4hotshoez

Cool! Thanks CA is full of "hidden" details. hiding in plain sight.

Where do I find that, Richard?

I have some rather large mulled windows. In the schedule they are shown as one unit with a height and width, But there is a mixture of window sizes and types. How do others communicate what the different windows are? Do I copy them as a CAD drawing and dimension the CAD drawing for the more complex windows?

Specify Label in the window dbx changes the label. I have done that before, But I intend to rely on the Window Schedule for this project.

Click on label enter info it will show in schedule

I must be missing something. The only label I know is the auto generated one that shows on the plan or elevations. I click on that and it highlights the label and the window, but there is no place to enter info when it is clicked. Either your instruction are vague, or I am getting the wrong idea.

Oo. Components are new to me. Never saw this before. Or maybe I did when I did not need it. So right-click on a window of a label gives me a menu with several options, including Components. Is this what your comment was referring to Perry? 

There is a Comments column available, but how do I assign a comment to a window? Or would that just create another unique window type? Do I manually add comments to the schedule on the screen?

Also, Is there any way to save an edit area? Polygon and back? or convert a polygon to an edit area?

I would like to extend this post. I have a garage set at a 45 degree angle from the house and the cross hairs. I need to select the garage, which is connected by a breezway, and move it. the roof and foundation 2 ft closer to the house. The edit area creates an edit box that is orthogonal to the display and cross hairs. I know that it (edit box) is editable, but is there an easier way to create a rotated edit box around my garage?

Do it in sketchup free. There are many 3D printer toutorials on line.

Random acts of terror, or a bug! This was a problem in the past and I hoped it was fixed. I am hoping that someone has a solution? The same plan was posted on my last post on the funky attic wall.

Thanks Johnny, That was easy. I do that on the exterior regularly. I did not recognize it as the same problem since the wall looked so wacky.

The house is all new construction. It started out as a "modern-farm house" as the client wanted, but they bought a lot in a neighbor hood that required an older, up-scaled style.I had to simplify the design a little due to budget.

File is 14,449 KB. I also have friezes vanishing for no apparent reason. Such as on the back of the garage were the foundation and wall the roof sets on are both simple, single walls. Yet randomly the frieze stops and starts. It is hard to keep up on all of the anomalies that Chief creates, which is why there is such a steep learning curve after learning the basics.

1505T21.zip

This Todd?

 

Pic 1= Main Level (W/ Garage)

Pic 2 = Basement Level (W/ Walkout)

Pic 3 = Foundation Plan

 

All the same file, all completed with Anno/Layer sets.

Yes, just as you have shown. I need to do exactly that in terms of results. I hate to ask how since so much advice has be given, but it is not so clear to my Midwestern mind.

The topic of this thread is one very good example. As Todd said, there are situations where a house on a sloping lot could pretty easily have a single foundation that spans 3 or 4 floors. In that situation it could be very impractical if not impossible to draw it all on one floor but a person would probably want to show the entire foundation in a single plan view.

And this is good too. I would want the foundation all on one sheet and I believe it can be managed in a single plan, but it would require a system and details.

In that case Michael, I wouldn't want my "foundation plan" to be all on one page. In my opinion, thats not correct construction document management. I want all the walls on each level shown on that level. I want the builder/framer to know that there are differing wall type on each level, and how the connect/interact with each other. If that means there are a few more pages in the plan set, so be it....but for me, a building level is a building level, and should be drafting accordingly. I think at times we look for too many tricks, when all along drafting and planning standards established long before us still work.

We could use an improved system that would allow us to show what we want. In any case, the concrete guys don't want multiple pages. Just one. I have seen these contractors do a physical cut and paste in order to make a single sheet. It is just the way they choose to see it.

I have done this before, but right now the method eludes me. on my second floor plan I have the first floor showing, but in layout it is not showing. I have forgotten how to make it show in layout. Unfortunately it is not obvious to do but I k now that I struggled with this before. Please help.

I suppose there is a third option that provides the most control and just about as much work. Manually draw the foundation in 2D. Or trace and manually draw in CAD the foundation plan, which I have done in order to make a foundation plan show the detail I needed with door cuts and ledges.

I am not sure which would be less confusing, drawing a foundation on different levels and showing them on one plan with reference layer sets or drawing them on one level and manipulating floor and wall heights to make it look like they are on different levels. Both have merits and both have draw backs. For one, I have not been able to figure out how to do either. Second, the Ref Layers may fall short if I where building on a very steep grade and had foundations on three or even four levels, which might happen on future project. I would be interested in evaluating both options.

Here is the value of the forum. You will not find stuff like this in the standard training videos.

For me it's basement on level 1, foundation on level 0, works good for me. I want my foundation plan separate than a basement plan, too much going on ,and the cities might reject it drawn that way as too hard to understand.

So Perry, How would you show a foundation plan if the garage is on the main level and it has a short stem wall (48" in Michigan). Then there is a walk out basement level below the main floor with its foundation below, which means the foundation of the garage and the foundation of the basement would be on separate levels. How would you show or build them on the same plan?

I have pinned the Chief Architect icon app to the task bar several times, but it somehow gets unpinned in Windows 10. Anyone else experiencing this?

80% of your project is very easy to do and quick to learn in Chief (Walls, doors, windows, Cabinets, Bath fixtures), which will give you a basic plan. But it is the other 20% to bring a project completely together is the biggest learning time and effort. There are work a rounds that are not clear or even absent from training videos. This forum is very active and the biggest value added to Chief. Chief Architect is likely the best app for the money. I have used Acad, Archicad, Sketchup and a few others.

I think it is location dependent as the dormer in some location will show the window, but will disappear when moved. But I do not know what the factors are. This is an eyebrow dormer, which had a window. How do I get it back even if it will not be seen from the inside?

1505T19SitePlan.zip

Thanks for the video Larry! I have been hoping to have a real site plan that shows existing contours and new contours with cut and fill. It does not seem Chief is even close to being helpful in that area. With regions we can create 3D simulations that sort of behave like a real site. Tweaking is the key word.

Todd,

 

There are a couple of ways to handle that.

 

You can uncheck "Hide Terrain Intersected By Building" in the Terrain Specification dbx.

You can then use a "Terrain Hole" to manually clip the terrain where you want. 

 

Or you can change the floor level that you draw the terrain on.

You will only get the terrain clipping if the terrain is drawn on the same floor as the overhang.

This option is not always possible though - because you may want the terrain drawn on the same floor as the overhang.

But keep in mind that the floor you draw the terrain on has no bearing on the height of the terrain.

You can draw the terrain on level 4 but have it display in 3D so that sits at the same height as level 1 floor.

Thanks Glenn. I think I may utilize the multi-floor option for the site and the roof. I have not thought of that before.

Thanks Johnny. Larry, I think I have it now, but I do have holes from overhangs on the first floor (see attached). How do I eliminate them?

I am not sure where to start with questions. I have seen all the videos that deal with terrain that I can find. None of them address my situation. I have a jpg of the site with 12" contours. I built a terrain and used a spline on every fifth contour. On the site, there is about 15 ft change in elevation from one end of the building to the other before I change anything. Can I set the first floor at 100'? and establish a contour line at 100' causing the site to "move" up and down in relation to the first floor. I would like to raise the house about 36" from the site. As it is right now every thing will be cut and no fill. I feel that I have no control over the building elevation.