rockyshepheard

LOL. I meant to say "It is clear"...

Is it not clear from the dbx  (and the image on the right) which is top and which is bottom?

Thanks. Interesting.

The foundation is auto generated based on the location of the porch wall. I wonder, then, why CA did not align them. Although, in the excellent video I am watching on this particular house, there is a -4 offset from the foundation. Could that be the cause?

So, is pulling down / pulling up a wall an 'amateur move' or one I should keep in the toolbox for its expedient results? I'm trying to assimilate the best techniques of folks in the forum.

Thanks!

It is defined as a porch. Does that count as a room?

Here's one case where CA doesn't seem to follow real world building techniques.

Indicating that one wants a pony wall on a foundation should not prompt builders to wall-in a porch.

What am I missing here?

Thanks!

easy porch with columns.plan

6 minutes ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

 

Yes. For some reason the foundation wall where what appears to be wood has it's type set as "Siding 6" while the other porch walls are defined as "Concrete".

 

When you move the camera around you will also see brick flashing through the porch concrete around the perimeter. We call this Z Fighting, it's when two differing materials are in exactly the same plan. CA does not know which one to display so it jumps around as the camera is moved. This is due to the fact that there is a custom counter top polyline around the porch leading edge and the assigned material is "burgundy brick", should be concrete to match the porch.

I think it is because I added the brick to the foundation/molding feature. Is that a bad thing to do? It was done in the video.

Do you mean like this?

On 1/20/2019 at 2:27 PM, Kbird1 said:

 

Your middle 10' dim is to surface on the left but to framing on the right......Set you temps dims to Surface too if this is the way you work normally, the issue with placing Dims is that the Temps Dims don't work IF aa manual or Auto Dim is already in place....

 

Exterior Dims with Auto refresh on may help you actually....

 

 

1 hour ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

Rocky -One thing that might help when working in CA is understanding that CA predominantly works/thinks in a similar manner/approach as would be done on a real construction site. For example, in the real world roofs are only constructed/installed once the required exterior walls have been put in place. CA's auto build roof function works on the same principle, it needs the walls before it can build the roof.

 

In your posted post plan the same principle applies, in the real world a properly sized porch would be constructed first and then the support posts would be constructed/placed on top. In your plan the porch is undersized for the posts as they overhang the porch. If the porch had of been adjusted properly then when you add the terrain everything would have been fine.

 

Thinking like a builder and how things are constructed in the real world can go a long way in helping one construct/design in CA.

8 minutes ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

 

It's a great video, well worth watching.

 

One other comment, if you shoot your camera to see the underside of the porch roof you can see that things are not correct. The porch ceiling and roof soffits are not making proper connections. This is telling you that something somewhere is not right, maybe your invisible walls, room or roof. Ideally things like this should be sorted out and corrected before moving on with some other item. Underlying problems like this can result in other unexpected things happening down the road.

easy porch with columns.plan

Do you mean like this?

easy porch with columns.plan

1 hour ago, CJSpud said:

I believe if you go to the Tips forum you'll find some nice videos Steve Nestor did on your topic.

Excellent video! Thanks!

Here's a link to one of his videos:

 

8 minutes ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

Rocky -One thing that might help when working in CA is understanding that CA predominantly works/thinks in a similar manner/approach as would be done on a real construction site. For example, in the real world roofs are only constructed/installed once the required exterior walls have been put in place. CA's auto build roof function works on the same principle, it needs the walls before it can build the roof.

 

In your posted post plan the same principle applies, in the real world a properly sized porch would be constructed first and then the support posts would be constructed/placed on top. In your plan the porch is undersized for the posts as they overhang the porch. If the porch had of been adjusted properly then when you add the terrain everything would have been fine.

 

Thinking like a builder and how things are constructed in the real world can go a long way in helping one construct/design in CA.

Great tip! I'm watching the video CJSpud kindly mentioned and after I'll see how CA puts a roof on it. Thanks!

Are you saying to change it to ABSOLUTE? I did and it no longer dropped.

Can't figure out why the left one dropped but not the right. Same numbers.

Unrelated...as far as I know but the left column must have a connection for the terrain for this to happen.

1. When a terrain is added the left most column descends in the Z direction by about 40 units. I've seen this happen several times in other plans.

2. The porch is a bit too small for the pedestals I selected. What method is preferable for increasing in the x,y directions such that the pedestals fit well on top of the concrete porch?

pedestal falls.plan

1 hour ago, Renerabbitt said:

while you are dragging your cursor to drag the wall/poly line section etc., you can move the cursor left to right and snap the main outside layer to another object/wall/any snap point etc. Your wall/poly line won't move left to right- but it will snap to what you have you're mouse hovering over while holding the left mouse button down for drag.

I found that only works in a cross-section view, but it does work! Thanks much.

This was the recommended method by a forum member.

Previously, I was creating the arch in another software, importing and positioning.

I'm practicing the advised technique but hit a tiny snag.

In order to create empty space to place columns under the arch heel, I selected the wall

and placed a cut point then pulled the wall section up. This should work but

how do I precisely do the same thing on the left side. My snaps are not snapping.

If there is a better way to remove wall under th arch heel, I'd like to find out.

Thanks!

drag wall up.plan

2 hours ago, Renerabbitt said:

Do you have a screensharing app like teamviewer/mikogo/splashtop?

Yes. TeamViewer.

2 hours ago, Kbird1 said:

 

Once the Template is set , the New Button will always open it but the name seen will be Untitled_1.plan until you save it with a name which you should ALWAYS do 1st thing on open a new Plan , so autosave is activated , and you have a backup if you Computer or CA crashes.....most of us have learnt the hard way and lost 1/2 a days work by not saving immediately on opening/starting a New plan. Also a good practice to hit Ctrl-S every now and then and save a file yourself.

 

I am not sure why you want or need to delete a plan, you can Save any current plan as the New Plan Template. There is no need to export from the Current plan at all before doing this.... you can bring in Wall definitions and Annosets etc from different Plans if you'd like to though.

 

Do you mean delete everything in the current plan? then save as a Template perhaps....then yes....on the Edit Menu see the Delete Objects Tool. YOu can also delete Floor Levels etc via the Build >Floors Menu, or shift-Select items and delete them etc to clean a Plan out.

 

M.

Yes, delete everything in my plan before saving as a template. 

Thanls much1

What if I delete my plan and save it on the template directory as a plan. Then I can pick it from open template. Is that any diff than doing exports?

Thanks!!!

I know how to change them for each new plan but is there a way to change them so when I create a new plan the changes are there?

I looked in preferences and default settings.

Thanks!

2 minutes ago, Kbird1 said:

 

Your middle 10' dim is to surface on the left but to framing on the right......Set you temps dims to Surface too if this is the way you work normally, the issue with placing Dims is that the Temps Dims don't work IF aa manual or Auto Dim is already in place....

 

Exterior Dims with Auto refresh on may help you actually....

I cannot accurately pick the right corner (even if knew which was the right corner to use) because I'd have to be able to drag and zoom simultaneously in order to see where I'm snapping to. Can one drag and zoom?

2 minutes ago, Kbird1 said:

 

 

Thanks for eveyone's input. I'll need to get a live tutor to resolve this. 

Maybe I should just use autodimensioning.

Did everyone here starting out need a live tutor?

Not sure what reversing walls has to do with dimensioning, but I'll take your word for it. 

Is there a way to zoom in while dragging out a dimension so when I get to the end I don't have to guess where it snapped to?

18 minutes ago, Renerabbitt said:

It's not about clockwise vs counterclockwise, its about start vs end. 

If you open up any wall DBX and look under the general tab, all walls are locked to their start by default, you can choose to lock their end or center.

Like Graham mentioned, many of us work every day in this program and have no issues with walls moving on us, which would point to a user error if the inverse is true.

Auto dimensioning as you work through a plan can substantially cut down on errors- especially if you set your program colors up in conjunction with your layer colors.

this for example has auto-interior dimensions on a layer that is very light grey, with the program selection color being bright pink. When I select a wall it lights up every dimension that can be modified in bright pink.

Par of the issue is that each wall segment has three exterior extents that could be dimensioned to. I have to zoom in to make sure I am on the right one but if I'm not I can't move it to the right one without zooming out again. Luckily for me I can afford to be off by a couple of inches but I'd love to be able to do it right.