madcowscarnival

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.

Thank you Glenn. I was unaware of that feature/location, it did have an archive from several hours after my apparent save.

Hey all, my computer was acting a little strange Friday (not specifically in chief). I worked on a file, got the layout to where I wanted, saved, released the license and closed. This evening, I attempted to open and it is a pretty old version of the file I was working on. Not a ton of work but a couple hours at least. Is there autosave data located somewhere that would be writing a duplicate file similar to how autocad works? As an FYI, when I remoted into the computer tonight, reactivated license and opened the file it still was only the early on work. But, it wouldn't let me view 3-D, gave the serious error message. I'll restart that computer in the morning, but hoping I might be able to recover the file from a different location. I do have a server that backs up, but its a nightly thing, so would not have anything more than what my computer thinks it has.

I'm barely adequate at roofs, but do like to practice as I'm in the same boat as you (trying to really work on setting up auto roofs well). Do you want to post the specific plan your working on? It's hard for me to tell if the near-side wall has a lower plate line than the far-side. I'll give setting it up a shot.

I see, thanks Michael. I also now see how to call the pan command after initiating a wall command with the "way" I've been drawing walls. Thank you all, helpful as always and highly appreciated.

Glenn, I'm curious about your setup. If you would indulge a rudimentary question, how do you go about mapping that command to the "PA" shortcut? Is PA pressing "P" then "A" while in command? That would be most convenient for me.

Thank you solver. As a runner up question, what is that action called? Or how could it be looked up in the index?

I really don't know how to frame this question or surely the search function would have worked. I often have to trace imported CAD lines with, say a wall command. I zoom in to accurately start my line, then while dragging the wall, I can zoom in and out with the scroll wheel. However, how do I pan when in this situation? I can zoom out, then move the position of my mouse pointer to start zooming back in to where I want to place the end point of the wall, but this is cumbersome (scroll wheel). If I use the button function of the scroll wheel it just cancels the command rather than pausing and allowing me to pan around the screen. Is there some button or combination that would allow me to pan around the drawing with an active command? I've tried what I thought might be common ones, but am not having any luck guessing or searching.

This an old topic now, but I'll add my two cents. I used to use OneDrive for all my file usage primarily because you log in once and it becomes a native mapped drive on your computer rather than having to sync working files. I have since switched to a physically located server that I VPN into remotely (a Dell SonicWall router). You might need some help to set up (and the infrastructure is more pricey) but it provides a couple of extras. 1) you know where the physical drive is, if you have an office environment its quicker to use than a cloud drive; 2) a VPN, especially if you travel and use available free wifi, gives you a completely secure connection back to your "home" network and whatever security you use there. This is safer also for browsing or whatever else you may do over an open network; 3) Very easy to set up a physical backup and cloud backup on that drive.

Robert, for some reason, my "linked saved plan view" is working plan view and was not letting me access the reference display. Turning the reference display on or off did not reflect in the layout. With Dermot's post, I changed the linked saved plan view to none and it allows control of the "show reference floor". I do not fully understand the process, however it is corrected. Thanks folks. This file was created by the builder who is new to the program, there are a number of not-default-behaviors that he has set up or modified that are different from how I use the program in factory default state.

No search is returning results. In my layout file, the reference displays are showing; though no longer turned on in the plan file. So I double-click the layout box, it activates my plan file and now reference layers are turned back on. Click them off and go back to the layout tab and they are still displayed. Is there a way to turn off reference layers from the layout without deleting the layout box and resending from the .plan file?

I wasn't able to check the original layout files, but I did open the PDF that rlackalore posted. Just an FYI, my (admittedly old) printer took the border line and some of the text in lower right and title block for page margins. Oddly this happened even printing on a larger sheet, like it needed some minimal margins for the print size regardless of sheet size.

OP, I would focus on being an excellent designer instead of pursuing a professional degree unless you are a recent HS grad and are seeking a degree in College. I work with several designers who can draw a set of plans better than most Architects, they just work with a professional Engineer on structural analysis and certification. I also know several professional architects who DO stamp their own plans, and in one municipality in particular STILL need to have structural review and certification. At a bare minimum, if you start an accredited school Fall semester, you're 8 years from a professional license. Those designers above? They command their salaries, which are approximate for professional salaries in this area, because they are darn good.

I'd recommend a call to them as well, in my experience they are good to speak with as everyone wants to be on the same page before a plan is finished and submitted. Check how/what they measure setbacks to. We have a nearby municipality that counts the fascia line for building setbacks. Another one (less than 30 min away) counts foundation footprint (though likely cantilever framing line too). That could make a big difference on a small lot like that.

I'd recommend an old-school HDD array in raid1. However, I also always start with new hardware (and 250GB is fairly small). I also backup this raid to an offsite usb SDD using windows "SyncToy" which does a remarkably good job for built-in windows tool. I'm not worried about high-speed connections between the drives. My setup that I'm very pleased with (lots of redundancy): work PC -> file server* (w/ mirrored array) -> home PC -> usb HDD (redundant backup) I've previously used OneDrive as well, but prefer the server. * - this is just a regular tower with a pretty basic board running Windows Server OS (very robust) connected to the LAN. Minimal performance specs. It runs continuously except for a few extended power outages (~1 hr) when I learned my UPS battery was bad). As its a separate machine, my workPC doesn't see any decrease in performance. I maybe have $1000 into all of this excluding the work PC (~6 years ago).

geez Solver, that's impressive. Thanks for helping those of us out that don't have such a complete grasp on this program as you and the other major contributors on here.