ACADuser

tommy Thanks so much for the offer. I may have to take you up on it.

Joe thanks so much for your presistance in this task. 1. OK 2. OK Once opened the pop up window does not have a menu or allow Ctrl V with out exiting the pop up. I assume that steps 1 & 2 were to assure that the block exist in the drawing. 3 & 4 Inserting the block with this menu did produce as block that I could explode. Thanks you 5. There is no Unblock option only Explode doint so I was able to edit the text object block the objects & choose an insert point. I added it to the catalog. Which it chose User Catalog. The problem I now have is that the block is a dumb block which does not insert as the electical block, snapint to walls, auto rotating & when this block is rotated the text is no longer positioned correctly. I do apreaciate your efforts & I see how to edit a block now But I still want the smart block from electrical to insert smartly. Is that doable?

Thanks Glennw, Changing the label does not change the 2D cad block. In my case I want it to say "WP GFI" on all future blocks, I don't use any WP recepticals thet are not GFI & the plans examinor wants to see the GFI indication. You must use WP GFI in rain exposed locations so GFI by itself is not exceptable.

Just so happens that I turned 8 or so layers off & after a time working on that drawing I could not remeber all the layers I had turned off. Looks like I will have to clone the layer set next time, live & learn. I didn't check History to see if the Hide command recorded all my actions. Oh wait I just checked & I can't fins a history? Does Chief record all actions upto a set number for your review? That is tied to Undo in ACAD which reportd to the screen each time you undo it says what action it is undoing, this is very helpful. So neather of these features are in Chief?

Thanks, seems like a workaround when Select Similar would be the tool of choice. Speaking of layers, say you are working in plan view and you want to hide a few layers to make eslecting objects easyer. You hide several layers & now you layer Set is messed up. Shouldn't you be requierd to SAVE the changes to that layer Set if you wanted a perminant change. No simple way to restore the layers you have hidden?

OK I created a bunch of floor trusses just fooling around with the tools & such. Now I want to select ALL the floor trusses & delete them. selecting one truss & there is no "Select similar" option. How do you select all of them?

I do not see any unblock! Look at the bottom tool bar. The WP highlites and a move grip appears, I am clicking on the recptical in the plan. cad block management only gives me the option to insert a new Recptical.

See picture attached. Looks like no Explode or Unlock available for this object. Using X6 Primer

OK, you are talking to a guy with 9 days of experance with Chief. Add "WP" to the cad block. Check Find the cad block and insert it on the plan , Check unblock it and change it, Oops, can't find the explode button for this block?

All water proof outlets must be labeled GCI or GFCI So how do I change the 2D block? Sorry f this is a dumb question but haven't found the answer yet. Thanks in advance.

I think you should have the flexability to change the dimension text. Using ACAD you can add text to the dimension , above & below the line & if you want, eliminite the dimension & have text only. I do that a lot to denote an area with a note & not use arrows. If you feel like it shouldn't be done then don't do it but why police my drawing?

Sad you can't roll your own. I have over a hundred LISP routine I use in ACAD. Granted Chief has many tools built in but often in ACAD you prefer to modify a command or use it with defaults of your own. In ACAD you can create a modified command and assign it to a tool bar button to expedite the process. Looks like Ruby has been crippled. So helper commands are out of the question. Let me say I have been using Chief for less than a week so I could be mistaken. I love Match Properties. With LISP you can make your own match properties choosing the properties you want to match. One thing I miss already is a layer Select, I can pick an object to get its layer (or several objects) hit enter then rectangle an area of the screen & all matching objects on the appropriate layer(s) are selected. Or hit enter without selecting & all objects in the drawing are selected with matching layers. I too draw in ACAD with layer sets but use a prefix to separate the layers. F0_layer name for foundation, F1_layer name for first floor, F2_layer name for second floor, E1_layer name for 1st floor electrical, etc. So I can draw the house with all layers stacked. I often have several sets ON & have a tool to select an existing text and then add text matching the layer, text style & text height. That's one click to match & one click to point where to put the new text. You see my point that giving the user the power to interact with the drawing on that level open the door to endless possibilities to customise the user work environment.

See attached plan view, one story Dr office Also current section view near front of building. The roof is actually a second floor with no ceiling & short wall for the parpet. The right parpet wall is 0.05 tall to allow water to run off. I have no slope yet to force water off. The Lobby need to have the ceiling raised to about 15'. Not figured out how to do that yet. I may need to raise the parpet walls another foot or two to get the look I need. BTW this is my forst structure in Chief.

Need to create this elevation. Notice the projection that provides the cover for the entry and another projection above that. What would be the best method of creating these cantlivers? Oh I suppose you could use a slab too?

That's exactly what I want to do. If I use the hidden wall method it will mess up the existing rooms, I think. Unless there is another floor.

The area is already filled with rooms. See attached.

I have a small Office which I diaplay Gross area and the room areas. One section is a seperate office & I would like to show that area as well. Can you create a floor or pline around that area & display that label?

OK got it. Thanks

Using Fire Fox & does spell check on most forums but here it doesn't. Yes, exploring macro now as I set up my title block, but haven't found where to get the living area macro yet. Is there a list of macros some where?

I found the way to import a ADA Unisex Restroom picture & then applied it to a frame. Sweet. I purchased chief yesterday so I could save my work. I am working on a small doctors office 39' x 91' The interior went well & I even created a walk through. (need some more work I was going to do this project as a parallel to my ACAD but looks like I can do the project in Chief. Only problem I see is getting the exterior correct. Looks like room labels are not totally controllable. I labeled all rooms & the small ones were too small for the labels. I scaled them in some cases & closets & mep room I did not want the dimensions or area so I had to hide the label & create a text object. Two of the room labels have disappeared twice so I have to go back & turn them on again. What's up with that? And the Living Area Label keeps returning to it's place of origin, moved it 5 time already. Frustrating. Off to do some electrical

Thanks, I did find the plumbing & more but some of the selections like bar sinks & laundry trays have very few selections. I guess the extended libraries have a lot more selections.

OK, another dumb question, I can't find the plumbing fixtures in this trial version? I see electical & I've installed some cabinets.

Thanks for the replies. I have explored the defaults & preference's and set a few to my liking. I see the mouse middle wheel pan function does not work while within a command. Quite a disappointment. While in Orthographic floor overview, when started you can orbit the view but when stopped I can't seem to find how to restart the orbit function? Ugh, looks like no spell check in this forum, I'm in trouble. In the orthographic views how do you do a cut wall view where the walls are at perhaps 1/2 there height?

Thanks for the replies, good info all. I am using Arch-T in ACAD which is a 2D & 3D program & had no problem understanding Envisioneer. All the buttons in ACAD are familiar to me but all Chief buttons are new so I realize it will take some time & I'm persistant. Back to the text, I wanted to do a global style change & save as a template not having to go to every style & change to Arial. If it was ACAD I would write a LISP to do all the work. Thanks again.

I feel like I'm learning to crawl again. Just installed Chief Primer Trial. Have looked at many videos on the Internet & from Chief. I guess I missed the Chief 101 video. Open a sample plan & find myself in Layout #1. How do you get back to Model Space? (If that is what you all call it) In a new template file I want my default wall to be 5/8 stucco + 7-5/8 CMU + 3/4 furring strips @ 16" o.c. + 1/2 drywall I found all but the furring strips, although I added a 3/4 air space/ insulation which will work for the trial but not for future BIM I have a window I adjusted to my liking & want to update existing windows (Match Properties) How do I copy the properties of that window to other windows? Are there any preferances that you would suggest changeing? One thing I prefer is to pick a start point & then pick an end point but you must pick & drag to draw a wall. Can that behavior be changed? When you hit Escape the current task is ended & you are put in the previous task mode. I prefer to be returned to the Pick mode on any Escape. Can that be changed? I want to change all text & dimensions to use Arial Narrow. Can you do a global change? BTW I am a Autocad user which may not be in my favor for transitioning to Chief. I tried Envisioneer, even bought it but returned it at the 30 day mark. There were too many work arounds in the basic text, dimension & CAD work areas. The basic drafting environment was too clumsy for me. Hoping Chief will be more to my liking. Thanks in Advance