HumbleChief

Auto build roofs, set your hips and gables, and the 3rd floor trusses work. Dunno why they didn't before...

I drew 4 walls off to the side on floor 2 and drew roof planes. Trusses framed fine...

Interesting how some eyes see grooves and others see ridges as the shadows mess with our perceptions.

https://www.sketchuptextureclub.com/textures/architecture/roofings/metal-roofs

+1

Tried it. Get it. Love it. GREAT tip. Thanks

Glenn, It seems like your technique assumes the arc is drawn off the corner of the house as the center of the arc's radius, which is rarely the case. With Angle snaps turned off and perpendicular snaps turned on you can draw a point to point dim from the corner of a building to any size radius and center location arc and snap that dim. to perpendicular.

A bit confused. It only takes one simple step with perp snaps turned on and angle snaps turned off. Step 1 - draw a line from the corner of the building to the PL and it will snap perp to the line. I must be really bad at explaining things...best of luck.

Is there a ceiling on that porch? Does the line move if you raise the ceiling?

Never tried a negative number Joe - nice.

It sounds like the fascia height of the main roof @ 5:12, after it's pulled back to the exterior wall and the ridge height of the porch roof (locked at 2.5:12) would be the same height. Those heights can be set in each roof's dbx. Or if you want the ridge of the porch to join the fascia of the main roof, just set those two heights the same, locking each pitch as you do so. Oh and you can draw the porch roof anywhere you want, just set the correct heights. EDIT: Set the porch ridge height 1/2" lower than the main roof's fascia height, probably good reason for this but play around with those dbx's and you'll learn a bunch about Chief's roofs.

Seems to behave much better with Angle Snaps off, then you can snap to perp from any corner to any arc, with no additional steps, but will keep your tip in mind if needed.

It really just depends on how much you'll use Chief in your business. Huge leaps in productivity since X8 but if you're only designing a couple houses a year then it's a pretty big bite of your operating expenses. If you're serious about getting a lot design done in a given year then the price is more than reasonable IMO.

So I'm curious, "Is Buying A Different Program The Best Way To Draw Dormers?" Just askin'...

Yeah no sweat, I'm learning that most people don't watch the vids and as I posted above I've struggled with Perp dims for the longest time, especially on plot plans so the exercise really helped me out. Genuinely did not know they worked the way they do until I started messing about this morning.

Actually learned most of those tools/methods this morning by doing the vids as the whole challenge posted by the Diane/OP has snowed me for years. Glad it helps and glad to learn new tools in Chief.

Looks like it will snap perp to the mid point or end (with mid point/end snaps turned on of course) but no where else along a curve. You can snap perp from a point to the curve as the vid above shows which should work in most cases.

...and Yes Chief will snap perp to a curve consistently with all the other tools and snaps. Never knew that...

It only appears when you have something selected that can be set to perp or parallel otherwise it's not there. Does that help?

Kelly, did you watch the video? I've struggled with this for years and I just learned a bunch about how perp snaps work and it looks like, with Angle Snaps turned off, dim lines will snap perp to another line if perp snaps are turned on. Never knew that and always followed your steps above but was never really happy with the results.

The perp and parallel tool will also set dimension lines to be perp to a line. Select the dim line, click on the tool then select the other line and your dim line will be perp to the selected line. The curved PL line will have to be faked in as close to perp. as you can. EDIT: Perp snap actually seems work OK. Re: the video, not sure Chief will find the corner of the house as easily as it find the corner of the CAD line (EDIT: turns out it does) but you can figure out how to make that work I'm sure. ALSO make sure Angle Snaps are turned OFF.

The only way perp snaps works is to follow the help file instructions precisely but I think the perp and parallel tool will work better for your purposes. Have you used it? It will set any line perp or parallel to any other line. Can you post a pic of what you are trying to accomplish?

...or wherever you have your tool bars set up. My tool bars are on the side and drew a red box around the tool icon in pic above.

Diane, Check the help files, it might help, but I've always had trouble getting perp lines to draw but probably user error on my part... There's also a perp and parallel tool that will position lines perp or parallel to another, perhaps that will work better?

Select a room and a new tool will appear in the tool bar, looks like the regular Atuo Dim tool only white.