VisualDandD

Any chance you can link to preview? I searched and could not find anything. Heck....I have not even installed 12 yet ;-) Pay for SSA every year but been too busy.

That is the method I use. Here is one where I combined GIS data, an actual site survey, and then house placement.

Thanks! I probably need to take a look at one drive a little closer. I just hate MS stuff but did not realize you could buy without the entire suite. Boy....this would all sure beat traveling with external HD's. Evey time I leave the house for a long trip, I carry a 2tb back-up drive with me in case the house burns down I know....paranoid. But the last 10 years of my life has been mouse clicks. I have 2-'hot swap' bays on the front of my PC that I built to make removing HD's easy. My gut tells me Dropbox since I have always loved it., but I will look closer at One drive also. Thanks Susan. I had read in an older thread that that was the issue. I am not sure I am that regimented to remember to do that. Often I leave chief open and leave for a few hours and come back. Sometimes even overnight if I am in a 'good place'. Thanks for taking the time to help out!

Found thread from 2019 and it looks like Google drive was still giving issues. After reading that thread, I may consider one drive again also. Any thoughts....one drive vs dropbox? Looks like both handle 2tb @ the 10$/month level.

I know I have seen this topic pop up over the years. Last I remember many were recommending only Drop Box. So....local hard-drive failure this morning. Great thing is a keep a running back up of my entire data drive. (Not a raid, but a software solution that writes to a 2gb data drive.) So, since I have some work to do setting everything up, I was contemplating changing my local files to cloud-based. Would prefer Google, but last I remember a few years back there were some syncing issues. I can do dropbox also. Prefer not to use OneDrive. Any current recommendations? Anyone had success with Google drive lately?> Thanks!

Also, if stuff is blocked together in dwg it may not change color. Sometimes you have to unblock and then go into dbx individually and check the box that says color by layer.

DId your little exercise and it only showed me why the suggestion of the topic would be GREATLY appreciated. See radio buttons for Fascia are NOT available. Lets say I did not care about my room heights and wanted to take a cut-up plan with various pitches and align all my fascia. You cant do it. Only baseline can be adjusted across multiple suggestions. Not sure what you are not seeing.

Sorry....not sure why the quote is messing up?.... It wont let me edit either?

Gene I am a +1000 for the original suggestion. I have been using Chief for 20+ years. I know how to use the program. I think being able to edit multiple roof plane dbx with functions other than just baseline would be a FANTASTIC improvement.

I think the suggestion is this. (correct me if I am wrong). If you open a single roof plan DBX you can lock say "pitch" and then adjust, baseline, or fascia or ridge ht...etc If you select more than one roof plane, the only item you can adjust is baseline. This is a pain when you want to say raise a bunch of roofs up a bit, or select several and make them all match as fascia ht...etc. Wish the DBX (when selecting multiple roof planes) gave us the full selection of attributes to adjusts other than just 'baseline' I have wished this for YEARS...but never said anything

I run into as well. What I do is adjust one of a particular pitch and see what the baseline becomes. Then I copy baseline. Group select all simial pitches and change as one batch. BUT I agree. I use fascia top all the time primarily knowing I have room for my platform...etc.

A few years back I showed how to model a pool using terrain and curbs w/ custom profiles.

Quick screen cap showing the advantages (some) of the 3d mouse.

Use a 3d mouse and just do a screen cap record. Been using a 3d connection mouse since they first came out and could never go back! Not only that, your 3d editing capabilities expand greatly. Selecting objects in 3d is super easy and you can hold **** and move model and select additional thing. EG editing multiple windows on diff elevations at same time. Or using material painter improves GREATLY. 3d mouse in left and main mouse in right!

I have been involved in construction for approx 25 years in the south east US. The construction standard has always measure sqft as Chief does. Considering a significant amount of trades also charge by the sqft, putting ANSI square footage (or appraiser method) would not be a good thing. It is not cheating the trades since they have always measured by the 'construction' standard. Their pricing models have been based on this standard for years. It seems that this sqft standard is pretty much across the board in designing. Think of any plans online I have ever seen or built over the years. Also I have built quite a few commercial projects which all had calculated sqft as the building envelope to the outside of the structural envelope. (not outside of the veneer). Not for site area pages, but for the construction pages. It seems only the appraisal world uses this method (along with stairs on both levels). I only discovered this years back during the recovery when I was having a hard time getting projects to meet financing appraisals. The lenders just use the sqft on the plans. When building costs rose, and markets were down, having a project appraise for financing became tough. That is when I discovered the ANSI standard and started producing "Bank" sets of plans. Presenting the sqft tables in the standard that appraisers use makes the difference of a project getting financed or not at times. I have shared this info with builders who have been in the business for much longer than I and quite a few had no idea of the different standards.

Here is a link to doc if anyone is interested: https://krec.ky.gov/legal/Legal Forms Contracts/calc_sqfootage.pdf

Actually Chief does not calculate footage by the standard appraisers use. Yes, appraisers use outside of the envelope. (on a brick veneer, this can make a significant difference), But an even bigger one is appraisers count stairs on both levels. For this reason I prepare two sets of plans for clients. One for Field which had square footage tables in keeping with standard building practices. AND, one for the bank and appraisal. The appraisal set has sqft calculated per ANSI Z765 It is the standard for single family residential square footage calculations. Depending on a the plan, there can be as much as 200 sqft difference in the plan. At $80-200/sqft, that can be a $40,000 swing. You dont want to use the ANSI standard for the Field plans since so many subs charge by sqft and your const costs rise. I realized this significant difference about 10 years ago. I clearly label the bank set on the sqft table with a note saying "calculated per ANSIz756". Back in the day, I always wondered why appraisal sqft used to come in so much higher. I just used to think they were bad at measuring! But no....they use an entirely different standard.

Why is that unreasonable? I your company has enough work to demand 4 licenses, $8400 is not much at all. Considering just about everyone here has paid for and kept current licenses for years, I dont think you are going to find a lot of sympathies. My advice is this. If 8400 is too much, you are not running your business right. Find another avenue to pursue.

This is a very cool thing you can use to generate pretty much any combo you want. I have used it several times when I have to demonstrate alt bonds..etc. I normally dont have to get that detailed, but you certainly can with this. https://brick.com/masonry-designer

I havent been around here as much but need to drop in more often. From an semi-outside point of view, I am actually amazed at the generosity and patience shown by the regular guys who often help others on here. I dont think in any way asking for simple basic info is wrong in ANY way. The fact that you are even asking is part of the process of helping others. Truth is, sometimes I see questions and my first gut is to tell them to try the 'search' function first. Like....how do I mull a transom on a door? No offense, but we are supposed to be adults here. Many of us make our livings in part with using this software. I would think if you were going to invest few thousand dollars, you might at a minimum spend some time with the help videos, or at the most basic level, try a search of the forum. I can, however, appreciate the quicks of the program. Having been using it for a long time, I realize how easily I now fix the bugs that I had to spend HOURS searching for solutions. (Like the ghost fascia board running out to infinity ). Point being, is I learned from trying to fix them. FWIW, I consider myself pretty decent at finding ways to get things done in Chief.....BUT>>>>I am still blown away at some of the inventive ways you approach things. Much respect man. You are very talented.

Ahhh thanks! I have been so busy, I dont want to go through the set up I just only now did X11 a month ago since I had a slight lull.

Michael.....what version of software are you running by the way FWIW, totally agree with you. Just poking fun. Remember you are dealing with the internet and people love to leave negative feedback. Thanks for all those who take the time to help others on here. For years, the only 'help' with chief was reading the manual. Something everyone should try.

I am in the camp where I LOVE copy/paste in place. It is one of the reasons I have not gone to X12 since I have a programmed keypad with a hotkey just for that function. It is pretty amazing that I have NEVER encountered the problem of 'accidentally' using this function. If I ever forgot to drag the new object (got distracted in a moment) it is quite apparent in 3d since it messes up the trim and wont display right. What else do we need help 'protecting' ourselves from. Sometimes, I accidentally delete something.....maybe do away with delete I know some guys run with no 'undo' cache to speed up drawing,....not me

I use an old Logitech G13 programmable keypad. I have it set up as full 10 key with foot and inch symbols. (makes trying in ft in soooo much easier) I also have floor plan and roof mode. Floor plan and copy, paste, copy past in place, point to point. I have a roof plan the has join roof planes, roof break and cant remember what else. I use a gaming mouse that has prog buttons with open Dbx for selected item, or select next . I think I have shirt and ctrl on there but I usually use keyboard. There is a new(er) usb prog keypad out with little led screens on each button. Was thinking of trying it, Maybe when I start using x12. Just stuck in my current mode.

To answer the OP, I do topo all the time. Easiest is to get the surveyor to give me a DWG. I import w/ ft as scale. Select convert to polylines where possible (I think that is what it says). I then clean up crap I dont need, by deleting or moving to an alt layer set. Rotate as desired. Then I check each topo line by selecting it. If they are broken my test or labels, you have to connect them. I move them all to a layerset I have named for my topo info Then I create terrain perimeter and snap the corners to the survey (or run bigger if wanted) I convert my polylines to elevation data and start entering the data. Most of the time I reduce it to simple feet by dropping the 100's number. Sometimes I take my lowest point and call that "0", and then just go up by incriments of 2. Whatever strikes me as the easiest. ( I can always reference a benchmark later) For 3d views, I use sidewalks for prop lines and set back. I "paint" them red and or yellow as desired. Pretty simple. Here is a pretty nasty lake lot I modeled as an example.