jorgearaya

The sketch export won’t be of any use in Chief, you’ll have to redraw over the 2d. I wished the Chief mobile app would work like sketch does, Chief’s mobile app is nowhere near the sketch capabilities. Ha!

Hello, the answer to the question is no. Whether or not the code official interprets the code that way The code restricts it where it states “provided the door does not swing over the landing or floor” The reasoning behind it is that one should not expect a drop when exiting an out swing door I would also require the outswing door to be protected from the weather when in its open position via an awning. outswing doors also create a flashing issue with weep screeds.

And likely will continue to the next versions! https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/topic/21960-new-licensing-informational/

Hello all, I have a general question if you’d be so kind to answer. is anyone using Chief Architect to design and draft for production builders? This is more for those who use Chief in an office environment with multiple seats and drafters. What is your biggest benefit using Chief? What is your biggest setback using Chief? how do you approach and present options? Multiple users per project? How many licenses/seats? Thanks!!

Is anyone interested in iso planes? I searched the forums for isometric CAD drawings and found several people looking to create gas ISO’s to comply with jurisdictions Chief does not have an isometric plane function in CAD or plan view (unless you move to 3D) I noticed that even simple iso circles are not an easy thing to do. Typically I just turn to AutoCAD and take care of business there, but, not everyone has AutoCAD.

Have you checked the reference manual? page 1343 perhaps?

More productive in framing... What exactly do you mean? Are you trying to do foundation plans? lateral plans? Floor framing? Subfloor framing? Roof framing? Are you trying to model these in 3D? If so, what for? CAD work should be done in CAD, not in Chief. Or take the time and learn the cad tools in Chief, add your own shortcuts, set your lines, line types, weights, layers on a layer set, give it a try.

Manufacturer’s specifications trump the code.

Late into this, but for future reference, the code does not limit the length of the vent, it says that one can use the manufacturer specifications. Most dryers have up to 30 feet vent capacities. Read the CRC section again.

I agree, we should have more control over the ellipse so that actual diameter could be entered. I should have said create a cube in ISO and add circles to each face, try different diameters. Standard ISO angles of 30, 90, 150 Notice that there are no trim/extend options available for working with ISO Circles (Ellipse)

Nice "ISO" try making circles in that, have fun! Top, right and left. Good luck.

Slanted walls have not made it to Chief yet, I hope they show up on future updates. If you are willing to spend the time and model these types of walls, you could: Draw the wall in AutoCAD and import it as a symbol with stretch planes. Create a symbol in Chief for it, using p-line solids, add doors and windows (you'd have to revert to the original plan where the symbol was created to make edits and re save as symbol). Last but, more complex is roof planes, the issue will be that they auto-create other parts when close to a wall or ceiling. As far as the comment about the structure, that is up for debate, slanted walls are nothing new, are used in commercial buildings all the time.

A good read is the post about stressing Chief, he sheds light on several issues, you’d have to skip a lot of the babble (no disrespect intended) and focus in what the graphics do. And I noted this before in other posts, the differences between gaming (altered cards by laptop makers) and professional grade cards that utilize OEM drivers made to handle larger amounts of polygons. One of the reasons why Macs perform great. The other thing I always fail to mention is that I exclusively do construction documents, I am not reaching out to the library for anything other than basic fixtures and whatever few solids required.

I’m not an expert, but I use several video cards. Nvidia Quadro is a professional grade card, I run that on a Lenovo P52s and Chief works fine, I see issues with AutoCAD it doesn’t like it. Radeon Pro 555 also a professional grade, and runs all just fine no lags (Chief, ArchCAD, AutoCAD) Basic intel integrated card seems to do great too! Chief recommends “gaming” cards not professional grade. Nvidia gtx 1080 or AMD’s

It is a secondary overflow drain, look at https://www.zurn.com/products/building-drainage/roof-drains for options and details

Michael, I have been giving my thoughts about all of them here, on and off yes. Softplan made a big jump with 2020 playing catchup to Chief, not there yet though. There's always room to improve, especially working with different tools (To be efficient, you must stop trying to do in one tool what the other tool does better) Does that make sense?

This is what I've been using for the longest time. http://ecabinetsystems.com/

Michael, on the contrary, I am most comfortable with Chief and ArchiCAD for overall drafting, having the typical details in CAD gives me more control and interoperability with consultants for collaboration. CAD is not efficient in Chief, I wished they’d spend more on that side of the program instead of forks and spoon symbols... if you know what I mean. As far as the look, I try to keep the plans output consistent whether is ArchiCAD, Softplan or Chief, so that it’s more of a “presentation” format thing, that way no matter who is working with the plans, they are looking at the same format, structure, look and feel. AutoCAD is just that necessary evil (like Windows) we use for all tasks CAD only. I strongly believe AutoCAD is the most inefficient platform for residential and commercial production drafting. I know this stirs the pot with the CAD fan base, but it’s an irrefutable fact. This you didn’t directly asked, but, I started drafting using Chief, then ArchiCAD, Softplan, and the last has been AutoCAD which I have both the full and Lite versions.

All details done in AutoCAD LT saved to their directory x-ref’d as needed per project Cad details sheets are independent of Chief and printed separately.

Hello all, Here again offering drafting services, can help with completing your design or completing construction documents for permitting. For pricing information go to www.motmots.net. Located in Fresno, CA. Thank you, Please respond via PM

Just wanted to follow up on the comment about Building Information Modeling While everyone in the business of selling software claims BIM, it doesn't necessarily mean "True BIM" and I don't think that statement even exists today. The most misused and misunderstood word in the market today is BIM, and unless the users are taking the time to catalog and document every piece part and component that goes into the building, it will always be misused. Interoperability is a "work in progress" for everyone, that is why Industry Foundation Classes came to exist, and openBIM is carving the way into the future. BIM is another word for "Database", if the latter does not exist, then the first one is an empty word. Having or not the ability to shade or highlight a line has nothing to do with BIM. Revit users struggle with Residential drafting more than any other users out there. The only two major players in the Residential design market are Softplan and Chief Architect, whether or not they can handle interoperability with Revit. Database is the key for BIM, if your model has all the instructions and can produce an accurate database of all the components of the building then you have "True BIM", the caveat is likely the user needs to input all the parameters into the software for it to work. BIM Software must be capable of representing both the physical and intrinsic properties of a building as an object-oriented model tied to a database .

Look at this post https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/topic/22367-roof-can-it-be-done/

Here are my thoughts about it. Our trade requires a toolbox with several tools for specific tasks We receive plans in all kinds of formats that we can in turn either convert to or work directly on To streamline the tasks and expand the services to as many markets as possible we “add” tools to the toolbox Archicad, Chief Architect, Softplan, AutoCAD Bundle. All very similar to learn and use (except AutoCAD) So, not really a conversion right? Chief is a great tool! No disappointments at all (Now, none are perfect either). Good luck!

There's a Roof Height section in the build roofs dbx where you can tell the roof to be lifted from the ceiling height, change the Birdsmouth seat to 0 and uncheck it (note that if you uncheck it and not change the value, you may get different results) After the roof has been "built", the options to raise/lower are no longer available unless you rebuild the roof from scratch. If you use the "Edit all roof planes" lock the pitch and raise the baseline, the roof will rase, but, also there will be a space between the top of the walls and the underside of the ceiling. The end result may not be what you are looking for as the program creates a ceiling under the roof (that will creep through the exterior walls) Raising the overall ceiling to the desired height and adding a shelf ceiling to the standard ceiling height will also create a ceiling like surface that will creep through the walls. Good luck!

Since a lot new macros have been added to the program, adding the %wall_type% macro, allows the wall types to be copied and after renaming the label appears correctly. This is considerably faster when creating company standards, if you work for several of them.