WendyatArtform

If I can't find a Chief native backup generator symbol, am I missing something? If there is one, can somebody point me to it por favor?

Joe has given you the best answer I know of. For those who don't know this - mbniagra is describing something very close to the traditional way Architect's number drawings. At least it was when I came up through the ranks - used at many different offices. It may even be in some AIA standard somewhere. "A" sheets are architectural. "M" sheets are mechanical. "S" are structural, and so on. And I used to use a system where I took it a step further. My front spec sheets were always A.1.something, floor plans A.2.something. My elevations were A.3.1, A.3.2, etc. The reason this is not some very bad idea , is that it takes a big bite out of any renumbering & re-keying woes. If you find late in the game that you have to add a detail sheet, you don't have to renumber your structural sheets, and chase down all the reference keys. So - my two cents is that the only thing ever truly confusing is if the keys are wrong. You put a page list on the first page and key correctly - done and dusted. Just my two cents!

It's in library as "cellar door"

First question is what do you mean by "bulkhead"? In Canada it's that framed down thing over your kitchen cabinets. Here in New England it's your basement entry. Which are you doing? PS - this may be what the "semantics" png has in it - but for me that PNG opens to a black blank thing....

Huh! I just learnt me something! thanks

iow, you just import first - then scale.

I don't see an attachment, but that's ok - not a hard question. When importing either image or PDF: First, find a place on your PDF or Image that has a known dimension that you can identify clearly - the longer the better. Draw a cad line over that - carefully matching start and end. Open the cad line to get it's length. To see in easily used format - go to Number Format in lower left of Cad lines dbx and change to decimal feet. Put that decimal feet number on your clipboard (highlight, Ctrl C). Last - select your Image or PDF and that cad line both, Transform Replicate - and in the Scale box put your Desired Distance / Current. ie, if line is currently 24.041667' and it should be 12' - you plut 12/24.041667 in that box. Chief will do the math. (Hint - for some reason it's going all kattywonkus if you leave the feet symbol in! Don't know why)

Joe Macro has spoken. Dum Dum, Dum Dum. Duuummmm - (mic drop)

Ha! And - Thanks. Miss Prissy Pants Out.

I still remember when I first started. If you're new to Chief, and you're trying to do things that aren't just a ranch or colonial, you run into "how do I..." pretty quickly. Even a fairly straightforward project can have you need to know something that's not obvious - like a chimney. And even figuring out the words to use to find an answer, whether it's herein this forum or in Help, can be a challenge. Remember your first "real" project when your head was pretty much ready to explode as you learned 8 gazillion new things at once. You post a question, you go back to pounding furiously on your keyboard while you pray for an answer. You get an email saying someone has answered. You say "yippee" - stop what you're doing to come here - to be not only disappointed, but to have another 15 minutes of precious time under deadline slip by. So I do think gumming up simple questions with anything except a legitimate attempt at an answer is not the benign use of this space people sometimes think. So - my suggestions: If a question triggers a "wish list" item, put your suggestion where it belongs - in that forum. Then put a short note in the original post linking to that. That way some poor newbie isn't dragged into a long debate. Today's newbie is tomorrow's expert. Let them be new for a few minutes! Posts that simply tell them there are many prior posts are not necessarily helpful. OK sometimes a newbie needs to learn how to use the forum. But try to remember back to when it was just plain overwhelming and be sure that's the best answer. Sometimes finding the best of prior advice and referencing that would be better. Resist the urge to argue. A very wise man once wrote to me, and this is near a direct quote "you don't have to show up to every fight to which you are invited" (David Potter, sometime around 2007? It truly is an option to just ignore something you wish someone had not posted.

OK - my last 2 cents here: About the topic: One last tip - if you visually make a chimney using polyline solids (I usually work in elevation, to get the right offsets...) - you can also make sure the framing is correct by drawing a rectangle for the hole in the floor, select it - Convert Polyline (tool will show up at bottom of screen) and have it be Hole in Floor or Hole in Ceiling as needed. About Suggestions, general etiquette etc: I'm going to start a new thread purely on that topic.

ok, try to do a macro!!! Or try to get Joe to do a macro....

Also - Google Warehouse. Watch your face count, but most stuff comes in pretty good.

What they said. Only possible causes: Duplicate door schedule. Additional windows. It's one or the other - nothing else will do that. In addition to looking for transoms, with window tool active, marquee select at a place where you think two or more windows, and look at lower left of screen. It will tell you how many actually selected (only works with multiple, not one). I've seen copy-paste operations go weirdly off the rails! Usually a PICNIC, but still. Oops - I mean Doors - but all same concepts. And since doors rarely have stacked components, like windows, my money is on some duplicate schedule hiding somewhere.

If you mean the kind of calculation for zoning and building code "Height, Building: The vertical distance from grade plane to the average height of the highest roof surface" - we just strike a cad line in an elevation view and dimension it that way. A cad line will snap to "Mid" at the top of that wall. Be aware that some code officials want it at the midpoint from ridge to face of wall, not to eave. So documenting in section is going to give you a level of clarity that avoids future issues. In this one it was to eaves, so I didn't dimension to eave and ridge. Code officers that want it at face of framing will require those additional dimensions. And no - there is no automatic way. And yes you could do a macro, but this is faster. Sometimes you'll spend more time doing all the setup for the "easy" way than if you just did the Quick and Dirty!!!

Jonathan / Riverroad, If you drew your foundation first, I assume that means you drew it on Chief's First Floor? If so, you don't have to start over. Watch Chief's videos to learn how to create floors. Combine that with the use of Copy and Paste/Hold Position and you can transport everything you drew as foundation on the first floor to Chief's basement, and so forth with other floors.

And if you didn't find that setting ahead, here's where you can change it after the fact - the dbx for individual roof planes. And - marquee select does work on roofs, to change many at once. Or - Ha! Just tried it and changes via General Plan Defaults does change all. "who knew?" Hmmm - I think Dermot knew.

We keep our standard cad details in a separate plan file, along with anything else that's standard across plans: cad details legends standard long column notes, the kind that don't have arrows and don't point to a specific point in the plan We call it "commons". Each CD layout references that plan file as well as the project plan file. We work on a network with multiple seats. To deal with any changes, we version it - any change = new version number. Any time we need a new cad detail for a new condition, 90% of the time it goes in Commons. Only very very very project specific ones go in the project plan file. To deal with old files, (ie do we want the new commons or the one from when it was issued): Each staff member puts a copy of the Commons on their C drive, current version only. If you open an older file it will then say it can't find the Commons. That alerts to make a decision about accessing the Commons that was current, or accessing the new one. If you choose this route, just rename the old file (like put "old" at the end of the name!) It takes a little bit of management. But the benefit is that if you catch an error or make an improvement, you're not constantly chasing down the same change if you repurpose a legacy design. And it keeps file size smaller. The updating old had us kinda sorta losing our minds with the "didn't I already fix that!". And my "kinda sorta" I mean definitely irrevocably. ;-) __________________________________ But..... I suspect this has very little effect on performance. One of the Chief Dudes will correct me if I'm mistaken, but I don't think this stuff has much impact on performance. We see a slow down when it's figuring a lot of 3D faces, especially if you have a lot of views open. I'll see a slowdown in plan view if even one 3D view is open on a very large model. If the slowdown started with X9, I'd be checking video card drivers first (make sure have current) and then give tech support a call.

Big Sigh. Now I'm remembering why I stopped participating on Chieftalk! Here we have a Q&A post getting sidetracked into first a feature request, and then an argument about it. Riverroad Jonathan, How ya' doin'? Did you get your chimney built? I don't know how new you are - do you know how to do a polyline solid? If you do it as a "room", do you know how to copy and paste floor to floor? And/or did you find the post Mick refers to?

Or - cheat like heck and make it out of a polyline solid.

Well, a chimney is actually a very small "open to below" room. So, you can make it out of appropriate wall types (like CMU with brick exterior...). Make that "room" have no roof on the top floor, and adjust ceiling to have it be correct height relative to your roof.

and one more thought Allowing use in Home Designer, even with locked layers, does not preclude someone using that file fully in Chief Architect. There is no way to lock it against any and all use in Chief Architect Pro. None. Feature Request.... !!!

Oh - and infringement fee (or whatever you call it) should be per unauthorized use. If someone likes your new home design and uses it 10 times a new subdivision, the cost of doing the wrong thing can't be a bargain compared to doing the right thing!!!

I never send my chief files, period. But my business is well developed in a unique niche in an active market. So I can get away with saying "no". Not everyone is able to say "no" without losing business. So... Agreement should have input from an attorney that does IP (Intellectual Property). Starting with someone else's wording is fine to get you started. But even though copyright law is federal, other aspects will be state by state. Even though I don't share Chief files, our agreements do include copyright (as yours should, even without sending file - people can and do steal from a PDF): we list the amount they will pay if they violate the agreement - as $x total or $x per square foot under roof, whichever is greater. And because of state law variations, talk about how that's word - penalty, fee, damages - that's why you need an attorney, it matters. The reason my attorney added this is that copyright law is very powerful, but costs a LOT of money to access. A copyright lawsuit will run $35k or more if it goes to trial. we make it clear that changes to the design, even changes they think are extensive, do not remove it from our copyright - and reference the Derivative Works portion of the copyright law. When clients have a legitimate need for cad files, we export exactly what's needed as dwg, and we send that directly to another licensed professional (usually a civil engineer or a sprinkler engineer) - not the the client, not to the builder.

yes. Explode the dormer and designate the wall sections that you don't want to show in plan view as "attic". that will put them on your Walls, Attic layer, which most people turn off. If you don't want that layer turned off, make your own additional layer, and turn that off.