paccoastJeff

After trying different ways, I found a way that works, and the measurements come out precise. I'll post it here in case someone else is having trouble in the future and finds this. I had a lot to do a plot plan for that had a radius at the front, and at the rear, but this should work for any number of radius. Instead of doing as the tutorial suggests, and placing input points and then drawing a line between them with angle snaps turned off, use CAD>Lines>Input Line and use the chord measurement for the length, and the quadrant bearing info. Do that for each radius until the lot is done/closed. Go back and select each line that should be a radius and open it. Select the make arc radio button. If you need to change the curve of the arc from out to in, or vice versa, use the triangle adjustment handle to pull it into the proper direction. With the line selected be sure to select the lock chord box. Enter the radius and select okay. Doing it that way all of my measurements remained precisely as they should. When drawing a line between points, even locking the chord, I had some odd changes. This way seems faster anyway. Hope that may help someone one day.

The instructions in the current tutorial guide for X11d say to say a radius on a lot line until last, then draw a straight line, use the change to arc tool, and change the radius properties to match, then remove the temporary handles. That works great when there is only one radius on a lot. What if there are more than one? Enter the chord length of the first one, and go back later and change it to an arc and set the specific parameters? I'm trying to wrap my head around if using the chord length and chord direction (bearing) will place the mark in the precise location? Intuitively it seems like it should?

It's great now. The only way I could make that wall taller after the fact was to go to the 3D view and drag it up. The problem I had once I created a room out of the patio was the default ceiling height was for 9' plate height, not 11', and I hadn't changed it. Once I changed that and generated a roof it was great. Next time I draw something similar I will define the patio as a room first, set the ceiling height, and the affected walls should adjust on their own, right? That makes more sense. Thanks again.

I actually live in a version of that plan on a daylight basement. Here is an actual pic.

Where you show a gable in that drawing is actually a hip on the plan we build, but the lower portion comes down adjacent to the tall wall, sort of like you have it drawn, and the door to get onto the patio is in that taller wall.

Thanks for the help, it is genuinely appreciated. I mostly just want the elevation drawings to look right when I create the construction drawings.

I'm not sure what you mean by manually framing? That section of wall is always balloon framed. We have built a version of this plan a lot. This is a plan, that due to the plate height being over 10', we have engineered each time for the shear walls and such. The taller part of the wall is only visible on the patio. It's a plan that we build on a lot of view properties. There are transom windows above the windows in the living areas, so there is a lot of glass on the view side, which is also where the patio is. The patio is at 11' to facilitate the size and number of windows. Making those 2 6' walls at 11' works the best. We have looked at doing the beams other ways, but aesthetically and for framing an expansive view, it works out best for us this way. ON EDIT: I just noticed I haven't placed the 4020 transom windows above the 4050 windows and the sliding glass door yet.

I figured it out. The ceiling in the patio "room" was too low. I set it to the height of the adjacent walls and beams and it generated the roof fine.

I used the function to define a room area, and when I click in the area the patio shades like a room. I open it up and designate it as a patio. I've clicked on each of the beams and the height of the beams matches the adjacent walls. When I had it generate a roof it placed the plane of the roof just under the beams. The plan I am modifying is one we build a lot, but we are making some small changes to the plan we already own. We sell 10+ of this floor plan each year. To answer your question about why one wall solver, it is a plan with a 32' wide by 12' deep covered porch. The living area behind the patio has 11' ceilings. The patio has a 11' ceiling. On either side of the patio there are two bedrooms that open onto the patio. Those bedrooms have 9' ceilings, but there is a 6' wall of each of those bedrooms that forms the rear corners of the patio. That 6' wall is where a glulam gets attached at each side that is 6' long, and then there is a 33' glulam running the other way. I'll attach a screen shot of the area. It's probably easier to see than explain. That 6' wall on each side of the patio needs to be 133 1/8", the rest of the bedroom walls in each of those two rooms is 109 1/8". The two 6' walls with the exterior doors in them are the ones that need to be taller.

Thanks. I hadn't thought about designating the covered patio area as a room. I will have to try the various ways to accomplish that. I need to get it figured out as we have a lot of plans with large covered patio's. I will say that so far it seems as though Softplan had more "smart" object alignment. I understand there is a new alignment tool or two in 12. I obviously need to figure them out.

To change the height of only one wall in a room, is going to 3D view as it says in the documentation really the only way to do it? Select the wall and drag to resize. That isn't a horrible solution, but why doesn't the wall being resized snap to the height of an adjacent wall when you get close? It seems difficult at best to get them aligned perfectly. I'm having a similar problem drawing posts with beams that serve to support trusses over an attached patio. I am drawing them as roof beams with posts. The posts won't snap to line up with a side of a wall I want them to align with. I have to turn off the grid snap to get them placed precisely. Once I have the 3.5" posts placed, the 3.5" beam being placed to rest on the posts don't snap to align with the post either. I have to make sure snap is off and place them that way. Is that correct, or is there something n the documentation I am missing? Also, when I look at the roof framing view, the beams I have placed show up. When I open each beam the top height matches the height of the adjacent walls. When I generate a roof it doesn't cover the beam area though. If I select the roof and try to drag it over the beam area, the plane of the roof continues as it was drawn and it just goes under the beams. I assumed since the beams show up in the roof framing view, and are placed at the right height, that a generated roof should cover it? What am I missing?

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Previous Softplan user. I tried a trial version of Chief for a week, and spent the week also checking out quite a few of the excellent video's and reading through the tutorial guide and users reference guide. During that time I had one technical question that I submitted via email. I received a quick, very thorough reply. The quick, helpful reply put it over the top for me, and I rented the full version and plan to use it for a couple months prior to purchasing. Yesterday I had a question on properly importing additional library catalogs. I figured I would try out the phone support. I talked with Nigel, who was extremely helpful and walked me right through the process, and told me they get quite a few calls about it. Even more impressed than I was previously. If anyone is on the fence and reading this, if you are looking for great design software with rich feature sets, backed up by excellent customer support, this is an easy recommendation. The abundance of helpful, quality video's by Chief and others, and the user documentation, are the best I have seen. This forum is obviously a great resource as well.

Thanks for the help, it is genuinely appreciated. I was able to accomplish it by changing the size from 6" plan size to 2". I need to experiment with text more. As much as I have clicked on the text I haven't seen anything that looks like a rotation handle, but I've obviously missed it. I've been able to enter -90 to get it to rotate to the right like I wanted.

I have X11 and X12, currently using X12. Will add that to my signature.