para-CAD

I bet David Michael has something nice.

well.........now I'm starting to have Chief Architect crashes on my win 11 machine, RTX 3080 It has happened twice when I was in a 3D camera looking at a wall of cabinets and I wanted to raise the camera up so I pressed the middle mouse scroll wheel to be able to drag the model "down". BOOM. Crash. Work lost. Now these things are affecting my business. I have a new mac and an aging PC and neither are having success with chief architect.

I'm lucky to be fully updated WIN 11, RTX3080 and way too much memory with zero issues. I wish I could ID what is the reason it's working so I could share. My new MBP (apple) is crashing with chief every day....almost every couple of hours, but the WIN 11 machine is working with NO ISSUES for 10 - 12 hours straight. - older CPU (see sig block) - its a Puget Systems custom build - it came with a 1080 Ti originally - last year I was in DC and was able to get a 3080 card for crazy $$$, so I could try the real-time ray trace. - picked up 128GB of memory to fill the 8 slots - no other changes I work out of Dropbox. For details I use a single plan file with all my details set in a grid layout and reference those for details in layout. I also create cad details from that master to each specific project as a back up And I then also have each detail saved in the user library as a back up to that back up. I'm using Dan Baumann's template (modified) with zero issues except for FONTs....I would love a permanent global font solution.............Arial or some thin, clean, EASY TO READ WHEN ON WET AND CRUMPLED PLANS like Apple SF Pro Text. Hopping between macOS and WIN 11 has been a struggle sometimes. If I can share anything regarding my WIN 11 machine hw/sw config, just ask......I will help in any way to get past this hurdle. We should be focused on our designs and clients..........and less on the tool's hiccups we're dealing with....

I have zero issues with the windows machine in my signature block. No lags. No odd behavior. No crashes. Runs like a champ. Apple silicon. Not so much.

Well now the link is accepted...............SMH

So I am able to replicate the black screen. Then, about 5 minutes later....like clockwork, the Chief app dies and pops up an SEH error. I'm looking into the M1 GPU architecture......I don't recall it being 2 separate types since its fully integrated as in System on a chip. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_M1

I just recorded the whole thing and uploaded it to YouTube, but when I paste the link here on this site, I get a forbidden error message. So I took a screen shot of the error message and that also is forbidden from uploading.................very weird.

I’m having regular but random crashes (SEH) on my 2022 M1 MAX. It’s brand new and is awesome with every app I run on it but I have issues with Chief, X13, so much so that I have reverted to using Chief on my WIN 11 PC. Not happy that I purposefully chose a fully spec’d mac, $$$, only to return to my 2016 windows desktop. I haven’t had the black background lock up…but I have had the following: - when sending anything to layout, there is a lag, the display goes mostly black and in about 5 seconds, the plan or whatever, is present on layout. I’m seeing this as a Chief problem. I can only imagine the difficulties in coding for Apple when they totally changed their hardware. I’d love to stay on the mac, but I’m glad I upgraded my windows machine when I did. most expensive laptop I ever bought…….to browse the internet…..really fast….

Can a custom modified wall or roof be "locked" so that building new doesn't delete the pre-existing? I have that happen with decks a lot. My current work flow, is to get close to done, then manually tweak the things that I want custom - then print and hope for NO CHANGES

So I add that as a detail first, then I have to manually drag a sized beam from wall corner to corner. Since I haven't fully mastered the material list, I will annotate the size to order. I don't find value in trying to get chief to do things 100% exactly like I would frame.......it can do it.....but I haven't found it intuitive like that.

Wouldn't that be typical Murphy. Use a great template from a previous version and it starts causing problems when it's updated to the next version. That condition is just as valid as any one else. The crashes are so random that I have yet to see a pattern. I guess I could start with a blank generic X 13 residential plan file and layout and construct custom ones myself. That might take a while. When things slow down, I might just experiment a bit. I'm sitting next to my win 11 desktop which I can't remember crashing chief on......so if it gets bad enough I will put macOS chief on hold.

I have been having this issue for a few weeks. It's totally random so tech support was not able to solve the problem. It has happened 4 times tonight. Conditions: - file is NOT in dropbox (maybe a sync conflict). - not doing any 3D camera work. - super simple design of a 6 post carport attached to a garage. (not posting the plan. Bought it from Dan Baumann and it would like stealing to share it) - one time I clicked Make CAD detail - - BOOM. SEH pop up window - one time in elevation, turned off shadows - - BOOM. SEH pop up. - I'm using the keyboard short cut to save like I have a nervous tick. If I ever figure this out I will update. Other than Chief Architects random fails, the new machine is rock solid.....and w-a-y faster than previous year models. -- Mike

I bought Dan Baumann's CA templates. I will never share them with anyone, because then they would have his template for free and that would be stealing. Just like many of you have custom tweaked your plan files....never for sale or shared. You could export to DWG (chief does a somewhat messy job of that) if you felt compelled to give. Otherwise, they are acting like your work product belongs to them. It does not. My clients get a single project PDF in either ARCH D, ANSI D, ARCH C, or ANSI B. Sometimes I send the same plan in different size formats just to give them options. "This too shall pass..."

Building stairs using cabinets. Wow. I would have never guessed that was a thing.....ever.....without the input from those experienced on this site. Thanks!

Is Twinmotion worth the $499 price? I'm going to try the free option to see what I can do. I focus on plans for permit. 3D is not something people are asking for when wanting to get a project through the permit office. If I was a builder, then maybe more marketing....3D would be sweet. I'll noob my way through the free version over the next few days.

Thanks for your comments. The font issue only cropped up when I would copy/paste text from Snohomish county's website............way weird. I will skip the open recent feature......thanks again.

I do WIN 11 at the desk but am migrating most things to a new 2021 MBP M1Max fully spec'd (except for 4TB vs 8TB SSD) There are subtle differences but I find both get the job done. The new 43" Dell is just shy of 1:1 ARCH D so it's cool to see the plans full-size. New tech is fun.

well.....everything was working great for about 4 hours. I tried to open a recent file from the list under File and this happened: Also, I was copying text from a county website and when I would paste it into a Rich Text window, I received this message: "Failed to find a font on your system to match ".AppleSystemUIFont" I haven't messed with system fonts on this almost 3-week old machine.......seems odd.

I just received my M1 Max 24 DEC, (max'd out), and it does everything in chief except for the Real-time ray tracing in PBR. The problem I'm having is that I'm getting an SEH error whenever performing certain random tasks. In the last two weeks I've had four crashes total. Now I just hit command S every 20 or 30 seconds, like a twitch, to save my work in case another crash pops up on me. I've submitted a ticket to the tech-support guys along with the crash dump log that goes to Apple. It ended up being over 1000 page PDF worth of technical information. I don't think it's the computer's fault......something's up though.

I've had (2) CA crashes when choosing a 3D camera view on my week old, max'd out MacBook Pro M1 Max. I allowed the diagnostics to be sent out (to apple or chief, not sure) I wasn't doing anything hard. I just wanted to view the structure in dollhouse and it locked up chief.

Everywhere I used to frame (except for Western Canada) was this: Pre-cut Studs 92 5/8 104 5/8 116 5/8 - Add (3) plates (2 top and 1 bottom, you get: 8’-1 1/8” 9’-1 1/8” 10’-1 1/8” That covers your standard wall heights. The majority of Joists can be lumber, I-joist or trusses: Lumber: (PT is usually a bit thicker) 2x10 = 9.25” 2x12 = 11.25” I-Joist 9.5” 11.875” 14” 16” Floor trusses Anything over 18” mostly (24”) My typical design here is 9’ main floor (9’-1 1/8”), 8’ second floor (8’-1 1/8”). In Texas, the big homes I framed were 10’ main (10’-1 1/8”) and 9’ upper (9’-1 1/8”) mostly. Remember that the taller you go with wall heights and floor systems, the longer you will need for your stairs. Best thing about tall walls is tall (8’) doors and taller window options….both get $$$ as you deviate from the normal plain jane.

I exported a 12 page plan to tiff 100% zoom images. File size increased from 40MB to 65MB I wasn't completely sure that the images were still to scale. I reloaded the image files back into Adobe Acrobat and exported as a one-layer per sheet PDF. Now the sheets are unedittable.........except when I use OCR and recognize text. As far as the counties I work with go...they all claim that they are using PDF comparison tools to check when I make the changes I am mandated by them to make. The even specify that I am NOT to change the file name (so no revision tracking on my submission file) or it throws off the reviewing software........... And what's with the search feature..........I type in flatten PDF.....flatten+PDF........ nada. Whats the secret to get good results? Thanks for posting the 2018 link!!!

What is the best solution that anyone has found to be able to quickly FLATTEN a PDF from chief architect? I don't see the option to export or print to PDF and have the PDF be flattened inside chief architect. Most of the jurisdictions I deal with are requiring the submission of PDFs to be flattened, as in, all the layers combined into one. I have a subscription to Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, thinking that the King of PDF would make this easy, it does not. There are some online sources that will flatten a PDF, but they have file size and number of use limitations on their free sides. What is the best solution that anyone has found to be able to quickly FLATTEN a PDF from chief architect? I tried to search the site and the number one return was an MEP comment from 2015 that didn't address this at all. I know I can't be the only one dealing with having to flatten PDFs. Thanks for any help.

I've been using it for a week. I like the refinements.