Alaskan_Son

Yes. The Jet Direct card was an ethernet card. I hooked the plotter up through my router. I would just try using the existing ethernet card first and see if you can get that to work. I do remember that we couldn't find Windows 7 drivers for either the printer or the Jet Direct card. It was the 64 bit XP driver that did the trick and as I recall the only way we were able to get it to work was to set it up as a network printer through the Jet Direct print server. By the way, I'm relatively certain I had it working in Windows 8 like that as well.

I was running that same plotter on Windows 7 till I got rid of it. I just used the 64 bit Windows XP driver. I was also using a Jet Direct print card though and had the plotter set up as a network printer. I think that setup may have changed the driver requirements a bit.

Might still be worth reporting Scott. As far as I know, I think Chief thought they fixed it with the latest update (at least the issue with electrical items). I haven't had to flip any plans lately and so I haven't tested but according to Ray and yourself, there are still problems and if so, I think Chief needs to know.

The problem with auto dormers is that you can hide the "auto dormer" but the individual components are are their own layers and the only way to move those items to a new layer is to explode the auto dormer. If you don't want to explode the auto dormer for some reason, either: Put the dormer onto a different floor (if possible), or... Move everything else in the plan to a unique layer. For example, the auto dormer walls should automatically be created on the Walls, Normal layer. If you move all your other interior and exterior walls to a unique layer you can essentially make it so that your dormer walls are the only walls on the Walls, Normal Layer. Therefore, turning off the Walls, Normal layer will turn off your dormer walls without having to explode your dormer. If you want to make this a permanent addition to your workflow you might even consider going into your template plan and renaming your Walls, Normal layer to something like Walls, Dormer, create a new Walls, Normal layer, and then change the layer setting for all new interior and exterior walls in your defaults to that new Walls, Normal layer.

No, I actually didn't read that thread. I did now though and I can definitely see the problem you're experiencing now that I try it with an arced wall. I tried printing to PDF using the lowest compression settings, highest DPI, and both oldest and newest PDF type settings I could with Nitro Pro and to some degree they all had the pixelation you speak of but only on arcs and off angles that are part of an object with a transparent fill. And it's only the immediate vicinity of the actual arc or off angle line segment that seems to display the problem. Strange indeed. It makes me wonder what's different about the built in PDF printer Chief is using and the presets they chose. I doubt they wrote that in-house and so it seems any settings they might be using should be reproducible with other professional PDF printing/editing software. I do understand your issue with rotating pages and I don't actually see how layout will solve that problem for you. Yes you can rotate the layout box but the page orientation will still be the same throughout. If you want to actually rotate the individual pages I see no way to do that outside of using your PDF editor (especially if your pages are different shapes or sizes). Unless Chief gives us a built in append/prepend option or fixes that pixelation issue I think you're doing the best you can by printing a few files and then combining with your PDF editor. Just an aside...I don't know what program you're using, but that whole process is super easy with the program I use, I just group select the files I want to combine, save as a new file and then either keep or delete the others depending on what I want to do... When I'm individually printing pages like that for the sole purpose of combining them I usually save those pages to a temporary location and then I periodically just delete or overwrite them.

I just open a blank layout for this type of thing all the time. Really very easy. Having said that, I'm not sure what the problems you're having with transparent fills are. I just tested with three PDF printers and the results are the same with each one. I used Chief Architect's built in PDF printer, Nitro Pro, and Microsoft Print To PDF. Transparency works just fine with all three. And FWIW... Nitro Pro works exactly like the example program you posted a link to. It offers the choice to append to an existing file.

You're very welcome Ross : )

Okay then. Here's one I just made up... Pantry Doors.calibz No pressure at all, but if it works for you and helps you out, maybe just consider sending me a small donation at paypal.me/AlaskanSons Its all good either way...I've wanted one of these in the past anyway and I'm sure it will come in handy again.

Check your second floor Larry. If you drew them in an elevation view you may have had the second floor active when you drew them...therefore placing them on the second floor.

Ya, I realized that. My point still stands. Your polylines aren't actually connected. Here's a quick video...

or...is it possible your polyline isn't actually closed? Try going around and checking your connections or maybe try clicking Close Polyline. I opened that DWG up and noticed that not all the perimeter polylines are actually connected.

Are you looking for something like this without all the extra fluffery.?

This type of roof can definitely be done almost completely automatically. Here's a quick example. Note that you can either break the wall like I did on the top OR you can use the Gable/Roof Line tool...

Also, I would really recommend you consider going through the user guide, possibly reading the manual, and most of all...checking the help files via Help>Launch Help. More often than not it will not only answer your specific question but will help you to learn the program's nuances much more effectively. Here's one of the topics that comes up for trusses... Drawing Trusses Trusses cannot be generated automatically: the must be manually drawn and then replicated. All trusses are drawn similar to the way CAD lines are and can be drawn in floor plan view only. See Draw Line. To draw and replicate trusses 1. Select the either the Floor/Ceiling Truss or Roof Truss tool, then click and drag within either a floor/ceiling platform or one or more roof planes. • Roof trusses seek an exterior wall and adjust their length automatically. • Floor/Ceiling trusses will snap to the wall surfaces, the exterior surface of a wall’s Main Layer, as well as to a variety of CAD-based objects, and can be drawn to any length. 2. Reposition the truss: • Floor/ceiling trusses are often positioned relative to an exterior wall or Framing Reference Marker . See Framing Reference Markers. • Roof trusses are can be positioned over a gable end wall or at the ridge end of a hip. 3. Open the truss’s specification dialog and edit its settings to meet your needs. See Roof Truss Specification Dialog or Floor/Ceiling Truss Specification Dialog. 4. Make multiple copies of the truss at specified intervals using the Multiple Copy edit tool. The copies of Roof Trusses automatically conform to the structural conditions in their new locations. As a result, replicated Roof Trusses and their labels may be different from the original. See Truss Labels. Unlike Roof Trusses, Floor/Ceiling Trusses do not conform to new structural conditions when they are either moved or copied. SeeMoving Trusses. To replicate trusses using Multiple Copy 1. Select the truss to be copied in floor plan view. 2. Click the Multiple Copy edit button. 3. Click the Multiple Copy Interval edit button to open the Multiple Copy dialog. See Multiple Copy. 4. Enter the correct spacing in the All Trusses box. Once set, click OK. 5. Select the truss and use the Move edit handle to drag it perpendicularly. The pointer becomes a four-headed arrow when it is over the Move handle. 6. New trusses appear as you drag. Drag as far as necessary to produce all desired trusses. Each truss is created according to the particular Roof/Ceiling/Truss Base planes above and below it.

You have to build a roof first...and THEN build your trusses. Your plan doesn't have a roof.

Here's a quick video with a workaround you can use when no other solution seems to fix the problem. In short though...unlock the roof trim layer and manually modify the molding...

You're welcome. I don't quite know why that area needed a bearing line either. I wasn't too familiar with the plan though. There's probably some root cause that I missed, but the bearing line seemed to do the trick.

Hey Steve, If I studied it for enough hours I'm sure I'd probably find a better solution, but here's a quick video going over that method I mentioned...

I don't have time to get into it right now but that's a tricky one Steve. In short though, you need to use some invisible walls to separate that little area of the garage underneath the cantilever. It's the garage ceiling that's actually causing the problem. The garage ceiling framing is controlled by the floor above unless there is no floor above. You just need to change it so that there is no floor above the main garage area. Either that or remove the garage ceiling structure by deleting that framing layer.

I would personally recommend you don't screw around with the box window tool and instead build it using other methods.

I sent in a request quite a while back asking Chief to change this behaviour. It's really very silly. I would have actually assumed that was what the problem was except that in the original post it said "...the plate is aligned to the inside of the wall...". Anyway, the rule Chief seems to work with is this... So long as the foundation wall's main layer is located anywhere beneath the main layer for the wall above, the sill plate will center itself beneath that wall's main layer...unless the wall's main layer is thinner than the sill plate in which case I believe the sill plate will default to the outside edge of the foundation . We really need a lot more control over sill plates and sill plate placement. I find myself needing to manually modify those more and more. Anyway...if you want to leave auto framing turned on you can try using a wall definition like this... There may be other solutions too but that's probably as good as any.

To answer the original question though, how I create those extra members totally depends on how and where they are being used. I often prefer to check "Retain Wall Framing" and cut, copy, rotate, extend, trim, and otherwise modify framing directly in the wall detail.

Actually you are both wrong...and right. It goes onto your Current CAD Layer whatever that might be.

Can you post that plan? At least a stripped down version?

Are you possibly mixing up CAD Detail Management with CAD Block Management??