ValleyGuy

Just like @joey_martinsaid, it is possible. When using the double roof planes you may want to double the roof material and adjust it on the smaller roof plane to match better on the larger roof plane. It does section out nicely.

This is very similar and reminded me of when I do walk-out basements. Putting the 'basement' on the 1st level, and the main floor as the 2nd level messes with a few of the layer lines displayed (basement vs foundation), so it is also nice piece of mind to just assign the appropriate layer set per floor. Now if Chief would just allow us to maintain the main level as 'absolute' and create negative floor levels to handle everything below the main level and above the foundation, then we would be on to something! But that is for a different thread. Hahaha, I hear you..... I had Apple Intel when X17 came out and couldn't update from X16. I now have Apple M-series and have yet to pull the trigger on X17..... soon though, before X18 comes out.

Reference display was always a fight, I like just setting it up and leaving it attached to a specific SPV / floor level - I only have to switch it on/off now. Sometimes items are hi-lighted in a different colour, different line colours to match materials better. I don't always like having the imported pictures follow me around from floor to floor. In a SPV going to the layout I will sometimes turn off the temporary dims and use a colour like green to measure things, I can use the same green dim on all three floors, but only have it show up on one floor in the layout if I need it. Probably not real deal breakers if I didn't set up the six different floor to floor layer sets, but nice little creature comforts for a little but of work.

This is very similar to how I've set mine up too. It works well for me. Text and CAD were the thorns for me. In addition to Text and Notes, I have CAD, Call Outs, and Dimensions for each saved plan view 'group'. I share the Text, CAD, Notes, Call Outs, and Dimension layers between the group of similar SPV's. Groups would be something like Roof Main Floor and Roof 2nd Floor - they both have their own separate layer sets and can toggle on / off as needed, but retain consistency sized Text, Line Weights, etc. No need to make text for both Roof SPV's, and no stray text from the working copy showing up on the SPV going to the layout because the working copy has its own. I tend to not Floor Up and Down with this system as the layer sets don't change with the up/dn arrows. I Use the Saved Plan View tool the navigate floor levels.

Walls have interior and exterior sides. This is needed to place headers, wall blocking, viewing the framing, among other things, such as different wall layers (an example might be cement board, membrane and tile interior layers with drywall and paint for exterior layers). You can draw walls in any direction and are still able to change the interior / exterior sides using the 'Reverse Layers' tool. This tool is in the toolbar that appears when an item is selected. Walls designate the exterior side with a selected edge handle. You may also want to open up your wall and under the Wall Types > Define > Wall Properties, Toggle on the Partition Wall. This will only butt a bisecting wall to another wall.

I use a Logitech roller mouse on the right hand. A 3D Enterprise plus a Keychron Q0 Max programable number pad on the left hand. I like the roller mouse a lot and probably will never go back to shoving a mouse around. No mouse pad, small desk real estate foot print. Very comfortable on the wrist. The 3D Enterprise has well over 250 tools / library items on it - love it. The 3D mouse really shines with customer virtual walk throughs. It does have a couple of things that doesn't play nice with Apple's OS. It would probably be more efficient if Apple would allow the 8-tool radial dial instead of only 4, but not a deal breaker. My Keychron number pad has over 100 plus different things on it and almost eliminates using any of the keys on the keyboard, other than typing out sentences. Every key is programmable (keystroke / macros) so the four layers (x26 buttons) are enhanced further by programming the shift and option keys into the mix. The number pad doesn't have an on-screen radial dial view of all the hot keys, but a paper Rosetta Stone pinned to the wall provides a quick reference. I purchased shorter keys caps for comfort and to provide very good visual identifiers. Having almost all of the keyboard keys in a compact unit right beside the Enterprise is great. No more reaching to the middle for the keyboard. So far, I am really liking this addition.

After framing for many years, I can't ever remember wanting to use the center of an exterior wall to measure from. Having said that, I am guessing that the "center points on the exterior" would possibly mean the centers of openings??? One point of grief I had when framing was having too many fragments in a dimension line. The logistics of framing are to build the exterior and bearing walls first, and then come back later after the roof is built for the non-bearing interior walls. I hated having to add up two or three closet walls and a bathroom wall to place the next window opening. Likewise, on the back frame; I already had the window openings framed, why do I need to add up those fragments to get to the interior wall measurement? I find adding unnecessary fragment measurements a waste of time and more room to make an error. I decided to dimension my plans from a framer's perspective. Here is how I addressed the issue of having clear framing measurements without too much overlap. I set up my Floor Plan Dimensioned saved plan views to use RED for all exterior wall framing and Blue for all interior wall framing - usually larger text for dimension lines outside the building envelope, and smaller text for interior dimension lines. This method helps to keep more dimension lines outside of the busy building area. I manually use Orange for things like deck framing. Each specific dimension uses it's own defaults. My building officials do not mind multi coloured plans so this works well in my area. I'm not sure how well you know Chief, so my apologies if you don't need the recipe... 1) I made separate layer lines in the Layer Set. Each Dimension Line has it's own text line as well (with it's own size, colour, line thickness). Some examples are: Red, Blue Outside, Blue Inside, Orange, Gray, Green, ... I made specific dimension lines for all of the specific Layer Sets as I thought necessary. 2) Set the Dimension Defaults (little wrench icon) for each. This is where you choose all the things that you want the dimension line to locate (and not locate), text to use, line colour/size, format, arrow, extension length, etc... The Auto Locate makes magic appear with one click - powerful time saving tool ! 3) Toggle on / off the layer lines in the specific Layer Sets. Example: only toggle on the Floor Plan Dimension lines in the Floor Plan Dimensioned Layer Set. This will stop any unwanted stray dimensions from appearing in the layout. Example: If I want to measure something on my Working Plan saved plan view, they will not show up on my Main Floor Plan Dimensioned saved plan view that gets sent to the layout. 4) In the Project Browser, for each Saved Plan View, right click to Edit the Selected Defaults to use for that specific Layer Set, Dimensions, Text, etc. This will automatically attach one specific Dimension to that chosen Saved Plan View. I have the Active Dimension Default Control tool on my tool bar to quickly change between the different dimensions - this allows me to stay on the Main Floor saved plan view and use the Red Auto or Blue Interior or Manual Orange dimensions. It really is supper fast to change back and forth. I've included a foundation plan with the dimensions in RED and the diagonal dimensions in BLUE. I picked this Main Floor Plan because it is fairly busy with information but still shows the framing dimension information in a manor that is very useful in a clear and easy way to read. Making plans easy to use for the trades has proven to be a fantastic marketing tool. Hope this helps

@LegacyChief I'm not sure if presentation is a factor, but you can use 3D solids nicely in a schedule too. It's not automatic (polyline method), but visually effective, and only takes a couple more minutes to turn the polylines into solids. It kind of combined three schedules (the window / door schedule, the fenestration schedule, and the exterior finish area schedule) into more clear and elevation specific information tables.

It saves the standard setting for the length of that session. When I exit Chief and then relaunch later, it defaults back to Ray Trace.

I updated my computer, which now supports Ray Tracing, and now my library preview wants to default to Ray Trace. I didn't even know that this was an option offered. Is this a bug or is there a way to have it default back to standard?

I feel your pain, I lightened up the line thicknesses and made the floor joist fill colour more transparent, while making the bearing beam label text dark and bold. It's not ideal but it got me closer to desired end result. I also make the beam appear 'different' from a solid item like a wall - dashed lines with white fill. Hope this helps until CA makes it change.

ooops ! Sorry @JKEdmo, I was trying to quote you and accidentally hit the solution button instead. ... still looking for a solution.

They aren't actually walls. They are 3D solids with texture at 12" thick. I used %volume% in the custom object field to give me the measurement, then told the schedule number formatting to use ft2. Length (ft) x Width (ft) x 1 ft will be the same measurement; volume or area.

Thanks Jim, this is a custom schedule and yes there is the interior and exterior options as well as just elevation in X16. Int & ext work for the windows and doors only it seems. The 3D elevation option shows a 2D straight on view of all objects. I really like the angled 3D look.

The schedule 3D picture is in need of reversing, is this possible? I can't seem to figure out how it's done.