mborean

Here in California, especially in the Sierra's where we have significant snow loads, almost everything requires engineering. I have two engineering firms that I have worked with for years and we have developed a great working relationship. In my workflow, I create all the structural pages and details before I send them off to the engineer. They red-line my plans and sometimes ask for additional details. I draft their red-lines onto my drawings and send them back to the engineer. Sometimes we have disagreements followed by spirited discussions (a good relationship makes this possible). Sometimes, I actually prevail. When all is said and done, the engineer stamps/signs my plans and provides me with a small book of his calculations. Once, a client hired an engineer that I hadn't worked with before. It was a total nightmare and I will never allow it to happen again. Good luck!!

Hey guys, it is simple. Go to wall types, either modify the wall fill pattern of the existing wall or create a new wall type. I do this all the time particularly to show existing vs new walls. MB

My advice is desktop all the way. Put the OS on a digital hard drive (very fast boot times), get the best processor and graphics card you can afford. Also, bump your RAM to 32GB. I run three monitors and am thinking about adding a fourth. Keeping the library and other windows on a separate screen really helps productivity. I keep the layout on a separate screen and 3d views on another. This way I can see how my changes effect the building. Interested in hearing what others have to day. Regards

I've experienced many unnecessary requirements from building departments. This one takes the cake. Why in the heck to they want that? What purpose does it serve? I feel your pain.

Check your page setup. Did you create a PDF first or just print the active screen? I agree with Joe, we need more information.

Happy quarantine everybody! I know it is there some where, but can't find how to change the ceiling heights for all the rooms on a floor at once. Working on a project an the client removed a bearing wall on the first floor, which changed the second floor framing from 11 7/8" to 14". This messed up the first floor ceiling height. To correct this, I had to go into each room on the second floor and edit the ceiling height above absolute. I am confident there is an easier way, but searched for 15min (I know short attention span) and couldn't find the answer. Hope everyone is and stays healthy, Mike

I routinely draw my trusses in Chief and then send the design to the truss company for the official design. I do this so that I have some control on how the trusses are designed. I want to control ceiling chords, bearing lines, etc. The trusses from the truss company will have different internal web configurations, but the top/bottom chords reflect what I want. The truss feature in Chief is very useful, IMHO. Good Luck roof truss image.pdf

Hello, What exactly is it that you need help with? If it is just a simple floor plan, there are a few thousand Chief users who can pump one out very quickly. If you need the rest of the drawings, foundation, roof framing, sections, elevations, most of us can pump that out as well, just will take a bit more time. Good luck,

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but it looks like you are copying a plan off the internet. If so, be aware that the original designer has intellectual property rights for the design. Nothing will probably happen, but the owner of the original plan can seek legal remedy if you copy his/her plan. Once I had a client that wanted the "exact" plan they found on-line. To protect myself, and the client, I had them purchase the cheapest version of the plan. This way, the original designer was compensated for the work. As it turns out, the structural part of the design was a complete nightmare and I was able to produce sensible structural drawings. Before embarking on this project, I consulted with an attorney who specializes in construction law. I was told that even if you make minor changes to the original plan you are not immune to legal action. Good luck with your project.

Hey gang, Thanks for all the replies. The obvious solution, and its silly that I hadn't thought of it was to place geometry over the aerial image and give it a transparent fill, send it to the back in drawing order. As a refinement, I placed the aerial image and the transparent geometry on a unique layer and then locked it. Still, it would be cool if we could manipulate the transparency of an object (including lines) and even an entire layer. Thanks again!!

This may be one of those topics that has an obvious answer that I just can't see. That said, is there a way to make a layer transparent? I typically import an aerial image from my County's GIS map onto my site plan that already has the property boundarys drawn. I can send the aerial image to the back, but it still obscures my property lines, topo lines, etc. If the image (which is placed on a separate new layer) could be made transparent, it would make life a bit easier. Thanks in advance.

Thanks Matty, I'll check it out. The Simpson catalog is very helpful, but no standard nuts/bolts. Mike

Good morning, Looking for a selection of fastener symbols, specifically nuts and bolts. If they are in CA, I can't find them (probably right next to my car keys).\ Anyone have a good resource? Thanks

Hello, This is a reoccurring issue, and I have stumped the folks at tech support. Often, my roof framing plans are showing roofs on two levels. I show the second level roof via reference display. The problem is that the text inserted either on the level I'm working on or on the reference level does not display properly. If I insert text or a dimension on the level I'm working on, the text displays behind the reference drawing. If I insert the text on the reference drawing all is well, until I either zoom or move the drawing on the screen at which time, the text again displays behind the framing. Looking for a work-a-round. Thanks, Mike Borean PS: I'm looking forward to meeting fellow CA users at the IBS in Vegas.

Hello everyone, Is there a way to make an entire layer transparent. This would be useful when I import a PDF and want to trace over it. Thanks

Is there a way to draw a cabinet where the back is narrower than the front? I'm working on a kitchen island that is shaped like a boomerang. Attempting to develop a cabinet that will fill in the area next to the range. Thanks in advance kitchen study.pdf

I use rich text and then add an line with an arrow on both ends. Works great for calling out joist/rafter sizes.

I am probably missing something obvious here. When the library browser is expanded as I often do when searching for something, I attempt to hit the right mouse key and select "Collapse All" and nothing happens. It is an irritant to go thru all the sub-categories to get the library browser down to a manageable size. Thanks in advance...

Bizerkley did ban the flags at the direction of the Mayor. I was a firefighter in the peninsula at the time and my brother/sister firefighters in Bizerkley were beside themselves. We just lost 343 brothers in the towers for heaven's sake. Banning natural gas is short sighted and just plain silly. Us Californians who don't live on the coastal areas and who have no representation in state government seriously want to split the stat in two.

Came out of the dark ages a couple months ago when a client suggested a Zoom meeting. I now use it a couple times a month. I'm up in the Sierra foothills of Northern California and most of my clients are from the San Francisco Bay Area and using Zoom for meetings has been amazingly productive. I now use it for my local clients as well. Love it, and, it is free, so far.

Oh heck. Found the answer. Core Catalog, Windows, Protruding, garden. Mike

I need to draw a greenhouse window in an as-built drawing such as in the attached photo. The Bay or Box window doesn't work as it places walls under the three windows. If there is a symbol out there I can't find it. Anyone run across this. Thanks

That isn't a bad idea. My workaround, is to create the first closed polyline then copy/past then manipulate the geometry. A bit of a pain in the backside however.

All, Just got off the phone with tech support (those folks are awesome by the way), and found my problem. It seems that I was creating rectangles using the "Box" tool instead of the rectangular polyline tool. The Union tool does not work with boxes, circles, ellipses, etc. It only works with closed polylines. Apparently, I didn't get the memo. I did stump the tech guy when asked if there was a default setting to fill all polylines with a solid or a pattern. He couldn't find a way to do that. Anyone have an answer to that? Thanks again for your responses. Mike

Eric, thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, the Union tool is not in my Edit Toolbar, believe me, I've looked. Lets see if my signature shows up now. Mike