HumbleChief

This might be the way you want to frame a trussed floor with a parapet wall. Check the end of the video for some fun that I'll try and resolve.

Balloon framing - or not.

Alan, is this real world construction you're talking about?

Yeah, haven't used that tool for 10 years since I discovered the 3 key. Thanks, I'll remember that next time so as not to distract from the purpose of the video.

I think a roof will serve you better. Here's a brief video outlining Chief's roof behavior.

I am so over trying to solve problems like this in Chief. They are constant and so hard to figure out. I just drag walls around and place p-line solids to get the look I need. I know, I know, I should try and get the model perfect etc. etc. but I just don't have the time to fix these idiosyncrasies within Chief and tired of trying.

Nice Charlie. Don't know how you did it.

Just digging out from just over 20 jobs on my desk. Took an afternoon off the other day for the first time in a couple months. Phone still rings off the hook and had to turn down a couple jobs I couldn't fit in. Too busy is not good and I've been too busy. I'm learning to pace myself and let my clients know they have to wait a bit before I can get to them. After going through what we all went through not that long ago it's very hard to turn work down but sometimes it's the smartest thing to do.

Agreed, there's way too many of these kinds of tools that force users, who are not experts, to waste time looking for those tools in very unexpected places. I've spent many many hours learning those hidden tool locations, which of course is part of learning any software program, but when rotating an object, having something like a graphical protractor is so much easier to locate, understand, and grasp its function. Once someone learns the double click method in Chief it's relatively easy but why so arcane and unusual a tool and location? Maybe completely OT but I just went through this again the other day with the sun angle tool. Sheesh. I opened the dialog box and the sun angle was set to -55 degrees and I wanted the sun to be more overhead. So I thought to myself the 90 degrees must be directly overhead but no it's not. I had to look in the help files to learn that directly overhead is -90 degrees which makes perfect sense to a programmer, somewhere, but to the user it's gobbledy-goook. Why isn't there a graphical representation of the sun we can move? Who can know these things without years of experience? Sigh. So frustrating, and for new users who have to ask how to simply rotate a p-line how can they or anyone else be expected to know these secret handshakes? Chief is just not user friendly in so many ways.

To me it's hard to argue that one method is 'simpler' than the other. What's simpler than double clicking an icon? Or using the transform replicate tool? They are both 'simple' if you understand the tools. The problem to me is that Chief can hide its tools within arcane, secret, and unexpected locations which is a problem the program presents at too many opportunities. The fact you had to ask here on the forum in order to access this hard to access, and badly documented feature makes the (your) point. I only knew about it from a post here as well. Glad you got it worked out.

Johnny, double click the make parallel tool. Select 'rotate entire poly line'. Agreed tools should be more intuitive and perhaps more standard in their application. You can also use the transform/replicate tool and it will rotate the entire p-line to any angle you choose among other actions within the same tool..

I charge the client and the truss company uses the money as a deposit towards the purchase. I use trusses on almost every job.

Didn't know about the property characteristics, thanks for the tip.

You were "brought over from DataQuick", which explains the plan you were grandfathered. I talked to a company rep today and asked about all their plans. There is nothing currently offered that matches the service you have. Great service me thinks but not worth $100 a month to me.

So weird how different people experience different sites differently. I enter the APN, buy the parcel map for $2.61 and download the Tiff file. Takes 3 - 4 minutes total. Scott, you enter the APN, pay $5.00, maybe get it mailed to you, maybe can view it, and give up. When Netronline fails, and it always did for me, give me call I'll walk you through it.

Just got off the phone with Patrick from Core Logic. The cheapest plan they had (today) was $100/month and the cost of each download would be deducted from that monthly charge. Perhaps you (Perry) signed up before they went to a monthly charge? Reports looked very nice and complete but $100 a month is too much for the amount of reports I'd need.

The county parcel map search site is there for what you want to do - get parcel maps. Very easy. Perry, I tried to get on the Core Logic Site and have a request to sign up but don't know any details yet. Looks like a pay site with a monthly fee? Some times I need more info than Zillow (great for year built) Google and the County site and it would be great to have access to more info like Core Logic. I'll wait till they get back to me about signing up.

Would you mind letting us know what you end up using? Thanks.

Try the county Scott. Used Netronline for a long time then it just quit giving me info. When using the County use ONLY the APN. If you HAVE to use the address just put in number and street, maybe the St. Dr. Ave. etc. If you put in all the info in the address field like 123 Any Street, Any Town, ZIP it will get you nothing. https://arcc.sdcounty.ca.gov/Pages/parcelmaps.aspx Cost $2 a page plus $.61 processing but it's good if you know the APN. I use Google Earth pro for APN's or call the county in a pinch if that doesn't work.

Patterns show in Vector view and textures show in Standard and Ray trace views. Change the spec. that effects the view you are wanting to change.

http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00683/

Thanks for following up - keep us posted on problems if/when they arise.

I hope we can agree there's no right way to do this. I'm an experimenter and like to see what the problems really are before trying to solve them, others are more comfortable just doing the plan over - pick your poison. Curious about the outcome. Here's an idea - post the old plan. Would LOVE to see how the older plan behaves in X7.

Very helpful Scott. Never used those labels before. Would love to have the text relocate and keep the offset, and having a leader line would be epic.

Nice Yusuf - very ambitious. I have the same question as Perry.