madcowscarnival

CAD was going to be the direction I went if there was no built-in ability. Thanks folks.

I realize I'm likely asking Chief to do something it's not really set up to do, but here it goes. I'm working on a basic layout of a "grain bin house". I have the exterior wall set, I believe I got the stairs to snap to that exterior wall, and windows are initially located. However, I'd like to place things a little more accurately, is there such a thing as dimensions along a curve? None of the automatic tools seem to want to initiate anything. I can place manual dims, but only on a straight line. Are there any other options out there?

For years I've always just worked through the "reflect about" method above. This is the first time I've seen that "Reverse Plan" tool. Wow, that's easy.

Thank you SNestor. I like the architectural 'X' mark. That really solves the issue with how I'd been doing it (manually intersect roof planes, then drag main back out to wall.

Ahh, thanks for the catch Chris. The main roof of the house will be trusses bearing on the exterior wall. The pitch break change will occur somewhere to the inside of the exterior house wall depending on the slope of the porch. Porch rafters will overframe on the trusses above the exterior house wall.

Hey folks. I have no problem setting this situation up with manual roofs; its easy and quick. This morning I was experimenting in trying to create it with an autoroof and am not having success. I've tried the steps in KB-00045, but can't even duplicate that method (though I would prefer to not need to set height of pitch change or distance from baseline). Untitled 3 is what I'm trying to auto-create (9' house ceiling, 8' porch, 4:12 main roof, 2.5:12 porch roof). Thank you all, as always. Untitled 2.plan Untitled 2 - Copy.plan

That's how you know the forum has made the big time...

Is there a way to create a group out of the post and footing in a post-frame building without grouping as CAD block? The file I'm working with, when grouping the posts and footings, loses the post data in 3-D view and only shows the footing. It "might" have also not allowed the dimensions to identify the post as an object to locate (though I had some dim settings wrong). The post only shows back up after unblocking the CAD object. I'm just trying to make it a little easier to select and move around post&footing without tab-selecting the post, then ctrl+click the footing (or CAD block, select, unblock). Other than this rather minor "issue" Chief is letting me put together a post-frame layout nice and quick.

Thanks Gary, had not thought of extending the main body away from that gable. Solves several issues at once. Appreciate the note on moving forums Solver. Had forgotten about the chatroom. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I can do that from the original post. Mods feel free to move.

Also, here's a PDF print to have an idea without needing to download the draw ing file. Untitled 2.pdf Untitled 2.pdf

Hey all, I'm trying to put together a very quick and dirty ortho for a builder I know. He has some owner's working towards additions on each end of their in-ground house and I'm trying to get them a little visualization while builder and own er are trying to get some professional designers involved. The main body of the house is existing, with gables sticking out of the front. Garage addition on the right is pretty straightforward. I have no idea on the left how to add a ~12'-15' extension then tie in the roof and have it "look" good. 2nd file is with a porch extension and a shed roof extending to the face of the gable, but the tie-in at the fascias is strange. If anyone has some thoughts or ideas to share, I certainly appreciate it. I haven't added in a saddle roof for the dead valley, just working on an idea at this point. Thank you all. Untitled 1.plan Untitled 2.plan

I'll put in a vote for PDF Architect also. It's pretty comprehensive for what I need, from basic line markups to object editing (lines, circles, text, etc) (bonus rudimentary dimensions). It is subscription now, but only $60ish per year (frequent rebates/discounts). I found BluBeam a little "too" comprehensive, as in a full drafting suite within a PDF editor. Still use Reader for opening, signing and printing.

I agree with the others just increasing sheet size to Arch E1. It's still manageable on a job site (especially with binder strips) and can hold some pretty large houses. The 36x48 sheets are clownishly large (though I have printed those off for clients before). If you print in-house, its well worth picking up a 30" roll, mine has lasted for years, but paper doesn't go bad.

Thanks chopsaw. I'll give that a shot. Yes, 90% of the time, I'm working with a generally flat area for the house. If they have changing grade, we call out a conc. stemwall instead (these are all patios rather than elevated decks which seem to have their own pier control)

I've unsuccessfully searched the forum and general web searches. Is there a way to add round pier footings (like 18"diax36" deep) to a porch railing columns. Something that would be automatically controlled with the post spacing set in the railing wall dialogue box. I really only "need" to to display and easily dimension to them on a foundation plan. The railing wall dialog gives an option in "Foundation" for "foundation wall" or "slab footing" but nothing for isolated pier footings (which are commonly used in my area though I prefer continuous footings). I don't necessarily need to even control the diameter or depth (though it would be nice), I can do that by notation and detail. Is this available in the program somewhere else? Currently I use CAD lines to draw in the correct locations, cut&paste in place on the foundation plan. It's not difficult at all, but it's cumbersome. Thank you all.

The easiest would probably get an AASHTO template picture and import it into Chief as an image. The apparatus or truck-class template you use will depend on your jurisdiction. If you need to go further than that, there are template design programs that automate the process with an imported CAD underlay.

OP, you might check out this thread on Twinmotion. It appears to still be free, you just have to signup for an Epic Games account (no cost) to download, and it runs in the Epic Games library (because Unreal Engine purchased it). I downloaded it, but have never actually done anything in it yet.

Step in foundation height. You might be able to remove it in a DBX, but its there for the foundation company to reference. I didn't like them at first, but prior to using Chief I still manually noted foundation and footing step locations. EDIT: FYI, you might crop your image to get your clients name off the tab.

Excellent, thank you very much Alaskan_Son.

If anyone would be willing to take a look at my settings, this is the file that initiated my question about building a floor slab instead of framed (original sketch was slab on grade, this one is basement). My settings all appear appropriate for a framed floor, but it doesn't seem to want to build it. Thank you all for the help. Carver - mod.plan

I'm hoping there might be an easy solution to this. I put together a plan for a builder, simple ranch with a slab on grade. A new client of his liked the plan and wants to basically duplicate it, except over a full foundation. I thought the easiest thing would be to build a foundation and have it auto-delete anything on the existing plan. It worked, except my floor system is (still) a 4" conc slab. rather than 2x10 joists. Is there a way to "build" the floor system over the whole house? It looks like I could edit each room's floor, but seems there might be an easier way. Follow-up question. When I get the floor system solved, they want to put a high-floor closet over the toe of the stairs. Usually I just manually adjust the floor height in that room only and let the builder frame it as he wants. Is there a more appropriate/standard way to do this in Chief? Thank you all.

Excellent trick Chopsaw, and thank you for those websites D3.

Unfortunately, these sizes/shapes are specific to this client. Ages ago I had a program that would attempt to create vector drawings from raster files (for old school importing USGS maps), but that's long gone. Didn't know if CA would possibly have some trick similar to that.

This is a big reach. Is there any function in CA that would allow me to import an image (painted arrows on parking lots) and automatically create a boundary line around the black fill? That I could then fetch the area inside? I need to place these on a site plan, but provide a painting area. There may be no easy way to automatically perform this. I can readily trace with cad lines and manually count, but there are quite a few more shapes in addition to these. Thank you all.

Dermot, thank you for the reply. I think the reason I was unable to find that KB article is my search terms all revolved around autosave rather than archive (both general internet and CA forum search). Just never occurred to me to use a different term.