payettedesigns

I have Revit in the office three seats. I could write a book about the money and time wasted  in leaning and implementing Revit. We used it for one project. It would have been better to buy a nice boat. I have one word to say about this. Chief... Chief Chief... oops that is three words. If you have no money go to Sketch Up Pro but be prepared for a boat load of plugins that will be more expensive than Chief.  

Here is the thing  I really do not get though.. this is A Chief Forum if your not a Chief Fan what are you doing here. I am not trying to be snooty but come on really. There is rivers of ink and mountains of paper expended on Revit and Sketch Up  Forums.  We use Sketch Up to make some models (obj) but i do not talk about it here. Just saying.

I am an Android and Windows guy but if I decide to buy an Ipad I might try it.

Add light source on floor of Kitchen make them spotsand change material attributes of the stainless... one of the Raytraces looks decent. Try computing caustics on the next one. Do you do post production work in Adobe Photoshop if your not ,you might want to think about it. Going to print I find its a must.

David 

I think I am good with Chief and then there is guys like you lol

Just thought of something look at Joey Martins plans on the sample plans his layout format for residential is  awesome...

Another Great Book is

The Uniform Drawing Format Manual  Fred Stitt ( Mcgraw Hill) it is the bible for the new cad drawing standards for all building. Lot of content covers commercial but ad addresses all you need..

I started out in commercial project management after almost a lifetime in the Marine Corps. I had a Masters of/in Mechanical Engineering. A friend of mine had  a large custom Residential Building Business in Florida  he talked me into leaving the commercial world and I was superintendent for him and then a project manager.  It was hell at first but I became really good at running jobs and you learn a lot about design, construction methods etc. I would hang with the framing crews and put the belt on and work on weekends.

I helped him get through three years of overload and then worked for another builder for another 3 years before going out on my own. I did a lot of Historical Renovations and new additions. My wife and I grew the company fast and 2008 happened and I was a better trades person then I was bushiness man. We had a bunch of people working for us and a lot of assets. not completely paid for. I almost lost everything when jobs stopped coming in. It got so bad in our area another builder friend of mine commit ed suicide. 

I gutted it out semper fi do or die.  I decided to go back to school and get a design degree. I saw a lot of shitty design when I was superintendent and often said "dang I could do better then this" I purchased Revit and finally Chief  which I consider the best software in the Market for residential design. My first designs were an embarrassment but you know what the clients did not know ; however builders called me on a lot of **** and that helped me get better.  I learned and am still learning a lot.In two years when I hit 60 I will have a PHD in design which may seem great but just a piece of paper to me. I learned a lot and got a lot of stares from the average 22 year old in most of my classes .

I grew my business by knocking on doors and a large leap of faith. I failed forward several times. I am busier than 90 percent of the Residential Architects in our area because I am willing to do anything drafting grunt work etc... Last year we did 12 new home designs and 20 additions. I cannot keep up with my marketing and do not even have a web site anymore it has all been word of mouth.  I am a part time pilot and one of the things that I love about flying is you are forever learning and that is what this business is. 

There are guys on here that are Chief Architect Gods and I mean that in a good way. I listen to them. I consider myself pretty good with Chief and then I read some of the forums and go holy **** I know nothing.  Joe Carrick ...Drawazill ... Dshall  Joey Martin to name a few. I have plans to kidnap these guys and do a mind meld.

So after these mountains of words here is my advice go for it.. be a  beast and do what you love..

Cheers

Nope use my own..

You can run but you  cannot hide. I am an open book and it's a boring one.

My other question would be how does chief walls build to the roof structure.? Even if it became a sketch up file. Tell me more please.  There would be some Ruby work here Yes?

This is when I use Revit& Autocad just saying.. But if you get this all figured out it would be awesome. I am super impressed you got as far as you did. 

Library is a little rigid with Chief and slow sometimes. Its the weakest thing about a "great product" . I just decided to get over the little issues. I love the program to much to complain I am afraid they will take it away from me and then my five year old daughters toy allowance  gets slim. I have little blue dots of corrupted files I need to talk to tech about, The library will not allow me to delete them. I had data files from several past updates and I think things got a little messed up. I keep anything from 3d warehouse I use in a separate folder on my PC and fetch them when I need them. 

Cool I always wanted to be in the in crowd especially with the wife..

I love this forum its is a great community. I wish everybody in life was like some of you guys.  drawzilla- dshall you guys are my heroes... That is coming from a 27 year retired Marine so take the compliment  or Ill kick your... lol

I am  Reading forums constantly and am always surprised when someone complains about Chief and the learning curve.  I have used and own Revit  and I was an old Auto-Cad user. I checked out Softplan  just before Chief and I have to be honest it sucked compared to the ease of Chief Architect. I am not saying that to be mean its the truth.  

You have to take the time to learn Chief and the learning curve is not hard at all. Yes I am still learning new things about Chief and that is how incredible the program is for residential design. The new updates just get better and better. There is still a few quirky things that I do not like which Chief is constantly trying to improve.  Reading through forums it surprises me that people ask basic questions proving they do not want to take the time to learn on their own. I asked a few of them in the beginning but  I realized it was not the software it was just me so I buckled down and really learned the program which I am still doing.

Chief while not a strict Cad program has more than enough Cad capabilities to do residential design

Thanks Humble Chief your Awesome.

Sorry for the all caps.. I am a bad man.

I must have made someone mad on here in the cob webs of history.  I am not on here much and do not ask for a lot of help. I actually never noticed I had a negative -1  community reputation . I never noticed there was even a rating. What is this rating system and If I made somebody out there mad oops sorry?  I am thinking it is one of the Chief Gods that is on here all the time, which I respect but I am probably to small potatoes for them

Either way anybody out there explain why I am a bad guy.?

WHEN DO YOU NEED THIS?

I use the one in the Library and just place it? There are two sizes there? Never thought of using a window and changing the materail ?

Did you get this resolved? Other than painting the wall I have never seen this happen. Put a break in the wall at the intersection of the shower wall and the room wall try that. If that does not work try re-drawing the rear wall or check to see if you drew 2 walls at the same place as the shower wall. The only other  thing  I can think of is the railing height?

Ok what are we talking about?

I am doing a story and a half  addition with a staircase in the rear corner of the addition. Chief balloon frames the walls around the auto generated  stairwell. My Exterior walls are 2"x 6" 16" O.C  which  is more than enough beef to hang the stairs on. I do not want to balloon frame these walls. I tried breaking these walls and doing a frame rebuild to no avail. I want to run plates on top and bottom and rim and band just like the normal floor platform. 

There is nothing structurally wrong with the way chief generates it but it is a lot stronger to frame it the way I want. Instead of using open below I tried using a poly-line and cutting a hole in the floor platform but that is tedious for sure and almost impossible to get everything to line up. if I spent hours I could re-frame in 3D frame view  but that does not  even show up when you do a frame section of the wall.

Any suggestions anyone.?

THANKS: GUYS.

I HAVE DONE THE  CAD MASK THING BEFORE  I WILL STICK TO THAT.