Joe_Carrick

The Macro for Arpil 2016 is Opening Header Label So I was thinking about Scott's complaint about the fact that Chief doesn't provide a way to easily show Headers and Label them in the Framing Plan. Perry had mentioned that you had to use a Referenced Macro - which is a PITA and the Header itself still isn't shown. I came up with a CAD Block containing everything needed. Header Text Box with Arrow Macro in the Text Box Sample output: The Block is placed at the Center of any opening - then rotated if necessary - then un-blocked. The red "Header" can be stretched as needed and the text can be independently moved. I know this isn't the ideal of having Chief provide real "Headers with Labels in Framing Plans - but it's close.

The March 2016 Macro of the Month is: Counter Top Areas - Counter Top List - Counter Top Total Area These are used to accumulate and display the Areas of Counter Tops %Counter Top Areas% is placed in the Label of Cabinets and Custom Countertops %Counter Top List% is placed in a Text Box %Counter Top Total Area% is placed in a Text Box Example output is: For Metric Plans the output is in mm rather than Imperial units.

Look in the dbx for the PSolid. X8 provides values/options for "Relative Position".

Alex, Without your Plan and Layout there's very little chance that anyone here will be able to help. Dermot's advice is spot on. Get everything right in the Plan and the Elevations should be good. I never edit a view in Layout.

Glenn, True, you can't select the Contour Lines or their Labels. But you can select the "Elevation Lines and their Labels.

Yes, it's just a Label. Select it and drag by the Label Handle.

Moldings

Hand drawing is a rewarding effort in its own right. But it takes a lot of time and practice. Chief eliminates most of the time and still provides very similar output.

Robert, .json is Chief's Export/Import format - and yes, they need to be imported into each Plan (or the Default Plan Template) in order to be available. There are ways to make some commonly used extended Ruby scripts available but that's another subject entirely.

BTW, FWIW you can turn on the Windows & Window Labels in the Framing Layer Set. Then change the Window Linestyle to "blank" and lock both the Window and Window Labels Layers. As long as you are not using a Schedule Callout for the Labels you will get the Label. If you want to hide everything except the Header Label you can put a mask over it.

Those are not really Headers, just a couple of lines that are displayed to show the wall above the Door. The actual Headers are not there in the Plan View. "Headers" are a part of Framing and should be shown in the Framing Plans - as we have repeatedly requested.

Perry, Can you post a pic of the macro (in Text Macro Management) ? There must be something wrong in the script. I just copy/pasted it in a new macro and checked "Evaluate" and it works perfectly.

Scott, You're wrong - at least from the standpoint of the "Framing Plans". The "Headers" are not there in the "Framing Plans" even though they are there in the Wall Details and in the 3D Framing views. We've asked repeatedly for them to be in the Framing Plans. It should be easy for CA to do - but they haven't done it.

The problem is that CA is just not creating the Headers in the Framing Plans. They are there in the Wall Details (and can be labeled there) but they are not in the Framing Plans. If CA adds them to the Framing Plans (as we have asked for years) then the labels will not be a problem.

Robert, That macro is included in my "Macro a Month Club" subscription. I believe it's the macro from October 2015. https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/6595-joes-macro-a-month-subscription-service/ Opening Labels w Header - sample output: X7: W04 - 3040 SH - (3) 2x6 Hdr X8: W04 - 3040 SH (3) 2x6 Hdr X8: W04 - 3040 SH Tempered Egress (3) 2x6 Hdr Note: In X8 if the opening is Tempered an/or Egress, those options will also be displayed in the Label

I'm sorry Larry, It's a tool - a programming tool - and for those who learn the Ruby Scripting Language it works. I know there are users who just want it to be exactly what they want OOB. CA has unfortunately seldom listened intently to requests from us. It's like the Framing Schedule where they give us 2"x4" instead of 2x4 in the Nominal Size Column. They've been told it's wrong but they haven't fixed it.

Larry, Go back into that macro and check it to "Evaluate" Otherwise it just returns the text that you typed.

I don't know why they bothered to provide the "Object Specific" name value pairs for Polyline Labels. There were several of us that requested Labels for Polylines and I have a complete macro package available for Site Area Analysis using them. I sell that package for $25.00 I can say that CA doesn't seem to want to do anything more to make Ruby more useful - even though it shouldn't take much time to do so. If they would open the doors to the model data I could create macros that would allow complete annotation of Elevations and Sections including all the materials and finishes. BTW, It's not the "feature" that is a problem. It's that they tried to provide a "shortcut" custom label and didn't think about the number of decimal places that would be appropriate for Imperial and/or Metric users. In addition, the %area% macro they provided is in Sq.Ft. for Imperial Units but there might be cases where you would need it in Sq.In. or Sq.Yds or even Acres. There is no way to perform any direct calculations on the output of %area%

referenced ? obj = referenced : obj = owner if obj.is_double_door asize = (obj.width/2).round.divmod(12) result = "DBL #{asize[0]}/#{asize[1].round}" else asize = obj.width.round.divmod(12) result = "#{asize[0]}/#{asize[1].round}" end asize = obj.height.round.divmod(12) result = result + ",#{asize[0]}/#{asize[1].round}"

You need a Ruby "User" macro. Here's one for you - name it PolyArea referenced ? obj=referenced : obj=owner obj.area.round(0) - or- owner.area.round(0) That's all there is to it.

I decided to take another look at this. referenced ? obj = referenced : obj = owner if obj.is_double_door asize = (obj.width/2).round.divmod(12) result = "DBL #{asize[0]}/#{asize[1].round}" else asize = obj.width.round.divmod(12) result = "#{asize[0]}/#{asize[1].round}" end Definitely simpler and the 1st line eliminates the need to set the "Context".

When sending views to Layout, it's handy to have the Layout Project Browser displayed. That allows you to see what predefined pages are available - even if there's no data on them currently. By having predefined and named pages in the Layout Page Table of your Layout Template it's much easier to consistently organize your Layouts. You can have extra pages defined that you might not use in all projects, but they will be there when you need them.

One note on centering - using a fixed font is more reliable because all the characters in the string (including spaces will be the same width.

Actually, if you use a User Macro you can format the entire label to be centered. You just need to use the method ".center(20)" for each line. You will also need to use "\n" where you want a line feed. Basically something like this: result = line1.center(20) + "\n" + line2.center(20)