Alaskan_Son

Preferences>Appearance>Minimum Display Size>Labels I think that's about all the control you're going to get.

Ten four. Well, I for one will miss your knowledge and expertise. You've been an invaluable (and probably underappreciated) asset to the community here and I sincerely wish you the best with all your new endeavors.

Hey Gerry, Are you leaving us? Or do you just have an extra seat?

Absolutely agree. I noticed the same thing. The only thing I see as being truly unique and not easily reproduced with Chief about those drawings is the fills. That of course is to say nothing of some of the extra tools Vectorworks has that makes controlling and manipulating the linework, fills, and hatch patterns so much easier and more productive. I'm with you and Johnny on this...it's about time we see an improvement in some of these areas.

You actually don't even need to create the notch. All you have to do is place the necessary break(s). The key to properly using the Join Roof Planes tool that I think a lot of people initially have trouble with (myself included) is that you can't simply select the correct roof plane. You MUST select the correct EDGES.

Rest easy...me thinks it aint so. You should be able to do both of those. You just need to take the extra steps of converting the "Special Polyline" back to a "Standard Polyline" and then converting that to a Terrain Perimeter. Oh ya, one more thing...probably goes without saying, but just in case... You need to make sure you cut or copy all the elevation data along with the terrain perimeter.

Chief doesn't have X refs or anything like them. I'd say the closest thing we have is CAD Blocks and maybe layout boxes. Whoever told you that will probably need to elaborate a bit and tell you exactly what they need.

You're welcome, and I'm not really sure. I guess I could be wrong about my assumed reasoning but I do know I've heard the same thing recommended many times. Based on my personal experience it just doesn't really seem to matter though.

They plan file can be stored wherever you want as long as you tell the layout file where it's at. I think people just recommend the file remain in the same folder so that the path is less likely to change and so that people don't lose it.

Just a quick update on this issue with the file being locked up... Another user had this problem recently and since they answered Eric's question and told us they were using Internet Explorer I was very easily able to reproduce the problem. If anyone else has this same problem, simply closing down Internet Explorer seems to free the file up.

Yep. I just tried uploading a plan using Internet Explorer and I get the exact same behaviour. Simply shutting down Internet Explorer freed up the file though.

I've never had that problem but another user described the same issue recently. The file seems to be getting tied up but another program...probably your web browser. What web browser are you using? Anyway, try cutting or copying the file and pasting it to a new location and opening from there. Either that or just download your own attachment. You can also restart the machine if you want but eventually that file should get freed up. If it's your web browser you may just be able to shut that down instead of a complete restart.

Your roof is building way up there because you have assigned super high ceiling values to those top floor rooms. It looks to me like maybe you moved them way up to accommodate some vaulted ceilings? If so, that isn't the correct way to deal with those areas. You should be unchecking Ceiling Over This Room in the Room Structure Tab and either using the roof structure as your ceiling or adding a manually drawn ceiling plane.

Just copy and paste back into the plan and then rotate into position.

To expand on what Chopsaw said...Your problem is that you are trying to convert your polyline in a CAD detail. A CAD detail cannot contain anything other than CAD work so there's nothing to convert the polyline TO. In order to get the tool you're looking for you'll need to first cut or copy and paste that polyline into a normal plan view..

Yes it does make sense. Like I said...the wall is moving to accommodate your new birdsmouth cut. If you don't want the wall to move, simply uncheck Auto Birdsmouth Cut or change the setting to whatever you want it to be. Like I tried to clearly show in my second and third videos...When you check Trusses (no birdsmouth) it is doing 2 things: Telling Chief to base the roof height and structure settings on the Top Chord setting in your Framing Defaults or Build Framing dbx. The auto birdsmouth is being changed to a 0" seat cut (no birdsmouth). You can get the exact same results with Trusses (no birdsmouth) unchecked if you change the roof structure setting to match your top chord setting and change the auto birdsmouth to a 0" seat cut (no birdsmouth). Conversely...When you uncheck Trusses (no birdsmouth) it is doing 2 things: Telling Chief to base the roof height and structure settings on the Structure settings in your Build Roof dbx. The auto birdsmouth is being changed to a seat cut that matches the depth of your exterior wall's main layer. You can get the exact same results with Trusses (no birdsmouth) checked if you change the top chord setting to match your roof structure setting and change the auto birdsmouth to a seat cut that matches your exterior wall's main layer depth. Just remember what you are telling Chief when you check Trusses (no birdsmouth)... Trusses = Use truss framing settings (top chord) (no birdsmouth) = Change auto birdsmouth to no birdsmouth Also remember that your roof plane will stay put with auto rebuild toggled off and you wall height will only move to accommodate the room structure ceiling or the birdsmouth setting if you have no ceiling. With auto rebuild toggled on, the wall will stay put and the roof will move. Bottom line is that I don't believe anything is wrong with the way these settings function. You just need to get your head wrapped around what they're doing. I don't know that there's much more I can say. I would be happy to do a quick Skype session today if you have a few extra minutes though.

Di you watch my videos? I'm not suggesting you turn auto rebuild on. I'm only suggesting that you understand what is going on. You are experiencing moving walls because you have auto rebuild toggled off. If auto rebuild is toggled on then the roof will move instead of the rafters.

I doubt the message is saying the file may be open on another computer. What is probably says is that the file may be in use by another application or something along those lines. It sounds like whats probably happening is that the file is getting tied up by your web browser as Eric suggested or perhaps by one of the other related processes. Something in your system sounds to be a little unusual though. Anyway, I have never received that message when posting to the forum, but I have seen it come up from time to time due to other reasons. My suggested workaround would be to either: A. Do as Eric suggested and try a different browser. B. Do as Eric suggested and create a copy of the plan and post that one instead. C. When the problem arises, cut or copy the plan to another location and you should be able to open it from there.

Yeah, I was really only focusing on trusses for this particular exercise but I think you're probably right. Chief likely recommends that (I'm assuming they do because others have said so) so that it works for both trusses and conventionally framed roofs AND so the inside and outside bottom heights are a little more clear.

See if this clarifies things for you Scott... To be clear, you were using rafters and not trusses so there are some structural and visual differences there, but ignoring that and assuming we're all talking about trusses still, the big difference was this... You had auto rebuild roofs toggled OFF which was causing your wall heights to change in order to accommodate your changes to the birdsmouth cut. With auto rebuild toggled on you would have seen your rafters moving instead of your wall heights. Also, if you had unchecked Auto Birdsmouth Cut with auto rebuild toggled off I think you would see that checking and unchecking Trusses (no birdsmouth) would actually have no effect whatsoever.

I'm not sure what exactly their reasoning is. I do think it would be well worth your time to watch the 2 videos I posted above though. Once you really understand what all those settings are doing I think you'll agree that there is no right or wrong way and that we can achieve IDENTICAL results using any one of the 4 methods you mentioned.

I have touch screen and I don't use it. As the guys above said, really no benefit with Chief (at least IMO) and it's more of a nuisance than anything.

...and part 2...

I think the truth is that as long as you understand what the various settings are doing and set them appropriately that you can get the EXACT same results with the ceiling drawn to the inside or outside and with Trusses (no birdsmouth) checked or unchecked. Here's part 1...

With regard to reshaping the truss envelope. That is a perfectly good and valid solution for many cases, but if you look at the plan I was messing with, the truss envelope was already in the correct shape. The problem was with Chief not properly trimming some of the members. Also, I'm going to make another video here in a bit clarifying some things about Ceiling Plane location and Trusses (no birdsmouth) settings. I think there is a lot of misunderstanding in this area that could use some clarification.