MickeyToo

Almost, Mike. Here is a CAD Detail of what I am trying to model. I would be interested to know how you placed the slab in your model, though. Structural slabs are done this way so there must be a way to do it in Chief, I would hope. Thanks

Thanks, Perry, but that places the slab flush to or AT Top of Stem Wall (both are at the same EL). I am looking to place the slab ON Top of Stem Wall. I am half way there. You will see in my previous pic that the the top of the slab is higher than the top of the stem wall (OK so far), but the slab will not extend over and across the top of the stem wall to meet the PT sill (big gap). In other words, I want the slab to behave like it does when it sits on top of the footing in the basement: ON the footing and against the foundation wall automatically. There are workarounds, I suppose, but I just did not know if I was missing something. Easy to do. Thanks again.

Here is the pic.

Is there a way to get the foundation slab to sit on top of the stem wall? What I have come up with so far (see the pic), the slab won't overlay the stem wall top and, the sills don't meet in the corners (???). Thanks!

Thanks, Perry. I had added the library wall to the plan, but did not know it was automatically added to the list of walls in the DBX. Thought maybe the new Object Eyedropper tool would be of help, but no go, and no need with your answer. Thanks

I would like to change the walls in an existing plan to a wall type that is in the user library. What would be the best way to do this? Thanks!

One option you might try would be to delete the problem roof plane and then copy and rotate the other roof plane 180 degrees. After you place the copy in position, it might be necessary to draw it back and use the Join Roof Planes tool to complete the connection. Good luck.

Jim and Robert I understand exactly what you guys are saying: once you redefine one of the attributes (color, for example) of the object you want to match to something other than the one set by the Layer, you loose the ability copy and paste the new attribute (color in this case) using the Layer Eyedropper. That goes without saying, since the tool is called LAYER Eyedropper. Please note that in my original post I said that the Layer Eyedropper worked "much like" what was being described (at least as I was reading the post) and for most Chief users it will (since we can be certain they will have that "Chief mindset" ). AutoCAD is head and shoulders above Chief when it comes to working in CAD (as one poster recently commented, Chief's CAD "sucks!"): we all know this. Further, it is definitely not a high priority with Chief to close the gap any time soon. That being the case, I suppose we should be grateful for little things...like the Layer Eyedropper.

Robert, you said "matches ALL the properties", and then listed the four or them, all of which are copied using the Eyedropper. What other properties would you want to match beside the "layer, line style, line weight, and color"?

Robert wrote "The difference is that the ACAD Match Properties function matches ALL the properties: layer, line style, line weight, and color. Chief's Layer Eyedropper and Layer Painter only change the layer." If we are talking about CAD, then the Layer Eyedropper and Layer Painter do indeed transfer not only the layer, but the associated attributes such as line style, line weight and color.

Glenn wrote: "It would also be great to have a MATCH PROPERTIES button in conjunction with the 4 property drop down boxes. Click the MATCH PROPERTIES button, click on an object in the drawing and the 4 property values (layer, color, weight and type) are entered in the 4 dropdown boxes, ready to draw a cad object with matching properties." I believe there is something very much like this in Chief called the Layer Eyedropper. It works like the Format Painter in Excel. Select the tool, select the object whose properties you want to copy and they paint them onto the object you want to change (three clicks). Each additional item you want changed takes a single click. It would be very easy for Chief to add this tool to the right click, contextual menu to make for easier access. I do agree with those advocating for the ability to make individual property changes to objects, (such as the color only) on-the-fly in the way other more polished programs currently do. After all, it's one click here, two clicks there and pretty soon you find yourself working for minimum wage.

Thank you, CJ. I really appreciated the effort!

Very impressive, Jim.

The whole idea behind having defaults is to be able to decide what conditions a designer wants/needs to exist ahead of actually developing a model. It is a fundamental principle of "best practices' in BIM software. This should go without saying. So whether you want Chief to apply the finish flooring and ceiling materials (from the first floor, and only the first floor!) to the basement room in your model by default, or you do not (b/c in my area it is the rare exception and not the rule that basements are finished), the software should allow for this flexibility. And if it does not, then it should be clearly documented, at least. As with slope slabs, it looks like Chief could do a much better job in this area.

Thanks for the responses. I spent way too much time the other day trying to figure this one out (another of those black holes in Chief), and now that it looks like I have not missed something I will contact TS on Monday. It seems there should be a "Basement" room listed among the other five room types in Room Defaults, where you could easily set the parameters of this room, just like any of the other rooms listed. There seems to be no place in Defaults (Rooms, Floors or Foundation) where you can remove the finish surfaces, which they seem to be getting from the room above. Go figure. And just to clarify: I know how to remove (just) the finish floor surfaces after the foundation is built and still retain the concrete slab (in the correct position). That is not the problem. The problem is I do not want Chief to included the finish surfaces (on both the floor AND ceiling) every time it builds (or rebuilds) a foundation. From what I have gathered, if you go with the Foundation Defaults as they come from Chief, you will not encounter this problem because with a stem wall height below a certain number (four feet maybe???), Chief does not automatically build the basement slab. I have increased the stem wall height (in Foundation Default) to a point where Chief now automatically includes the slab...along with finish floor and ceiling surfaces! Still hope I missed something. We'll see.

Doing so also removes the slab.

Thanks, Jinto, but no go. The only way to clear away the finish flooring (after the foundation is built) is to hit Edit (K) and then delete any layers that make up the finish flooring. What I want to do is change the default so the flooring never shows up in the first place. As far as I can tell it looks like the basement is taking on the default finish flooring (and finish ceiling) from the first floor Room defaults. The question is how to remove that link. There were a couple of threads dealing with foundation defaults recently (very confusing subject), but none touched upon finish flooring. Thanks again.

How do I modify the defaults of my template plan to remove the finish flooring that Chief places on top of the slab in the basement? I have tried adjusting the Foundation and Floor defaults, with and without a foundation generated in the plan, and I just can't seem to get Chief to cooperate. I can remove the finish flooring manually by unchecking Default for (K) and then opening and deleting the individual layers, but I want that to then be the default for the template plan. It seems as though there should be a "Basement" room (along with the others) in the Rooms default. Thanks in advance!

Looks like the band board is right where it should be (see pic), but thanks for the try! I have attached the plan if anyone wants to take a look. Chief Floor Framing Plan.zip

No change when moving the position of the camera either a little or a lot. It looks like it is definitely associated with whatever is behind it (see the second pic where the siding has been lifted). I have placed it on an interior wall and no problem. I am heading out put when I get back I will try to post a plan. Thanks

Slightly off topic, but any idea why this B&B siding material would change color in the area where it overlaps the floor joist?

Brian, what seems to trigger unwanted resizing of the edit handles in my case is accessing Preferences - Edit. I just tried to reset the handles to five (from six), for example, and when I closed Preferences, made a selection in plan and went back to Preferences the handle size was four. It will eventually go to three (if I repeat the steps), but no lower now that I changed the Windows display setting mentioned earlier. For some reason six seems to be a stable setting; even if I access Preferences - Edit, that setting does not change - for the moment, at least.

You are correct, ebdesign. A polyline solid that is created in plan view where it can be reshaped to say, cover the area of an L-shaped garage, can then be group selected in cross section elevation and rotated/sloped. I had tried this prior to my post but could not group select the polyline solid (I was able to do so using one of the other methods in your subsequent post - thanks). It is interesting that the rotation behavior is this case is the same as for the SOLID, and is quite different from the control you have when starting with a polyline solid in elevation. Of course, then it is not fully editable in plan, which then leads to the question of why polyline solids are NOT fully editable in both views??? In any event, if Chief would only provide control for sloping a slab in the specifications dialog (something that is long over due), we could use all this valuable time and energy on doing what we bought Chief for - designing structures!

Using two polyline solids to create a sloped slab in an L-shaped garage.

Here is what a polyline solid posing as a slab looks like.