para-CAD

For double walls, I make a copy of a single wall that is close in type and rename it ___ - DBL WALL. Then I add all the specific wall info and when I choose it, it displays as 2 walls (like a party wall between to units of a townhome) I assume CA is treating this as one fat wall, but it generates to the final plan visually correct.

resize it in autocad I used the scale at the bottom. It's drawn weird on purpose.....many of the called lengths are close but not precise. (to scale 1 to 1) Puckett Drive Siteplan.dwg

so the only problem is that the rails are locked to the platform size and stringer. I can get it close for 2D plans, but 3D model looks wrong unless I drop the top stringer

Okay. I will give it a try. yes!! Thanks Charles.

I'm having trouble building stairs in CA the way I build them in reality. Is there an easy way to set the top tread flush with the upper floor and not dropped one step? Thanks for any help. Page 33 has the image of what I'm talking about.

I think I learned from someone on here how to change my system fonts. It might have been Renerabbit. The font that I chose is San Francisco pro display. https://developer.apple.com/fonts/ I like it even better than Arial for all my text on my plans.

So I just loaded x12 beta on my 2015 MBP to have a mobile option. This message just popped up. "Chief Architect Premier X12" would like to record this computer screen. This is the first I've ever seen this message. No such message ever popped up on my WIN 10 box nor any previous CA installs on macOS. I don't think I accidentally pressed some hot key combination to initiate this action, but I could have since I wasn't paying attention to everything I was doing until the pop up got my attention. I'm guessing this is some kind of macOS system security thing...but being not sure, I'm about to DENY. I can screen record with other apps if I need that capability. Thought I'd share and see if this is a normal thing.

My county wants all kinds of code language on the plans. Then they started to request that the code language be placed on the relevant sheet and not “buried” in a specification sheet “that no one will read.” This tends to make some plans a bit busy. I think it’s dependent on who is reviewing the plans and how lazy/busy they are as to their level of code language required. the two newest ones are the pellet stove installed to manufacturers specs and the GWB under stairwell language, both located on the plans at the location. now I’m getting push back on prescriptive hand-cut roof designs. They want to see them “engineered”. Uh, that’s what’s in the tables in the code book people! Lastly, it seems that the more info/detail you put into a design, the more they dig into it. Sometimes leaving things minimalist seems to get through permitting easier. I called the ICC and was given verbal permission over the phone to copy and paste various amounts of code language. Her exact words were not more than five pages consecutively. She said something about it being allowed under Creative Commons license or some kind of thing. I recommend paying for the online access to the codes at the ICC. They make their $$$ and you have easy access to the codes. https://www.iccsafe.org

X12 should be a blast! Bring it on.....spring-time Christmas!!! As far as regional terminology goes - I find it almost entertaining how some of the most mundane and small things become issues for people. I "learn't" me some framing in Texas. When I moved to WA state, I was speaking a completely foreign language with the building terms I had used in Texas. The really odd ducks up here were the ones who felt almost religiously compelled to correct me. Like they were saving me. Now sometimes I purposely say things wrong just to see if people call me on it or not. Most are probably thinking I'm stupid, but every once in a while I hook one and we have fun. Y'all have a great 2020! Let's see this economy ROAR!

Great job, Chief!

I love stairs. I built these on Thanksgiving Day. (Basement set) And the second set last Saturday. (First floor set) three more stairs and the roof to go. that last one was a CA section exported to AutoCAD. Chief isn’t production-level accurate but I can Calc everything so it’s great for the picture.

I use Cisco WebEx. It has a whiteboard feature that can be pretty useful.

Cross Platform: OBS (Free) https://obsproject.com/ Mac: ScreenFlow 9 https://www.telestream.net/screenflow/overview.htm

NVMe SSDs are awesome. They read/write about 6 times faster than typical SSDs. someone pretty smart did a thread that showed the best matchup of h/w to maximize CA performance somewhere.

I used to do 2400 DPI but someone on here said NO HIGHER THAN 600 so I tried that. Even 300 works well. The largest plan I've created was around 80MB.....easy peasy.

I'm a former framer. I agree that the artsy part of a plan's font choice held minimal value to me in building the structure. I hated when the plans became a bit scuffed up and the hand written fonts were even more illegible. Now-a-days, I guess I would have a PDF of every plan on my phone or tablet as a back up so I could have a pristine reference copy. But I don't frame any more so who knows. Commercial plans (hotels/apartments) were typically arial or similar and were designed for maximum clarity. If some want/like the simulated handwritten look. Fine. Whatever. As long as the information is clear and easily understood, that should be the driving focus....make it easy to build it according to plan. 2 cents

1. ALL CAPS ALWAYS. 2. NEVER HANDWRITTEN LOOKING FONTS (MINIMIZE POTENTIAL CONFUSION ON THE JOB SITE) 3. 3/32" TALL ON LAYOUT PAGE (4.5" ON 1/4" SCALE) SOMETIMES 4 IF NEEDED. 4. SF PRO AND SIMILAR APPLE DISPLAY TYPE FONT PRINT EXTREMELY CLEAR AT SMALL SIZE. i EVEN LIKE THE OLD SIMPLEX8

Back in the late 80s in Texas, we cut 11 ¼” off of a precut stud so that a 2x12 header could fit over an opening. Not all headers were 2x12, but it standardized everything for when such load bearing support was needed. This worked well but doors and windows always seemed to not exactly match at the top and needed custom trim ripping to get right. The space over the door was always bigger than over the windows. Chief has that still today. Setting door and windows to 80” above top of subfloor places the bottom of the header at the same 80” but the location where the bottom edge of the top door trim and the bottom edge of the top window trim don’t align and always need adjustment. This only becomes an issue when making mulled doors with side windows. And it seems most designers will get it close and assume the framer will figure it all out on the job site. A good framer will get with the window and door guy and get exact size info. Then in consort with the builder, make the whole thing look like the elevation, since that’s what the customer is expecting. I appreciate that you are going the extra mile to provide this level of support on your project. I hope it all goes well.

Solver sh/be on Chief's tech support payroll.

94 5/8"? Our "8'" pre-cuts are 92 5/8" out west. I tell new framers get used to feet and inches or FIS. 7'-8 5/8" 8'-8 5/8" 9'-8 5/8" and so on.

Y'all are great! I was up late last night and boom, this morning I received light. Thanks for illuminating my path. Glenn...I followed your steps...BOOM! Success. Thanks, brother! Created a ROOF LABELS text style so as to not screw with whatever else is reading from the default style.

Being that I know how these buildings are framed, I can GUARANTEE that exact never works. Now, I always present EXACT to my client builders with a huge caveat. "THESE NUMBERS ARE THEORETICALLY EXACT. YOU WILL NEED TO ADD OVERAGES BASED ON EXPERIENCE AND PAST PERFORMANCE OF YOUR CREW." Or something like that. Adding one sheet per plane is my way of rounding up for SF amounts that have a remainder. Instead of rounding up 1 sheet over the entire roof area, I round up 1 sheet per calculated plane. Even that is low, since the horizontal rips at the top or bottom waste a few extra sheets. Typically 10 - 15% is overage on hip roofs, less for truss/gable-ish ones. And the bastard hips....they burn plywood with the dual angles. Fun. Fun. Some Memphis builders still use staggered 1x10 white pine in place of plywood. Very killer.

It it even possible to create a data table on a layout page that presents numbers or calculated results from numbers that are in the material list.....that live update as the model changes? MATERIAL LIST FUNCTIONALITY.pdf

As seen in the video question, when I select different macro options, I'm unable to customize (MAKE BIGGER) the text that is generated. I need the text larger and any color or font I'd like. Thanks for any help.

So, is it possible that I'm not importing dwgs in the most optimal way for success? Everything comes across but some things are off. - arrow heads don't match - insulation batting does not match (probably a line type mismatch between CA and Autodesk - the diagonal line (as in 1/2") disappeared. It has happened on all the times I imported my dwg wall details and once on a 5/8" sheet rock reference. video explains best