ACADuser

KD you didn't say what version of Chief you are using. Fix that by adding to your signature. https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/topic/18908-signature-here-at-chief-talk/ After you review the info Dermot provided I would look at Close the LAYOUT File. Also notes & schedules, also auto rebuild, If you have a complex terrain that can cause slowdowns. Those are the obvious ones for me with my limited knowledge.

I too will not go back to Autocad to create house plans but for details & section views a more robust CAD environment would be so nice. Another area I feel is lacking in Chief is Ruby. Autocad has exposed most of the inner working & provided so much language support to the programer that many things are possible in Autocad.

Well, it's obvious that the terrain need not rebuild for things unrelated to the terrain. So the rebuild routine should be made more selective OR the user should be given the option of turning that indicator off individually. I guess you could save a copy of the plan file and then delete the terrain from the current plan. Yes, that's a sledgehammer solution. Personally I just turn auto terrain on and live with any slow down that it causes.

I've requested this a couple of times but no joy. Cursor Method to select "Crossing" or 'Contained" selections. When the cursor in the click-drag moves in the relative -X direction (left) the "Crossing Method" is used. When the cursor in the click-drag moves in the relative +X direction (right) the "Contained Method" is used. No buttons or No Hotkeys needed.

I was hoping that Joe had a Macro that would read a text/csv file with that info in it.

Mick, I was afraid that was the case. David, thanks for sharing your wisdom. Mark, very clever solution. I'll stay with the manual method for now.

Is there a setting to get auto-build roof too add the shed roof portion?

Yes but no way to eliminate the user catalog. Although mine is still somewhat small. Speaking of user catalog, when I select user catalog/ notes I have many notes & some subfolders. It takes a long time to open due to the display of all the notes. I wish there was a way to turn off the display for selected folders.

Great tips, thanks The filter is more than I need at this time but good to know. Odd that you can not filter on/off the USER CATALOG. The right-click is exactly what I need at this time.

Is there a way to limit your library search to "User Library" only?

OK found it: Distributed Objects The Distributed Object tools allow you to place multiple copies of an object in an evenly spaced array, either within a region or along a path. Select Build> Distributed Object to access these tools.

Another method is to use your TAB key when dragging so you can enter a distance. Wall do love to snap to other walls but that is another issue.

Forgive my ignorance but what is a "distribution line"?

Drill small holes & foam fill the box headers.

That seems odd because you can not set the default floor height for balconies separately, correct? The columns did not change in camera view until I double-clicked on them. Then they updated to the correct position. All is good now though.

OK, I closed the plan & opened it again & most everything updated as expected. I guess I panicked too soon.

Hum, yes the windows header height default was changed & it did not raise the windows so I manually raised the windows to the new default height. I thought the balcony defaults were correct. When I changed the room type from unassigned to balcony I had to manually change the floor elevation -4" but the floor under it remained at the full truss height. It did not assume the 20" floor thickness the default had assigned to it.

The customer set the floor heights and I did a rough 1st draft. See the attached plan. So today he said he got the flood elevation wrong & wants the first floor ceiling at 8' I have in the past just changed the default floor 1 to 8' and most everything followed that change. When I tried it today the balconies refused & some windows went wacky. Is there a better way to change the floor height? Vincent.zip

Why not export to CAD & let then deal with a CAD file?

Another option that may work for you is to drag the new wall over adjoining walls & it will update.

Use your Ortho Floor View & move down to Floor 0 (foundation) Also, you may see some z-fighting in the view you posted.

I changed the foundation wall to solid railing 3.5" tall & removed the Wall Cap. But the cut out around the man door is not correct.

One thing to keep in mind is that some folks use the material report to get foundation concrete volume. Some solutions may not play well with the report.

I guess my old habits are holding me back. Once a layout file is set up & populated with views, I often return to a project by opening a layout file. I then move to the plan view sheet & open a view to work on. Needing to jump from floor to floor & from electrical to framing I forget to NOT save the plan view. Then end up with layout sheets with wrong views. Two times I have tried to develop projects using Saved plan View but old habits dye hard.

If the engineer is having you do drawings then the engineer's fee should be lower. That's the way I work. You should charge more if the customer gets to pick the engineer. You never know what you will get.