Alaskan_Son

This is a rather involved subject, but here are a few of the key things to consider... A. Whether or not you actually need all the imported layers and layer settings. B. The fact DWG files can include tons of CAD blocks that aren’t actually used in the drawing (things you may or may not want but things that can certainly boost your file size). C. The fact DWG files oftentimes contain tons of CAD blocks that ARE used in the drawing. Problem with these as that you can’t snap to them. D. The fact various items may or may not be drawn or dimentioned accurately and that various wall layers may or may not be included in the drawing. This is very important to consider when placing your new walls. E. The fact we have a CAD To Walls tool available. You may or may not want to use it. F. The fact multiple floors may come in overlapped on a single floor in Chief. G. The fact you may or may not know what any given layer is used for. The basics of my personal workflow are approximately as follows: 1. Import the desired DWG file including all existing layers and layer settings but excluding any CAD blocks not actually referenced in the drawing. If you happen to know what the various layers are used for you could optionally exclude some of them or map the layers right away, but I would be super careful about doing this since CAD blocks and their internal line work can reside on different layers (just like they do in Chief). Similarly, I would also leave out the unnecessary CAD blocks unless you want/need them for some other unrelated purpose. 2. Explode CAD blocks, move linework to your own custom layer(s), and adjust the settings as desired for color, line style, drawing group etc. Then, group by group, Cut/Paste Hold Position all that linework to a NEW plan, placing it onto the correct floors, and locking layers as necessary. This will ensure you only bring over only exactly what parts you want, AND it will keep your layer sets as clean as possible. 3. As you go of course, you are deleting things you don’t need. 4. With my all the desired linework in the new plan, on the desired layers, and using the desired settings (in my case I put onto a very minimal number of layers—sometimes just one (all set to be some shade of gray) and lock layer(s). 5. Figure out how walls have been dimensioned, which layers were included in the drawing (drywall, framing, siding, etc.) and choose or create the appropriate wall type(s). You have to be very careful with this because I find many CAD-based drawings contain a lot of inaccurate wall thickness information and you have to adjust accordingly. 6. Set the Resize About setting for walls so that you can snap to a special group of lines. This can make very quick work of the tracing part. 7. Place windows and doors (sometimes I actually do this as I go). 8. Same as above for cabinets, toilets, fixtures, etc. 9. Build roofs and foundations. That’s the basics anyway. For me, the most difficult part is really just cleaning up the line work so that you have all the information you need, ONLY the information you need, and have it all in a usable, easy to read, snappable format. Then the tracing is quick and easy. With regard to the CAD To Walls feature, it can be handy for quick conversion in some cases, but it still requires a lot of proper cleanup and layer mapping, and the biggest problem is that wall definitions, windows, and doors don’t always end up correct so you end up having to re-check everything anyway. In my opinion this is just better to do as you are tracing. My thoughts are that we don’t want to depend TOO much on our software. It’s good to double/triple check certain steps and if you can use a sort of built in double/triple checking process, that is a lot better than just double checking. The problem with a regular double check is this: If you missed it the first time, you’re likely to miss it again he second unless you’re using an entirely different checking method—in this case both manually placing by hand and then glancing back over using a visual scan (with or without utilizing special layer settings in the process).

It needs to be a COMPLETE Break. Click your break tool and then take a look down in the edit sub-menu.

Elevation lines are an oddity in Chief...one of the only CAD based objects that can’t be trimmed. You have to place 2 complete breaks and then delete the desired section.

Here's another similar site... GPS Geoplaner online

Just stack 2 key frames right on top of each other (line length of zero) and set the time between frames to 15 seconds.

Definitely. Cropping in layout will cut off any notations that fall outside your viewport.

This is one issue where I think people fight the software way too much. Super easy to just use an elevation camera and mask the view as necessary. The wall elevation cameras are great for some things, but as with any other tool they have their limitations. Just use the right tool for the job and save all the headache. To speed up the process, I have a few generic CAD masks in my library... Spend a ton of time forcing a wall elevation to work, or just mask it, I guess it's up to you.

Open this wall and uncheck Hang Floor Platform Above On Wall...

Your problem is very difficult to follow based on nothing more than a written description. If that's all it took than we wouldn't be using Chief right? We would just be using Word to type up our construction docs Anyway, a plan is best, but at least a screenshot or 2. There are any number of variables or combinations that could affect your situation including but not limited to roof plane structure settings, ceiling plane structure settings, room ceiling finish and structure settings, which floor your fixtures are drawn on, what the symbol settings for your fixtures are (including origin offsets), whether your fixtures have been blocked or not, etc. etc.

Not sure. Oldest version I have installed right now is X8, and I had it in that library.

They're in a bonus catalog called Rec Room and Games that no longer seems to be available on Chief's site. Not sure why. Here's some stuff you can use though... Pool tables.plan

I agree, the behavior seems incorrect. Make sure it gets reported to tech support.

Try placing a break in the foundation walls at those 2 locations.

To your point, do you really think offering a convoluted hack is better than just telling a new user how to manually modify the framing? I have to say that I think that Glenn's solution is equally as bad, they all are still going to require manually modifying the framing because we all know that headers need trimmers and the question wasn't how to break up the header into multiple pieces or how to remove kingposts anyway, simply how to get the framing between the windows. Sorry, I think you guys are way overcomplicating this one...especially for a new user. Eric had it right to start with, it depends on the framing requirements, but just adjusting manually is the easiest and most accurate. By the way, on a side note, and most specifically for the OP; when we see things that we think should be behaving differently than they are, we should send in as a suggested improvement to Chief. In this particular example though, I think Chief is actually doing the right thing since you would almost never want to break up the header or remove kingposts. The alternatives are to either add some framing members between the sill and header, OR break up the sill and add framing between the bottom plate and header (with or without extra cripples). Probably best to leave it up to the user no?

Okay. We’ve come up with some ill contrived workaround solutions but I think if we were holding a contest this one just might be the winner...or loser...not sure which. It seems like you improved upon the suggestion for manual framing modifications by adding 9 extra steps first. That took guts my friend. My hats off to you

After accounting for your space between windows and your rough opening settings, Chief needs at least enough room to place a single king post or else the openings will mull together as one. Just adjust the wall framing to your liking as Eric suggested.

You need to use a section of STRAIGHT driveway between your polyline driveway and road if you want to get the curbs to automatically cut, and you'll also need to set your driveway and road heights to allow for the transition that actually matches up and makes sense.

The bottom leg of your molding just needs to be a little longer.

One other method that can be handy to have in your back pocket is using multiple walls sandwiched together. Give a lot more control over where the tile starts and stops and can be used to wrap around the ends of walls.

see if this helps at all... Flush example.plan By the way, I'm not necessarily saying this is the best method to use. Only that it is A method. One of the most automatic if all you need is quick 3D stuff.

You can do this for a lot of labels by placing your custom macro into the default label, but currently we don't have a default label for layout boxes. Until we do, I'm afraid you just have to do these one page at a time.

You don't need to recess the door at all. Like I alluded to earlier, you might need to increase the rough opening dimensions. Chief will only cut interior wall layers around the door back as far as that rough opening setting, so if your molding profile is 1.25" wide then you'll need to increase the rough opening to 1.25" as well. Again, you shouldn't actually need to recess the doors or windows at all though.

No reason to pad anything, and you actually don't even need to mull anything. The key settings are: Sash Depth and inset Frame Depth and Inset Casing Overlap (needs to be negative) The biggest downsides are that the window doesn't actually get a framed wrap using this method so you might want to downsize your windows to account for this. Pick your poison I suppose. The alternatives take a lot longer.

In order to make this work, the frame and inset also have to be adjusted. This is one of the key setting though for sure. It's just not the only necessary setting.

I think he's trying to get rid of those deep mullions Mick. Look at how Eric did his.