jorgearaya

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.

The flat roof can be done with another floor, make the walls railings, no ceiling and drop the height as needed. (Roof planes can also be set to 0 for flat roofs) Complex roofs and framing can be done in layers, creating one roof plane over the next adjusting settings for each one, manipulating the framing for each roof plane to create the trellis components.

The roof on the picture with the parapet walls is very simple to do, here's one way to do it You can add another floor and remove all the typical things from the room settings, make it the height you need, four feet or less. Put a roof over the new room, but stop the gable ends at the interior gable end walls, this will leave the two gable walls free Lower the entire roof baseline to the desired height, this will drop the roof and extend the end gable walls, but they will be flat top Copy and paste in place the roof you created, open it and change the surface and structure to the lowest dimension possible, use air gap for material Uncheck all the framing stuff, fascias, gutters, etc. Select the air gap roof and raise the baseline to the desired height of the parapets (this roof should be invisible in 3D) Change the line type so it is light and hide it in a layer. Pull the end gable sections of the air gap roof past the two end gable walls, this will cut the flat walls to the shape of the air gap roof and it will create any attic walls needed. Add a wall on the center of the roof ridge, now, the roof will stop the wall from passing through. (This is done on the new floor you created) No room definition, no locate, balloon and attic checks on wall settings. Pull the main roof to butt to the sides of the new wall so it passes through. Raising or lowering the air gap roof will allow you to work the parapet height.

Help>Display Objects

I tried posting this in the Sofplan forum where they were asking our feedback about Chief and Softplan, but, the moderators have not approved my post!! Here you go! Posting as guest, haven’t been here in a long time. Both SP and CA are powerful enough to use as production tools for residential projects. Both have an equal learning curve and quirks Both have great things I wished the other one had!! Both suck at linework but, both do the job, That’s why we still run LT Text may be better in CA with Rich Text SP can be network install, CA can not (but, libraries can be saved to the cloud in CA and SP) CA has a larger library base if you are into interiors Both can import/export .dwg CA has more importing/exporting formats SP can export to MiTek and Javelin SP has more clicks for basic functions SP solids not as easy as in CA Terrains probably just as bad in both (I could spend more time on that) CA draws in groups, or based by room, once you enclose 4 walls you have a room, walls, ceilings and roofs are grouped in settings Cad to walls in CA if you can set the layers in the .dwg ahead of time, but, openings not accurate (uses defaults) The 2020 version added a lot of features already familiar in previous versions of CA SP is definitely slower in terms of how quick can things get done. (User dependent too) Layers, Layer sets, Annotation sets in CA, one can create as many as needed SP has softalk, softlist, CA has schedules and Keynotes CA has the Ruby Console where one can add lots of macros to text. CA can run on Mac OS and Windows, files are interchangeable SP only runs in Windows I am sure both sites have "Features" lists that one could compare as well… So, the big down is when we get sidetracked and want to tackle large projects with either platform, they don’t do well handling large files. (This could be expanded into a topic on its own) Which is best? That is like asking a carpenter what is the best wormdrive/circular saw out there!! The typical answer is the one they have had more experience with, that is why a lot of the previous posts here lean to one more than the other. (Not to mention the fanbase) They’re as good as the driver behind them, we have been using both since oh 2012 and there’s always that (oh I can do that better and faster in...CA or SP) By the way we use in order of priority ArchiCAD, Chief, Softplan, AutoCAD LT. All great tools to have and don't forget, we never stop learning! Oh I almost forgot there are a lot more videos for CA than SP Extensive knowledge base for CA for just about any topic. Softplan has videos but are very sales oriented, the minimum basics, nothing specific, no plan sets, etc. That's all folks!

Perhaps your question should be, how well does chief handles large files? Or, has anyone had experience with large buildings? I certainly have not, we modeled an eight unit three story complex and had to move it to ArchiCAD. Back then Chief and the computer or a combination thereof were not able to keep up. Look through the Galleries and see who has large projects. The same goes for Softplan, and for the other one, unless I’m being paid a lot of money I wouldn’t bother even trying.

Softplan is a great piece of software, take the time to learn it, it has more clicks for some things, but, it has a lot of great features, it has automated many things as well. Can be network installed (if that option is purchased). Things that have been common in Chief for a long time, are barely new features in SP2020, it is getting better for sure, I have had it since oh, since 2012 maybe? Their monthly payments are more consistent than CA, meaning they don’t go up and up and up.... The powers are keeping things consistent. Good luck!

The simplest way to do this is to use a roof plane to do the starter board!! just butt the ends! Roof planes will follow the baseline, will make all corners, hips, valleys, etc. Very complex designs can be achieved by creating layered roof planes, meaning built up superimposed on top of the other, i.e. Roofing o/sheathing o/purlins o/sleepers o/sheathing o/planks o/framing and so on... It's just a matter of replicating them and changing the elevation slightly.

This has been floating around on the web "control over elements" and how some people dislike the fact that in ArchiCAD most elements have a lot of settings that they find cumbersome. I think it is more because they are lazy and haven't taken the time to "learn" the program, read the manuals, etc. When creating company standards, these features are a real plus to any program, where different builders have similar products but not exactly the same, having the ability to control elements, objects and create libraries for each builder is an advantage (favorites in ArchiCAD). Now, it all depends of what type of work one does, and if you really need to model every bolt and nail to the nearest 100th... If you know what I mean. For Construction Documents and production work many times it is not required, if you want to design and draw like you build, perhaps going into detail is better I repeat again, take the time to learn "in depth" what the possibilities are in any platform, you will see that the similarities among them are there and annoying enough to think that they all have the same underlying "engine". There's no best (at least imo), which is better? We have seen that debate over the years and it leads nowhere I think about what is efficient for the type of work presented and choose accordingly. ArchiCAD, Chief Architect, Softplan. (Revit is not made for residential, even though some are pushing that concept).

Open the original .pdf and print it to .pdf using any .pdf printer available, may need to try more than one. The re-printed .pdf will now look fine after importing into CA.

Hello, Just wanted to let you know that with the new licensing, upgrades, the product key for the upgraded license is the same as the previous one. What does this mean for you? If both versions are installed in the same computer you can still run both versions side to side If you got a new computer and only installed the upgraded version, the old version won't run on the old computer if the upgraded version is "active" on the new computer If you move from location to location i.e Office, Home, field and have the software installed in three different computers (or more) and you'd like to use the old version for archiving purposes, or need to open an old job, the upgraded version will have to be deactivated from wherever it is active. (before one could just use its own "old" key for this) while keeping the other running (working at the office, etc.). Tech support claimed that they made these changes because "we" the users complained that there were too many license keys to remember! That did not work on our favor at all! Even though the EULA said that one would have to stop using the old version after it was upgraded (which made no sense) because of old projects, old plans, etc. Anyway, there it is! Enjoy!! chief-architect-end-user-license-agreement.pdf

1/4" per foot minimum scale for floor plans, no plan checker will work on that, they will ask you to put it in the proper scale, use larger paper if you need it to fit the page, 30x42 is the next size up.

PM with phone number and best time to contact.

Hello all, My office may be looking into having some renders done on some of the homes we've drawn up in Chief so far, the render is very basic, look at the link for samples that were probably done in PS. https://www.gjgardner.com/clovis-madera-county-ne-fresno-county-home-builders/home-plans Currently my plans don't have a terrain or landscape as we only do construction documents, the site plan it's only 2d. (we would not need to model the actual site, just enough terrain to do the view). And just like the post above, I need to mention that the office is looking for a "quote" not hourly, if we send 1 home what the cost will be for it, if we send you 10 what it will be for those and so on.

Finally getting a little break here at work, Thank you all for pitching in, I figured out what had happened, yes, I messed up on the templates. So I was tasked with creating templates for several model homes (different roof pitches) I created one with all the requested features, and I used that one to create the second one, however I just went to defaults>roof>pitch>changed it to 6>saved as template with a new name When I used that new 6/12 template to draw up a home and built the roof, I got the results I noted at the beginning of the topic here, some planes were 4/12, some were 6/12, some base lines were inside the rooms, not over the main layer of the exterior wall. After all your input and doing some book reading over the weekend (yes, brain freeze!!!) I forgot to go to defaults>walls>exterior wall>roof>and check what pitch that was... Well it was 4/12 from the original template. The results however were weird as you can see above. Thanks Mike!

It is fascinating how many different ways to interpret what I wrote you guys came up with, great input and thanks for taking the time to respond. In short, there is no need to have to go to more than one default (D) unless you are making the change in some walls to be other than hip (Chief Architect's default roof (D) is hip. The default (D) needs to carry over and change where other "defaults exist" like the walls. Mike there, read the manual, I am in line with what it states, unless the book is wrong. I get to work on that file tomorrow, will share it and send you what the settings are and what the results I get are, perhaps that will make you see what is going on, and hopefully we find what is causing it, user error maybe? We'll see.

Good deal, I agree with the fact that there may be something "goofy" with my default plan, I will share it on Monday as I don't have access to it from where I am this weekend. Thank you all. I may have brought in the plan template from previous versions, I don't recall, this may very well be a brand new version 20 template I have been working on for a while. And just to clarify this wall default and roof default. Roof defaults govern the build roofs dbx You can change settings in the build roofs dbx and rebuild the roof to see the changes If you need other than hip, wall defaults will take over and other roofs can be built from there Wall defaults that have been not edited prior to building auto roofs have no bearing over the roof defaults, ie. Say all your walls have a roof pitch of 4/12, but your roof defaults are now 6/12, when you open your build roof tool, it shows 6/12 as the default roof pitch, you then choose to build the roof planes at that point, no other changes are made, your built roof should be what pitch? 4 or 6? I will let you answer that one.

Thank you all, I will be sending it to tech support as an issue, as I am able to reproduce it every single time. (making sure the settings are correct) I like to post it here to make you all aware as well as in my Google Docs issues with Chief Architect that I have personally ran into and have confirmed them to be issues. It is in the "about me" section of the profile.

I wished you both were correct!!! Never seen this before...

I ran into the issue oh, perhaps last month and I didn't pay attention to it, just kept on drafting and fixed the roofs manually Program defaults for roof pitch is set at 6/12 Selecting the Build roof tool shows pitch at 6/12 After checking build roof planes the roof builds The built roof has 4/12 and 6/12 roof planes The roof base lines fall inside the exterior walls (layers are not reversed) Checking the "Same roof height at exterior walls" rebuilding the roof, sets the roof base lines properly But, still have an automatic roof with two roof pitches I now wonder if after the update, the wall defaults supersede the roof defaults, meaning that the wall settings for roof can have a different roof pitch forcing some of the roof planes to those defaults. I will zip it up and send it to tech support over the weekend. Has anyone else seen this?

Thank you, will follow up with you later today

Hello all, I am looking for a symbol expert that can help me creating a specific library Most of the symbols I need have a .dwg from the manufacturer I need the symbols to match the manufacturer's dimensions and use the manufacturer's cad block (which may need clean up so it looks good in plan). Send me a pm so we can talk more details. Thank you.

Oh, it's been a long time... See my topic here

Check your private messages

Add a "period" or "dash" at the end of the file to "break the link" Go back to the pdf in chief and open it, select browse, the link now should come up in "red" telling you it's broken, select the renamed .pdf and click ok. That should update the .pdf Keep sending the requests to Chief, they need to "get it" that this is a very important aspect of working with .pdf files Please and thank you.