Bill_Emery

I'm not sure what you're looking for, but this is what I do for deep set windows. It's done more or less automatically by using a window treatment, in this case a "blind".

Hi Scott, I do think its easier to just use "roof cuts wall at bottom" is the easiest way to do this, but I've been using the retaining wall definition in various situations where the wall have a tendency to become unstable (changing, or disappearing spontaneously). I like them because they remain stable and don't have unwanted artifacts. I do agree with your analysis of the situation, and it is certainly easier and cleaner to bring the walls up inside the roof opening, as I stated earlier.

It's perhaps easier to draw a regular wall, and specify "roof cuts wall at bottom", adjust for height, and convert to a railing. Let me know if you need more information.

Here's a quick try using a terrain retaining wall converted to a railing. I used the picture that you posted as my reference. I modified your roof hole so it would cover the log walls. There are some other issues that I have not addressed, as it's getting late; but I think it can be cleaned up to work well. It's one way to retain room definition while having a railing appear above a roof. It would be simpler to pull the roof back, and bring the railing walls up inside the roof plane.

Yes, I think it's a good idea to save windows and doors that have been customized to the library, as it will save a lot of editing of the schedule. I've included a small plan that shows how information from the code column can be drawn into the label using a simple macro. I've used it here to designate new, and existing windows. component code macro.plan

Thanks for the clarification, it's now clear to me what you are doing. It might be helpful to use dimensions with the dimension text size set to a very small size, and add the "EQ" as text later. At least it would automate the line work.

Here's a way to rotate all of your text at once. Set the default so that the text rotates with the plan, then rotate the plan 90 degrees. Then set the default so that text does not rotate with plan, and rotate it back to its original position. If you have text that you don't want to rotate, it can be set for a different text style set not to rotate with plan. There may be some unintended consequences, so it's a good idea to do a save as. Other objects can be rotated quickly if you have a hot key for transform/replicate.

Comments are added in the component dialog area . Select a window of door and open the component icon, then scroll if necessary to find the comment section, and type anything you need. Another interesting thing about the component dialog is that anything typed into the Code section of the dialog can be brought into the label with a macro. This is a little known, but somewhat useful feature. The code section is special in that it is the only area of the component dialog that is accessible in this way. Perhaps of more use to you is that if you save a door to the user Library, you can give it any name you want.

Most of the projects that I do have a crawl space, a spread footing, and a stem wall. foundation on level 0 works well. If I have a basement, or a daylight basement, I prefer to use floor 1 for the basement, or daylight basement, and use level 0 for the foundation/footings for the following reasons. Although information can be sorted by layer, and annotation sets, I find it much easier to sort the footing and floor information by having level 1 for the floor information, and level 0 for the foundation/footing information. This method just keeps it simple. We're dealing with two distinct sets of information, and separate levels makes sense. The answer may come down to what seismic zone your project is in; if you're in Zone D1, or D2, or your project is in California; then keeping the basement, and the footings separate levels is the best answer. keeping them separate also makes sense with engineered retaining walls and for foundations with complex insulation details.

I'll make a note to remember alt Q. It seems like there is always more to learn. I have a list of about 200 hotkeys that I'm learning, I'll add it to the list. Point to point move is a reliable way to get the wall in place too.

You can bring them back, go to your latest archived copy, and copy and paste them back into place in your working plan. An option beforehand is copy the connectors to a new plan, and bring them back in after the change in lighting.

It works for me. I opened your plan, dragged the wall to the left, then brought it back into place, and it snapped as expected. You may want to check your bumping and pushing settings.

Just select one light, and then choose replace from library. You will be presented with the following options; Replace selected object, Replace identical objects in room, or replace identical objects on floor.

I don't think you can pre define the layers, but you can develop roof planes in separate plans, to make it easier to sort things out.

Hi Jessde, I'm glad that worked out fairly easily. One would initially think that your question was a simple one. But, the solution to curving the roof plane is nowhere in the documentation for the software, or in any of the video tutorials. I figured out how to do this several years ago and posted it to the old forum. And if you were able to query the old forum, you would have found the answer. Sadly that resource is no longer available. Hang in there, the first few months are the hardest. I remember the first time that I asked for help on the forum. I was having difficulty making things work through the usual means, so I asked for help. The answer I got was to make a symbol to get the job done. I had no idea what a symbol was, let alone how to make one. Somehow I muddled through, but didn't ask another question for a long time. Keep trying, and keep asking questions.

I think one of the things we recently leaned is that a shortcut to the forum is not going to give you a lasting link. I tend to prefer Microsoft's OneNote over Evernote, because of it's deep integration with Windows, OneDrive, and DropBox: and more importantly all of the content is searchable. OneNote has become the killer App for Windows; especially if you're using a touch, and/or handwriting enabled device. I think the key is to actually clip the pertinent thread, or posts; rather than depending on Chief for them to always be available.

Oops! The plan is now attached. I also attached the one with the 4x4 wood posts.

Here is the same deck with a cable rail. It's still a work in progress, but I'll post the plan, as I think it is interesting. Everything is done with room definitions, and live walls. The cable railings do not attach as cleanly as the standard Chief stair railings, but it's still workable. I like this solution because it's pushing the limits of what the software is designed to do. curved shed roof.plan deck cable rail.plan

Notice the smooth, automatic stair rail connection.

Hi Mick, I used retaining walls in this case for two reasons; first, I can control the wall easier (Chief doesn't restrict retaining walls as much as regular walls), and second, I could eliminate some unwanted artifacts by using retaining walls. I like retaining walls for unusual conditions because I can retain room definition, and yet have a great deal of flexibility. A good example is putting a railing on a mildly sloping roof deck; There is just no way with a regular wall, but a retaining wall can be made to do it. Controlling the top rail height is not a problem, and like Glen did, I pulled the bottom of the wall down so it would cover the deck.

Here's a slightly different take on the problem. I've defined the deck with the invisible wall, and I've also specified retaining wall. The railing is first drawn as a regular wall, and adjusted for height in elevation, and then converted to a railing. It is specified as no room definition, and as a terrain retaining wall. This definition allows me to pull the railing wall back at the corners to show the double post. This solution will look correct in vector views, and gives the double post at the corner, while keeping everything live.

Ok, so here's how to do it. Draw a polyline box overlapping the roof plane; use the line to curve tool to create a curve. adjust the curve to follow the arc of your wall. Then use the "convert arc to polyline" tool, specifying the number of segments you want ( I chose 15 to give a fairly smooth look). Then use the polyline subtraction tool to create the arc in the roof plane.

This is one of those situations where it helps to post a plan or picture. Do the attached screenshots show what your trying to to? One method is very easy, it involves polyline subtraction; but there is an extra step that not intuitively obvious.

My workflow is much like Alaskan_Son's, and I use Perry's method to feed several layouts more or less automatically. Project information is fed in by way of an Excel worksheet, which is mostly cut and paste from county records and excel worksheets designed for project information, area, and solar clearance calculations. These are not live values, but mostly don't need to be as they are entered near the end of the process. I've become so frustrated with the limits of Ruby (in Chief); it's just easier (and less complicated) to use Visual Basic in excel, where things work in a predictable manner with few limitations. What I would really like is away to keep values live between Excel and Chief.

JMorelli, I suspect the problem may not be with Chief. l'm running three monitors, a 50"4K, a 30" 2560 x 1600 and a 19" 1980 x 1080, on a mid range windows laptop with no lag or performance problems. This is the equivalent of a 9K monitor. I'm just driving a prescribed number of pixels, regardless of how they are configured. I used to run the 2560 x 1600 (4K) on a NVIDIA card with only a half gig with no problems. As a casual observer, the graphics cards in Macs are the weak link until I look at the dedicated graphic work stations (Where they tend to be superb.)