BrownTiger

This company is running itself into the ground. With more and more choices available every day, not just SoftPlan...

It chooses to twist screws' on existing user base. Let me know how it will end....

[ I guess, convert projects HomeDesigner, doubt homedesign will ever have monthly fee unless they are suicidal... ]

What do you think this means:

- The Traffic on these forums are down

- Not even software pirates appears to be interested

- Seen College kids with free versions? Seen any recently?

- IFC models?

Let me guess, ad in FamilyHandyman and FineHomebuilding, instead of embracing opensource and integration.

Ruby addons? No?! More and more closed architecture. Out of here for now.

4 minutes ago, DeLayDesign said:

I had to turn to the IT guy who through the power of google (Why didn't I think of that?) discovered that some virus softwares have issues with Chief.  None being installed on this computer we discovered that Microsoft's defender was blacklisting Chief Architect as a ransomware threat!

LOL, Most of the time this have to do with anti-piracy protection. Software products decrypt the code segments at the runtime, use anti-debugging, anti-... techniques', use crypt blowfish on data, communicate with central server (like botnet), and sometimes copy the segments of a known viruses. Most anti- viruses, trying to analyze a threat, see the anti-debugging, data crypt, notice QtWebEngineProcess local webserver that looks like a botnet backdoor - thus the result. 

Excluding a software is NOT a solution either, because it could get infected... And than you are in whole new class of trouble.

Personally I recommend all vendors scaling down anti-piracy protection whatever the vendor they use and make code more transparent for antivirus software to scan, get rid of code segment private encryptions [I trashed all of mine years ago] either go UPX or just abandon - to let Windows DEP ( Data Execution Prevention) to do it's work. Writable code segments are PITA and defy the CPU code cache. 

Take the Dock Support pipe, change material to white, hit the chair, change width from 2 1/4 -> 6", rotate 90.

What would the detailing for 14" IJoists would look like? Why can't you use 12"?

Technically 3" of closed cell = R21 and 3x 3" mineral wool @R23= 69.

So what is the point of going 14" I joists?  Unless you have some really large spans.

Is Ruby an option?

Windows macros can wrap  with \n, or completely change based on active layerset. So you can possibly have different labels in different plan views. Some could display more info, headers, etc..

Have you tried some of the monospaced fonts: Courier, Lucida Console, Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, Inconsolata and Source Code Pro, etc...

Most  of us create a layout and send your plan to a layout page. You can specify your scale when sending your plan view to a layout or later by selecting a bounding rectangle and pressing the scale button below.

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/48/creating-layouts-and-construction-documents.html?playlist=105

Or like this: a neutral (gray) never goes anywhere near DC circuits, thus DC negative (blue) was added.

Grounding should be the shortest path IMHO, also some disputes are there.

ChiefArchitect posted pretty cool Austin remodel plan and the layout. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/products/samples.html#projects-austin

After playing with it a bit, noticed an issue with "Solar diagram" and just letting them know. This diagram has many mistakes... I know it never meant to be real...

But in case you are interested:

- Solar panels are wired in series, and those series are wired in parallel, where VOC [voltage at open] of a panel x number of panels should not exceed max DC input on an inverter. So if your inverter max DC input voltage 240v and a [72 cel] solar panel produces 41v - You can have a max of 6 panels [or better 5] per series. Adding "up to 20" together could produce super high voltage.

- "Parallel Consolidator" can serves as [Combiner] for these parallel strings. Multiple groups let say of 6 panels output combined together. Not needed if you only have one string.

- A "Charge controller" is what charges the batteries  and Alternative Current L1 and L2 never comes anywhere near those batteries, rather only connect to the inverter.

- An inverter what produces the AC current, feed by DC  [or AC] and decides when to charge the batteries or consume thus powers a charge controller. 

- A battery bank would only get + and - from the charge controller. [may need a disconnect or a fuse]  

- An AC neutral leg is not the same as - terminal from the solar strand.

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/3d-library/index.php?r=site/detail/1093

On 12/1/2021 at 12:16 PM, Dermot said:

Recently, we have been getting a number of reports of "device removed" error messages specifically having to do with Windows 11 and NVIDIA 3000 series video cards.  Unfortunately, we have been having trouble reliably duplicating these errors in house.  Just yesterday one of our developers was able to duplicate this problem for awhile but then it mysteriously stopped happening and we don't know why yet. 

 

At this point, we are still not sure if the problem is a Chief problem or a device driver problem.  It could also be the result of some 3rd party software that is interfering with how Chief interacts with the video card.  You might be able to help us by providing us with more detailed information.

 

If you are experiencing these problems, then please contact our technical support team during our normal business hours.  You will need to provide them with some specific information about your system so that we can try determine what the common denominator is for the people that are experiencing this.  If the problem has started or stopped happening after making any changes to your system, then let us know this as well.

 

You can contact technical support here:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/#contact

 

We apologize for any inconvenience that this is causing.  Please be assured that resolving these problems is our top priority.

 

Fyi this error plagues a lot of software. Not just ChiefArchitect . 

Have you guys tried to set TdrLevel to 0. Many times it helps/

BT

How about, simple way to get Topography data, parcel boundaries without Surveyor data: 

1) Get Parlay trial

2) Open GoogleEarth and draw a rectangle on parcel boundary over parlay. Or if you know where property bounds are just draw them without PARLAY. [my state also offers parcel , topo layers so parlay is not needed. 

3) Right click on your boundary shape, and click save as KMZ file.

4) Download Global Mapper [and may be patch], tell it to install DWG autocad addon.

5) Open GlobalMapper, say Open Datafile and load your property boundary.

6) Once loaded, use get external data and choose topography provider of your choice.

7) Select Analysis create topography, choose like 2 ft  lines...

8) Once created: hit digitizer to select your boundary again (will be displayed hashed).

9) Specify export as "Autocad 2018" with elevation labels

10) Right click on topography layer and select LAYER> EXPORT> DWG > [Click on the 3rd tab] and select clip to boundary.  

11) Specify your favorite location for DWG.

Now DWG can be imported into ChiefArchitect (alternatively you can do this as an image).

Whole process takes 5 minutes if you know where to click. Again my state offers both TOPO and PARCEL layers because they think that no one outside of the industry would know how to use them.

Condition 

(1) Stepped foundation similar to this https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/402/stepped-foundation.html?playlist=88

(2) Stepped walls are foundation pony walls with light weight construction walls above. 

Goal is to display the slab with no framing.

Just like

The issue: turning off Framing wall and foundation wall on the same layer

1 hour ago, Archnot-Boltz said:

Just another dang time wasting Work-a-Round! Please suggest Chief fix all the Pony Wall idiosyncrasies (including alignment controls of Both Pony Walls Layers with upper walls etc). You can do it Nicky!

Exactly, while at it can we specify max plate length like [16'] to avoid 120' single plates and properly account for studs at plate ends.

Yes we can chop every single wall into 16' sections and if anything moves you are SOL. 

I also found that:

(0) Countless times material duplicated, specifically these two: "Color -White" and "Fir Stud 16 o.c"

(1) Sometimes merging materials causes X12 to crash violently. (Offender: Material OSB)

(2) Merging materials "works well" in the material dialog, but as soon as you OK's that dialog you get an error in the plan stating "Failed to merge"  [I am aware they must have been dissimilar]. But the fact is why O why material merging dialog does not report that.

Another observation was software had no issues merging "Color -White"'s and "Fir Stud 16 o.c"''s when requested. So they had to be similar.

BT  

Yes, draw your walls using interior wall or straight foundation wall tool and change your wall type to your library wall type.

Not the other way around. I think software does not always recompute correctly.

11 hours ago, decorators3 said:

sorry if I was a little confusing..

 

I created my plan under the KITCHEN AND BATH TEMPLATE..so under the Saved plan  views control - i have the following options WORK PLAN VIEW-CONSTRUTCIN PLAN VIEW-ELECTRICAL PLAN VIEW-MECHANICAL PLAN VIEW-KITCHEN AND BATH PAN VIEW..

 

HOWEVER Under the residential saved plan view control I see many other options (ie) floor plan view dimensional - floor plan shell - framing etc.. These do not show up in the kitchen and bath saved plan view control.

 

I was asking how I can change my completed floor plan from the KB template to imperial residential template which offer more plan views

 

Maybe I am missing something.. anyway thanks for your reply

Select a plan view you like, right click and say duplicate.

Or you can export plan views/layersets from another plan.

Question is if you really need those "floor plan view dimensional"?

They can be created under 1 minute exactly the way you want!

 You can right click on any existing plan view and select duplicate, now duplicate your layerset, in that layer set turn off everything other than exterior walls and dimensions. Assign this new layerset to your new Plan View. Done.

Apologies, slightly difficult to understand what you are asking...

If this is truly a "Plan View" - you can have as many of them as you need, specify whatever the layerset or anno set you need.

If You are talking about Plan ( template defaults: like residential template ) - these control the initial defaults when you started to work on your plan.  

If you completed your plan [I have completed  a floor plan] - it doesn't really matter what template was used initially.

[unless you used metric template in place of imperial]

19 hours ago, skoz44 said:

Hi,

I'm trying to organize my materials and material list and have run into a few items I'm hoping can be resolved.

• Insulation - the default insulation in CA shows you the number of 12 x 16 x 48" batts.  I'd like to know the total SF of the insulation.  I copied the CA insulation to my own folder and changed the Materials List Calculation to Area.  It nows give me the SF that I want, but the insulation is no longer listed under Insulation in the Material List, it is listed under Wallboard.  Anybody know how to correct this?
  • For that matter, most of my drywall shows up under Wallboard like it should, but I have a small amount that shows up under Siding.  How do I control what heading/ID a material will fall under?
• Cabinets and Countertops - I'd like to list all my cabinets individually, but then my total countertop to SF.  Is there a way to separate the two?
• Eliminate From Categories - how to prevent CA from showing
• Sub Category - what is this column???

 

Thanks

1) In the material list change "=automatic_count" to "=automatic_count.to_f * 5.34" [without quotes] and change formatting to SQ FT.

Where 5.34 = 16x48/144

2)  Eliminate From Categories - how to prevent CA from showing Sub Category - what is this column???

Most brutal way possible - select your column, object properties> components and click delete [don't worry the circle thingy reverts back]

or you can change the category.

3) Create a polyline and get to to display sq ft in place of the countertop

I suspect it is corrupted and also suggest taking a copy from the archive folder

Go to Edit>Preferences>Folders> My Folder Data

Lookup archive see if there is a copy

In general every layout/plan has a header: 

01 ca b2 0b 00 00  

If it is corrupt CA will not open

Hmm, I was taught in school that you can not have a framed cripple wall because of axial momentums. 

Solid or trusses...

Building analysis: sq ft by room type <bedrooms> vs bathrooms vs closets vs living and family vs kitchen, garage deck etc

Custom Room label: displays different label based on PlanView [layerset], lighting requirement, ventilation, etc

Custom Windows Labels: Show windows differently per PlanView [layerset] or display or not headers info (DH, CSMT RH etc)

Custom Door labels PlanView [layerset]

Suggested forced lighting requirements: suggested footcandles by room type

Generates roof plane statistics: sq ft etc

Building Requirement macros (long texts centrally managed)

Window Stats (golden ratio, egress,  size is standard vs custom per manuf etc )

Stair Stats

OIP's

Some engineering: basic uniform load, basic wall load & basic area; selecting beam displays deflection limits L/240, or L/360; select window displays number of kings studs

HVAC basic guesses... Given BTU load guess circular duct and couple rect ducts and number of diffusers (nothing like RightJ)

Roof stats

Basic Building cost using room type and polylines

Code42 scanning / backup takes a lot of resources I do not believe it matters how powerful your CPU is. When It does the full scan you will fill it. 

I believe it is set in two different groups [places] one for export pdf and another for printing. Make sure you change the right one.