CARMELHILL

The problem with Andy's version, is he used a continuous uninteruppted grid for the whole floor plan. Not every project is like that. Many projects require the walls go to the deck, or 6 " above the ceiling, so each room needs it's own grid centered in the room to maximize the grid/tile layout. That's trimming and extending for every room. Oh my god........

Andy, How about this? No trimming or extending needed!!!!!! And it was posted to the Wish List section a while back.....

I'm looking into an additional platform for my commercial projects, but I'm too old to learn something new. I used Vectorworks in 2012 but I don't recognize anything in the program anymore so I'd have to relearn everything, just for the odd couple of commercial jobs I get every year. Probably not worth it, so I'll continue to struggle using Chief for it. As for Chief, I've heard guys say they create a room polyline, then overlay a grid from their user library that is saved as a symbol for quick insertion. They maneuver it around to get the best layout of grid/tiles within the room poly, then explode it and trim the lines. TEDIOUS. Plus lights never seem to insert correctly into the grid. VW has a GREAT ceiling grid tool. Stupidly simple. I've begged Chief to implement something similar. I'm crossing my fingers for February's release of X11 to see what they come up with. But it's my understnading that it generally takes two years for a new idea to make it into the program.

It depends if your talking for residential, with lighting layouts, soffits, differing ceiling heights, and circuiting....... or for commercial with ceiling grids and easy placement of 2 x 4 light fixtures and scale-able symbols. If you meant commercial, forget it. Chief doesn't bother to provide or support any decent commercial tools. A lot of us are hoping this changes in X11. Better basic CAD drafting is hoped for too.

This isn't really Chief software related, so this thread might belong in the Chat section, but... The new Ray Tracing Video cards from Nvidia, the Geforce RTX 2080 Ti, is failing for lots of users. And the replacements sent from Nvidia are failing too. It's affecting some of the 3rd party cards too. https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/nvidia-rtx-2080-ti-graphics-cards-dying/ https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3065361/nvidias-geforce-rtx-2080-ti-cards-are-reportedly-failing-in-high-numbers

I think they'll definitively be spending more development time on this for a few reasons. If Lumion continues to develop fast renders and animations, then programs like Chief, Softplan, and some other lower end CAD programs will lose market share to users that decide to employ Sketchup and third party rendering programs. So Chief NEEDS to have an all in one competitive solution. Chief always spends an inordinate amount of their development time on eye candy rendering stuff, rather than 2d con docs tools that we REALLYy need. Look how long it took to get a cad stretch tool.....version 10. Still no keynotes. But we have virtual goggle, virtual panoramic, tablet apps and all that other eye candy stuff. Faster Real Time rendering PBR dedicated video cards are coming out this year.

Thanks Glenn. I must have read it on the Archicad User Forum when I was shopping around.

That's not what I'm talking about. I know the right preview pane can be enlarged, but I'm talking about the text ENTRY area to the left. Check my video. Your sort of right. I will be using this text more often. But the text entry dialogue box has always been too small.

Does anyone know how to change the size of the text your writing in the text entry field of the Standard Text Specification dialogue box? I mean the visible text your in the process of typing, not what goes onto the drawing. I know this was discussed once before when someone was changing to a newer monitor size, but I've searched the forum and can't find it. It's not in the Preferences. It always seems so small, especially when you're display resolution is up pretty high. See attached.

So here is the better video. I still can't figure out how to get Rich Text to do it correctly, but it works with standard text. It would be great if the leader arrows automatically resized correctly, but it's not a big extra step to fix those as the video shows. If anyone has any comments or suggestions to automate this further, please post up.

I figured it out. Actually it is possible, but not with Rich Text. I've been using a similar idea to automatically resize my room name labels when switching between 1/8" key plans and 1/4" construction plans and 3/16" electrical plans, and Thermal Boundary Plans, etc...... You're details have to use Text, not Rich Text, set up individual annotation sets for each scale, a Layer Set for each scale, and a Text Style for each scale. In the Layer Set for each scale the text needs to be set for the Text Style of each detail scale. Once you resize your detail scale, change the Layer Set to the corresponding Layer Set, and then select all the leaders and change them to the "default" size of the newly selected Annotation Set. The only negative is that the width spacing of the text gets all messed up and you'll have to resize them manually. But if you have a detail completed and you need to change the scale for some odd reason, now you can, and all your text will update, then you select all the leader lines and update their size in one shot. Adjust text column widths, and your done. I posted a crude video with no sound (I'm home and kids are asleep). I'll post a more detailed video from the office tomorrow.

I tried to set this up once and it failed, but maybe I was doing something wrong. Is there a way to set up text callouts and their arrow leader lines to automatically resize existing text according to the drawing scale your using? I mean existing text, not new text and callouts which are easily done with annotation sets. This would be useful if you've already drawn a plan at 1/4" scale but you realize it was overkill and 3/16" or even a 1/8" key plan would sufficiently convey the same information? Or if you had drawn a detail at 1" scale but you decide you need zoom in a bit, and go to 1-1/2" scale. Same for elevations, from 1/4" to 1/i8", or vise versa? I'm pretty sure it can't be done with Rich Text.

Squeezing the ceiling joists into the space at the birds mouth can be tricky too. If you cut away too much off the top of the TJI because your roof rafters are smaller than the ceiling joists, you need to reinforce it with squash blocks nailed to the web. Make sure you check your section/detail at that connection.

Sure. But only if the town will accept that on the drawings. I had feedback from a few contractors that hated that term. Left too much open ended for their bids. Most towns accept that term on the drawings, but I had one plans examiner a few months ago that was having a bad day, maybe a Monday, and wouldn't accept it.

When I document existing conditions for a home reno or addition I'll make certain assumptions about the hidden framing. But I've been to a few older homes where the front to back floor framing was matched on the second floor and oddly there isn't anything holding the triangle of the roof structure together (no rafter ties either). I've also been inside some new homes where the framing is a little baffling because of the larger double height entries, so the framing directions are "imaginative". One local municipality hasn't been satisfied with "existing 2" x floor joists @ 16" o.c. (assumed)". I've added VIF a few times, but who really wants a surprised contractor calling for a field change that he needs immediately? So what to do? Some crawlspaces are completely inaccessible, or filled with cob webs and racoons. Same for the attics. Besides using a stud finder, which I've never been fully satisfied with, does anyone have any experience/satisfaction with: Walabot https://walabot.com/diy?gclid=CjwKCAjwtvnbBRA5EiwAcRvnpsfxTKknHjAqI7t3nrX_fKlM4fthT7LXTVrgsf6hlKwwDWZXvzMlvBoC2CEQAvD_BwE Digital stud finder: https://walabot.com/diy?gclid=CjwKCAjwtvnbBRA5EiwAcRvnpsfxTKknHjAqI7t3nrX_fKlM4fthT7LXTVrgsf6hlKwwDWZXvzMlvBoC2CEQAvD_BwE Dewalt radar stud finder https://www.dewalt.com/products/power-tools/lasers-and-instruments/hand-held-wall-scanner/dct419s1 Or anything similar?

I like the idea Agreed. Good to hear the flip side. I heard a story a few yeas ago when an architect was called a municipal plans examiner about some plan comments he had. But the architect never stamped those plans. Someone "placed" his stamp on a project without his knowledge. This was before PDF and photoshop, so I'm guessing it was someone in his own office doing side business. The PDF submission will happen here on Long Island soon. I think New Jersey already does it. Only one local Long Island town takes digital submissions regularly, and does it right. It'll put the expeditors out of business.

I have the opposite feeling. I like to keep the printing control in house. I try not to give out pdf copies of the blueprints because the client didn't pay for that "ownership of the drawings". They paid for usage of the design. I charge $4 per sheet for black and white 24 x 36 prints. It more than pays for my plotter lease, paper, and toner. So it generates a little extra cash. It seems to me that most clients would be annoyed if I told them, "go pick up your prints at ABC reprographics down the block". Just my 2 cents. BTW, has anyone looked into 11 x 17 color LASER printers. Higher cost, but..... https://www.printershowcase.com/11x17-color-lasers.aspx?gclid=CjwKCAjw8O7bBRB0EiwAfbrTh7A-MwDTLbzFhM5JSIIDhZ988Cm6NEatdkKrE0-gMlmPiPgzhlhXVhoCOwcQAvD_BwE https://www.ricoh-usa.com/en/products/pd/equipment/printers-and-copiers/printers/sp-c840dn-color-laser-printer/_/R-408105

Yup. That's what I suspected as I was typing the post. Back to the drawing board.

Like probably almost everyone else I've kept my details in the user library with the original saved as an individual plan file. If anything ever changes or a code revisions requires a change to the detail, I open the original plan file, update the detail, make a cad block, and send it to the User Library to replace the old one, and delete the older detail. That's tedious at best. A few weeks ago Joe Carrick mentioned he keeps all his details on a single plan file and then references the details into the Layout file. That way any changes made to the master detail file are always shown in the layout file. Great idea I thought but I think I took him too literal. I spent 2 days importing and arranging my details in the plan file, on a few separate CAD Detail Management sheets, one for each scale. Then I sent each detail to layout and positioned the individual details on the sheet. I noticed a HUGE drop off in pan and redraw ability. I think I noticed this once before a few years ago, that when you have multiple, say 25 instances of the same view (details) on the layout sheet, then the program has trouble dealing with it. I do like to have each detail on my layout template so when I'm doing a project I can simply delete the individual details I don't need. But this speed degradation is not a problem when you have the individual details as part of the layout sheet within the CAD Detail Management. It seems it's only a problem when the details are all drawn on the same plan file, spaced a few inches away from each other. While I'm typing this I just thought, I guess you can still have them all in the same plan file, but not technically drawn on the same sheet like my attached screen shot, but instead have them all within their own Cad Detail Management Block. BTW, Hey Chief, it would be REALLY great if you could give us a preview box of the CAD Detail Management, just like we already have in the CAD Block Management window. See attached. Plus one if you endorse the idea here:

Nice job. I never waste time with the Ray Tracer. I must admit the PBR was a smart addition to the program. It has given me access to quicker interior renders that are good enough for my class of clients. I personally think it stinks for any exterior views. For me they always come out really flat looking, so I'll stick with the cartoony looking standard renders for exteriors. I would seriously consider adding Lumion as another tool in my bag, if I needed that level. Again, that kitchen interior shot was nice.

Dave is describing whats called, hiring a local architect or engineer to sign/seal the drawings so they become the "Architect/Engineer of Record". Almost ever big box/chain store does this. They have their own architects work on the prototype building and then they farm it out to a local guy that is more knowledgeable with local codes and building departments. It also relieves you of a lot of the liability. My friend does most of the Starbucks in my area. Another friend was doing some Dunkin Donuts for a short time. Last year I was approached by a North Carolina donuts company to do local donut shops.

As an architect you have to be licensed in the state if they require signed/sealed drawings. I only work in NY but I'm prepared for the future with licensing in NJ, CT, and Florida. I work in NY as a DBA but once you start accepting fees in other states you have to file as a DBA there too. Florida has no state income tax, but there are some business entity taxes. Small businesses with less than $25,000 in assets are exempt. But then the local city, like Sarassota south of Tampa I've checked, want you to pay a small business fee. I assume it's to make sure there are no unscrupulous companies out there. A little bit of regulation is a good thing. People that buy plan book plans are required to have them updated for the local jurisdiction, usually by a licensed architect from that state. This excludes municipalities that don't need signed/sealed drawings but these are disappearing. None of these plan book plans are ready for California codes, south Florida high wind codes, the multitudes of different energy code requirements, or frost depths for foundations. Then you have the Federal Income Tax side.....your not required to file income taxes on less than $10,000 of income. How this would be affected by multi-state income is up to interpretation. I don't think the exemption applies to Corporations or LLP's. Just sole proprietor and DBA but I could be wrong. I have a retired IRS agent do my books so he knows a lot of in and outs, but he's super conservative to ensure there are no surprise audits. My business friends try to get away with ALOT more.

I wonder if it's possible for Chief to give us a visual scripter, for those of us that are not programmers? I think the visual scripter in Vectorworks, Marionette, is like that? I posted a request in Suggestions...

It might be a good idea to reread this thread I found. It talks about the prime setup needed to prevent bog down on the computer because of the way Chief does Autosaves and Undo history. I might build a new AMD Threadripper machine this winter.

I've come across, but rarely, a CAD drawing in pdf format that has the ability to turn of individual layers. Does anyone know if Chief can do this? Or is it a specific PDF print driver? I tried it a few times with an ADOBE printer driver but no go. I thought it might be useful in the field on a 2 in 1 folding Chromebook. My Samsung Chromebook Plus is a life saver and I find new uses for it all the time.