Alaskan_Son

^^^^This. Absolutely. Totally depends on the purpose of your rendering.

If you're talking about true timber framing the purlins may very well be dovetailed into the rafters or otherwise dropped in and aligned on the top side. In these cases I've found using just plain old lookouts is the best method....unless of course you actually need to show the joinery in which case a series of solids may be the best method.

I could be misunderstanding but Chief has a built in Truss tool. You can just build the truss and then add, delete, or modify individual members in elevation or in the truss detail.

Larry, haven't had a chance to look at your plan but see if this thread and video help you out at all. Looked like a similar situation to me...

Let's think that through. What you essentially have is a roof with 2 framing layers right? One perpendicular to the other. The problem is that Chief doesn't allow for 2 framing layers to be defined so we must frame one of them manually. There are probably other methods but here's where I would start... Define your roof structure to have 2 layers, one layer for the rafters and one layer for the purlins. Set the purlin layer to a framing material and and the rafter layer to a non-framing material for the time being. Make sure to check Lookouts in the roof Structure tab and then auto build the roof framing. Select one of the lookouts, block it, and add it to your library. Name it purlin or something you'll otherwise remember. Hit Undo a couple times to get rid of the roof framing. Go back into your roof structure tab and change the structure layers so that the rafter is a framing material and so that the purlin layer is an air gap. You can now frame your roof as usual. Drop your Purlin block into the plan and explode it. You can now multiple copy that around, resize it as necessary, and use various CAD tools (extend, trim, etc.) to create your purlins. Because it was originally framed in the second layer of the roof structure it should always automatically return to that second layer when you drop it into the plan. NOTE: The top of your purlin will always automatically align itself with the top of your upper structure layer and will resize about that point if you change the depth. Maybe Chopsaw will chime in. I know he's spent a bit more time than I have working with this method and may be a little more familiar with some of the nuances.

I feel like I must be missing something here as you basically just described the truss tools.

Various wall intersection usually cause those lines. There are probably 20 different ways to deal with those. Every situation is a little different. You'd be much better off posting the plan.

That's because its a pony wall with the main (upper) wall type set to be a room divider but with the lower set to be displayed in plan views... ...Its just doing as it was told. I think you're probably making that spot a lot more complicated than it needs to be. There are other ways as well but maybe try something like this instead. It's probably the quickest and easiest... Railing Fix.plan

Actually, just came up with that one about 5 minutes before I posted it. And thanks

Here's another random idea...

You betcha

Right! My mind was still on core catalog from that other thread!

Hey, good call Glenn. I never use that filter. Wouldn't have thunk of that.

Its the Follow Stairs setting that's doing it. Uncheck that and you should be good to go. On a side note, this should probably be reported to tech support. I'm not sure there's any good reason it should be behaving that way.

Posts a plan here within the next few minutes or so and I'll try to make you a quick video before I head out the door.

You'll get a much quicker and more accurate response if you post the plan file.

2 things to consider here... You'll need to modify your architectural blocks and then add them back to the library. I think the best solution is probably to put the brackets on one layer (with Materials List checked) and the props onto another layer (with Materials List UNchecked). Once you do that, add the block back to your library and you should be good to go. Just bear in mind that your material list will generate based on the Materials List settings in the layer set you have active when you generate your material list. Hope that helps.

Did YOU know how to change it back prior to Post #5? If so, why not tell people how to do so rather than simply encouraging them not to use the tool? It seems to me like that approach is just perpetuating this problematic ignorance you speak of. Regarding the exterior wall surfaces more specifically...I just used the interior wall surfaces because it was an easily understood example. Truth is that the material painter can be used effectively on exterior wall surfaces just as well as interior wall surfaces and again there are a number of situations where this is true. Is it always the best way? Absolutely not. And should everyone use it? No, but I would encourage everyone who wants to be truly proficient with the product to try and understand how and when to properly use a tool rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater. To each his own, you have to do what works best for you, but if we stop using all the tools that CAN cause problems we'll never be as productive as we could be.

I would encourage you to learn how and when to use a tool rather than abandoning it completely just because it can cause some people problems. I would personally do as Eric suggested and use the material painter but I imagine I would use it in Floor or Plan mode and depending on what your exterior surface material is, this is one situation where you may actually want to consider using it with "blend" toggled on (something I would typically recommend against). There are other options though too. Here's one... Set both your exterior wall finish and your battens to use the same material (you may or may not want to give this material a custom name if you are using it somewhere else in the plan and don't want to change it at those other locations). When you would like to change the material, click on either the Material Painter or the Plan Materials tool, select your material from the Plan Materials list (can be done quickly by starting to type the name or by first using the material eyedropper to select the material AND THEN clicking on the Material Painter tool), click Replace, and then select your new material. This will completely replace that material everywhere it is being used in the plan including inside the actual wall definition. At the end of the day you have to figure out what works best for you and for the particular situation though.

If you provide the AutoCAD file you'd make it a lot quicker and easier.

The spray can doesn't need to cause any headaches at all if a person familiarizes his/herself with how it works and uses it in the appropriate mode and situation. If used properly, it is by far the fastest and most effective way to change materials for a ton of situations. In the case of walls... That's one wall (as it should be) with 6 different colors. I can't see in what world it would be a better idea to set up and use 6 different wall types or apply 6 different material regions.

There should never be a need to redraw your wall. Just open the "offending" wall, click on the Materials tab, select the Exterior Wall Surface material, and check Use Default Material. Please Note that there are multiple ways to change your wall surface materials... You can change the material in your wall definition You can change the material in the wall's Materials tab You can change the material by using the spray can. This has the unique advantage of being able to change just a portion of a wall if that wall is part of more than one room or otherwise being divided into multiple sections by intersecting walls; otherwise, this is the same as changing the material in the wall's Materials tab. You can change the material by using the ROOM's Materials tab. Either way, you should be able to fix your issues by simply selecting Use Default Material either for individual wall(s) or for the entire room. Admittedly, there is one material control that I currently don't understand (and I'm not sure whether or not I ever understood it)...The Materials Defaults>Walls(Exterior) material. This settings seems to control nothing. The only benefit it seems to have is that it can give you a quick shortcut to the desired material if you should choose to control the material using your exterior room.

You can also export/import as a 3DS file and keep the materials.

Hey, that's not a bad idea Dermot. This method will only work for rooms within rooms though so here's what you'll have to do if your room isn't in another room... If you don't already have one of these, create yourself a custom room divider wall type that has a single insulation air gap layer .01" thick. Select the room you would like to have a dropped ceiling and make sure it is excluded from schedule (not necessary if you aren't using a schedule. Draw some walls around the perimeter of your room using your custom room divider wall type until they form an enclosed room. Drag those walls till they snap to your main walls. Open your enclosed room, set the structure to have a shelf ceiling, and adjust the ceiling height and structure settings as desired. Note that if you're using a room finish schedule with a wall finish material column you may need to create a special gap material with the same name as your main interior wall finish.

Try adding the Ceiling Finish Height column to your schedule.