MoeGia

It's time for a refresh of the deck framing tools. Decks are much more refined than when the deck tools were developed. They need some love!

You could set up the elevations in your template plan and template layout plan. That way they are already present in the layout. When you start a new plan from template, drag your cameras to the locations you want. You'll still have to adjust the width of some layout boxes, but it'll be a good start. You can also copy/paste cameras and relink now so you can copy/paste template cameras to a non-template plan, and relink. I also do this with details. It saves some time.

Thanks Joe!

In my experience this happens when I have a roof over (covered deck). I've since checked retain framing and it has resolved.

I have seen it multiple times in X15. When I reported it, I was told to check 'retain framing'. It's different behavior from X14. Maybe it was a bug before???

To move an irregular shaped area, draw a polyline around the area you want to move, select it, then select edit area (all floors?), transform/replicate and move the desired distance.

I've requested the Dashboard show the full file name for all the above reasons. I open my plans from Explorer too. Without be able to compare multiple full file names at a glance, there's too much of a chance of getting the wrong one. I do a lot of production plan work. I try not to change plan names so there is no relinking. I often have multiple plans open with the same name, which isn't great but, overall, it's easier for me. My file management is a very stripped down version of Rene's, or more like Alan's. I label all PDFs with the date first so they sort by date and leave all PDFs in the main folder. Once again, I want to see things at a glance.

I don't know if this is still the case but it sounds like it is. At some point, I was no longer able to print directly to my HP plotter. I had to print to PDF, then send to the plotter. I don't know what was changed but Chief couldn't communicate with the plotter. The upside is you now have a digital record of what was printed.

Thank you!

I would place the Zip system as an exterior layer. You could set it up as two exterior layers; the foam next to the studs and the OSB between the foam and the siding. That would give you the proper visual in plan and section. If you need the Zip to report to the material list, you'll need to change how the layers report (Label the OSB layer as the Zip panel type, don't include the foam). I don't use the materials list but I'm sure someone else will comment.

There are a few Mod/Retro Bonus Catalogs you could download from Chief.

Also, from the top menu, go to Library, choose Update Catalogs. If the downloads are on your computer, it will update your library. It's good to do this occasionally so you keep current. But I suspect the downloads aren't on your computer, or if they are, they haven't been imported to your library. First do a search in Explorer for *.calibz to see if they are on your computer. You can import them from there; Library, Import. If they are not on your computer, you'll have to download them or get them from your computer manager or fellow students.

I love seeing the Chief Staff interacting on this board. Lot's of useful information going both ways. Thank you all for taking the time; your time and patience is greatly appreciated.

Yes, it can be done, but it needs some careful planning. I would position the barn in the bar plan in the relation you want it to the house using the grid (0,0). By locating exactly as it will appear in the house plan, you can use edit area all floors to copy, then paste hold position in the house plan. But before you do that... If the floor and ceiling defaults are different in the two plans you are going to have to correct those heights to relate to one another. You can do it before or after. Make sure auto rebuild roofs is off otherwise you'll loose the barn roof placement when you copy/paste/hold position into the house plan. You could practice on a copy of each plan so you don't wind up with a mess. There are lots of topics about this subject, so try a search. Many would create a symbol out of the barn to place in the house plan. That only works if the barn won't be changing. Good luck,

In layout, select the viewport outline. Open the layers property on the edit toolbar that pops up. Be sure the layer the PDFs are on is set to display. Or you can do a search for PDF not displaying and see if you find an answer.

@FellerHomes If you mirror the building, the elevations WILL mirror. If you have already sent the elevations to layout, you will have to update the layout box to see the newly reversed elevations. BTW, I find the center of the building and Edit Area All Floors Reflect About the centered line to keep the plan near 0, 0, centered on the screen and within the layout boxes. I create a box 12' from each side of the building to include dimensions and notes, the use the those limits to find the center. It makes flipping elevation text a breeze (select all, reverse). Everything is where it belongs. If you reflect about a line off to the side, you'll have to recenter all your text and layout viewport boxes.

I've been using since V3.0; almost 30 years. I've been a Bata Tester for many of those years. As a Beta tester, I spend 4-5 months testing the upcoming upgrade. I enjoy the process but it's a significant chunk of the year to devote to product testing. Would I be willing to spend that amount of time if SSA increases significantly? Would folks paying $2k a year for subscription software be willing to invest the time to improve the product? Maybe Beta Testing goes away and new features are added on a more regular basis, instead of a yearly upgrade? Maybe knocking out the low level users will allow Chief to focus on advancing features instead of making it easy for new users. I don't think that's a bad thing, but without new users, we're all screwed. The time to become productive in a new software will become more of a factor with this pricing structure. It does feel a little steep. Time will tell, and things will change. We can count on that. All in all, using Chief is one of the best decisions I've ever made. It serves my business and my market very well. I know the decision is going to be a lot harder for new users, but I look forward to seeing where this change takes us.

You can make a new layer such as walls, interior. Move your interior walls you don't want to see in section to that layer. In your section view layer set, turn that new layer off. Also, remember to turn that new layer on/off in all of your layer sets so you don't have missing walls where you want them!

Don't use the 'Reverse Plan' command. Draw a line or point in the dead center of the plan and all dimensions ( I usually draw lines 10' off of each side wall as a guide). Use 'Edit Area all Floors' and reflect about the current point (center line and point). You still have to clean up elevations and sections but CAD and text stay in the correct position. It's easier, but not fun.

I would like to see a graphic within the terrain dialog box similar to the story pole dialog. We could set terrain to lowest slab, top of garage slab, or with reference to the top of subfloor, whichever makes most sense for the site. Or preferably, multiple locations if we want Chief to do the magic. Maybe that would remove some of the manual work? Chief's terrain build function has always been confusing. Why set the terrain height from the center of the building? I understand they have to start somewhere, but that location ONLY matters on a flat lot. The terrain relates to the perimeter and that is where the calculations should be made from. It's been a long time since terrain was worked on; a tune up would be welcomed.

I store my Data folder on OneDrive to share between my desktop and laptop. I store all of my Referenced Files in the Data folder (Preference setting). You'll experience the things noted above, but as you move forward, everything will become much easier. I also keep all Chiefs files 'on my machine' for speed, as opposed to working directly from OneDrive. If you have the program running on two machines, you'll probably see the User Library file appended with the computer name. I assume Chief only references the original file, not the appended files. I'd make the change on your machine first. You may have to rename the appended file to keep the reference to the current file only. I don't make library changes on my laptop so can't speak to that.

I label one a left and the other a right. I agree that the program should see them as different objects. The program treats swing doors the same; no distinction regardless of swing. It's a disconnect for sure but local practices for calling out interior door swing varies. IMO, exterior doors should transfer the swing to the label. Casement windows show the DESCRIPTION correctly but not the label. I manually label them with a LH or RH, but would love the swing to be included with the label.

Don't bother reinstalling. Have you forced a roof rebuild? Are the roof planes joined together properly? If there's a slight misalignment, you'll see odd behavior. I didn't look at your file but is the camera cut too close to the bay?

Try rotating the pier/slab 90 degrees, then dimension. I find that dimensions often don't work on one side, but do on the perpendicular edge.

IMO, 16 GB memory isn't enough to run Chief on a PC. I would go for 32 GB. Maybe Apple uses memory better, but I would spend a little more to upgrade from 16 GB.