Ridge_Runner

So we have come full circle back to drawing with a pencil. Only this time it is with digital lead! At least it is much easier to erase and redraw. Mike

Thanks for sharing, Joey. Mike

X7 - but I believe I have done it this way for a long time; not sure how long though (I started back with '97). Mike

Maybe I misunderstood your comment, Joey, since you do some excellent work in Chief. But I am able to do just the opposite. While in Layout, I can edit most any line except those on locked layers and CAD lines. The CAD lines have to be edited in the camera view in plan. Pattern lines are editable because I often erase too many of them by accident when I am in Layout edit mode. Of course the OP is right; any of that done will be lost if the camera view is updated to Layout - except CAD lines. Mike

I'm with Larry on this one. I do it this way on my remodels. I find it works much easier to put everything from the modified view-to-CAD window on the as-built mask layer and then block it. Sometimes I have to go back, move that block to the side, modify something ( who knows what it may be), and re-block it; then move it back and lock the mask layer. Takes less time than it took to type this usually. I just did this yesterday on a remodel. Mike

Thanks, Joe. Much easier than what I have been doing. Scott's symbol technique works OK too. Mike

Glenn, showing my ignorance of the program I guess (on stairs at least). Can you have an invisible ramp with a visible railing? Different layers maybe? Mike

We do this a lot in our area, especially for builders who are building spec houses and don't want to spend the extra $ to do a full railing system. Always requires a workaround, especially in 3D. That being said, I know some of you stair gurus will surely chime in and show us how to do it; and easy. Mike

Sweeney, have you tried adding the small roof sections manually and adjusting until it looks right? Those would probably be framed as a frame-over on site over the trusses. Add an attic wall for the gable if necessary. You might have to detail this manually in the details section. Without posting the plan it is hard to tell. Mike

Dennis, it is amazing what we thought was "great" years ago. Today, that would not even be considered a "render." It kind-of looks like my first pass doing a raytrace with my settings off! Mike

You are welcome, Greg. Don't get overwhelmed by the "detail" of the cornice work. It may seem daunting but can be done entirely in CA. But first, you "must" get your ceiling heights and rooflines at the roughly the same height as the real-world house or you will quickly run into problems. There are corbels (brackets some call them) in the Libraries - I find just getting one close will usually suffice for visuals; most clients would never notice. 3D Warehouse has some. I have even made them out of CAD profiles turned into polyline solids, which I then added to my User library. You can go into the roof DBx's and add frieze boards (multiple layers) as well as gable trim - check CA's videos and manual as well as doing a search on this forum for how to do these. 3D molding polylines would work for some of the details. You may have to draw your own CAD profiles, but it is not difficult and you can get as detailed as you want with stacked molding profiles. I would start like you would build it. Add the first elements next to the wall, then then the next "layer," and so forth. Soffits "might" work for the boxed gutters, but they are sometimes difficult to control - mine always want to move where I don't want them to. Polyline solids or molding polylines are usually my go-to tool under the eaves. Mike

I began with AutoCAD in about 1986 or so. Tried to use it for a year or so. Took training. Was never very proficient with it; I had drawn with paper and pencil/ink for years - remember those? Used it off and on thru version 2004, which I still have but never use. Went to a small 2D program called EasyCAD in the late 80's. Then to its big brother FastCAD. FastCAD was well named - it was extremely fast at what it did. Got pretty proficient with it, but had to go back to AutoCAD for some 3D capabilities when 3D came out. Started with ART's 3D Home around mid 90's, just to play around with. Eventually bought Chief '97 and have never looked back. CA does most everything I need to do in Residential and (some) Light Commercial design, prep of ConDoc's, and customer presentations. But even though I have used it since the late 90's, I would estimate only about 50-60% proficiency. I use it almost daily and it works well for me. But I have soooo much more to learn from the great help on this forum. ChiefTalk is invaluable as a resource. I have never been involved in a help forum quite like this one. Mike

Greg, I added manual roof planes to your 2nd floor. The roofs will cut the walls back on the third floor under the gables. I had to manually drag the attic walls over to fill the gaps left at the outside corners of the gable walls. You have several things going in this plan. Some of your exterior walls don't line up. The ceiling heights seem to be off. There doesn't appear to be enough room to add all of the cornice trim and corbels as shown in the pics. I had to raise the roof planes several inches just to get them where there are now. I believe you will have to raise them even more if you are going to add those cornice details. I didn't bother with any porch roofs, frieze boards, gable trim, etc. - you can add those. Also, I couldn't tell what was going on with the right side. The pics seem to indicate a small gable roof section over there - maybe over the balcony. Anyway, I "faked" a small gable section over it - may not be right, but you can adjust it if you wish. Also, I didn't mess with the box gutters you referred to; those could be added also. Hope this helps, MikeAskod1-1017 Main St-modified.plan

Greg, I don't know where you were going to use dormers, but I have added a couple of roof sections just to see how they would look. I would do them manually (as I do many of my roofs) since this roofline will probably not change. That should be able to get the roofs on close enough for a visual trial of different colors, materials, etc. I did note that the manual roof planes drew too low when drawn over the top of the walls. I had to raise them up several inches for them to look right. Will look a little further as time allows. Mike

Askod1 (don't know your name), I downloaded your plan to take a look. In looking at the pics, it appears there is a second, shallow, pitch at the eave of the roof sections; is that correct? Can't tell for sure from the pictures, but it appears it is there and would make a difference in the "look." What version are you using? Is this plan going to be an "as-built" or a new house with this design? Your floor system is using I-joists so I assumed it to be new construction. Mike

I agree totally. As mentioned above, how many times have I (we) sketched a great idea for a remodel/addition only to find out it just won't work like I envisioned it would because the existing walls, roofs, floor platforms, etc. just don't move where we would like them to be in our sketch (at least without spending money)? I always create an as-built model first, that way I know what I have to work with. Mike

Joe (and others), how do you guys deal with the inevitable hard drive failure and/or upgrade to new equipment with all of these different links to plan/layout? I'm thinking here about the possibility of different hard drive letter(s) on a new/restored system, especially with partitions. All of those links have to be restored some way on the new system as CA would not know where to find them in that scenario. If it is a network drive it may not be so much of a problem, especially with something like RAID mirroring. But I'm talking about a typical "standalone" system so many of us use every day. Would that be the nightmare I think it would be?

Love the "refrigerator art" in the kitchen picture. I think you succeeded placing the house on the lot - at least from this angle. Mike

I am on Win 7 Pro and received the invite one or two days after release. I haven't updated yet. I am one who usually waits and lets the dust settle before jumping in. In addition, I am accumulating as much feedback from those who updated to 10 about M$'s direction to want to completely control my computer systems. I am saving the "secret handshakes" on how to turn as much of this crap off as possible for when I do upgrade - probably 4-6 months. Mike

Same here. I tried several times. Nothing appeared to happen. I even went to Task Manager which showed CA was not running, but when I tried to reload I received the message about Chief already running, even though nothing showed on screen. I finally was able to get it up and running after several minutes. Something obviously is not right today. Mike

Scott, that only works if all floors are set to default, right?

What a Pandora's box! (at least to me) If you follow Tommy's method, which I think, I think, is right, does the first floor remain at zero elevation and everything else get pushed up when everything is said and done, even though the ceilings are pushing the floors down? As usual, I am somewhat confused. Mike

Thanks for posting the plan Chris. I like the way the polysolid works - much easier to control than some of the other methods I have tried and looks very close in 3D to Hardie's Reveal Panel System joints. Mike

I guess Shane caught it and edited his post. Yes, Chris designed it. I only ask questions. Mike

Chris, I am a little dense for Monday I guess. Is that channel you used a shape drawn in plan and converted to a polysolid as you mentioned; a little hard to tell from the PDF? When you said you created a "molding" I usually think of applying that to a 3D molding line. If you could create a copy of your plan and maybe delete everything but the wall that has the panels, and attach that plan, that would help. I don't do too many Modern designs in this part of the country but just recently did a prelim for a client using a similar system. There has been other threads on how to do this in a way that it works to show the reveal lines in a more realistic representation but, so far, "no cigar" in my opinion. Thanks, Mike