VisualDandD

I called chief support....they did not seem very interested in thinking outside the box to help. Hmmmm Chief user 20+ years. Current SSA holder consistently for the past 10. Totaly calls EVER to tech support.....3. Na.....we only answer questions on how to use chief..... Well, that is exactly what I am trying to do!

Man....I got so excited when I saw this idea. Did not work. When I go to export the OBJ file from Chief, it drops any of the materials that dont have associated texture files with them..... So the link between that section of the model and material is gone.

Other idea.....If I could mass import those jpg textrues as new Plan Materials and then import the OBJ file, it might associate the images with the model referenced ones. Any idea if we can "Mass import" say 40-50 materials all at once?

Great dialogue. I am experimenting around with some of the sample files they sent me. I imported a very large OBJ file they sent me as an example, one issue is associating all the textures (which are the actual pictures of the structure. I can go into plan materials and directly replace them one by one with the assoc pic. (But there are 60+ pics in this file). I am not sure if there were an easier way....but I was thinking if I could go into where Chief stores plan textures, I could just cut the ones chief stored for those materials (which are blank but have the correct file names associated with the model) and paste in the actual images. Re-launch and see if the model loads fully textured! Anyone know where chief store custom textures or have a better way?

Ordered my Matterport today! As I mentioned, it is really for something unrelated to my design work, but I will play to see if I can extract value from it as well on that front. Matterport will do PDF floor plan (accurate to greater than 1% for only $15 +/- from a scan). But I can also get the actual OBJ file it creates from the scan, Anyone know a good way to go from OBJ to something 2d suitable for transfer into chief? I have a OBJ extension for Sketchup, but it is hard to see how I could use it. (other than maybe using a crosssection plane or something and then tracing?)

Thank you! Perfect timing

I am ordering a Matterport camera and wondering if any Chiefers use it and if so, how? I am getting for a totally unrelated reason, but any integration into chief would be cool. I know (if I figured out a good way) it can really speed up the process of 'as built' drawings. You can get a 3d OBJ file from the scans which I have played with. But I am not sure the best way to translate this into say a floor plan in Chief? If there are any users out there, I would love to hear what you are using it for. Thanks!

Interesting on the stair break tool, but for it to be really functional, it would be nice to be able to 'break' the individual tread itself. It will be interesting to see if you can break just one tread, and define as winder and get the functionality. In the past, it was either using landings (which trim did not generate properly) or trying to use winder, which often caused strange things at the top of the stair and wall...etc. Looks like some pretty good stuff though!

Made a quick screen cap. Went slow so you could follow. Had to cut audio, as I have kids going crazy around here

Pick the plane you like call it roof 1. Open DBX and note fascia ht and ridge ht. Open the DBX of the other roof plane and set fascia ht = to roof 1. Now select radio button so you lock fascia ht. Now enter ridge ht = to roof 1. And hit ok. (pitch will be what it needs to be. Now join them.

I had a client that requested a bowed rear porch which needed to be broken up into straight segments to build (in real life). Rather than doing tons of math, I took the bays they wanted to segment, and connected them with an arc. (the porch rail had to meet at 2- specific points to not have the rail hit windows. I then copied the basic cad multigon bays and the arc to a new plan using copy>paste in place. Then it was diving up the arc into segments using auto center tools (only took about 2 min). The next step is a new one for me. Normally I would copy the cad back to my original plan and try to figure out desired wall angles, enter the off angles in manually, and trace my CAD. The problem was there are too many off angles. I did it a MUCH easier way. I copied all the cad and pasted in place and then used concentric resize to drag the lines inward a small amount. This gave me parallel lines. I then used CAD to WALLs function. Even though my walls were not exactly 2x4 it just created a new wall type. I then selected the newly created walls and changed them to the type I needed. Then it was just simple copy from one plan and paste in place on the original. This worked for both levels of the house. This was sooooo much easier than ways I have done in the past. Just a simple concentric resize of a copy>paste in place CAD line made for a perfect CAD to Walls function. I just ignored all the off angle walls in the plan and I am good to go! I also used the to "auto frame" the roof planes which I brought over as well and adjusted where the intersections were. Super easy! Been using Chief for almost 20 years and still finding new ways to do stuff.

I am not familiar with that. Been using my own layer sets and Anno sets for a long time. Takes as much time as just selecting the layset I want to export. All my wall lines, fills etc are layerset defined. I'll check out the pre defined ones...but I have adopted my ways to work well for the way I work. I even have layersets that generate marketing materials. (Solid fill black walls, no dims, turn on room sized, upsize room text labels....etc). I am a big fan of letting Anno sets do the work for you.

I do very similar to the above. I, however, remove most thing engineers dont care about. I 'strip down' the plan to make it easy on them. I remove windows and doors (since all they want is the opening). I remove all wall layers. One guy I work with also likes when I send him a 3d model. I export in obj and he opens in his cad to verify beams will fit under roof...etc. (very nice to have a guy that actually double checks this stuff).

This but do a cad detail from view so snaps work everywhere. Then draw shape the size you need then copy/paste/hold position so you can get perfect alignment. I usually snap to the outside of the veneer and then match materials. You will end up with a CAD line which can be erased when you send to layout.

At end of the day why would you be sending anything to the truss people? As a builder, they should control that flow of info. They are also responsible for the order. Did you order the trusses? (no). Then if at the time the builder had the correct plans and "ordered" the trusses of a prelim plan, it is his issue. I dont take my "not for construction" watermark off the plan until the final set is issued. Before chief had this function, I just used a outline text on page 0 of layout. But even then their could be a change after plans have been finalized. I say unless as part of your scope of work you provide sub contractor supervision/coordination, that is not your job to make sure the truss guy has the right plans.

I'll try that and let you know if that works! I never thought of moving to another floor......Thanks!

I am doing a lake lot with 60' for vertical fall. There will have to be significant grading involved. I have never done this before, but I decided that a neat way to do it would be take the existing terrain and convert to symbol. I can then overly on the "live" terrain. I can then adjust terrain on the lot to suit my needs and model finished product. I can reference the existing terrain by turning off original terrain symbol and making sure I am staying within my desired scope of work site-work wise. OK...that part has worked great. The problem is, I have a huge symbol over the entire area that the program recognizes. Any time I try to place anything in the model, I get the nasty reminder that there is an interference problem....place anyway. What is worse, is some things like cabinets. soffits will not place at all. I have to drag 200' away, place in a blank area of plan and then drag back over. Anyone have a solution for this. I tried playing with various settings for the "orignal" terrain symbol, but I could not find anything that allows it to "play nice" with the other objects. I could point to point move it in and out of my model space for building ease ....but wish there was a way I could keep where it lies and just have the program ignore it...... Any thoughts?

NC went to a 90mph wind load and now almost all garage openings are 'portal frame'. The heads is run continuous, well past where it would normally just bear on the jacks. This has become pretty much std around here.

If you want them to do a walk-through, just export entire house as a symbol.

PLS for me Very easy to do. I dont show them on floor plan so they are on a layset which shows in elev but not floor plan.

Exactly.... I have all my defaults set up and the only time I have to switch, is when I know walls or floor sys will be different. Eg, 11 7/8 I joist vs 14 vs 16" owt. Or various wall arrangements. I do this BEFORE I even start drawing and I try to get these bridges crossed before getting too far in the plan. Sometimes there isn't room for the two extra treads to go from 9' to 10' walls as an example. I like to have these decisions made early!

In the southeast studs are standard at 93 in 105 in and 117 in. So walls are 8' 1 1/2". 9' 1 1/2". & 10' 1 1/2"

Make stairs on their own and convert to symbol and the past in plan?....

If the dormer goes across the two different pitches, you dont use hole in roof. Just use break tool on each pitch and pull back the appropriate section.

Here is a quick vid with some ideas...