Joe_Carrick

I do details a couple of different ways. 1. Section View - Auto Detail - Clip Edges of Camera - fully annotate. (basically I use this for full Cross Sections and for Wall Sections) 2. For larger scale details I do CAD Detail from View of the above. and Trim that Detail to just include the area of interest. I use a "CAD Frame" around the detail so the Layout Box will be the size I want in the Layout - just for consistency. 3. Standard Details I have in CAD Detail Windows in dedicated "Detail Plans" which are at the Scale I will send them to Layout. (Door, Window, Railing, etc.) I do not create any of these details in the Layout File and I do as little as possible in 2D CAD. I do not place details in the Library. I've found it difficult to manage scale from the Library to Layout. For me, the Detail Drawings with CAD Detail Windows is a better way of organizing and my details are basically live. If I change a detail in a Detail Plan that's linked to any Project's Layout it is changed in the Layout.

1. Export to DWG 2. CAD Detail from View - but I personally don't like to do that unless absolutely necessary. Any future changes to the model will not be reflected in the CAD Detail.

TennVol, Your Plan is referencing files on the "F:" drive which means that I can't open it. IAE, you need to understand that the foundation in Chief is actually one or more "Rooms" - at least that's how Chief deals with it. The values for the floor elevations, ceiling heights, etc can get very confused when you try to use Level 0 as the Basement. You would be much better off deleting the Foundation and making your Basement on Level 1. Once you get everything to look right (correct floor and ceiling heights for all floors, the correct wall types, room names, etc) then build the Foundation. It will be a lot easier than trying to do it as you are currently.

Question #1 Is your Basement Level 0 or Level 1? Level 0 (IMNSHO) should only be used for the Foundation. Use Level1 for the Basement, Level 2 for the First Floor, etc. If you don't have a Basement you can use Level1 for the First Floor, etc.

Joey, The basics of doing this is to have all your Camera (Elevations & Sections) and all CAD Details such as Schedules, etc saved in your Template Plan. Then, send them to Layout and saving that as your Layout Template. When you start a new project you copy those to a new Folder, rename them to your new project name and link them. Now, with both the Layout and Plan open you can start working on your design. Almost everything you do will automatically update the Layout. Of course you will have to open the Elevations, Sections, Interior Elevations, and any other 3D Views in order to insure they update in the Layout. But you don't have to send them because they're already there.

Thanks Alan,

Another way to deal with the issue is to create the Master Window Schedule with all the windows. Then create a CAD Detail from View. You can delete specific data from that CAD Detail and send that to Layout instead of the Master. Of course it won't be live, but it works. Or, that way you could have "Existing Window Schedule" and "New Window Schedule. You can even make some of the lines print in a lighter line weight and some darker.

I thought that might be the case. You could maybe fool Chief by having some windows in a wall off to the side that don't show on the printed plans but that could be tricky.

Larry, Just the last technique would do it. The Schedule order totally controls the callouts.

Larry, Are you using a different Label for each window? If so, you can use the "Callout" and just rearrange the rows of the Schedule (move up or down) and the Labels will change to match.

Perry, He doesn't want "Automatic Labels" in this case. The other way to manage the numbering is to rearrange the rows of the schedule itself.

Larry, In the Schedule dbx, turn off "Use Callout for Label"

Since Rich Posted it at 12:14 am - I think you can know who the jokester is. I'm sure Doug was sound asleep, not out riding in the Idaho hills.

Use a normal Wall 16" tall as a Solid Railing. Then draw some normal Railing Walls outside of the balcony and check "No Room Definition", "Include Bottom Rail", adjust the Railing profiles and heights. Now move these railings so they are on top of the Solid Railings. You might need to add a Molding Polyline so the bottom rail will mitre at the corners. Or, you can just leave off the bottom rail and make the first rail a half wall with a Cap Rail.

After creating some "Multi-Line Text" using a Ruby Macro, I thought I'd see what would happen if I put that into a Component Field for an Item in a Schedule. Amazingly, the Multi-Line Text is displayed in the Schedule and it pushes all the subsequent lines down so that it fits. The grid lines of the schedule need to be suppressed, but it proves that Schedules could have Multi-Line Text. Even more importantly it proves to me that I could actually build a Full Schedule with Word Wrap and Multiple Lines of Data per Schedule Item.just using Ruby Macros. By coupling that with a Rich Text Box it's possible to create some really nice looking Schedules. Don't get me wrong, It's a large task. But, it's possible.

1. If everything there is just lines and text - you should b able to marque select and block. 2. Why do you want to block this? 3. If all else fails, create a CAD Detail from view - that you can block for sure.

What are the objects? Walls, Roof Planes, Doors & Windows can not for example be included in a Block. Most other 3D objects can be Blocked to form an Architectural Block. IAE, 3D objects are not CAD so they can't be combined to create a "CAD Block" and they can't be blocked with 2D CAD Objects.

I've been experimenting and I am able to do a "Word Wrapped" note system using Ruby. The problem that I have at this time is that I'm wrapping at the first space after a set number of characters. That works fairly well for a fixed font such as Courier but it doesn't for work as well for proportional fonts. I will need to figure out a width factor for different characters so that the width of the lines is more consistent. OTOH, maybe it's not that bad even with the proportional font.

Yes, but you need to do something like: x="" if type_code == "RS" x = "XO" elsif type_code == "LS" x = "OX" elsif type_code == "TS" x = "OXO" else x = "X" end x

Big Item that I and others are pushing to ge in X8

Ron, I have it on good authority that this will be in X8

Bernie, For your Note system you might want to check https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/4186-the-plan-note-key-schedule-from-a-plant-schedule-video/ as it provides a pretty neat way to do it. It's even possible with a Custom Column in the Schedule to use macros for the notes. Or you can put macros directly into the Label of the object - which means you can customize according to Chief's knowledge of an object. Obviously, those capabilities exist for any object that's included in a Schedule.

This is partially available right now using Custom Schedule Columns and the Components List which can use a macro to get the data. The Callout comes from the schedule and the data from the object comes from the macro in that field of the Component List. But the use of this is currently not set up to provide variation within the macro as much as we need.

As a member of the 2015 User Feedback Panel one of my most important things is making ConDocs as accurate and easy to complete as they can be. Automatic annotation based on the model is therefore right at the top of my list.

While it's true that using the Text Macros the way Perry does to save typing the note over and over is effective, it would be much more effective if we could access the actual Roof Finish Layers, Wall Finish Layers, etc directly from the Plan database via Ruby attributes. Here's an example of how this could work: Chief knows the make up of the Layers of a Wall. If that information was available as Ruby attributes for walls, we could write a macro to create a note specifying exactly that information (down to the main layer) and have that displayed as a Wall Label in the Elevation View or in Sections, Wall Details, etc. The Label would be consistent with the model rather than being just something we type. This is really the only way to be sure the Label is what is in the model rather than something else. It would avoid errors and also provide feedback to the user about what his Wall, Roof, etc was made of.