Joe_Carrick

I am working on a project with 8" thick SIP roof panels supported on 6x12 sloped beams at 7' oc. I would like to model it as accurately as possible (showing the panels structurally) but it seems to be a problem eliminating the rafters. How would you model this? Show the SIP's as a part of the Roof Framing? Show no Roof Framing and show the SIPs as a part of the Roof Finish? I'm tending to think of the second method as the best option.

We pretty much aren't allowed to build them in California either. But there are a lot of existing houses that get remodeled.

I wouldn't want to retrieve a corrupted file. But I would want to retrieve the most recent archived version.

I have not only my Project Files on Dropbox but also my Chief Data File. That means my Archives and Automatic Backups are also on Dropbox. Since Dropbox stores the files on the local computer and the cloud as well as syncing all of my other computers it works IMO better than any other system I could imagine.

You would need to copy the item from the Core, Bonus or Mfg Library and paste it in your User Library. Then you can edit the symbol by selecting the little chair on the edit bar.

I use DropBox. I can get to my files on any computer and all are synced automatically to whatever system I'm currently using.

That's basically the way I do it. I will normally start with the main floor on level 1 but then add the basement below by "Inserting a Floor Below". IAE, It allows the foundation to be separate from the Basement Walls. For me that's a lot easier. Since I use "Saved Plan Views" I can name the Floor Plans however I want in the Project Browser and just use the %view.name% macro to title them.

If you add all the detail to each apartment you might have speed issues. OTOH, if you do a detailed plan for just 1 or 2 apartments (typical) and then show just the perimeter walls, doors and windows for the rest of the units it shouldn't be a problem at all. This is the same procedure we used to use for such buildings when using manual drafting.

I can create a Spiral Stair Symbol for you. I just need the dimensions, direction parameters and desired style of railing. My charge for this is $100.

I think Scott may be correct. I personally reserve Level 0 to the Foundation. If there's a basement it's on Level 1 - which is not the same as Floor 1 (aka 1st Floor or Main Floor).

bump!

David, Is this a custom backsplash or the automatic backsplash with the cabinet?

Why not just multiple select all the windows and add the lintel in the dbx?

Your version doesn't have that feature.

If your version of Chief has this capability (X10 and above) you just need to open the schedule and add that column.

BTW, Many of those "$Globals" are available in Ruby. Example: $-I = ["D:/Dropbox/Chief Architect Premier X11 Data/Scripts/", "."] or as attributes of Chief Objects. Layout Boxes for example have some file names for the Referenced File. These can be useful but it's a matter of discovering where those attributes are located.

Yes, but even those are just "STUFFED" text into a Text Box or Label. Fortunately, Ruby provides us with those things as data by using Ruby Classes and Methods, etc. It seems CA just provided those "Global" macros internally. It's the same thing with the Global macro %scale%. I was hoping I could stuff the output into a text file and get usable data - but as you see from my response to Brown Tiger it just puts the %macro_name% in the text file. When you read that file in Ruby it just executes the built-in macro so the result is no different.

That doesn't work. The problem is that: $MyValue = "%width%" File.open('test.txt', 'w') { |file| file.write($MyValue) } simply puts %width% in the file

Is there any way to send the output text string of a Built-In macro to a text file?

Try updating your video card drivers. That should allow you to update to X10 and X11 and have them work. It's worth a try. That might address the problems with the Library downloads as well.

Arielle, I am only guessing, but I believe most 3D Plants in the Chief Libraries are not compatible with Interiors. In any event, when you download a Library there is a drop-down list that specifies what version of Chief Architect it's compatible with. If you have SSA - I assume you don't since you are still on X9 - you could call Tech Support and ask them what Libraries are compatible with the Interiors product.

Yes, and be aware that 3D plants and 3D people can have extremely high polygon counts.

Yes Michael, I know that. But sometimes I need to have the information displayed outside of the room and I use either a Text Box or a Note with an arrow connected to a fixture such as a water closet. Of course, I could just use a very small PSolid and use it's Label which I can then move to wherever I want it.

X11 added the "room" attribute to most objects that are placed in a room. This allows access to most (or maybe all) of the attributes of the room from the selected object. There are some interesting capabilities that result from this: A text box can be used with a macro that gets and displays information about the room it's located in. The Label of an object located in a room can be used with a macro that gets and displays information about the room A text box or Note (with an arrow connected to another object in a room can be used with a macro that gets and displays information about the room. In some cases you might want to get the data from the object itself and in other cases you might want to get it from the room. Perhaps you want the area, perimeter or volume of the object and in other cases you might want to get that data for the room. This can get a little tricky. I've derived a way to do this based on the idea that if I'm using the Label of an object located in a room I can first check the object to see if it has the attribute(s) I want. If so I get the data from that object. Otherwise I get it from the room. The same is true when using a Text Box or Note with an arrow to an object in the room In the case of a Text Box without an arrow I get the data from the room the text box is located in. I will be providing a set of macros in a couple of weeks using this system.

X11 added a lot of new attributes that are very useful. CA also provided a new macro to list the available attributes - but the output wasn't alphabetical and many of the attributes are not very useful. I've created 3 new macros: _Object_properties_expanded_sorted _Object_properties_expanded_sorted_short_list _Object_properties_expanded_sorted_wo_defaults My favorite is the short_list version which skips any attribute that's is_default, true or false Here's the json file which you can import using TMM. Note to CA - Please feel free to include these in the next update and future versions of Chief Architect. _object_properties_X11_jpc.json