SNestor

@ChiefJeet Here's a video using your plan... ChiefJeet - auto rebuild roof using lowest pitch first - Watch Video

@ChiefJeet What I'm saying is correct to a degree...see video. If I'm missing something I'm sure someone will let me know Starting with lowest pitch w/Auto Rebuild Roofs - Watch Video

If you are going to use auto roofs...you have to start with the lowest pitch. Then, auto build the roof. Leave "auto rebuild roofs" turned on. Now...move to the 2nd floor and open each wall for edit, roof tab, and change the pitch to 35 degrees. The roof will auto build and all your rafters will be in the correct elevation.

Alternate strategy; Create the molding as Glenn described...draw a small section of it...maybe without the handrail and convert this small section into a railing panel symbol. This way...you can drop a doorway into the railing and create an opening. Otherwise...you will have to place breaks into the molding polyline. Not a big deal...but creating the railing panel is simple and becomes part of the wall. Chief always provides more than one to accomplish things...

@J_Mack - Eric's idea is the best and quickest The steps: Check "shelf ceiling" Uncheck "flat ceiling over this room" In the structure area...specify the height of the ceiling in the room - 90"

You could make the wall a "pony wall". Std Interior-4 on bottom (90" tall) and a new wall type on top...make it a single layer wall and use "open no material" as the material type for the wall. Align the walls. If you need a wall cap use a molding polyline. Also...make the "open no material-4" wall type a "partition wall"...otherwise it'll remove your ceiling material the width of the wall. The only downside is that in vector view the material will appear solid.... See below;

to quote JB..."c'mon man". I'll admit to a new user it can seem a bit overwhelming (aka confusing) but not if you stop to think about it. Chief gives us the power to setup a typical floor/ceiling platform default. You can then move to the floor defaults and make changes to those floor platforms as needed. So...lets say you have a 3-story house placed on a monolithic slab. You can set your floor/ceiling platform default to be wood framed (9.25" joists + OSB), then open your Floor Levels>1st Floor and change the 1st floor to 4" concrete...which of course is not your "default" floor platform...but it's now the default for the 1st Floor. Now, head on over to Foundation and check the box "hang 1st floor platform inside foundation walls". So...you have a default platform...but you also have a 1st Floor default. When you build the 2nd and 3rd floors you will get a wood floor with OSB sheathing. If you had specified the 4" concrete as your default platform to accommodate your desire for a 4" slab on grade floor on the 1st Floor...then, all your floors in your plan would be built this way. You shouldn't have to change the framing defaults as long as the "floor structure" box is checked in the framing DBX....which typically it always is unless you deliberately changed this in the template plan you are using. As far as "rooms" go. My suggestion is you don't mess with changing anything in a room unless the floor or ceiling system has to be modified to accommodate a condition. Otherwise...just change your defaults. See...it's not confusing.

@KellySantaRosa - Open the dialogue for the callout, navigate to the "attributes" tab and change the weight. This only changes the weight of the line itself. Change Attribute lineweight for Callout - Watch Video

If you specify that the foundation builds to the OSB...then, the foundation plate will center itself on the main layer of the wall above it. The only time Chief gives us some minimal control over the width of the foundation plate is when you specify that the foundation aligns to the outside edge of the main layer of the wall above.

Thanks Ryan..I didn’t see that

One more thing - you may want to check out some reviews on YouTube regarding the 10-core iMac. Most benchmark tests reveal that it’s not a worthwhile upgrade.

@RRABuilders - I recently purchased a new Intel based MAC. If you can wait…I’d wait. The graphics card on the MAC isn’t going to get you real time ray tracing. X13 crashes on my brand new and quite powerful MAC at least once a day.

@Kbird1 @DeLayDesign If you specify that the foundation builds to "fir framing"...basically the outer edge of the main layer of your exterior wall...then, you can change the size of the foundation plate up to the width of the foundation wall. For instance, you can specify a 2x8 foundation plate and use a 2x4 exterior wall...if you specify that the foundation builds to "fir framing". However, if you specify a 2x10 inch foundation plate...the 2x10 will center itself on the main layer of your exterior wall. The foundation plate works great as long as it's not wider than the foundation wall itself....and if you specify that the foundation builds to the "fir framing" layer of your exterior wall. Chief is crazy...

@Kbird1 - yes, modifying the auto detail fill works for sections…but if you size the foundation plate too large it could stick through the wall and depending on layer settings the plate might appear through the siding in an elevation or 3D view. A good practice is to define the foundation wall plate the size of the wall above so the 3D model builds correctly - and then make mods to any wall sections.

Yes...I agree, the plate should not center on the wall above...it should align with the edge of the foundation wall. Especially since you specify the size of the plate in the foundation wall specification dialogue. It should...but, it doesn't work that way and hasn't for as long as I've used the program.

@DeLayDesign - See video for explanation of how to build your foundation to the OSB layer. The answer is related to the plate width defined in your foundation wall default. Adam Delay - Building Foundation to OSB Layer - Watch Video

@Ed_Orum - Did you review the plan I attached. One room is 9'-2"...the other is 97.125. Took me all of about 5 seconds. Just FYI...I teach people how to use Chief...so, if interested contact me. I'd be happy to help you out with this...it's quite simple really. See attached Sections from the plan I attached;

@Ed_Orum - I gave it a shot...the room divider worked for me. Not sure I've done what you need...but take a look. The foundation walls were not aligned with the walls above...and the default reference layer set was weird so I modified it. I also changed the default "sun"...to be generic and sun follows camera. This helps when looking at 3D elevations etc. GleasonFrontEntry - FIXED.plan

@DIYJon - Made you a short "how to" video...hope it gets you started on the right foot Jon - Chief Architect Boot Camp Quickie... - Watch Video

You will have to create that molding using polyline solids. I'd start with a polyline...edit as needed and then convert to a solid. You might want to take an elevation view of the cabinet...then convert that elevation into CAD using "Cad Detail from View". In the CDFV window...select all the lines and move them to a new layer...and lock them. Then use the CAD, Default layer to draw your molding. I know...it's a lot of work.

I this place stairs because I thought it might be required…but it didn’t make a difference. Does this feature only work on exterior walls?

One way you could do it is to create a CAD Detail from View of the 3D block. You can do this without exploding the block. This will create cad lines for all the objects. You will probably have to explode some of the items as the CDFV will create "blocks" of some 3D objects. But...you'll have cad lines you can then copy of using "copy, paste and hold position" you will get lines to can snap to. It's a workaround really...and might be more trouble than exploding the block.

@KellySantaRosa - the layer controls the default weight of the callout. If you set the layer to a lineweight of 10...you can open the callout and override the layer lineweight of the "cross section line" to make it whatever you want it to be. Thicker or thinner. The attached example shows the callout using the layer lineweight of 20...and the cross section line is using a lineweight of 50.

Using X13. Have "framing default" checked for "Allow Automatic Balloon Framing"...but, as you can see in the picture below it's not working. I have auto framing walls turned on...experimented with the joist direction...didn't seem to have an effect. I'm on a MAC...maybe this is a reason? Does anybody know if this new feature in X13 actually works? Thanks!

Reading the manual...I'd say Chief put in "roof groups" for just such situations. Seems like a "in house" work around to me...but, at least Chief gave us a way to remedy the issue and for that I'm appreciative. Now...if they would just "improve" the stair tool I'd be a happy guy. Here's a screen clip from the manual pertaining to roof groups for anyone interested;