CARMELHILL

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.

Unfortunately, I've been without undo for three years because of the same realization. Good read. I'll try what you said because undo is needed for new employees that are learning the program.

How is Lumion able to render so fast? Is the entire Lumion program based on PBR? I remember with the X9 release Chief said they were going to slowly rework all their textures to include bump and normal maps. They released the "Chevron" fabrics, and then nothing. At least I never heard anything being updated after that. Does anyone know if they continued those updates?

I'm very interested in this Lumion 8 Pro. I'm on vacation going through this thread, but when I get back to work I have to seriously sit don and see if the $3g purchase is worth it for the type of work I do. These are the instances where I think it'll help my office: 1. My client types are fine with standard Chief exteriors and Chief PBR interiors. 2. The exteriors with any water, pools, and lakes look amazing. I see a great chance to implement this. I've seen some a pool design program that had amazing moving water rendering, fountains, etc. But again, how often do I need this. 3. The biggest possibility, if I have a fairy nice job that doesn't get built for any reason, I can only market it on my website as a proposal. No final built pictures. It's a real shame and detracts from the project possibilities. This program is so good that the average client looking at my website wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a rendering or a built final. But is that enough of a reason for a $3g price? Marketing alone? Is that money better off spent on an 11" x 17" color laser printer? I have to look at this on a "return on investment" perspective. I don't see clients paying anymore than I can charge now. It's a struggle to charge $4 a sf even though towns want more and more info on drawings. I'm trying to implement an additional fee just to make up that wasted time but everyone expects this for free. But if this program makes realistic exterior renders with lavish landscaping very fast, than I love it. If it truly makes interior renderings better than raytraces, that render in just a few seconds, thats another reason to buy. On a side note, I have the deepest respect for Michael, but I was blown away by the trash talking. I will never understand macros. Its just not my capability. This additional program is a tool, just like any other. If it extends the capabilities of Chief beyond the standard Chief program, whats the problem? I would buy a plugin that makes macros simple and easy for a user like me if it existed. Would that be wrong? I dont think so. Jintu makes a living doing renderings, and charging for it. It's impressive that he would GIVE so much free information. He could just be quiet and tell everyone he can do it for you for a price, rather than trying to be helpful and insightful. Kudos.

I had accumulated too much stuff in my X9 template. I had lots of trees and bushes, both 3d and 2d, that surrounded my project pad, to look good in renderings. But I think that was 50k worth of memory right there. When I made the fresh x10 template I saved those off in my User Library. Since the X10beta 2 release I must have already tweaked and resaved my template 30 times. All my standard details are in my Layout Template. It's too time consuming to reimport them when needed, so they stay there. I delete the ones I don't need. That might not work in the future because I am HOPING Chief will eventually figure out an easy way for easy LIVE callout labels for details and elevations just like they have for sections, that doesn't require playing with macros and invisible leader lines. I might have to switch them to be part of the plan file.

Thanks Joe. I was hoping there was a use for the LINK and possibly some LIVE TEXT feature that didn't require Macros. I'm still having trouble finding the time to learn Ruby, blach.

Me too. After watching Jared Baehmers video about setting up his templates (below link), I decided to erase my entire template set for X10 and start from scratch. It cleaned up the initial template file by 100k. I also took Jared's advice because he mentions that enclosing a room on your template, that room, even when erased, retains memory in Chief. So even if you erase the room and redraw a new room, it would automatically get labeled like the old room that was in it's place. I never realized that until I tested it. So my new template only has a few walls on the plan that I use regularly, but no defined rooms. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/1963/creating-a-successful-workflow-for-design-construction-document-production-by-jared-baehmer.html

I was just reviewing an old post and someone at Chief mentioned the possibility of importing LIVE TEXT since version X7. I've never seen this and can't find any other information on the forums or Chief Help & Resources board. Is this possible? Also, while I was looking for an answer I was looking at the LINK PANEL (attached). Has anyone used this for some interesting work arounds. You could use it to automatically link to, and open a stored database of MS Word keynotes or specs, so you can quickly copy and paste into the text portion of the Text Dialogue Box. I'm sure Michael or Joe have done something really cool with this.

I finished that file on 10-24, so it was X9. I probably resaved the keynotes drawing file and zipped it when I was playing with beta. But I didn't use any of those CAD Detail elevations in the drawings unless I used them to create some custom polyline solids like the arched barrel vault over the front door. All the elevations were live 3d, so I should have deleted them. But, I have noticed in the past that word wrap problem whenever Chief upgrades to new versions. It always plays games with the word wrap. It's been less of a problem in the last few releases. I don't remember when, but a few years ago every single text line in my templates and notes database had to be redone because of that word wrap problem.

I spent two weeks adding all my standard notes and creating a database of plants with the notes inserted into the labels. That's about as automatic as it gets. I started running into conflicts on individual elevations, sections, and floor plans, so I started getting nuts. I was using electrical fixtures, base cabinets, wall cabinets, full cabinets, etc... What really stinks, once you use those cabinet schedules for your keynote system......you can never use it for an actual cabinet schedule. Not something I ever do, but still a limitation. You can insert them into a fake room and make the schedule only pull from that room, but then your placing the symbol in one spot, and moving the label completely somewhere else. That gets pretty stupid. I was going to take it a step further and start using simple macro strings inside the labels until I saw what they were doing with the X10beta. There is some very interesting things they are doing with the schedules which they show in the presentation videos......accessing symbols and the data fields from within the schedules themselves. That's key for quick editing of keynotes. I see them using part of this new found usability to make a keynote manager in the future. Not in X10 but Dermot mentioned they are working on it. Edit: I decided to attach the file. See the insanity? keynotes_drawings.zip

It's still a lot clunkier to use than it should be. The keynotes, when placed in plan view, then adjusted in elevation and section, can easily get lost behind walls. And depending which object you use to get some labels, the arrow leader lines won't stay attached to and move with the label. Others have mentioned that keynotes on residential drawings aren't friendly to contractors. They want their information in front of them, on the sheet they are reviewing. I used them extensively on two residential projects. I agree....it started to get confusing. One project received 28 rejection comments from the plans examiner. 90% of the comments were crap, but I think he didn't appreciate the use of keynotes for everything, I even used them for joist spans. See attached. I'll still use them on commercial because I feel it's a requirement on larger commercial projects. I hope they come out with a better system. I see a pathway towards a better keynote system, from what they are developing for other tools & schedules for upcoming releases. But a specific keynote tool is still a distant dream. keynotes.pdf

I made this video of how I started doing it a few years ago. It may seam incredibly redundant to some people but sometimes you don't realize a simple work around there could be until you see it from someone else. I can't be bothered trying to learn MSWord macros and linking and programming, blah, blah, blah. But this was the simplest way to do it, and I stumbled upon it from an imported Autocad file a few years ago. It's basically a trimmed Viewport, or in our case, a Cad Detail that gets sent to layout, and trimmed on the layout sheet.

I saw someone do this little trick a few years ago. I create the text column as a detail in the layout sheet, send to layout, now reposition the column of text on your sheet, cutoff the bottom where it goes off the sheet, copy that column to the top of the sheet in the next column, and expand that new detail column downward towards the bottom of the sheet. I would do a video but I'm away from the office. It only requires minor repositioning of the top and bottom layout boxes to get it right.