michaelgia

11 hours ago, DMDesigns said:

I have that exact door style and side lights if you want?

 

Over at ChiefTutor.com

    Page 2 of the symbols section:  http://www.chieftutor.net/symbols-page-2.html

 

I also have videos showing you how to make these doors -- http://www.chieftutor.net/symbols.html

 

Enjoy - 

Dave

 

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. 

8 hours ago, Korel_Design said:

de Jerry

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. 

53 minutes ago, parkwest said:

 

Dude, chill out!

 

I was responding to an earlier post by chopsaw of what might be some features in SoftPlan that might make CA a better CAD program.

 

FYI, I enjoy designing in CA.  CA made it fun again.

I guess I did fly off the handle there a little...

my apologies

merry christmas, by the way 

25 minutes ago, parkwest said:

A big one for me is being able to have wall framing options in Softplan so we can show advanced framing the actual way we want it built.

 

Another big one is Softplan ability to do a full takeoff instead of just a material list.

 

And then the "Options" function in SoftPlan which allows you to upsell a basic design to buyers.

 

Ability to get the lot coverage area with one click in SoftPlan.

 

SoftPlan has a lower computer hardware requirement.  I designed and laid out an apartment complex consisting of four 12 unit buildings on a 2.5 acre parcel using my laptop in SoftPlan.  In Chief, I had to buy a souped up gamer computer just to design a single fourplex.

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. 

22 hours ago, rlackore said:

Gimp is a great tool, and I've used it for years. However, I'd like to put a plug in for PixPlant - it's the easiest, fastest method I've found for creating seamless textures. It will quickly output diffuse, displacement, normal and specular maps from an imported image (or pasted from the clipboard). It's easy to learn (took me about 3 minutes to figure out the basics) and not terribly expensive.

 

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

1 hour ago, dshall said:

 

pretty dumb of me......  I do not see it,  GIA,  would you mind posting a screen shot.....

 

Larry,  my MAC works like GIA's,  

 

thanks Joe for the macro,  however I use the label in layout and I do not want to see   the 1,386 character path.... it's never been a problem since I claim I know I am doing......  usually I know what I am doing....

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)

48 minutes ago, HumbleChief said:

Weird. I wouldn't think a MAC would operate that much differently. Here's how my PC works. The tool is invaluable. Maybe call tech support and find out where a similar tool is on the MAC?

 

 

 

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. 

21 minutes ago, Joe_Carrick said:

1. Select the Layout Box
2. Open the dbx
3. Select the Label Tab
4. Specify Label
5. Insert Object Specific > Referenced Full Filename

The Label will display the Plan File name including the path.

Wow that was easy...

thanks to all of you. So amazing!

3 minutes ago, HumbleChief said:

Michael re-check a couple of the videos - there's a really simple way of checking which plan file each view comes from. I show it many, many times. It's the re-link files icon in the tool bar. look like 2 zeros interconnected

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. 

7 hours ago, dshall said:

 

Can you believe it,  he offered me supper,  not dinner.  My Mom is English,  we eat supper at her house,  everywhere else in the  USA we eat dinner.  I hope you are  FRENCH/Canadian,  if so,  I would be that supper would be awesome.  I hope to take you up on your offer sometime in the future.

 

Here is my take on the  SAM:

 

PART 1

PART 2 

PART 3

 

This is stuff I originally did about 9 years ago,  but it still holds up.  

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. 

1 hour ago, dshall said:

I just watched Larry's new video.

 

If somebody did not follow Larry's method,  let me know and I will  give you my take.

 

 

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.