Joe_Carrick

I don't agree. The chimneys are aligned with the exterior wall below. the dormers are further out.

Likewise! Hourly only works if you've got a 8-5 job working for someone else.

Monty, How proficient are you with Chief? I would use a floor at that level with a wall out at the edge of the proposed dormers. Then I would move the roof planes inward so that they clip the walls. Depending on the construction, the roof planes may form the interior of that floor or there may be knee walls inside the perimeter walls. You just need to trick Chief into doing what you want.

Larry, FWIW, your client is at some point going to get really mad at you. Washing that window's going to be a PITB.

Larry, I would look at the Window dbx. There are a lot of options such as "Match Roof", etc. I don't think a custom Window Symbol would work.

Select a wall, open its dbx and edit the wall type. You will probably want to actually copy the wall type so you don't lose the existing.

Do it in Defaults>Floor

Joey, Go ahead and raise a door 1". Then take a Perspective Camera View. Maybe the threshold isn't there but there's a low wall under the door. It's not just raising the bottom of the door - it's raising the entire opening.

I don't think I ever downloaded the Medical and Dental but I'm pretty sure I did the Crime Scene and Fire Investigation catalog. The problem is that I don't remember which of my 3 computer systems and which version of Chief I did that on. It'll takes some searching.

Lets say a 7500 sq ft house, 2 stories + a full finished basement. Lots of custom millwork (wainscots, moldings & cabinets). Add Soffits, Tray Ceilings, Custom Stair and Balcony Railings and who knows what else. It can take a long time.

Chief X8 allows you to specify the elevation to be: "From Floor" "From Finish Floor" "Absolute Elevation" This is much better.

The problem with raising the Door is that it will then have a threshold which you don't want on an interior door in most cases. Chief should really have a "clearance from floor" option.

In Plan view you are just showing the upper wall. If you cut a section thru the building, the upper wall is only a 4" stud wall aligned with the exterior face of the CMU. Is that how it was built or is the upper wall the full thickness?

Another option is to redefine the Floor Structure to include the Floor Finish Layers and then delete those Layers in the Finish Floor definition.

Why do you need to raise them? You can insert a new Floor between Floor 0 and Floor 1. Then use Edit Area to copy all the interior walls, doors, etc. on Floor 0 to the new Floor 1. (use copy/paste/paste in place) Then you will need to delete those Items on Floor 0 and probably build a new Foundation. btw: You should change the Basement Exterior Walls to CMU or Concrete.

I object to the need to purchase the "Specialty" catalogs. The SSA was supposed to include all content at no additional charge.

Depends on the project, but it's fairly easy to go over that. If you do Interior Elevations and Details for a large custom home you might have 300-400 man hours in the entire project. OTOH, I've done some small projects that only took a couple of days. Design is the most time consuming part. Chief is pretty quick with the basic ConDocs if you have your Templates set up properly.

Will, I primarily do residential projects. However, I do some commercial using Chief. During my career I've done all kinds of projects including hospitals and office buildings. Some of those projects were Steel Frame, Masonry and Concrete. I have no problem using Chief for any of the above. The tools exist within Chief to do everything that's needed except the actual engineering. But none of the other Apps do the engineering either. Chief will do up to 30 stories. It probably wouldn't be suitable for a Stadium or most other non-linear shaped structures, but otherwise .....

Ron, As Michael indicated, it can be done - but unless your walls are all 17-1/2" thick (1/4" clearance from tiles to wall surface) there will be some cutting. Of course, you can avoid that by having a "Threshold" piece at doors the width of the walls. IAE, your rooms would have to have a clear distance that's a multiple of 18" + 1/2" for edge clearance and you also need to account for the grout space. IMNSHO it's more work than it's worth.

I don't see the problem in Standard Render but I do in Vector Render View. I think this is a problem with having the "Basement" on Floor 0. I know that a lot of Chief Users use Floor 0 for the Basement but I always reserve Floor 0 strictly for the Foundation. All my living spaces are on Floor1 or above.

Post the Plan!

Check the little box in the middle of the dialog that says "Sunlight Follows Camera". That exists in the Camera Defaults as well as in the individual Camera dbx. Defaults>Cameras>Sun

AFAIK, a name like "Block31" will only occur when you use the "Block" tool or fail to name a Symbol when you create it. In that case, the Symbol will be "unnamed" and the 2D Block will be "Block31".... whatever is next available.

Nick, If you are putting your details in a CAD Detail Window - just rename that view in the Project Browser and use the %view.name% macro as the Title for that CAD Detail. When you send it to Layout the Title and Scale are already there. All you have to do is arrange the details and edit the Callout. Personally, I have a series of Plans with CAD Details already set up. I just send the details directly from those Plans. For me it's actually easier than using the Library. It appears you are mixing Symbol and CAD Block. A Symbol (3D) includes a CAD Block but a CAD Block isn't a Symbol and can exist by itself.

Here's a scenario: I have a CAD Block representing a 2x4 I add it to the Library twice. I then rename one of them 2x4 DF and the other 2x4 PTDF I can then use these in CAD Details and by using a Leader Line to each of them with my %BlockName% macro get them automatically annotated. It's the same graphics, but they are annotated differently.