Alaskan_Son

Chief (and a handful of other independent teachers and consultants) are endeavoring to teach people how to use the tools we’ve been given. If you learn to use the program correctly, you typically don’t have these common issues to contend with. This suggestion feels kinda like Joe Blow asking Designer Man to draw up some detailed construction documents, disregarding all the construction details and notes when building the house, and then asking Designer Man to draw up MORE plans on his own dime to show Joe Blow what he did wrong. Sounds a little unreasonable to me. Okay, so what about the “common” problems that still arise when you ARE using the program correctly? 1. Contact tech support and get the problem reported so they can fix it. 2. There are about as many solutions as there are settings for any given problem. In the case of the roof anomalies above? Fixing the angle could fix the problem, as could simply changing the angle to another off angle. Dragging that little narrow roof closer to the building could fix the problem, dragging the upper roof planes further past the lower roof could fix the problem, building the low roof using a full return instead of an independent plane could fix the problem, the list could go on and on and on. I’ve made a lot of videos over the years to help address some common problems and I can tell you from experience that most fixes only work for a very small handful of situations. The next time the problem come up? It requires a totally different solution because one of the various dynamics has changed. The best solution to LEGITIMATE problems (after doing your best to learn and use the software correctly) is to reach out to tech support and/or to some of the other users here on the forum. Someone will help you sort it out for your specific plan, but there’s a really good chance the solution is going to be different the next time you run into a similar situation.

Post the plan for a better answer, but I'd bet you have either a disconnected wall, a missing wall, or a wall set as No Room Definition.

To test your theory, I would suggest you try learning to play piano by hiring a plumber. See how far you get. You both might eventually figure out how to make something that doesn't sound like total crap, but is that really the best way to go about it? Definitely not. I guarantee this approach will always result in picking up bad habits, misunderstanding or total missing the fundamentals, and a ton of wasted time for both you and the "teacher". NOTE: There are a lot of proficient users here on the forum, so don't get me wrong. There is plenty of good information. Trying to sort through it though when you don't actually know what you're looking for can be an exercise in futility.

This is one area where I would really recommend people be careful. On the surface, it makes sense, but I see incorrect and conflicting information here on the forum ALL THE TIME.

If I was to make a video with common problems and common fixes it would just be a short commentary to encourage people to: Use the Tutorial Guide to get started (it will help you understand the basics of how Chief was intended to be used). If you start out missing some of the fundamentals, you're going to struggle ALWAYS. Use the Help files (both via Launch Help and via the little "Help" button in the various dialogs. In my opinion, this should be the very first place a person goes to learn what a tool or setting is, what it does, and how it was intended to be used. Go to the videos and the Knowledge Base articles only after deciding that the Help files don't answer your question Go to the forum when all the above fails or if it's a question on an issue that simply doesn't seem to be addressed elsewhere If your time is worth much, consider getting some personal training. You might be surprised out how much you can learn in a short session. Its typically FAR MORE than you would glean spending the same amount of time typing up questions and reading answers here on the forum...which by the way can be very misleading (the answers).

Here's a quick sloppy example of what I typically do... https://youtu.be/e9BVQ4cQcTc

It's in there. Go to Tools>3D Text

Rich. "Auto" generating a schedule like that is kinda possible but requires an inordinate amount of setup time, some very complex macros, quite a bit of Ruby savvy, and some very careful maintenance. Totally not worth it in my opinion. There are some pretty easy ways you can really speed up your copying and pasting of info. from plan to excel though in order to make the job quicker and reduce errors including; Using temporary schedules Copying and pasting directly from schedules (either in whole or in part) Using some pretty simple custom text macros and copying/pasting from those

For whatever its worth, this one thing (3D lettering) is almost the only thing I personally use Sketchup for anymore.

If I need 3D letters like that, Here what I do: Use Sketchup to create the letters Import those into Chief as a symbol Create a CAD Detail From View to get the extrusion shapes Cut/paste those into plan Convert them into polyline solids Convert to solids if necessary

My brother always calls it a Boston Hip for some reason while I call it a Dutch Hip...and we both grew up in the same place.

CAD Detail From View is probably in my top 5 favorite tools in Chief. Just remember that you don't have to actually use the CAD Detail for anything. I use it all the time to simply get snap points and then Cut/Copy Paste Hold Position back into plan. Example: Instead of zooming in and placing points at a potentially incorrect location, create a CAD Detail From View, drop a dimension into the plan, and then cut/paste hold position back into your elevation view. I typically make the points 0" in size, make them invisible, or put them onto a different layer and turn that layer off.

Framing schedules, reporting methods, layer settings, active layer sets, ML polylines, material definitions, multiple ML's, post creation editing...there are a lot of options and forks in the road for sure.

Text itself is controlled by the Roof Plane's label Text size is controlled by the Roofs, Labels layer text style

When you have the time and inclination, set up a meeting with me Scott. I think I can help you use the material list a lot more effectively.

I'm guessing it's a ceiling height issue...room above is open below for some reason?

I'm curious Scott, why do you even need a material list for the existing?

Read up on the Gable Roof Line tool. Also, another quick power tip: You can also Cut/Paste Hold Position to put framing all in a single wall detail.

Scott, You're not missing anything. I think you'll find that your best bet is to simply run 2 different material lists. One with all the objects except for Framing #2 and then one with only Framing #2 (or vicy versy), and then just manually change the name in the material list. That framing material naming issue has been around for a while. I've dug deep into all the files we typically shouldn't touch in the past and I've never found a setting that affects the way framing is named in the material list. I think the only place I really haven't checked is in the main program file. That's probably where it is.

P.S. You can also turn the brightness up on the image to get a similar effect.

Here's my personal approach. Send to the back drawing group. Draw a Polyline or CAD box over the top, set the fill style to solid>background color, and give it a transparency Send the Polyline to the back drawing group and then Move Forward In Group

We can do the same basic thing simply using the shape tab settings. You can get almost any possible roof shape you want across the top of the window using those settings...

Thanks so much Rich, you 're too kind good sir...too kind : ) And thank you Scott and Rene as well. You guys aren't so bad either!

Just noticed that you're using Interiors. That's where your problem is. Interiors doesn't have that feature. You'll have to use dimensions or dialog boxes of one sort or another. There are a lot of ways to resize things.

Thta's simply controlled by the line weight of that particular object.