AvoyeDesign

Thanks for your responses, I will forward this information to the client. Rod

My client sent me this email this morning: I'm a PC user, so I can't go and investigate this. Can anyone help me out here? Thanks!

I swear it was Professor Plum in the Hall with the candlestick! Personally though, I think "bowling alley" needs to be in the default rooms list. Because reasons. And because my dream home that I will never build will have a bowling alley. Don't judge!

I got the release email and I'm not on the public beta. I was wanting to download the trial version and kick the tires, but it sent me X14. Weird.

You can edit a truss profile in a cross section view. Draw the truss, create a cross section, and then pull the bottom cord of the truss down to the top of the jack stud.

Curious why Acad lite? Is it for something else or is Revit not enough?

I completely understand your sentiment but from somewhat of a different perspective. I an 15 years into my business and career, and I'm currently using X10. The SSA renewals have simply been problematic for me because they are due near each new release, which is in the winter, which is a slow season for me. As much as I have tried to budget for it through the busy times, it always seemed that I needed the money elsewhere more urgently. So every year a new release went from a $595 SSA renewal, to an $800 upgrade, to a $1200 upgrade, to a $1700 upgrade, to now a $2200 upgrade. Plus exchange to CAD. I'm doing fine on X10, and I learn to be efficient and effective with the tools I have. But I want to expand my team, and I now have one license at X10 and can only get a 2nd license at X14/X15 at FULL COST unless I upgrade X10 first. Ok, so that's a cost of doing business, but I can make it work. If I were to upgrade middle of 2023, I'd have two versions of X15 and I could chose whether or not to upgrade them later. But now, once I do this, I only have one fallback license of X10 I can use, as the rest are subscription based and I really don't own anything. I'm in for the ride. I can make that work, although I don't consider it ideal. But this presents me an opportunity: If I am now faced with a new pricing and licensing scheme, then now is the time to shop around other programs. What else is out there? I haven't looked at SoftPlan since 2007, I'm sure they are much better than they were back then. Or how about Revit Lite at $500 a year? What I'm saying is that in their bid to get new customers, they are really forcing legacy customers into an uncomfortable shift, where their only option to keep the status quo was to have been diligent all these years with renewing their SSA. I would need to pay $3,100 by the deadline to get the "grandfathering" scheme. What else could I buy with $3,100 today? Everyone's on subscription now? Oh, look! Softplan is $95 per month! I wonder if they will do? I would happily pay Chief $3,100 for 3 licenses of X10, based on what their upgrade path values my license at, so I could have 4 software packages that are compatible. I'm in for a LOT more if I want 4 compatible versions of X15 one day. So... I'm going to shop around. See what I find. Weigh my options.

Right. At $1995 per year, we better see much more regular improvements to the software than we are seeing now at $595 per year for SSA.

Well this is gonna be faster than manually editing the truss polyline in a section view. Thanks!

I'm not so sure of that. The leader is attached to a specific point along the boundary of the text object, and when you mirror the text like that it remains attached to the same point. This is how text leaders work. so that they stay properly attached no matter where you move the text.

Video explains it best. This would only work if the text body was an even number of lines. But I think if you flip it with two lines of text and then stretch it to 3 lines, the leader line will underscore the top line. Nope. This messes up the leader line.

Nice!

Say you want a dimension default for a task you do repeatedly where a dimension requires the same exact trailing text. Go into Preferences>Units. Create a custom unit as follows: [unit] [trailing text] Where Unit is the actual unit of measure you want displayed ( ' " '-" m mm) and Trailing Text is the common text you would use in this application. This only works for trailing text as units only trail dimensions, not lead them.

Wow, you just improved on what I've done, kudos! Never even occurred to met to turn off terrain. That looks super clean!

So I explained in my video that there are cases where doing this isn't practical. In my case, one of the elevations would have a second building obstructing the 1st. In another example, the curvature of the terrain hides part of the building and I need to show the conditions where the grade meets the foundation wall.

Details in the video

I just use an "ALL ON" layer set and go to the floor where the zoom extends is furthest out. From there I send to layout, and chief centers the layout box on the drawing sheet. I then do this for every floor and default set without changing my zoom level. Works for me anyway.

Don't look in my garage.

I've built 2 computers so far, my latest is starting to show its age. Rule of thumb; do your research and then do it again. Watch videos like Linus Tech Tips to get a comprehensive understanding of all the parts, what works well together, and how to assemble it trouble free. You need to know things like the differences between memory generations: DDR3, DDR4, and DDR5(not yet out) are NOT compatable with a board that doesn't support that EXACT generation. PCIe on the other hand is backwards compatable. The CPU you choose has to be matched with a board that has the correct socket and chipset. My tips for sourcing the components are to start with the CPU, ALWAYS. Start with the minimum specs and look for one that has higher core counts and higher clock speeds that is within your budget. And remember that the motherboard's price could be impacted by a pricier CPU. Motherboard: Unless you plan to overclock your CPU, don't pay top dollar. Get a well reviewed board that has the socket/chipset combo for your CPU, and enough memory capacity and PCIe slots for the memory sticks, video cards you need to add. If you are adding 2 video cards ($$$$) make sure the board has two PCIe x16 slots where the 2nd slot runs in x8 mode minimum. Also be aware that running two video cards may obstruct one or more PCIe x1 slot for plugging in WIFI cards, USB cards, etc. Ideally you want a board with as much of that built in as possible, but price point will dictate that. You should aslo make sure the board has a NVMe M.2 connector for your hard drive, and get a 2tb NVMe drive to run the OS and programs including chief. This option is all about speed. I would not buy any SATA SSDs. For bulk storage that you don't need to access on the fly go with SATA HDD drives. They are pretty cheap these days. If you need storage that is quicker than the HDD's but you don't have room on the M.2, go ahead and get a SATA SSD. Video cards; I don't know enough about them to recommend one or the other, but stay away from bleeding edge cards if you don't have the $$$. A decent floor model 3080 or 3070 should do fine. Power supply: Use a power supply calculator to determine your needs. If you plan to add a 2nd video card or more memory in the future, calculate that now. And it never hurts to go up one level just to be sure you have the headroom. If it says you need a 750 watt, get a 900 watt. Get a modular power supply. Routing cables is a PITA and if the ones you don't need are not detachable you are going to be frustrated by the 3rd hour of getting everything in order. Cable management is important as it keeps airflow from being restricted, cuts down on dust and just looks better. Cooling: Don't use the stock cooler that comes with your CPU. Invest in a good tower air cooler or a closed system liquid cooling loop, at least for the CPU. Water cooling a GPU is not for the amateur, and custom water cooling systems are for the extreme enthusiest who wants his PC to be the equivalant of a muscle car. Assembly: Use a shock grounding collar. Learn how to install your specific CPU type by watching a youtube video. Learn about LGA and PGA sockets and CPUs, and how to handle them with care. Learn how to troubleshoot and about common mistakes. Be prepared to be at it for most of the day.

In 15 years using Chief I have never actually considered lowering the DPI. I'll actually give this a try, thanks for commenting.

If you want help with your specific problem, you should post in the General Q&A forum. The Tips & Tricks forum is for offering solutions you have found that you want to share with others.

Interestingly, I would often use the layout time tracker as the only tracker. I would create a layout file immediately when starting the design, and as I work would populated it with cross sections. I often times would end up saving a backup of a design so that I could branch off on another idea that would massively alter the buliding, but later abandon it and return to the first one. How do I easily account for this when some time entrys are redundant and some are not? Use the layout time tracker only. Now I am using BQE core for time tracking as it automatically creates time entries that go straight to invoicing. BQE is quite a bloated and cumbersome package so I don't recommend it for small firms especially with no payroll, but there are others out there that are just as good if not better.

I have been toying with the trial for almost a year. No problems with camera views thanks.

Thanks. Not ready for full upgrade yet.

That's not going to be a problem. I'm only going to be leaning on X13 for one or two features that will be critical for time saving, and I already have a good handle on how they work from using the demo version. I also taught myself to use X1 back in the day, and was putting out permit drawings within the 1st week. I've beta tested a few releases in the years past. I think I can handle it.