Joe_Carrick

Yes, and it will save a lot of time - not to mention paper, printing cost, fuel, wear and tear on vehicles, parking fees, etc. I really wish it would happen in California. Electronic submission of plans would save a tremendous amount of pollution and waste.

Select the Doorway in Plan and edit the height

Yes, I'm actually going to be printing everything in color. But since a lot of the lines and text are BW I won't be using that much colored ink. OTOH, Color makes it much easier to identify wall types, electrical, plumbing, etc.

FWIW, I have my details stored in several plan files: Doors Windows Foundation Framing Roof Stairs all of which are in a "Details" folder independent of the projects but in my current Chief Version Folder. Then within those each detail is in it's own "Named" CAD Detail Window. That provides me with an Indexed system so that I can find the detail(s) I want fairly quickly. This eliminates the problem of cropping out undesired details.

I just purchased an HP T120. What do you normally charge customers for printing? 11x17 Sheets? 24x36 Sheets? sq.ft. charge? I expect that most of my prints will be mostly BW with a small amount of color. I'm not needing to make a big profit on printing but I do want to cover costs and amortize the cost of the equipment.

Bob, Did you note that I said to do this in the "Floor Defaults" first before anything else. That eliminates the need to modify every room.

In another thread I gave a simple (and IMO the correct way) to lower a ceiling. This works for the defaults as well as for individual rooms but I would first use it to set the defaults correctly for each floor: Change the Floor/Room Defaults by selecting "Ceiling Finish" Note that it is probably just a single 5/8" thick drywall which causes the "Finished Ceiling Elevation" to be 11' 11-3/8" Insert additional layers to increase the thickness of the "Ceiling Finish" 32-1/2" Air Gap 3-1/2" Fir Framing (ceiling joists) Essentially this causes the drywall to be moved down 36" because the "Ceiling Finish" is applied to the bottom of the "Ceiling Framing". Because this is the default for the entire floor you will only need to modify the "Ceiling Finish" for rooms that need to have a different finished ceiling elevation. So, in Bob's case the Default Floor Ceiling is set at 12' which causes all the walls to be 12' tall. By having the above settings for the Ceiling Finish the Finished Ceiling Height would be 8' 11-3/8"'. Adjusting the "Air Gap" dimension to 44-1/2" in an individual room would make the Finished Ceiling Height in that room to be 7' 11-3/8". I think you can get the idea.

Create a Door Symbol with "Stretch Planes" as follows: x = 0 (this will allow the door to be adjusted in width without effecting the width of the stiles). y = 1 (prevents thickness adjustment) z = -1 (prevents height adjustment) Set the 3D symbol origin to offset the door up from the floor, something like 10" If your doorway specifies that door it should fit the way you want it in a taller opening. Chief's Door Tool simply creates the desired "Doorway" and allows you to put a "Door" in that opening. By using a "Door Symbol" you can control the size and vertical placement.

At this point in time I think the best application for this product is to create symbols that can be imported into Chief. Using it to import an entire structure (building) just isn't a reasonable expectation. OTOH, using it to create symbols of specific furniture and equipment should work beautifully. I would think that the CA Content Team could get a great deal of use from having it as an in-house tool. In fact, any Chief user could benefit by having one to capture objects to import as Chief Symbols. The real question is if it will minimize the face count for the scanned objects.

Can you post the dwg here? That's the only way we can see what you have and don't have to work with. btw, most people just trace over the walls with Chief Wall Types. IAE, you have to set the Wall Defaults to get the right Exterior & Interior Wall Types, Floor Defaults for heights, etc.

I think there are a lot of people (former NFL fans) who are adopting that concept. btw, IMO Bruce Koepka is being short-changed by the media who just can't get Tiger mania out of their heads. He won 2 majors this year, including the PGA Championship. Tiger only came in second, 2 strokes back but he's the big story? That's just not fair. Bruce deserves the credit for winning.

You can change the "Floor Default Ceiling Finish" to lower the ceiling for the entire floor. Just insert an "Air Gap" of 36 inches and it will lower the ceiling. You can even add a ceiling joist layer if needed. Chief applies the Ceiling Finish (normally just 12" drywall) to the bottom of the "Ceiling Structure". By adding layers to the "Ceiling Finish" you are building it downward.

Delete the "Snack Bar" Counter Top Select all of the Cabinets and then use the Edit Tool Bar Icon to "Create Custom Counter Top" Select that Counter Top and use the "Break Line" icon on the "Edit Tool Bar" to break it at the edge of the wall. Select and Drag the "Snack Bar Counter Edge" out to whatever size you want. Basically you've just created a single Counter Top the shape you want.

Can you select that and check what layer it's on?

Proper use of Layer Sets, Annosets, Text Styles, etc is very powerful. Then using "Saved Plan Views" to send to Layout is the next step. Yes, the setup can take some time - and you will be almost constantly modifying it - but it's worth every bit of time you put into it. Don't forget to spend extra time setting up a "Remodel" project setup. For Design Options, I just make copies of the Plan and modify them. That way you can use the same Annosets and Layer Sets. Don't try to handle that with just different Layer Sets as it will result in conflicts with displayed vs non-displayed 3D objects such as cabinets, appliances, walls, doors, windows, etc. Separate saved Plans is a much cleaner way to go and it preserves each design as a separate file.

Put them on a specific layer. Then create a layer set that only displays that layer and use that layer set as the referenced layer for your foundation plan. ps: I also display the "Walls, Main Layer Only" in that referenced set. This makes it easy to see where my shear walls need to be. btw, this thread should have been posted in the Q&A Forum.

Define a "Code" Annoset. When you switch to the "Code" Annoset the text subsequently created will be on the layers specified.

That's pretty good but in my neck of the woods we have to actually dimension what is going to be. Just referencing a code section is frowned on because the builder and/or tradesmen may not actually have access to the code.

According to the CRC which I believe is exactly the same as the IRC: Minimum width above handrails is 36". Handrails are allowed to project as much as 4.5" into the 36" minimum width Minimum width at and below handrails is 31.5" when the handrail is only on one side. Minimum width at and below handrails is 27" when the handrail is on both sides. Based on the above, assuming no tread overhang on the open sides you can have a switchback stairway of 6'-0" drywall to drywall. Note that a "Guard" on the open sides could actually be at the same location as the handrail.

It's basically because his "Screened Porch" wasn't a room at all. It was just a slab with some posts and a roof plane. The reason it didn't work with the sloped walls was because the room height needed to be set at the baseline height of the roof plane. Then you get attic walls to enclose the sides from the area from there up.

Great Video and an excellent tip.

One way I use it when I want to create a new Project by automatically copying the current project. The macro copies the entire folder structure and files of the current project - but renames everything. It's a very advanced macro that combines several File_IO tasks. There are other cases that wouldn't be as complicated. Basically this type of macro isn't designed to provide annotation. Instead they perform disk management, file writing and reading to set/retrieve data that might be needed by other macros - but that don't need to be done very often.

Just as a clarification, here's the definition and why it makes sense: Header - the structural member above an opening. It's on the "Framing, Headers" layer and the linestyle can vary from one Layer Set to the next. Currently Chief shows these as a rectangle the width of the wall framing. In reality most ConDocs would show them as a "Single Heavy Line" (dash, short_dash, dash). This modification has been requested. Hopefully it will be done before X11 but probably not. Opening Header Lines - the wall surface above an opening. They are on the "Opening Header Lines" layer and the linestyle can also vary depending on the Layer Set. This is useful for "Reflected Ceiling Plans" where you would want them to be "Solid". The way Chief showed the "Opening Header Lines" in the past, calling them "Headers" was incorrect. Note: A really good way to find such things and what Layer they are on is to select an object and open the ALDO. There you will see all the layers associated with the object and can toggle their display.

Do you ever want a macro to be executed only when you specifically want it to? Macros only execute when displayed so here's the trick: Create a CAD Detail Window - name it the macro name Add a Text Box and insert the macro in it When you want the macro to execute just display that CAD Detail. If the macro isn't anyplace else in the plan or layout it will only execute when that CAD Detail is displayed. This is a great way to use a macro to set a global variable or perform some other task just when you want it to. Note that you can have the CAD Detail Window open during a session of Chief but the macro will only execute when you switch to that tabbed view.

If you make the "Patio" a "Porch" with "Railing Walls" you can get the model to work much better. PSolids are not the way to go. Note: A Porch has a floor, walls and a roof. That's a good place to start. Then edit the walls to get the screened in area.