madcowscarnival

Thanks for the replies. DB, that was the series of steps I was trying to remember. Something I haven't used in years, just couldn't recall.

Hey folks, I'm certain I've done this before, but cannot recall how. Is it possible to make a simple shape (i.e. a 12" CAD circle) into a generic electrical object that I can then connect with the electrical connect tool? I've looked at the "covert polyline..." options, but nothing gets me to an electrical object that the program will recognize. I'm unable to come up with appropriate search language to get my answer. Is this possible or am I mis-remembering?

That did it. Thank you CV, I've never "messed" with custom soffits before.

Large Flat soffit.plan Is it possible to cause Chief to draw a large flat soffit without defining a room below? This is a manufactured metal building, just making a couple of quick elevations for the building department. The overhang areas do extend down as seen on ortho. I basically just need to show that flat soffit all the way back to the wall. Thank you all.

Well, I cobbled it together with invisible walls, couldn't quite get an autobuild going, but once I set the roof to my liking, CA sure made some nice looking trusses.

Is it possible to define this type of roof over an open room in one fell swoop? Or does it need to use invisible walls to set the gambrel roof, the typical shed at the "wings". I really just need to make it for an elevation & roof plan, then let a truss company come up with the actual design. Thought it might be ... interesting ... to see if I could define it for CA to handle all at once.

Alaskan son, that is a great trick. I've been trying Chrisb's solution, but it's such a change from how I've typed for years, I had to switch back (old dogs, new tricks and all). Ctrl + tab, enter is just what I was hoping for. Couldn't get the "OK" radio button to highlight with key combos, never thought to change option screen first.

OP are you still around, I can't tell the difference between automated bot comments or legit user questions? It should be as simple as defining your room heights on the plan (i.e. 12' main structure, 8' lean-to). Define your end walls as gable, then just auto build the roof. With a monitor roof, I believe the roof planes are typically the same pitch, so no need to define different roof pitches in the wall dialog box.

Chris, thank you. Wish it could be swapped to enter for new line, shift+enter to close, but I seldom type multiple lines. Michael, "enter" in my text editor currently just takes me to the next line, and with it being a text editor, "tab" just tabs rather than highlighting radio boxes (i.e. tab -> enter to highlight and execute the "OK" radio button).

I'm hopeful this can be done. Do not know how to search for it. Is there a way to close the text editor without using the mouse? Some combination of a key+enter etc?

The scale factor of 12 makes me think its units in your CAD program. When I export from Chief (no scale factoring) and open that directly in CAD, units are still set to decimal. Quick change to Arch and everything works great.

This morning, started working on the idea of importing CAD as closed polylines and, In the off chance that anybody in the future tries to cheat the system, I found a semi-cheat code. In CAD program, hatch the entities you want to apply materials to, with separate hatch entities. When you import into CA, select the "Hatch entities can be imported as solid-filled polylines" Nice! * import this into an elevation view for material painting on walls* When the drawing comes in, ctrl+select the new hatch entities (all can be selected at for action) -> Explode CAD blocks Without deselecting, use pline convert to Polyline solid. Huzzah, now the CAD-defined hatched areas are paintable to the limits of those lines with Chiefs superior material work. DB, I would not have given this a second look without your reply, thank you.

Thanks DB, I was hoping there was a cheat code or something to get around making and converting lots of polylines (individual windows/trim/etc).

Is it possible to "apply" a surface finish and color to a cad detail? A designer sent me his 2-D cad elevation and wants to know if its possible to apply surface finishes and color on that elevation. I do not want to redraw his file, would be a waste of time, but it would be great if I could quickly point-n-fill the various finishes. He's an old-school cad user, his program has some hatches, but no means to color. If there were discrete bounded shapes, I know I could convert to a solid then apply the finish. I tried making the full elevation into a solid, but that doesn't work, and I doubt it would recognize areas divided by lines anyway. Is there some other way to accomplish this, like how the fill tool in Microsoft paint works? Thanks all. Elevation finish-color.plan