Alaskan_Son

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.

Here's a quick crappy video...

Hey Scott, thank you for the thoughtful rebuttal but it wasn't actually me who recommended the ceiling planes need to be built to the outside. That was Eric... I actually build them to the inside face of the wall all the time too so you'll get no argument from me. What I pretty much never do however is check Trusses (no birdsmouth). Truthfully, if you get all the settings right you can get the trusses to build correctly using any one of the 4 methods but again, I pretty much always build ceilings to the inside face myself. The point of my video however was only to show how to manually modify those trusses to fix little auto framing glitches Chief throws at us from time to time.

Shane's answer is a good solution for dealing with individual layout boxes but if you want to get them all at the same time you should be going here...

Tom, I think the multiple walls were just to help illustrate the problem. Notice how it's only the 3 walls on each of the 2 outside ends that are framing through the ceiling plane and stopping at the roof above instead of stopping at the manual ceiling plane. ferchl, I can easily see your problem and I can't explain the behaviour. I think your should report this to tech support. In the meantime, I think your best bet is simply to drag the offending walls down in elevation.

Absolutely agree. This particular tool is a biggie in my book.

It imports into X8 without any problems for me... Now finding the useful part of the drawing was a different story. Not sure what exactly you need, but here's the plan file. I added an arrow to show you where I found what I think is probably what you're looking for. DWG.plan

Don't have a lot of time to get into your issues in a lot of depth, but here are a couple possible solutions to your problems: Labels: Unlock the Roofs, Gable Lines layer in your Truss Detail Set. Select the truss envelope polyline, copy it, and place that copy off to the side somewhere. Change the line style for that new polyline to the invisible line style. You can now use this copy of the truss envelope polyline as a moveable label. NOTE: You can optionally and easily resize that second polyline by control or shift selecting it and using the resize handle to scale it down in order to make it a little more manageable. Mask the original label with a small polyline (solid fill set to match background color and using the invisible line style). Hip Jack ("mono truss"): Select Truss #12 and Lock Truss Envelope. Copy Paste In Place a second copy of that truss. Place a temporary point at the intersection of the center of your hip jack and the center of your hip girder (or whatever you want to call it). Rotate/Resize About Current Point and rotate the new rafter 90 degrees. Hope that helps.

There are basically 3 ways you can send a color off vector view to layout... 1. Send to layout as a Live View. This will essentially look exactly like the vector view in your plan...black and white. 2. Send to layout as Plot Lines with Pattern Line Defaults CHECKED. This will cause ALL pattern lines in that view to be controlled by the pattern line defaults color and line weight (you can change these settings by opening the layout box dbx). 3. Send to layout as Plot Lines with Pattern Line Defaults UNCHECKED. This will cause the pattern line display to be controlled by the individual material definitions. You'll probably want to go into Preferences and set Color Off is Grayscale to get full advantage of these settings. Now, beyond those 3 options there are a couple more things you can do to create some illusion of depth... 1. You can utilize a polyline mask with a semi transparent fill to mute the lines for any given area/depth plane. This can be a little time-consuming but it's really not all that bad once you get used to it. It can really help to start with a CAD Detail From View so you have all the necessary snaps for tracing. 2. You can create and utilize copies of the various materials for use on different walls/roof planes and/or place items into different layers with varying color and line weight settings to achieve a similar effect. You'll really have to play with it to get a feel for what works best for you but hopefully that helps. P.S. You can also modify layout lines OR just use a CAD Detail From View and adjust the appropriate lines, but I prefer one of the other methods I mentioned above that way your model and the related camera views all remain live.

Yep. This is what I do as well. I pretty much never use the wall elevation tool. It really has more limitations than benefits IMO.