Sadly Room Planner was discontinued mid 2019. Shame it could have been developed further into an as built app for Chief Architect users or as an add on ?

Yes, I will definitely give your suggestions a try with X10 and see what I can actually produce ? No I wouldn’t teach you Chief Masters anything as I am still back at X10 but I am surprised at how more flexible Chief has become.

Yes that’s what I am talking about, a rendered smooth surface . I have also seen S Nestor’s excellent video that he did on creating what some call a “federal gable” end building. He used roof planes as a capping and changed the material into concrete with the spray can icon. Will an actual wall capping profile work on top of a sloping wall instead of a roof plane ? Has anyone managed to add other decorative treatments to the edges and faces of these high gable ends and pediments ? Yes a flashing is important and it appears that using a roof plane to cap the ends can produce that result ? In this excellent official video, Scott demonstrates a flat roof parapet and he caps these level walls with a profile. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/1530/drawing-parapet-walls-with-a-flat-roof.html?playlist=95 Will this work on a triangular sloping wall and is there another way to add flashing where the roof buts up to the gable end without using roof planes ?

Hi, I am curious to know how some CA power users go about creating gable end pediments or parapet walls and then cap or decorate them with various treatments ? Is there a fast and efficient way to do them ? I have seen an official Chief Architect webinar that shows a method about half way through but they don’t exactly explain how they created the triangular wall tops that go higher than the roof. Did they create attic walls and then edit them in a cross section view or did they use a different method ? What method to do find is best for you ?

It wouldn’t take much to ask for locking of the walls and other onsite friendly methods to get Chief Architect to do an onsite as built survey. Maybe they could develop an app specific for that purpose and with finger input along with input from a BT measuring device ? They could also use the old room planner app and improve it to become the room planner as built app ? That way we can directly export to CA. An as built app by CA is really a no brainer for them and us.

If it’s possible to have an on-site human assistant, then you can’t beat that. What even happened to days when we had someone to hold the other end of the tape measure lol ?

A cool way to cap your end gable/pediment or parapet walls with roof planes converted into concrete. Another way to do end gable parapet walls, is in this excellent video by DS Hall. How to do a flat roof parapet wall and cap the wall top. See this excellent offical Chief Architect video below. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/1530/drawing-parapet-walls-with-a-flat-roof.html?playlist=95 And finally another excellent method, please see this official Chief Architect webinar. These have been posted here to help anyone who searches parapet gable end walls in Chief Architect and how to do them. Thank you to all who made these excellent videos above as they greatly help all of us Chief Architect users.

Hi, lots of good methods above and it’s whatever will work for you on site. Me, I have used a Leica Disto measuring device and a pen input windows tablet running Chief Architect. If I was doing an as built now, I would probably take my Microsoft Surface Pro and use my fingers to input dimensions with Chief Architect and hope for the best lol ! I can run CA on my MS tablet now and just use my fingers for basic drawing functions but I would take my mouse on site just to make sure. You can usually find a table on site somewhere ? If not just take a fold out table with you and pretend that you are working lol. I have had this app below on an android device before but I haven’t confirmed if I can export to Chief as a dwg just yet.

Hi RR, great method, can we then also attach a custom molding profile to the top edge of the custom backsplash you created here ? Will this method below work to complete the Job for the person above, as I only have up to X10 ? Edit: I did my own test in X10 with the backsplash tool and it worked for that part like the video RR created here. I tried drawing a 2D polyline to follow the outer edge of the curved backsplash. Then I converted the polyline to a 3D molding polyline but it would not bend in the same planes as the backsplash did. It would be very nice if we could attach a molding to any edge on a backsplash like we can with countertops. That would solve this problem once and for all and give us even more flexibility right inside Chief Architect. We can definitely model that house above in Chief Architect and even curve the walls but if we want custom moldings that bend in two planes at once that are not attached to a window frame then that’s not quite possible just yet. I was able to test a palladium custom arch top window in a curved wall and used a custom molding profile and it worked just fine. The molding followed the outer edge of the window frame and went around the double arches as well. If someone can create a custom molding profile on top of a curved arched pediment with the symbol wizard as requested above, then please post your video here. I personally don’t think it’s quite possible just yet right inside CA ?

I am following this post closely to see what solutions are available. It’s amazing to see how many options there are to solving this problem. Some here might model it up in sketchup and import it into to Chief. Please see an example below of importing into CA. BTW I don’t know who made this video but the introduction muppet song is still funny lol. There might still be an easier way right inside Chief ? Edit 1: In Chief Architect, can we create another curved backsplash like above, that is the same size as the molding width, then attach a custom molding profile to it ? Or can we instead extrude a custom molding along the top edge of the original backsplash ? Or could we put an arch with a molding profile on it around a curved wall. Then you would also need two flat curved moldings on each end to join the curved arch. Both joins would need to be invisible as well. I’m not sure what is actually possible in Chief Architect or X14 ? Thanks for the help to all those above.

Very interesting observations with cross sections ? Is X14 still producing too many extra lines for you ? Are you using a back clipped cross section and is that any better in reducing the number of lines that need editing ? I would put it in the suggestions, if you and others are getting too many lines with cross sections. As I am mostly retired these days. I have used Archicad in the past and had zero extra lines with both sections & elevations. Archicad is well supported down under with an Australian library and add ons that make my models and elevations more accurate. If I lived in the US I wouldn’t need to use Archicad as Chief Architect would be complete enough for me to produce accurate renders and drawings. Even if I had to do more editing on the cross sections. Chief does a great job with cabinets and framing and is easier to use than Archicad is. Archicad is very good for commercial uses and more free form Architecture to model up more complex geometry. I mainly do residential houses that are not too complex so I didn’t use it to it’s full potential. Chief Architect is much faster at producing a 3D model provided the home design is not too complex. Edit: (ie: Slanted walls and more complex geometry for roofs and other elements) Chief Architect has served my building design needs since 1999. And I am happy that it has improved quite significantly since I started using it. I wouldn’t complain if I had to do a tiny bit of editing on an elevation or cross section now with X10 or later.

In reply to Ryan: That gives me hope to hear that. And it looks as if they have done some groundwork about this old issue ? That X7 video above didn’t show any improvements in that specific area just yet ?

X10 Split Level Test Plan E1.pdf I will test X10 when I see enough evidence that I need to do very minimal or zero cleanup ? We had a big discussion about this very issue with Doug Park on the old forum over a decade ago now, and he admitted that some lines do show up that they couldn’t get rid of at the time from the view to cad method. Some of the users here like to make Chief Architect look perfect when it’s not. Without constructive criticism CA will not improve its functionality. I sincerely want and hope that we do have zero cleanup in X15 or later and when it has, then I will consider upgrading to it ? Edit: I will start with a basic plan in X10 and send an elevation to plot lines and see what happens ? I may even post it here if it has extra lines that need to be deleted for some reason. Edit: 2 Results above, please mind the pdf add mark. Wow ! I am pleasantly surprised that X10 did not put any extra lines on my basic elevation above. Door indicator lines can be easily turned off and on and I like them on. The window sizes can also be turned off too. I stand corrected. I like it when I am wrong. Thank you all for your input. Yippie !

Thank you very much for the Elevations with zero and almost zero Cleanup ? Most of us here should be able to build the model correctly to not have to use too many work arounds to achieve zero cleanup ? I am not going to waste my time on making Chief Architect do what it is supposed to do correctly many versions ago. I have used other CAD software many years ago as well and definitely got zero cleanup and nearly zero work arounds. This software is great for Builders and carpenters who don’t need the level of accuracy that the professional world demands of Architects and Architectural Draftspersons. CA will do a good job of building 3D framing and worth the money as other CAD usually needs add ons to do the job fully. It will also do a good job with interiors and 3D rendering straight out of the box. I have spent many hours on elevations and cross sections in CA cleaning up cad lines that I don’t need. Yes my model was always accurate. I have up to X10 but I am not going to bother testing it right now or wasting my time. Posting pictures of your elevations does not prove that you didn’t need to use any work arounds or clean up any cad lines ? If you would sincerely like to prove me wrong, then please by all means post a video here ? I didn’t see any official training videos yet that show elevations being done with cad plot lines, only with color images so far ? Chief is definitely fast is some ways and in other ways it is not. That’s just the reality of all CAD software packages available today.

I will definitely give it a go and thanks for the info that they still need a bit of cleaning up. It shouldn’t be too hard for the software engineers to get the cross section camera to exclude those lines that are not needed in a 2D representation ? After all the back clipped cross section camera can control what lines will show and not show, by limiting the back clipped distance. With the cross section camera we need the full distance but some of those offending lines can be excluded with the right program engineering. I would suggest that they could create a 2D plot line camera in the interface that can exclude those offending lines ? It could also be made to work with a 2D plot line cross section camera that also excludes those offending lines. I am surprised that they haven’t fully attended to that yet ? It could make a big difference in what CAD software people will choose to buy or go with ?

Thank you for your reply Michael. I saw a webinar by Scott Harris showing the options for sending views to layouts with X13. I didn’t see an actual example of sending a 2D black and white elevation to layout with plot lines in that actual YT clip. This video below shows what we used to have to do in tidying up 2D lines that appear on a black and white 2D elevation. This is an X7 example and things may have changed a bit since then ? So how much tidying up of 2D plot lines do we still need to do with later versions of Chief Architect ? I haven’t tried it yet in X10 but I am asking if things have changed since then because we are now up to version X14.

Hi, I haven’t used Chief in a while. I am asking what is the most efficient way to represent elevations on our layout drawings ? We used to send the view to CAD and edit and add some lines in to represent the elevations. I know some have used live elevations to send to layout so that they will automatically update if the model changes when revisions are made. With view to CAD in X10 or later versions, do you still get many lines produced that are not needed that need to be deleted ?

Yes, we all have to be aware of those who want to take our plan & run albeit in DWG format or others. Copyright protection on your plans is a must.