KnotSquare

Great idea Gene. Thank you.

I have a house nearly complete and a bit of a complex framing system with plenty of custom and individual members. I realize I will have to redraw each floor truss as when I framed it automatically before it did not do as I planned in the design; by a lot. There are interior cantilevers it could not figure out and some curved framing on that interior balcony. What I cannot find information on is how I can raise up the entire second level without screwing up my custom roof framing. Once I have increased the distance between Level 1 and Level 1 to 18" from 12", I need to work out stairs, etc. The same will occur from Basement to Level 1, but only an increase of 2 inches, so I will likely lower the Basement slab and then thicken the floor. Any ideas on how this can be accomplished without an entire rebuild? I could use tips for both levels if anyone has any as I am just going to experiment at this point. I don't think I can take the entire roof framing system and turn it into a symbol and then unblock it up 6 inches, but that is where I am going to start while I see if anyone has any ideas. It seems Chief is somewhat particular on what can be turned into symbols. SaveAs,SaveAs, SaveAs. Thanks ChiefTalk, Mark

Gorgeous Mark. Just a darn line. Elegant and simple, thank you again. Mark para-CAD, Seeing Rabbit on this video makes it a must watch. He has a lot of tricks. This will be saved and viewed once spring has come and went in Montana. Mark

Hey Mark, Long time. Hope all is well out there. Must be nice to live in a land where you don't have the types of choices we have coming up. I was unaware that I could just add elevation lines that started and stopped within a drive that would have such a decent result. I moved your swale over to where I have the 2, hard to see, yellow lines that run inside corner to the inside corner and adjusted it to be gentle. It does not want to work there at all,let alone allow me to make it smaller. Is this why you placed it on the opposite side of the property> Thanks again, Mark

I got rid of everything but the roof and exterior walls. I left on the CAD overlay of the site on the AUTOCAD SITE layer. Peck Final CDs (Reduced 4-4-24).zip

I always have difficulty with terrain tools in Chief. I want a sloping driveway to the diagonal yellow lines crossing corner to corner in the driveway midway between the Barn and Garage from each location with a SMOOTH swale between the buildings at the 45 degree angle. At this time, while putting the final touches on the house, mainly setting elevations all around at this time in elevation, I am working with a small "Mini Terrain Perimeter" as the property slows this model down significantly. I will likely copy the plan when done and have a separate model with the full terrain. For now, I just want to understand how to get the results I am after. In the plan view included, the Magenta Topo Lines are in an AutoCAD as well as the shaded driveway that extends beyond the Mini Terrain Perimeter. The terrain I am working with shows up as Green in the image. The brown line is in AutoCAD and will be the compacted road base commonly used around this area for the long and circular driveway once I bring in the full property perimeter. I am not so much concerned about this at this time and just want to know how to work out these minor issues for now. I created two shapes and then converted them to Raised Areas, the left side 6" higher than the right side. I do not know how to smooth this out first of all, but secondly, this unexpected result would work well as the swale in the larger model if I could figure out how to smooth it out. I am looking to understand how to connect two raised areas such that then smoothly transition as a slope and how to create a shallower and smoother swale. Lastly, how to transition smoothly into the Garage entrances themselves. Assistance much appreciated. I can see if I can reduce the model down to the basics to attach here if anyone needs a copy. Just let me know. Mark

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, Likely I have to use my topography lines and the property boundary to place the design back on the 20-acre lot as they want to evaluate it against an existing structure I am hoping that someone may know just how to move an entire 3-story, custom framed plan to a site, or more likely, a 20-ac site with well, septic, propane, and a pole barn with driveway from the road to more than 1/3rd into the property to the house plan. If I just have to rebuild the lot around the house, I have that suspicion. I have been setting all the elements I can think of to "Absolute" height as previous attempts have lost entire walls and partial roof areas that were custom framed and my Architectural Block columns showed up at a variety of heights. Should anyone have some pointers, please offer them up. Thank you, Mark

@solver Mark just copied what you had. I was not paying attention. Instead of glass block I need a wall type of framing, drywall inside, sheathing outside as the lower wall. Look like the solution. On to that now. Thanks Eric. You do make us think it through... Mark

What I learned from the negative space experiment using a Wall Material Region... @Mark3D Eric usually does. I did not get what he was trying however. I will try that next if I can figure out what he did.

I use material regions to paint rooms, etc., but have no idea how it will affect the amount of siding and/or exterior insulation is calculated. I will post back here if I learn anything new while trying to figure this out. Mark

@mthd97 Checking out the video link now. What did you mean by. "See if it is possible ti give it a negative value in order for it to deduct from the siding ?" realizing the question marks were likely referencing a concept, not a tried and true method. Negative space or thickness?

@solver Done processing.

@solver YouTube says it will be ready in a bit, maybe 20 minutes. I will repost this link when it is ready as well to embed the video. https://youtu.be/xAwioM77_E0

I will toss together a quick video.

@solver Are you suggesting that I replace the wall area under the gable with glass block? I see where that would help with siding count, but won't it then frame incorrectly as in no stud wall? Mark

In this screen shot, the red and cyan areas should not have siding behind them as they are forward of each wall behind it. The red is out front of the wall at the main roof and the bay is easier to see, but in front of the lower gable wall. It seems that it was the case in the past that exterior materials were trimmed by such constructed objects out front. I do have a special wall type, complying with 2021 IECC standards.

I use these brackets where my projects require that I extend a ledger board out beyond continuous insulation. They can come with or stuffed with insulation in the void minimizing the thermal bridging affect. They provide a good distance of stand off for my typical installations of (20 1.5" layers of mineral wool.

@glennw If you look at Eric's video, you can see there is definitely a glitch. Read my above comment if you are having the same selection issues he and I have on top of the handle issue. Coming from outside objects often gives me trouble too. Mark

@solver Eric, I have the same selection issues, but get the most luck if I approach the object I am trying to grab from inside if its shape, moving towards the corner until I see the square indicator when near the corner I am trying to grab. See if that helps in your selection. X15 does have some new glitches for certain. Thank you for demonstrating that it is not just me. Mark

@glennw If I am getting this suggestion correctly, I think you are speaking of the 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" (damn US measurements!), a single wrap, then a lower base wrap and a cap for a total of 4 pieces. Since one of my main selling points is accurate Material Lists, molding polylines bewilder me when it comes to accuracy of materials. What is your opinion knowing that I take advantage of this added feature?

I have created a post only model for quick download if desired. Below is a video showing the issue I am having. In short, when I used the 3D Solid Specification dbx to alter the height of the solid I created at 120", stretch to fit the model and then changed the outer two elements of each side to 18" high and 1.5" high respectively, I lost the edit handles to be able to reshape the top 2x2 trim cap. WHAT IS NOT IN THE VIDEO is that I copied and moved the full height trim to create the 18" tall and cap trim. Forgot about that until I started writing this up. Appreciate everyone and justPost at Rear Patio.zip shared out a new model of MTW Deck Brackets that I made for all to use in Symbols and Content named "MTW Deck Bracket.calibz". @Renerabbitt Rene Rabbitt offered me a link to Discord to place a previous model I wanted to share of a kick light for stairs. I am not a gamer and could not find my way around. Please let me know if this other method of sharing creations is not appropriate, but it is loaded as noted above. https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=94144&key=7a4030819579b1dd0345e7b082835f8f

MTW Deck Brackets (540) 334-4294 www.metwood.com 3,250 bls per bracket For dimensions and structural information: https://www.metwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SDDocument_CCRR0261.pdf General Flyer: https://www.metwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/DECK-BRACKET-FLYER.pdf MTW Deck Bracket.calibz

If I need a little more direction, email me at mark@knottystudios.com and I will give you my cell number. Mark

Rene, May need assistance. I installed discord on my phone years ago to watch my son play games. I know nothing about it. Glad to though. I am putting it out there so people can use it. Mark

JIK, I should state that I included the .calibz file I created if anyone needs a stair light. That may not have been obvious.