Joe_Carrick

Select the Cabinet, then hit the Tab key. That will select the sink - or any other item that has been inserted into the cabinet such as an appliance.

Now that's funny! Thanks Dermot - made my day.

Such as?

How about a PLine with Fill? Line Style = blank, Fill Color = same as counter top. IOW, a Cad mask.

Scott, I agree that PLines with Labels are needed. My main concern with PLines is that they do not automatically adjust when the building and site features change. That means the user has to manually adjust the PLines to match those other items. I'm trying to get a more reliable method - one that is always in sync with the Plan. Terrain Features such as Driveways, Sidewalks, Roads, etc should also have Labels. All these things are potentially needed for such calculations. Rooms - including Courts, Decks, Balconys, Porches, Garages, etc - already have names and types that can be used to accurately calculate building areas. I know that in general you do not like to use Room Types but I'm sure that you do use them for some things. I personally use them because they provide more information.

It appears that the best bet would be to start with the Wikipedia Standard - then add additional macros on a custom basis depending on the local requirements. So maybe I end up with: FAR FAR - San Diego FAR - Anaheim FAR - Riverside FAR - Big Bear Lake LC LC - San Diego LC - Anaheim LC - Riverside LC - Big Bear Lake Each macro customized to meet the needs of that particular local. It's doable - and having a basic starting place makes it easy enough.

I have been working on a macro system that automatically keeps track of all Building Areas by Room, Floor, Room Type, and a variety of other factors. It works invisibly and can calculate the Total Areas, Sub-Totals by Room_Type, FAR and Lot Coverage. I can even go so far as to have it provide sub-totals for the Bedrooms, Master Suite, Baths, etc. In order to have as complete set of macros for FAR and LC I need to know what needs to be included and what should not. I know what the jurisdictions that I do work in require but I also know that they are not all the same. If I have a macro that covers each variation as required by the jurisdictions then anyone could use it to get an automatic display of those things - calculated accurately.

OK, so depending on the jurisdiction there can be a lot of difference in what the Building Dept can require in terms of the FAR and LC calculations. Generally, the FAR is simply the Gross Floor Area (All Floors) / Total Site Area The LC is generally the Total 1st Floor Area of all Structures plus Parking Pads & Driveways / Total Site Area Sometimes a jurisdiction also wants a Main Building Footprint Coverage which includes Deck, Porches, Paved Courts, Sidewalks, etc. What are the most common in your areas and are there any additional items required?

Once it's connected to a Framing Member with an Arrow it will work. It's possible for arrows to get disconnected at either end, so you might want to delete the arrow and add a new one. Options in the Text Box dbx (Add an Arrow)

Scott, Send me a GTM invite and I'll show you directly on-line.

Select the Text DropDown -> Text Macro Management. It's the same tool you would use to define a new macro

This is not a predefined Library CAD object. It's just the Macro itself which you need to insert into your own Text Block.

Scott, You have to "Import" the macro into your Plan using "Text Macro Management". DUH!!!! I suppose Chief should be smart enough to do that when you try to open a .json file but.........

Attached is a macro to Annotate Framing Members. It can be attached to the Label itself or it can be inserted into a Text Box for use with a Reference Arrow. Framing Member(s).zip

OK, I get that to work in an Elevation View (Wall Material Region) but not in Plan (Floor Material Region). But..... It offsets every instance of that Pattern Globally. IOW, if you have 2 Wall Material Regions next to each other and you offset the Pattern in one of them you will see that the Pattern has been of offset the same amount so that they line up. What is happening is that the origin of the Hatch Pattern has been globally moved. All instances of that Hatch Pattern in the View will have been moved. The offset is not relative to the object - it's relative to the 0,0 origin of the Plan. You can of course copy the Material and make offsets for both the Texture and the Pattern - they do not automatically match - but they are both still relative to the Plan Origin, not the object they are assigned to.

As far as I can tell - nothing at all. You can use a custom Pattern File but you need a Pattern Definition that works.

The x-y offsets are only available for Textures. Patterns in Chief are relative to the 0,0 origin. Here are the basics: Textures can easily be copied and new textures with x/y offsets can be created. It requires a different texture for each required set of offsets, etc. Patterns are global in Chief based on XHatch definitions. There is no easy way to create or modify XHatch definitions in Chief. Probably the easiest way to deal with this would be for Chief to add the x/y offsets of the Pattern to match those of the Texture - but that might not give the desired result so an independent setting is probably needed. In most 2D CAD programs it was common to have a built-in Hatch Pattern definition tool and also a built-in Line Style definition tool. It was very common practice to have this done graphically. IOW, the user would draw the 2D objects as a "sample" and then the software would analyze the geometry and create the definition. Chief doesn't have a graphic definition tool for either Hatch Patterns or for Line Styles. It does have a Line Style creation tool but it is very limited - only being able to define a set of in-line segments, spaces & text. Line Style creation tools I've used in the past provided for "Off-Line" geometry and beginning and ending terminators. An example of "Off-Line" would be something similar to the "Batt Insulation" that Chief uses with Auto Detailing. Another example would be a "Break Line".

Open the Symbol Dialog and check the Stretch Plane and Stretch Zone settings for the "z" direction.

The Floor Structure Material?

OK, I have found a way to do this but so far I am not totally happy with it since it requires a "Room" and for the "Room Label" to be displayed. Not all Plans have Rooms - for example a Plan that just contains Details would not normally include a Room. It would be a big help if there was a Global attribute $Units ("Metric" or "Imperial"). This would allow a macro to display the width, depth, length, height, area, volume, etc in appropriate format depending on what the Plan Units are.

Within a macro, is there a way to determine what units are being used in the Plan. IOW, is this Plan Metric or Imperial?

Mick, RTB = Rich Text Box IAE = In Any Event Here's the macro Framing Member(s).zip

OK, here's the revised macro. Replace the one in the RTB with this one. Then test it with all the other Types, not just I-Josts and Lumber. Framing Member(s).zip

Curt's right. Do as little as possible in Layout. Learn to work in the Plan and use Annosets and Layer Sets to get what you want sent to Layout.

It has been suggested and I think it's on the schedule to be fixed - but another request sure wouldn't hurt anything.