madcowscarnival

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.

I should have looked a little further down my file. Here's one in .PLAN format. PLINE TEXT - HOLLOW.plan

Here's a DWG file of outlined text I'd made in ACAD a number of years back if you'd like. It's just a single font, but they're all plines without going through manipulation of sketchup objects HOLLOW TEXT PLINES.dwg

OP, if you still look at this thread, the second computer in my signature is my "home office" computer. It runs x11 just fine. File loads and saves over the cloud take some time, but work within the program is just fine. You would be hard pressed to find a laptop less than 10 years old with specs that couldn't run circles around that machine. Also, as I always do in these threads, I recommend Microsoft One-Drive. It is mappable to your local machine. You can work right off it with no additional download or sync steps. I used it before I moved to a VPN into my office server (also a mapped drive).

I will post plan when I'm finished up if needed. I created using a previous file, a lazy and incorrect way to get the various sets I wanted. I've finished annotating and was moving some notes around. However, the notes are no longer associated with their leader. I move the text and the arrow stays where it was rather than moving with the text. Have I inadvertently turned off a setting or have I corrupted behavior by using an existing file. It seems that this mostly affects text/leaders after I had edited default settings (going Chief font to Arial). Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thank you kMoquin.

If anyone else pops on here, is anyone aware of any potential legal liability of separating the models in sketchup and uploading individually? The free version of sketchup (I'm a very novice user) does not appear to permit saving to local files, only within the web-based program or in 3-D warehouse. I gave credit and described the original model, it just seems to be the only way to get the items I want on to my local machine.

Thanks for the reply. That's unfortunately what I suspected.

I found a 3-D warehouse model that has several things that would be helpful for a layout I'm working on. Its called "bakery shop set" https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/de34180f-37b7-4cb5-a0dc-1e3a73a3a09b/Bakery-Shop-Set It seems like it is designed to pull out the various items for use. However, in Chief it is blocked together with no apparent command to explode or unblock. Is this possible in Chief or do I need to do that in Sketch up then save individual items? That may be the best direction as the model is very large and definitely slows down the initial camera load-in.

Dermot, thanks for the tip. Nice insight into the inner workings.

living area.plan

I have two 30'x60' mfg. buildings in a 'T' shape. One is a garage, one is living area. The common wall between the buildings is being included in the Living area calculations (I'm assuming) indicating a living space of 1809 sq. ft. rather than 1800. Is it possible to instruct the program to disregard that specific wall area or should I just manually modify? Our AHJ takes the outside dimension (30x60) and is asking for a correction to 1800.

Chopsaw, thank you. I was looking for the convert to symbol button, but it was not available until I converted my basic cad to a plinesolid, then to symbol. Excellent, I appreciate it.

Is there a way to simply tell Chief Architect a pline (2'x4' rectangle) that it should be recognized as an electrical lighting object so that it will connect electrical runs? I need to demonstrate a basic lighting plan in a large open barn where they will be using 2'x4' hanging high-bay LED's. I did find the "short double recessed tube lighting" that will work for the symbol, and can edit that object, but might want to create a 12" diameter high-output LED basic symbol too. To clarify my question. Is it possible to draw a basic shape, perform a special conversion, and assign it as an electrical object?

FYI, first thing to check looking for a property boundary is internet search "county name GIS map". Tulsa's is a little more rudimentary than most, but that's where Chopsaws file is from. On some of these abbreviated legals it almost seems an automated program to abbreviate the legals. A brief rundown: W - west SW SW - Southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of referenced section N - North BEG - Beginning SWC - Southwest corner SW TH - Southwest third (though that would be an awkward description) APR - Approximate CRV RT - curve to the right APR - approx. distance along the curve POB - Point of beginning ACS - acres W348.56 SW SW LESS N601.53 THEREOF & LESS W50 N272.12 S APR 718.47 W348.56 SW SW & LESS BEG SWC SW TH N APR 446.35 E30 S APR 195.63 CRV RT APR 247.83 SE APR 95.43 S APR 148.50 W348.56 POB SEC 1 19 10 3.524ACS

FYI Rob, might want to delete that build sheet with ship-to address.

Minimal comment here. I would say the 2TB m.2 onboard drive is a big waste of space, especially with a quasi-server for your office. With the m.2 I would highly recommend only installing your OS there, and you only need a fraction of that space. All of your file storage should be saved on the server where hopefully you have some manner of redundancy set up there (ours is 4 ~ 2 TB drives "striped"). Even programs which don't properly run if not on your root drive won't take up a fraction of that space. My root drive is 500GB but I could have easily gone with 250GB. I don't have any other manner of on-board storage in form of SATA SSD. On my home office computer I do have a 2TB USB SSD that I frequently backup my server files with Windows built-in SyncToy. * edited for explanation, reason for only OS on the m.2 is plan for failure and easy replacement/reinstall without losing a bunch of stored files. I don't know what the limit of read/write was on the old HDD but the new SSD do have a defined limit before potential failure.