rgardner

14 minutes ago, AzjahGreen said:

Hello everyone,

 

Thanks for assisting me with this! I am trying to figure out why when i export, all of a sudden the pdf is black. It started happening all of a sudden and i cant seem to figure out why. 

 

I have uploaded an image below. 

 

Thanks again!

You want to print not export the pdf.  In the print dbx use the Chief print to pdf option for the printer selected.

24 minutes ago, SkullMesaRanch said:

I haven't started my project but would like to know if I can have the house model and detached garage in the same project.  Is this the best way or should they be in separate projects and then combined in the condocs?    The house and detached garage have similar structure; same walls, roof type, height, foundation. 

 

I can't seem to find an example on the site that gives this information. 

You can do both.  Depending on the complexity and size of your main house sometimes it is better to do the detached garage in a separate plan file.  Another advantage of a separate plan files is if your floor heights and ceiling heights are different from your garage to your home and you want to use all of the automatic tools.  Personally I generally model them in separate plan files.

3 hours ago, joey_martin said:

Sounds like you have changed the location of where you stored those, or you are using a different computer to finish up a project. You simply need to relink those and your good. This happens when I am working on a project in the office but come home and work on it with my laptop. Your post sounds like you are panicking a bit, but it's all still there, just needs re-linked.

 

Yup most likely what Joey is mentioning.  Good practice is to have a "linked files" type folder within your plan folders that you save any pdf and or png/jpg files you are using in your plan or layout files.  It keeps them all together and is less problematic.

3 hours ago, Atari2600 said:

Hi there,

 

We are an high-end residential DB firm with about 10 Chief Architect users, with experience ranging from 2 months to 20 years. We are very interested in working with a skilled trainer to help us develop a training program and perhaps run at least six sessions (at a minimum) over this next year.

Our primary goal is to help our team align our workflow and we believe that bringing in an outside expert might do the trick. (As some of you can imagine, getting some users to possibly “change their ways” can be a challenge at times.

We are located in DC and having someone willing to meet in person or willing to travel is a plus.
 

While Zoom is certainly an option (any may be cost effective) it’s not our preference.
 

If this is a challenge you are both interested in (and one which you might be skilled at doing), please PM me. 
 

Thanks & Happy New Year everyone.

 

Matt Dirksen

Landis Architects | Builders, Inc.

I would highly recommend @Renerabbitt for this type of training.  He specializes in efficiency methods, and has a great program for file and standards development.

25 minutes ago, Jake1976 said:

Anyone ever seen this before? It's happened a few times in this model.  I can't pin it down to any action that I've taken.  Seems to come back after a while, but then gone again.  I mean, I like the look of a project under construction, but this is really odd. 

 

Not without the plan file.  Too many variables and possibilities.  My guess would be your wall definition is not setup correctly.

9 hours ago, Kbird1 said:

X14 now natively supports the MAC OS on M1 Macs

This is true that it supports the ARM systems natively but the GPU RTRT is still only with the one type of Nvidia video cards.  The new Mac Max and Ultra chips have the capability for RTRT but chief has not finished developing that portion yet.

20 minutes ago, pattyw said:

I've yet to find an easy way to model the slopes of my pipes.  Everything else I am drawing using basic shapes.

Use 3d molding polylines instead and you can add your slopes .  It can all be modeled as much as you need.

11 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

No.  Not just for rendering.  You can also generate dropped ceiling framing using the Finish Layers.  

Sorry I misread what you stated. You are absolutely correct within the room dbx you can do the same thing.  I personally didn't mention that method as I understood the OP question to mean they have a large room where the ceiling comes out into that room from an adjacent smaller room. 

My solution for that scenario would be to use a dropped ceiling plane across the rooms.

Of course you can also do it as you mention within the ceiling finish layer.  You can do that by dividing the room with a room defining wall but will need to manually adjust the wall but really either way is going to require wall manipulation of one way or another.

Even if it was just the adjacent room you will still need to do something with the wall gap at the top as an invisible wall will not build up. 

Of course you can use a no-jamb doorway in a solid wall there set to the ceiling height:

The issue with that is the doorway of course will break the wall in the middle so you have a small ceiling gap in there.

All the ways have their issues though.  For example using the roof cuts wall above and dropped ceiling plane you have to pull it past the edge of the wall as it will snap back to the framing layer (unless your drywall is in your framing layer for that particular wall.  So yo either have to have a small bit of ceiling plane sticking out:

Or you have a wall layer intersection issue at the ceiling plane. 

It all depends on your needs and preferences of course.

8 hours ago, Alaskan_Son said:

I haven’t watched any of the videos posted in this thread and I haven’t seen the plan for suitability, but has anyone mentioned using the ceiling finish definition to create a dropped ceiling?  

Definitely a good and fast way to do it.  I was assuming the OP needed to show some of the framing for a section or other reason but yes what you are talking about would work if its just for rendering.

7 minutes ago, pattyw said:

I tried a custom ceiling plane but I don't get the desired effect.  While it does draw the ceiling lower, the molding is still at the original height in the space and no automatic walls or anything is being framed in for the sides of the lower ceiling.  Do custom ceiling planes work with a floor above?

I will respond to this as this is the correct method of doing what you want.  your ceiling platform in the defaults is tied to your floor above floor level so if you change one it is going to change the other.  When you want a cavity between the floor above structure and your ceiling you would use a ceiling plane.  

Give more information regarding the "the molding is still at the original height in the space and no automatic walls or anything is being framed in for the sides of the lower ceiling."  a picture or a plan file will help here.  If it is a closet then you will not need to do anything.  If it is a partial room dropped ceiling then you need a non room definition wall at the transition point set to cut by roof above and on a layer that does not show in the plan view.

9 minutes ago, pattyw said:

I had designed my 2nd floor with various closets, etc lined up that I was going to model them as 8.5 or 9' ceilings so that I could have a transverse chase under the main 3rd floor trusses to run hvac.

1.) Best to start your own post as this is a different problem.

2.) use a custom placed ceiling plane in those rooms as that is what it is designed to be used for.

56 minutes ago, Skip_D said:

the program won't allow me to maually extend/alter the the adjacent or below wall to fill in the hole.  There must be something I'm missing.  

If you don’t care about the framing schematics then you can mark that wall below to ballon frame in the structures tab and it should help it as well.

54 minutes ago, Skip_D said:

but in plan, when selected it shows as one continous wall.

That is why it is showing as two in elevation view because it is not sure what to do with the knee wall intersection basically three walls coming together at one point.  You may need to look at the option of build through wall at end or start depending on that knee walls direction.

11 minutes ago, Skip_D said:

Hi All,

I've been tolerating this for a long time since it's a minor annoyance but I'd love to resolve it.

On the gable end of this house, like all others I draw, there is a line that shows that aligns with the interior knee wall, which separates the living area from the attic/eve space.  I don't know why this line appears.  thoughts? 

The plan is uploaded as well,

thanks & Merry Christmas!

Skip

 

734900330_Marcille-Existing.plan 13.8 MB · 1 download

It is the automatic attic wall that is filling in.  Many times it is not sure where to transition it.  You can extend the actual wall you drew to fill in this area to replace the attic wall or in some cases you can edit what is there currently.  You can try to do this by using the "Edit Wall Layer Intersections" tool in some cases to fix this issue.

1 hour ago, marlem2000 said:

After many tries I have built my first door. Well... it's not the best but it's a first step ahead. I've been using views and tools for the first time (the point to point move, the cross section elevation and the back clipped...) so I was not expecting a great result.

Definently, it will be more usefull to build doors than trying to apply moldings on them. Probably I'll have to use these tools for other things so it's better to learn them.

Nice work.  It really helps when you do it like this where the different moldings have individual textures applied when you make them a door so that if you want to paint or apply a different color/texture to them after becoming a symbol they are different.  So great job!

25 minutes ago, Kbird1 said:

 

This would be a good/better option if you have to do a Whole House of doors.....rather than a Single Door or Feature Wall....

 

M.

 

 

Or if you want to show the door open in a rendering or a video.

40 minutes ago, marlem2000 said:

Many thanks for the information and videos. They have been very useful! I'm still a bit lost about how to make the process, specially with doors. I don't know very well where a point starts and where it finishes. I have improved a lot the moldings placing. Anyway they don't fit at 100% yet.

Check out this article instead of trying to apply moldings to a door.  

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01808/creating-a-custom-door.html

1 hour ago, HomeDesign724 said:

Yea it's super impressive! Don't know if my boss wants to pay money for it, though. He basically just wants to know if details can be created through wall/floow etc manipulation and then maybe just zoom in and it'll show in the backclipped section for example.

Well this shows it can be done but if he had his son in law write a custom macro/program to do it with the other software then obviously he realizes it is not something automatic.  But the answer to that exact question is yes it can be done.  I personally dont use his system every time as I do a wide variety of projects that it does not fit 100% of the time in which case I will do a live cross section on the job and detail it out with saved text and notes that I have in my user library to detail it out quickly.

6 minutes ago, HomeDesign724 said:

Typically we design the house first based on the customers specific requests then detail what is necessary in the cross sections/details. Ideally we wouldn't have to go between multiple programs to finish plans.

I highly recommend you take a look at @Renerabbitt's pro template as he has this worked out for you across multiple sections/cad details using custom macros.  It is basically the same idea but you are changing the selection to what you want.  I.E. you specify in one master model what your floor, wall, ceiling, and roof structure and components are and it auto populates across the different cad details.  These can already be sent to your layout template so its a matter of just specifying once and then they are done.

On 12/17/2022 at 7:22 AM, Ihavequestions said:

Hey there, 

 

I'm a new Chief user. I purchased the pro software so that I could design my own house. I have been using an all in one Mac but I am wanting to buy a new desktop PC. Has anyone ever made the switch? Will all my saved files transfer? What is the process for making the switch? 

 

Thanks 

Absolutely no issues with file transfer.  I collaborate with lots of users every day across systems.

I am biased and don’t mind paying for quality tools that keep me running 100% without any downtime at all in my entire time of working 100% with Chief on Mac. Everyone needs to do what works best for them, as far as switching I will just post this link:

24 minutes ago, DRyeHD said:

I'm looking for input on how to best use schedules in my .pln file and on my layout pages.  Per my screenshots, I have created several note schedules.  They are on separate CAD Details in my .pln template.  I have copied and pasted them to my .pln for reference.

 

I try to put the applicable schedule on the layout page that it corresponds to so tradesmen don't have to reference just one notes page.  The preliminary note schedule is used just for preliminary work; likewise, the roof notes on the roof plan layout page, site notes on the site plan layout page, and remodel notes on remodel layout page.  The floor plan layout page usually contains the construction, plumbing, HVAC, cabinet, and trim note schedules.

 

Is there a way to place the note schedules on the applicable pages of my layout template?  This would eliminate opening each CAD Detail and sending it to a layout page each time I work on a new layout for a specific plan.

 

If there is not a way to have the note schedules on my layout template pages (before I save it as a specific customer layout), is there a more efficient way than what I am currently doing?

 

Thanks in advance for your input.

Maybe these pointers will help a litle:

Have a cad detail for each note type saved in your template .plan file.  Send it to your template .layout file.  Have all the views sent to layout and just relink these views (can be done with Tools>Layout>Referenced Plan Files all at once.)  In the schedule you can set the name of the schedule as well as the note types that will report to that particular schedule so you don't have the 1,1, 2,23, etc. of a doubled schedule.  So you could have a Preliminary note schedule, a Framing Note schedule, electrical note schedule, etc.

Chief is an amazing program and you can model an RV or tiny house.  But if you are expecting to have the same ease of adjusting things adding walls/doors/windows as a house would model unless you are using it for just 2d work then chief is probably not the best program for an airstream.  Now if you just want to model a square/rectangular RV it could easily be done but you have to build the custom wall types ceiling types, roof types, etc.

4 hours ago, eubankz said:

Hello and thank you for looking into a simpler solution for my dilemma. It does not seem to be possible to put a transom window above a bay window. Chief creates a gap in the wall where it is impossible to place a window above. I've come up with 2 possible workarounds. #1 Put the transom window on the 2nd floor and adjust the height so it appears on the first floor in 3D. This makes the floor plan confusing and ruins the window schedule. #2. Convert the bay window to a symbol. Place a "pass-through" in the opening. This is what I did in the attached floor plan. The problem here is that once the bay window is a symbol, it cannot be modified later. There must be a simpler way to have a transom window above a bay window. I'm on Chief Architect Premier X14.

That looks like what Chief calls a garden window in its core library.  If that works for you then you should be able to place the transom window fine.

7 hours ago, Kbird1 said:

 

That's what he did , he just accidently called it "Selling" here on the Forum...... a Transfer is selling your license, this he understands.... and he was told he couldn't do it.

 

M.

If you notice in his many postings he specifically says they told him he could not sell the license, when others pointed out he has to transfer it he never answered their questions.  So no, I don’t assume he did.  They are very specific in saying no sales but transfers with approval are able to be performed.  

2 hours ago, lbuttery said:

PLUS 4 RYAN !!!

 

Hmmm, you know how to call CA

 

Ask them - get it straight from the horse's mouth ....

 

Lew

Lew with all due respect.  I am not the one who is transferring or trying to acquire a license.  I was just getting tired of seeing you rant about it when some experienced users made a recommendation of how to confirm with the proper terminology to see if you still may be able to.  Right here in the response from chief they mention that it is possible in certain instances.  Why not try to call in and "transfer" your license to another user instead of selling your license?