DefinedDesign

@DBCooper @GeneDavis @Michael_Gia Thank you for the suggestions!  I created invisible walls on the 1st and 2nd floor and on the second floor made the room 'open below'.  However, the wall beneath the door would not disappear, so I lowered the door by -28 1/4" on the floor to bottom measurement to match the top of the balcony height.  Basically this door is now between two floors. Any advice on how to remove these two boards in the image below?  

Also what is the best way to get the handrail to move inside the doorway and also stay at the wall once beyond the doorway?

For some reason moving the balcony around to fit the 3rd set of stairs almost fixed the railing showing in front of the 2nd set of stairs - it's possible the balcony was not fully attached to the left wall where the new 3rd set of stairs is - still not a fan of how the railing is peeking out though.

Stairs going up from landing to second story - how do I remove the railing in front of the stairs?  The stairs are connected to both landings I'm not certain why the railing is staying.

In this left doorway on the second floor I need to add stairs from the landing into this room.  I placed stairs at the landing but they are not showing correctly - need advice on what I’m doing incorrectly.  

This elevation show the 2nd set of stairs meets both balconies.  Some of the stairs going into this room are showing but I don’t understand how to make the entire staircase show it is only 3 steps.

@GeneDavis Thank you  That Worked! 

Need to change the 2nd floor structure to 8 1/4” and I need the entire floor structure to lower so the finished ceiling height increases on the  2nd floor and the 1st floor finished ceiling height remains the same; however, when I edit the Floor Structure - it always increase the 1st floor finished ceiling height.

What is the secret sauce?

Thanks @ericepv - I should clarify that there is a roof over the room with the lower ceiling as shown in image below.  Once I get this issue resolved then I need to lower the finished ceiling height on the second floor in the yellow space to 7' 9".  I'm trying to comprehend if your solution will show the client what is true as far as the roof is concerned.  

Hope this helps explain my dilemma better - the 81 ceiling height as-built actually has a floor that steps down lower than the rest of the back of the house (originally a porch) I'm proposing the owner raise the floor the same level as the 1st floor on the rest of the back of the house, which will really make the ceiling height lower that 81" in the final renovation.  Will adding the 'air gap' work in this scenario?  My brain is tired  from trying to add 4 different floor levels in a 2 story home, lol.

I made all these rooms in highlighted in yellow to have a 108” ceiling height to match the front of the house, so I could create a second floor the copied the first floor and then lowered the floor for all the rooms in yellow to step down 7.5”; then lowered all the rooms that stepped down to have a ceiling height of 96” for all rooms, worked perfectly.  I thought it would be easy to lower this single room to 81” but I’m having issues.

When lowering the ceiling height of this room to 81” CA is lowering all the rooms with a 96” Ceiling Height to 81"  - what is best practice for lowering only the ceiling height of this room?

Grateful for any advice.

18 hours ago, ValleyGuy said:

@DefinedDesign  @Michael_Gia  I think I managed a couple of videos, here are the links.  I'm sure there are all kinds of people using 3D mice on CA with all kinds of different techniques and different skill levels. I've only had it a few months now and here are some of the things that I have done with it. Maybe others could add some tips or ideas for you as well.

 

The set up of the mouse video https://youtu.be/iDKokC_19N4

 

The In-Use Demo video   https://youtu.be/R_HcESgGvXM

 

Thank you! These videos are fantastic and have truly enlightened me on the time-saving potential. Adding it straight to my Christmas wishlist! Your dedication and time spent teaching us how to master the space mouse on a Mac is sincerely appreciated. Your accent even brings a touch of home to mind; growing up in Maine, it's like a slice of my childhood with Anne of Green Gables nostalgia. Fond memories of New England and Nova Scotia flood back. Thanks once more!

On 6/28/2021 at 5:27 PM, ADallas said:

First day with Chief Architect, so this is a newbie tip for sure. I came across Edit > Preferences > CAD. In the Sun Angle section, you want to set your project's latitude and longitude. The default is Blanchard, Idaho. You don't have to change it for every project in the same region, but if you're in Texas, it will likely make a difference.

 

My tip is how to find your latitude and longitude. Go to https://www.google.com/maps. Search for a specific address, or your town, and look at the URL in the address bar:

 

The URL will start something like this: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Galveston+Island/@29.2147787,-95.0591303,11z/

 

The first number after the @ sign is the latitude. Select North if the number is positive, South if it's negative.

The second number is the longitude. Select West if the number is negative (as in, the western hemisphere) or East if the number is positive (such as most of Europe and Asia).

 

Hope it helps.

Thank @ADallas this was very helpful!  

On 2/19/2024 at 1:44 AM, mthd97 said:

Hi @ValleyGuy, yes definitely a game changer and I have installed CAX10 & X15 trial on my Mac too. I have a cordless space mouse with my left hand and a cordless Cadmouse on my right and a number key pad at my left and a small keyboard on the right (Key pad and key board in the middle). If we are restricted to 4 on the radial commands, you can create different instances or groups of 4 commands if you want to. Smoother navigation in 3D is great when it is all set up correctly. I couldn’t go back to just using a mouse to navigate. Those tools are especially designed for CAD professionals.

Would love to see a how to video, this sounds amazing!  

We've come to realize the necessity of having a centralized platform to manage all our projects and communications with clients and vendors. However, our budget doesn't allow for expensive options like BuilderTrend or other building software costing $500 or more per month. We're specifically seeking a product that is user-friendly for our clients and allows us to upload design details for their approval. Additionally, it should offer flexible invoicing options such as combining line items into one price, accepting deposits and retainers. It should also provide tools for tracking project timelines, ideally with a Gantt chart or similar feature. Integrating seamlessly with QuickBooks is crucial for us.

Eager to hear what solutions others in similar situations are using.

I overlooked the answer in the CA Manual - here is the answer if anyone else needs it:

In the Mac version of Chief Architect, you can pan using the left mouse button and Option key.

Curious if there is a way to pan using Apple's Magic Mouse on a MacBook Pro?

On 11/15/2023 at 7:49 PM, solver said:

Drop it down, and make the railing taller to compensate. Add another tread at the bottom. Turn off the railing you have now.

Thanks Eric, so I got to the drop it down part.  The copied stairs already is dropped down below the original stairs.  I added another step to the copy, turned the railing off on the original stairs.  Not quite understanding what you mean by 'make the railing taller to compensate?

15 hours ago, solver said:

Use landings for the first several steps. They may be shaped around the wall.

Thank you so much Eric! - A good part of the day spent getting to this point - any thoughts on how to get the hand rail to connect to the wall at the bottom? If I move the wall under the steps forward it creates another wall to the left of the existing wall.  

Working on stairs with a client, and trying to replicate their as built:

I got as far as this in CA x12

When moving the wall to align center with the wall under the stairs

I end up with this:

Client wants to extend the first step as shown below into the green box - several attempts to add in a landing but I can't seem to figure out how to make it match the height of the first step:

Once I can get the wall in place in CA X12 - I need to position the first three steps inside of that wall to a finish width of 40.25" - as you can see from the photo below the third step is partially behind the wall and partially over the wall underneath the stairs.  The clients wants a hand rail on the wall.  As you can see from the image above when I place the wall into the proper location the handrail extends through the wall - would like the handrail to be on the stair side only.

Hope this all makes sense, grateful for any insight, watching all the CA Stairs videos did not help me understand how to resolve.  I've attached the plan if anyone wants to dig around, please know I'm using X12.  Thanks in advance for your wisdom!  So grateful for this forum. 

stairs.plan

2 hours ago, DBCooper said:

First, check "ignore room moldings" in the soffit dialog and then rebuild 3D should update the room moldings and they should ignore the soffit and not build around them..

 

The only reasons I can think that this wouldn't work is if your room moldings were converted into custom molding polylines or your soffit has a custom molding applied to it.

 

If it's not one of these things, then post your plan.

 

I literally stepped away from my laptop for an hour to take a neighbor to pick up their car and responded to your post that it won't work as I tried multiple times.  So for kicks I try again and it works  I didn't close my laptop, I just left it for an hour.  Marking your answer as the solution, thanks!

2 hours ago, DBCooper said:

First, check "ignore room moldings" in the soffit dialog and then rebuild 3D should update the room moldings and they should ignore the soffit and not build around them..

 

The only reasons I can think that this wouldn't work is if your room moldings were converted into custom molding polylines or your soffit has a custom molding applied to it.

 

If it's not one of these things, then post your plan.

 

Thanks it doesn't work I suspect it is an X12 issue or a CA issue on a Macbook Pro.  I added 1/2 plywood to make it disappear.

2 hours ago, TeaTime said:

Unless this somehow didn't work right in X12, that should do it.

Maybe try lifting it 1/16" off the floor - if it's not ON the floor, it shouldn't pick up the floors' moldings.

Still requires rebuilding 3D though - moldings don't redraw until that happens.

Most likely an X12 issue as none of the suggestions are working.  I added 1/2 plywood over top of it to make it go away.

Just now, DBCooper said:

Rebuild 3D.

 

Thanks for the quick reply DBCooper unfortunately this doesn't correct the problem.

Hello!  I'm using CA X12 and attempting to mock up a wall using soffits so I can detail how to attach different materials to an existing wall for the carpenters building stairs.  My problem is the middle soffit goes floor to ceiling and I don't see settings to get rid of the baseboard molding.  I've checked Ignore Room Moldings (Soffit Specification Box >General >Options) but the baseboard molding remains.  I should also mention in the soffit specification box under moldings there are no moldings.

Thanks in advance!

On 10/12/2023 at 8:45 PM, Renerabbitt said:

Gonna be a couple years likely… games moving to pathtracing now… hopefully they find a way to catch up.

in the meantime, just remotely rent a machine when you need an rtrt

Rene, I highly value your insights and expertise! I'm wondering, what are your thoughts on the recently released M3 MacBook Pro Max with RTRT capabilities? I'm not well-versed in path tracing; could you enlighten me on whether it's typically done with CPU, GPU, or both? I'm also curious about why achieving this on a Mac might be challenging. Lastly, could you explain the distinction between path tracing and RTRT and whether it makes a significant difference in Chief Architect Premier rendering?

On 1/5/2023 at 4:16 PM, Alaskan_Son said:

1010 - Building permits

1020 - HBA assessments

1030 - Warranty fees

1110 - Blueprints

1120 - Surveys

1210 - Lot clearing

1220 - Fill dirt and material

1300 - Demolition

1400 - Temporary electric

1420 - Individual wells

1430 - Water service

1440 - Septic system

1450 - Sewer system

1460 - Gas service

1470 - Electric service

1480 - Telephone service

1490 - Other utility connections

2000 - Excavation and backfill

2010 - Plumbing - ground

2100 - Footings and foundation

2105 - Rebar and reinforcing steel

2110 - Concrete block

2120 - Rough grading

2130 - Window wells

2200 - Waterproofing

2300 - Termite protection

3100 - Structural steel

3110 - Lumber 1st package

3120 - Lumber 2nd package

3130 - Lumber 3rd package

3140 - Trusses

3150 - Miscellaneous lumber

3210 - Framing labor draw #1

3220 - Framing labor draw #2

3230 - Framing labor draw #3

3300 - Windows

3350 - Skylights

3400 - Exterior siding

3410 - Exterior trim labor

3500 - Flatwork material

3550 - Flatwork labor

3610- HVAC rough

3720 - Plumbing rough

3810 - Electrical rough

3910 - Gutters and downspouts

4100 - Roofing material

4150 - Roofing labor

4200 - Masonry material

4250 - Masonry labor

4300 - Exterior doors

4350 - Garage door

4400 - Insulation

4500 - Fireplaces

4600 - Painting exterior

5100- Drywall

5200 - Interior trim material

5250 - Interior trim labor

5300 - Painting interior

5400 - Cabinets and vanities

5450 - Countertops

5510- Ceramic tile

5520 - Special flooring

55S0 - Vinyl

5540 - Carpet

5610 - Hardware

5620 - Shower doors and mirrors

5630 - Appliances

5700 - HVAC final

5710 - Plumbing final

5720 - Electrical fixtures

5730- Electrical final

5810 - Wall coverings

5890- Special finishes

6100 - Clean-up

6200 - Final grade

6300 - Driveways

6400 - Patios, walks

6450 - Decks

6490 - Fences

6500 - Ornamental iron

6600 - Landscaping

6700 - Pools

Assorted Fixtures

Assorted Floors

Exterior Trim Material

Geometric Shapes

Interior Doors

Uncategorized Items

Thank you for this list!!  Where would I go in the software to locate this list and does CA notify users of changes in this list? 

Beyond thrilled to learn this!!!!

(Excerpts from Tech Radar)

The most important thing to know about what Apple is doing with its A17 Pro chip is that the ray tracing hardware in it won't be limited to that chip.

With the Apple M3 chip due out next year, it will almost certainly have a ray tracing-capable GPU built in. This has a lot of potential, not just for the best Mac games, but also for all kinds of creative workloads the Mac brand has long been known for.

…..Apple's hardware is rock solid when it comes to the technical aspects, especially if it adds ray tracing into the mix. It's also the kind of hardware that would be much easier for game developers to optimize for, so it has a lot of things in its favor. As always with Apple, though, it remains to be seen if developers will start to bite on the hook Apple's throwing their way.

Here is the plan - testing upper and lower cabinets to price accurately for future plans.  My best guess is it seems chief is only calculating for 25" of cove molding.  I like the idea of CA rounding up to the next foot, but would really like to see an accurate price of 3' @ $4.70 foot showing a total of $14.10 instead of showing $9.80.

CabinetTest.plan

1 hour ago, robdyck said:

Chief is automatically measuring the crown molding and displaying it in 'feet' rounded up.

Thanks for that bit of information.  My apologies for not communicating clearly about the incorrect total needing to be fixed.  I incorrectly thought by changing the feet to lineal feet it would correct the inaccurate total.