michaelgia

I would love to see that video, but it's password protected. Was that your intention? I'm on an iPhone now so can't tell if it's a mobile related issue.

Great videos! I was using a slightly longer approach so this really helped. (Is that crickets I hear over at camp autocad?....)

....the good old days when you could set the Stemwall height to "0" instead of trying to calculate its height to get it to snap to the underside of the slab.

I watch this video every once in a while. I don't mean to belittle your complaint/question but it's just a procedural thing you have to understand with Chief and how it handles floor levels. Programs like Archicad handle floor levels by making you build slabs after the walls are drawn and then having you cut those slabs into smaller slabs which can be easily lowered or raised, BUT, then you have the messy job of going around and adjusting wall heights, ceilings and roofs. Then once you get that straight you still have to contend with trimming, floor material, wall finishes etc... Trust me, you don't want that. Just learn Chief's floor level paradigm. It's much more efficient in the end, albeit counter-intuitive.

Wow! Nice Raytrace! something tells me if you can do this, then I think you'll master dimensioning in no time, once you decide to work at it. I struggled as well with dimensioning at first. Now I use a very stripped down auto-exterior dimension with only exterior wall surfaces and window/door centers, on. Then I either add or delete dimension points along the automatically and well placed dimension strings. It works quite fast. A lot less than two clicks per object. Give it a try.

I guess I did fly off the handle there a little... my apologies merry christmas, by the way

The concept of "drawing modes" in Softplan versus Chief's highly sophisticated and elegant annotation sets and layer sets approach blows Softplan, not only out of the water, but out of this galaxy. Are you kidding me? How about those damn lollipops for roof plane manipulation what the heck were they thinking?... How about kitchens, rendering ability? Not even close. Also layouts are so much more powerful in Chief, albeit not as intuitive at first. Not to mention Chief's secret weapon - this site and its amazing community. Especially that relatively small group of experienced users who just have no limit to their generosity, everyone knows who they are.

I love Chief and was a Softplan user many years. I switched and there's no going back, however the fact that this thread has almost 7000 views should be sounding some alarm bells over at Chief HQ if they know what's good for them...

Looks like he accidentally used the point-to-point dimension tool because I see point markers all along that dimension string.

Ok I've checked out the tutorials and I have my finger on the purchase button, because it really does seem like the easiest and best way to create patterns, as you say, but can you post a jpeg of a facade or wall that you've created that you're proud of? ....please? or post a calibz of a brick or stone pattern you've created and actually use? Or are you still exploring? thanks, - Michael

Here is a screenshot showing the referenced planfile in bold or rather, everything else greyed out.... It's not really obvious, right? (Don't mind the strange file names. Very indecisive client, had to come up with funny file names to keep track of her constant revisions)

It does work differently on the Mac. I noticed on your PC it actually displays the file name at the top, which is a clear way to do that. On the MAC as a result of exploring a little (thanks to your video) I did notice that while there is no plan file name displayed at the top, the plan file is actually in bold in the main window. I never noticed that before. Pretty dumb of me. Thanks. Although, I do wish the Mac would behave in the same way that the PC does. It's more obvious.

Wow that was easy... thanks to all of you. So amazing!

That "double O" icon just seems to open up the file explorer in order to select which new file you want to link. Or at least that's how it works on a Mac. Even the pop up bubble says - "Choose a new plan file for this layout box". It doesn't actually display which file is linked to that layout box.

Hey thanks a million Scott! Although I've seen your past videos a million times on the SAM method (which I use) these 3 new videos cleared a few things up, or rather simplified the process for me. What I still struggle with, is that some views won't update, either because the link has been deleted or no longer exists, but it's still in my layout even after "update all views". As a result I've sent plans into the city with phone calls coming back asking - "what the heck are you referencing on page X?" A little embarrassing. I wonder why we can't just right click on a view in layout and see which plan file it originates from? Or when a view is highlighted their isn't a bubble or label at the bottom that pops up with the source file name. That would help. Or am I missing something. (Rather than having to double click to open the view in order to see which plan it comes from.) Anyway, thanks again. The offer stilll stands. I didn't realize "supper" was, as it seems, a linguistic remnant from our former Brittish overlords, lol. We also still use chesterfield for sofa.

Youre welcome. ...and to think I've been wasting hours with photoshop all this time. We need to thank Greg however, he mentioned Gimp.

Thank you for the response Michael. I think I may have been inadvertently deleting cameras here and there.

Yes, I have a couple of questions: 1) often when I re-associate/link a new plan in the layout, only the floor plan updates. That is, the elevations and cross-sections don't always follow suit. So what controls that? Is it because the view names are not identical? 2) Do you place your annotations, such as, roof pitch, material notes, etc in the plan file view or the associated layout page? I would really like to see this process demonstrated from start to finish. That is, open a layout which contains the construction documents and then re-save that as a layout for a new and different home. Re-link it to that new home, see exactly what was lost or gained in the process. Did all of the elevations and views carry forward or just some of them? (I would be forever in your debt. Supper and drinks) Assuming we bump into each other at a Chief event or if you're ever in Montreal. cheers!

Use lots of trees and hedges/bushes to cover up and blur the transition from your terrain and the background. ...It's all an illusion Chosing a grass that matches the grass color of the background can also be achieved by using the "adjust material" tool to blend the color or your grass better. (I'm no expert, just what I've noticed the pros do)

Why would someone send an elevation as Plot Lines which takes so much longer than a Live View? What is the advantage?

"Chief is not something you just load on your pc and start building great plans...well actually I did but now realize I have a lot of garbage from making "This will do for now decisions" ...amen brother. This is why this forum is so great. These guys give us the "why" beyond the "how".

That's the video I was looking for... thanks!

I wish Joe or somebody could do a video of his process from start to finish. That is, take an existing plan and construction docs and do a whole new different plan using this method. I underetand the process, but I'd like to see it in action. Only because I'm sure it's not as straight forward as it sounds. A little like Rembrandt saying, "sure, you just take a few brushes and some paint and splash it on a canvas"...

Check out... Thanks Greg! I feel like I've just harnessed a new super power.

Ok thanks, so there's no instant magic procedure then. I can also import the jpeg of the material from the manufacturer's website and create my own material with it. Its just that I'm horrible at creating a "seamless" pattern with material like stone.