Designer1

Thanks so much Dave for all your hard work and creativity! So glad Im a lifetime member! To anyone thinking of becoming a member... Daves symbols are the best Ive seen period! Thanks again Dave!

Nice, thank you both for the suggestions, your time and the great video!

I just wanted to reply again as I didnt get any clarity on this. Glenn are you still out there in chief universe? I just wondered if you took a look at the chief video I posted and knew if transparent cabinets could be put in a view like the ones shown in that video example? If its not possible in that wall detail view, how did you achieve the framing with transparent cabinets in the 3d camera did you make a custom layer?

HI Glenn, Thanks for the reply! I think its the orthographic camera.... I watched a video on chiefs website and it showed how you can click on a wall and select frame the wall and create a camera view of the framed wall. I thought that might be really handy to be able to use that view with the cabinets transparent on the walls. This was the chief video I was watching... https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/10123/wall-blocking-for-cabinets.html?playlist=145 Curious, how did you get your framing and cabinets to look that way? Did you just make a special layer set?

In X12 you can overlay in 3d the original house and have the new section show as the ghost image to show the remodel changes. Is this possible to do for the Wall Framing Detail? Can you superimpose the cabinets along the wall and have them be semi transparent when looking at the framing? Ive been trying different methods for this but dont know if Chief can do this? Thanks in advance!

Dave, Thanks for the update on your new symbols! Being a lifetime member has given me so many amazing symbols and even more the tutorial videos are so easy to follow and often times faster then other training videos I have seen. Some of my favorite new symbols are the modern fireplace and the amazing vanities you created! I totally recommend Daves amazing videos and symbols to anyone who wants to add good quality symbols to their library and learn more about chiefs capabilities with the training videos. Thanks again Dave!

Hi Eric, The only way to describe it is like migrating forward old toolbars and the functions of the new version arent working totally. Like the example I used above with having a completely finished and polished plan and opening it in the latest version to have landscape floating and other oddities. Most the time I dont even make adjustments to those types of things in my template plans anyways so Im not sure why they change everything. So really Im talking about two things.... wanting old completed chief plans to be able to be viewed in the latest version and stay looking finished not needing adjustments. I wish there was a complete button I could press that would keep the finished and complete project from changing when open in new versions. Second, would be opening unfinished older plans in newer versions but still not having everything work like a crisp new out of the box plan would. A small example I could think of off the top of my head was the section story pole dimensioning even the names have changed to T.O.P. from top of wall. These are examples of little things but can get numerous. Like I said theres a way I get around that which is copy/paste entire plan but with that method theres a lot of adjusting. I was just looking for an easier way that wouldnt be as time consuming.

Thank you all for the replies. Yes Ive tried most of those processes but each one tends to have their own problems. The save the old plan in X12 doesnt always give you the latest functions of X12 that a brand new crisp X12 plan does, not sure why. I also tried to move defaults forward but have noticed that depending on what chief plan from yesteryear I started the plan in all the functions dont always work. I guess thats why in a recent migrating video from chief they said dont migrate toolbars etc because you wont get the functionality of the latest version bringing old stuff forward. Mark I havent tried the macros or other smaller defaults maybe that might change something. Right now the only new new vibe I get from my plans is when I do the Copy paste entire plan into a fresh copy of the latest version but its a lot of work making adjustments. I noticed even when I am completely finished with a plan all the way down to the landscaping sometimes when I open that finished plan up in chiefs latest version you can see how things changed. For instance the plants or flower beds will be floating a foot off the ground and even when I dont copy paste into a new plan it will still require adjusting. I wish Chief could develop a way to make the plans once completed stay finished looking even when opening in new versions. its kind of embarrassing to open a plan you thought was polished and complete only to have people look at plants and flowerbeds floating off the ground haha. I will keep trying new methods and maybe I can come up with a better result when I try something different. Thanks for all your ideas, replies and help!

What is the best way to enjoy all the new features of the latest Chief version but while Im working on older plans completed in older chief versions? My issue is if I open a plan completed in lets say X8 and open in X12 it tends not to have all the latest defaults etc. Yet if I open a crisp fresh new plan in X12 I noticed defaults and features are all there. I use to copy and paste entire plans in the newest version but then all the ceiling heights and just about everything else looked wonky and took me forever to get it to look normal again. Any recommendations on how I can do this easier then the copy paste method?

Joey, yeah this makes total sense with all tools in chief. I just wanted to ask other chiefers about their experience with these tools because I have been getting a lot of questions from non users about framing, foundations etc and I havent used those tools much if ever. Good to know though, that the program is pretty accurate if used correctly with the user know how.

Thank you both for the replies. Good to know. I dont use chief for this type of thing so I didnt have any real knowledge about this part of chief. Also another question dealing with auto build framing..... Is there a lot of adjusting needed when using that tool? If you input the kind of framing your looking for does it accomplish it pretty accurately? Ive been recommending Chief to a lot of people in the industry but often I get questions about these types of things... foundations, framing etc and thats not primarily what I use chief for so I cant give my experience and opinions on it.

I was talking to someone about moving over to chief from autocad. I showed them some section views, exteriors etc. They asked why chiefs slab foundations arent just shown as flat versus all the additional lines. I told him the program is 3d etc etc. Does anyone know if someone like him wanted a flatter simpler look for slab is there a way to do that using the auto foundation builder? I mentioned you could delete your slab and draw it by cad lines but wanted to know about the auto build slab menu. Thanks in advance!

Thanks George. No wonder why I wasnt finding it in the standard library, everything else is in there but these. Thanks for the reply and the video recommendation.

Does anyone know where to find these water indicator labels in chief? I have been looking for over 30 minutes and cant find them. Heres a picture from Chiefs sample plans of what Im talking about. Thanks in advance!

Thanks Michael, yes thats what I was talking about. The Arch firm I use to work for called it that, wasnt sure what the name was in chief. Thanks again for the help!

Does anyone know where this might be in Chief? Im having a hard time finding this in the library. Thanks in advance!

As a chief user who has experience using Daves objects/textures they are absolutely amazing. The attention to detail, ability to customize the symbols and the fact they dont bog down your system make his symbols in my opinion some of the best available. Thanks for making great symbols Dave!

I use to think that the "featured" libraries were the latest libraries and after a few weeks they moved into the regular libraries and new ones rolled back into the featured section. However I started to realize there a lot of not featured libraries that are new hidden in the libraries below. Case in point, in January I downloaded all libraries available in the entire library download dept. Then I have been staying up to date by checking every couple days for new featured ones. Well today I clicked on lighting and noticed there were 4-5 new libraries, that werent there in January but werent on the "featured" section. I wish we could just select check library button and it could tabulate what we have in our current libraries with whats on the entire chief website library and tell us what were missing. This trying to keep up with the featured and latest isnt reliable. How do you all track your libraries and make sure they have all the available content?

Thanks for that explanation Glenn, that helps me out a lot. Thank again for your time and efforts!

Glenn yes exactly! Can you clarify how you got customized callouts for the items you have shown there? Also does it make a difference in how callouts behave if its a chief library item or one lets say you import from a manufacture website?

Hi Glen, thanks for the reply and sorry for my late response. Yes and no to your question. If you were to take a toilet and a bathroom sink can you apply a circle for the toilet, a square for the sink then have chief tabulate all the same fixtures in the plan and place that corresponding label on the CDs?

Im trying to find a way to have callouts for sinks and toilets. I looked at the customized schedules and labels but I havent figured it out. Is there a way to have sinks and toilets numbered automatically?

Thanks for the replies. That’s what I thought that I would need to do is customize the circle callout. With all the other customizable callout options with shapes and arrows I thought I had to be missing something. It doesn’t make sense to be able to offer so much customization on some callouts yet have to do workarounds on others. Thanks again to both of you for your time and help.

I researched for this answer but couldnt get a clear solution to this. I want to customize the way the callouts look for different cameras in the 2d drawings. Is there a way to customize each of these callouts for different view types (wall elevation, exterior elevation, cross section) for the working drawings? Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the recommendation Richard and Lew, I will check that out.