HumbleChief

Doesn't the truss company provide all needed details and connectors for any condition specified?

That STC bracket is actually required by (some?) plan checkers in my city/county of San Diego. Oh yeah and also requires a gap between top plate and bottom chord.

Only ever use this one for interior non-bearing walls. Never have had to spec an exterior bearing wall truss connection. I assume that's within the truss calcs/specs. Also haven't come across an interior shear wall truss connection in forever but do not know how that shear would be transferred to the roof diaphragm. https://www.strongtie.com/trussclips_platedtrussconnectors/tc_roofclips/p/stc.stct.dtc

If I remember correctly we will receive an invite to GoToMeeting via e-mail from you Scott? Hope I'm not the only one who doesn't remember the process exactly and Thanks in advance...

To add a simple distinction between the informative replies above and your original question the only different plans you will have to create (if you are doing a remodel) is an as-built or existing plan and a proposed plan. Chief does not yet have the ability to combine both existing and proposed plans in one plan file. If your existing plan is done well and complete you can simply 'save as' your new proposed plan and make appropriate changes to your design. After you create each of these separate plans you can use different Layer and Anno Sets and Plan Views to show all of the different disciplines (electrical; foundation; framing; elevations) - in each single plan. This is not a simple paradigm to grasp if you are not familiar with Chief but there are many videos and knowledge base articles explaining the power of Chief is this regard. You do not have to use Chief how it was intended to be used but it can be pretty powerful if you do. Do some more research in to how Chief is supposed to work and you will be rewarded.

Probably no help for the experts but a good reminder for us mortals...

Yes as I thought - the XOR check box can really screw up your ref set displays. I think it is a crime to have a check box in a user interface that references such an arcane engineering term but putting difficult to understand terms in the user interface is something that Chief is very good at. I always just thrashed through those boxes until I got the display I wanted. Now with Plan Views you can set up everything once and forget it. The video below might be of some use.

Great tip Joe. AND you check/uncheck those crazy boxes in the way that really works for your plan view and ref set. Nice.

Reference layers are pretty simple and only requires the layer you specify to show on the reference layer set. I sometimes hit a combination of the check boxes attached (have no idea what they mean) and it shows various parts of layers. Of course best to post your plan as always.

Interesting - I wonder if that's factor of OneDrive or a Chief setup. I moved my library/user library to the cloud/DropBox and see just the slightest slow down accessing it - maybe 2 seconds? Noticeable but not a deal breaker.. 20 minutes? Maybe tech can help with that - doesn't seem right.

I started with GD, and still use it with a colleague/builder but had some weird synching problems that I couldn't deal with so I started using DropBox for my files and haven't looked back. Both GD and DB use the same strategy for file sharing/storing and act like a local drive it you choose but I prefer DropBox. I use DropBox for ALL my file which I access from a laptop and 2 other desktops. NICE. I also backup everything with Carbonite which has saved me twice which may not see like a lot but those 2 files retrieved made the cost way worth it.

I don't get a chance to post much as am too busy to deal with help questions but am continually lurking and gaining knowledge every day from all the great help offered here on the forum and just wanted to say thanks...it matters.

There's a discussion re: larger 4K monitors in the chatroom that may help...

I have 3 monitors and find that's a pretty good combo and not over kill at all.

True that - but not that optimistic.

Thanks Graham, Chief did a great job with this feature and hopefully it will only improve with age.

LOTS of great information in this thread. Thank you to all who have participated. To me the existence of PBR and its eventual/possible replacement for Ray Tracing in Chief begs a question about newer Chief computer specs. It used to be all about cores and CPU power to get the ultimate RT machine and I guess bigger/more cores etc. will always be better/faster but does the new PBR engine change the equation in any way? Is there a setup that considers PBR at the expense of RT? Is it now more cores the not so better and a faster CPU rules the day? Memory? Graphics card? Where should the emphasis be for our brave new PBR world?

REALLY surprised at how much I like a vertical mouse. https://www.amazon.com/Evoluent-VerticalMouse-Regular-Right-VM4R/dp/B00427TAIK/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1520260334&sr=1-3&keywords=evoluent+vertical+mouse

That's a picture of the real house - not a render, I only dream I could render that well. The wall are all poured in place concrete, structural and decorative steel, and wood framing.

A client in Lake Tahoe completed this design around 2 years ago and it will be featured in an upcoming magazine article - not sure what or were yet. Modeled in Chief X8. Will see if I can find the older not so great RT's or renders as well. PDF Portfolio attached below Tahoe House.pdf

Hope that's what you meant Joe...

Strange thread all around. Now he is not a joke? https://ru-clip.com/video/q1WVKyhBf28/thiojoe-is-real-now-not-fake-anymore.html

Very hellpful thread - Thanks

Thanks P - did not know that.

One more thing I discovered if you already have your Anno/ Layer Sets dialed in, and I realize I'm a little late to the party on a lot this stuff but I think feature is really great and hope this helps someone.