Alaskan_Son

I haven't really had to draw them much because we rarely build foundations like that around here so there may be other better methods, but you should be able to make the "stemwall" as short as the thickness of your slab at which point its technically not a stemwall at all but just the edge of your slab.

Those are pattern lines. I personally always leave them at the default setting but you can increase the thickness when sending to layout under Plot Line Options in the Send To Layout dbx.

So I still don't have the solution I was hoping for, but the closest thing I was able to find was that you can send to layout, resize the layout box and then create CAD Detail From View which essentially crops everything outside the layout box. Might be faster than what I've been doing for some situations.

Thank you Yusef. I really appreciate you taking the time. What you describe is basically how I would already do it now except that I would simply either lock or cut my selection and marquis select the rest for deletion. I was just hoping there might be a better way but I think I just might be doing it as fast as I possibly can be already. You DID however help me understand what a fence does. For those who don't know or who might not have caught it, a fence will select every item that crosses it's path (i.e. that it TOUCHES). it will not select anything completely inside the selection area or outside the selection area. It does not have to be a closed poyline either...it could just be a line, polyline, or arc even I think it just might come in handy, however I don't see any way it will help much with the issue at hand.

Perfect. You'll have my support for sure.

Come to think of it, I run into this situation fairly often but I don't recall anyone having ever actually submitted a suggestion. May be a good time to do that.

No way of modelling that situation accurately in Chief that I know of. Its one of the few blatant limitations remaining with Chief's cabinet tools.

We've had quite a few discussions on this concept. Here are a few of the more recent ones. https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/7419-new-to-chief-is-there-a-keynote-tool/ https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/8278-plan-note-schedule-video/ https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/8077-shearwall-schedule-and-other-custom-schedules/ Most of us use plant schedules for what you're talking about but as we've discussed in the above threads (as well as others) and as you've discovered, other schedules work as well. I've found the 2 major benefits of using plant schedules are that the symbol can be entirely invisible and plant labels display in the front drawing group in all situations (at least that I know of) which can't be said of some of the other options. The method you are using is very similar to the method I used for the shearwall schedule in the last link above.

Can you be so kind as to explain how you do this David? "Fence" seems to be a useless tool to me. There must be something I'm missing...or I'm not missing anything and its just an antiquated tool that has no use.

Thank you Glenn. I really appreciate you taking the time. I actually already do what you showed in the video though. You can do that without using the "Fence" tool. I'd still be curious if anyone actually knows a good use for that tool.

You have your exterior walls designated as Foundation Walls. What you're seeing isn't a slab but a footing. Uncheck Foundation Wall and you should be good to go.

I actually have read up on that feature and even read through it just before starting this thread. Couldn't seem to make any sense of how to use it for what I'm talking about. Actually, on a side note, I couldn't seem to make any sense of how to use that feature for anything at all (other than group selecting things). If anyone could help clarify I would much appreciate it.

Don't know. Looks like maybe a wall definition issue. You should probably attach the plan.

I'm not sure what you want is even possible. I think that TIFF would need to be imported into AutoCAD or whatever program you're using separately from the DWG file as either a picture or a metafile. As I understand it, DWG files are vector (line) based and pictures are bitmap based so having the bitmap file (tiff) in the dwg file may not even be possible. This is not unlike the way bitmap files work with Chief Architect .plan files. They must be sent in a separate folder. The only thing that travels with the plan file is the link to that bitmap.

Seems like there should be an easy way to do this, but I can't seem to find one... Is there a way to draw a box or polyline around a portion of CAD work and crop it so that everything outside the box is trimmed or deleted all at once? I know I can use a CAD mask to cover the excess line work but I want it actually deleted, and I know I can draw a box and trim the excess line work to that box, but that's a little time consuming and all those extra little steps can really add up. It just really seems like I must be overlooking a much simpler method.

When you resized those views using Transform/Replicate all you resized was the actual layout box or "window" for those views. Drag the edit handles and make the box bigger and I'm relatively certain you'll find your drawing somewhere off to one side or another.

I appreciate the time you took making that video, however I would strongly suggest avoiding the manual/optical alignment method and would instead encourage you to study the items listed in my post above... If you understand what all those various settings are doing, there's no need to fumble around with visually aligning walls and you can get perfect and accurate results that don't end up with unintended consequences.

Thanks Scott. And yep, we're still frozen although its starting to warm up during the day . No shoveling though, we haven't had much snow this year.

While this is true, its certainly not the only way or even the only RIGHT way. For example... -The upper wall (Brick-4_2) could be set to Foundation to Exterior of Layer: 2 - Insulation Air Gap. -The brick on the lower wall (8" Concrete Stem Wall) could be moved to an Exterior Layer. -Click the Align With Wall Above/Below tool and you're good to go. Note that the main layers are NOT aligned. There are several other such methods and settings that could result in a correct and accurate model where main layers are not aligned. Again, it depends on what exactly you're trying to do.

There are probably 12 different ways you could get those walls to align and I honestly don't know the best place to start. It really depends on how you are building. Here are a few key areas to explore and try to understand though... -Wall Type Definitions for both the foundation wall and/or the wall above. Specifically for the reasons below... -Main Layers vs. Exterior Layers -Foundation to Exterior of Layer settings -Foundation Offset settings

I think I found the limiting factor. You can only have TWO walls occupy the same space...one normal and one No Room Definition. A second wall of either type (or third wall overall) will override the first. EDIT: Sorry Scott, I realize now that this might have been what you were refering to earlier when you said "I am not sure why non def walls cannot stack on top of each other..." To reiterate though for those who don't know this...You CAN have 2 walls occupy the same space, but you CANNOT have 2 normal walls or 2 No Room Def walls occupy the same space. Only one of each.

Your white railing actually overrode the room divider below it.

Haven't figured out why yet, but you are correct. I can't do it in the plan you attached. I can though in a new plan. EDIT: I've honestly never really played around much with this until now as I've always just used the Save As method for creating various options. In the past I've only toyed with the concept for creating demo walls. I'm not sure I want to spend much more time on it as I don't see myself ever using it, but after a little further investigation it seems to work in some instances and not in others or up to a certain point and then it stops working. The factor that defines where that change takes place I have not yet discovered. I'd be curious to know what that is if anyone else decides to dig deeper.

Go to Default Settings>Dimension>Auto Exterior Dimensions and click on the Locate Objects tab. Under Wall Options, make sure Both Wall Sides is NOT selected.

Stacking walls has always worked for me and still does.