CARMELHILL

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.

I figured I would post this real quick when talking about calculators. Maybe a little redundant. There is the Handyman Calculator, Construction Master calculator from Calculated Industries Calculator (they have an android version too so you can use it on your Tablet, phone, and now on the newer Chromebooks that use apps), a cheap Construction Master no frills clone version from Craftsman, and there is also a length calculator built into the Windows calculator (I found it by accident a few years ago and always forget it's there). See attached pics. I'm sure there is a whole bunch of others on Iphone and Android.

I have a digital angle finder but don't care for it. I wore out my last laser level. It was time for an update. And this thing is accurate to 3/16" to 550 feet. I used it this week to take spot elevations to do a small topographic map for a handicapped ramp from a condo club house. I switched to live plot plans this week. One thing I never realized is that it's easy in Cad Details to set up seperate Cad Properties so the lot boundaries read as decimal feet without affecting the foot inch read outs I have in my floor plan views. It doesn't seem possible to have that in live view unless you chnage the settings each time u need it. It's annoying, and I can't stand to have my plot boundarys as foot, inches, and fractions.

I was just flipping threw some old topics and saw this. I'me going to rethink my process. I've been doing plots as a cad detail since 1997 in Vectorworks and then Chief as a detail starting in 2012 with the Input Method. I've recently started used Alaskansons macros for automatic FAR calculations. But the local towns are starting to get a little nuts. They want fences shown and legalized, amount of paving and impervious areas shown, sidewalks, etc... I'm going to look at this again and start doing them live. One downside, I don't like the north arrow not being up. That annoys me. So now I'll have to fiddle with the draw arrow north.I think this will be the way to go and get some macros involved that will automatically calculated impervious and pervious. Yesterday I had to buy a $400 rotary laser with laser receiver so I could measure the height of the roof ridge from the crown of the street. Another tool for the arsenal.

How do you get general Ruby variables? I know you can use a leader line and insert %ObjectProperties% to get the available variables for an object, but what about general variables like floor levels? I want to create a simple text macro that will automatically place the floor joists size I am using on a particular floor level in my floor structure, into my text call out "2" x 8" floor joists @ 16" o.c." and other locations. When I get better at this Ruby stuff I want to pull that joist size directly from the floor structure definition (oh to dream - is it even possible?). I wanted to create a quick list of specs that are currently used in my project on the top left of my default layout page for quick reference, like Jared Baehmer did in his video series: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/1963/creating-a-successful-workflow-for-design-construction-document-production-by-jared-baehmer.html

As I watch my son take karate lessons I have some time to type..... Let's face it, much of the business that we receive, is because of all the regulation. We can charge more today because you can no longer get a permit for a new home with three sheets of 11"x17" drawings. You need to reprint half the code onto the drawings because a lot of trades don't own a copy of the code. (do any of them?). This year one local town has started requiring full HVAC engineering designs for additions and renovations. Crazy right? I can't get anyone for less than $1300 to even bother looking at a set of plans for that. But at least last year the prices were $2600. Things are getting more technical every day. I don't see our profession ever getting automated. I don't see programs getting smart enough to automatically draw structure, energy analysis, etc... The change will come from different avenues. Who would have thought 15 years ago that there would be so many online plan companies peddling their unstampable plans that are unuseable in so many locations without expensive revisions by a local architect? Who thought 5 years ago you'd need a HERS Rater for residential additions? Who thought 2" x 6"studs would become an option again because the code requires 15 + 3? Maybe we will see holographic 3d designs we can use in the field? (Has anyone seen the heads up GPS driving display you can cast from ur phone on the dashboard of your car?). Will we see better integration because VR, more acceptance of PDF permit submissions by the towns, better material estimating, more BIM, true energy analysis within the programs, some sort of Notes database that EVERYONE else already has? After all is said and done, architect, draftsman, magic marker illustrator,... I still need to earn a living to support a wife and two kids. I love what I do, only because I'm my own boss, but I would never let my daughter become an architect. The salary is not commensurate with the time required. People don't know whats involved. Were're required to know everything, but don't get all the money. Many times we are viewed as an obstacle to getting the permit. Doing it all over again I would have gone right to one of the big utilities....Con Ed, PSEG, Keyspan, Verizon, etc...or been a cop from day one... the police around here retire RICH with crazy pensions. The teachers too. I pushed an employee out the door two years ago after working for me for two years. I wanted him to get more commercial experience to better himself. So 4 years experience, 5 years college, he still can't afford his own place and his current architecture/engineering firm is only paying him $50g, on Long Island, NY. That's pathetic. He can't even afford an apartment. On Dec 31st he gets dropped by his parents medical and he has to pick up the office plan. They will only pay 50%. So he'll be taking home even less next year. I work three nights a week till 2am. Clients don't know, don't care, expect more, expect meetings on Saturdays/Sundays, and want revisions for free.

Yes. It's an annoyance. I think you have an invisible wall that the footing is terminating into. The footing only draws from the end point of the wall. You can't edit the footing termination with the "Edit Wall Layer Intersections" button to go any further. That tool is only good for the wall itself, not the footing. I was thinking today about drawing the footings separately from the walls so I could work around this limitation.

Europe does it the right way. They alternate sending the kids to school and then internship field work, then school, then back to field for internships, etc...I also think our country should adopt the European model of compulsory volunteer work after school. Austria and Germany require either military service or volunteer hospital/ambulance/auxilary police. There shouldn't be anymore rich kids with "bone spurs" in their feet getting them out of serving their country just like everyone else. And it they are opposed to guns, then they join the volunteer ambulance service or peace corp.s for an extra year. There is a need for more code education. For architects there needs to be broader education in college. I wasted soooo much time on 5 credit design classes so I could learn how to "define the space" with the fake wall that was "held in the air by an invisible crane". Stupid and a waste. Now I have my own business and the lack of ANY required business or accounting classes has completely screwed me. That's a big part of why architects get paid so poorly for our time. We were never trained how to run a business, successfully manage it, or how to charge for our services. Which leads me to...... Chief has lots of great tools, but it needs more productivity tools. Some simple things found in other software, are no where to be found in our program. Or they take 2 to 3 versions to arrive after we beg for them in the Suggestions forum. Or the tool is there in a different absurd form, but you have to be a genius to figure out the required work around (macros). But they keep coming out with more eye candy stuff like the 360 panoramics, VR, apps for phones, etc... It takes me a few hours at the very least to get a good looking kitchen interior rendering. I show it to a client and get a "wow". Do you think I can really recoup my time investment of 3 hours x $135 for that rendering? Most of my clients would balk at paying for the TRUE time involved to get panoramics and VR done for their projects. What about the extra meeting time to consult in the field and pull out the VR tablet/goggles? They won't antie up for that extra meeting time. Every client wants to meet after 6pm. Dam. I've got kids. I'd like to be home once in a while for dinner. Then they ask for a Saturday meeting. One client asked me to cancel my family Christmas vacation for their project (this is New York, so not surprising). Yes, almost every client is impressed by the color renderings when I go for the first consultation, but the client that values the time involved with a high price tag as opposed to the CHEAPER firm, is few and far between. I don't know, maybe I need to re-evaluate how I sell my services. Maybe I just get the cheapest sonsabitches out there. Maybe I'm just stuck in a crappy market (middle of Long Island NY where there isn't a vacant building lot for 20 miles). Aghhhhhh. Technology has changed our business immensely. For good and bad. Referrals don't come from quality service "word of mouth" anymore. Instead they arrive from Craigslist, Yelp, HomeAdvisor, or Houzz. Meetings can be moved to GoToMeeting so people don't leave their house. Designs arrive instantly when posted to our website with PDF files that can be downloaded. Project updates are constant via Facebook postings and Instagram. Questions receive responses instantly because of Text Messages. BTW - Formal training sometimes is a good thing. Today I saw an asbuilt floor plan a client received from a "Drafting Firm" that they used to submit to the local town for a Rental Registration Permit. The dimensions were to the nearest 1/32". How absurd is it to see a floor plan that says 32'-3 1/32". Oh that just kills me. The lineweights were so light, you could barely read the plans. What about the engineer that rubberstamps drawings that were NOT done under his DIRECT SUPERVISION. But even with all our regulation and laws, nobody follows up on this stuff. Yet, my drawings need to have HALF the building code reprinted in them. Soon I might buy a copy of the code and submit it with my drawings as a referenced "spec book". But this regulations is what keeps a lot of us in business. Everything needs a permit now. Sheds, pools, retaining walls, decks, driveway paver coverage of your front yard, sign permits, etc.....Fly by night companies with no real training can't do this stuff. Anyone can draw. But how many kids can do the complete structure of a house, LVL, flitch beams, steel beams, column design, footing pad design, etc...

I'm sitting in front my fire trying to figure this out on my Chromebook. I was going to jump on the desktop tonight to try and find the help menu on it. I did manage to download the 1200 page reference manual and saw the same thing. But if I recall last time I tried to use this Default checkbox, it didn't matter. The item kept getting overwritten.. By the way, thanks for the tip using primitive faces for site data on the other forum topic. That works along with wall material region. The material region option seems to be easier to manipulate for my floor plans but that primitive idea is great for some of my site drainage calcs.

I am looking for a video I watched a while back that explained how ther Master List worked and what the reason was for the Default column and it's check boxes. Anyone know where this is? Chief streamlined their videos and got rid of MANY of the older videos. Now they are all organized by 28 topics here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/ but a few years ago a simple "Materials List" search would have yielded 50 videos. Now they only have 4, these:model home demonstrations https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/playlists/104/24-materials-lists.html None of these videos explain what the Default checkbox option inside the Master List is for. I remember it gave you the option of different master list prices for the same item. It might have been a materials and budget demonstration that was part of one of their model home demonstrations, or a marketing video. So I might be screwed and out of luck.

Thank you so much for this tip. While not completely automatic, it looks like a great work around a has a lot of uses for my commercial site plan work. My programming abilities are really lacking. I started working on the macro end of it when I thought about submitting the topic to the forum. I have a stack of Ruby programming books I plan on reading this winter after all my Continuing Education credits are completed. It never ends.....

I'm trying to integrate basic remodel budgets into my projects. Is there any way to get Chief to automatically report a square foot take off so I can assign a demolition price per sf? See the attached video for specifics. Every time I do a take off, for example, a simple deck to be demoed, it reports linear lengths of railings. I've tried creating a 2d poly (doesn't report a number), 3d slab in place of the deck (reports cubic yards) but those don't work.

Off topic, but There was someone that posted a solution, but I can't find it. He essentially cut a live section, did his 2d detail off to the side, and sent the detail to the Layout. Once in the Layout, rather than centering the Layout Box on the live section he centered it on his little 2d detail. It's another stupid work around, but I believe it works.

Another less obvious reason for using keynotes in a BIM software system...... You should be able to reverse edit. Double click the keynote schedule and update the note there. That will update all instances of the keynote. Chief doesn't do this. If you have instances of the same note on your drawing, say a wall assembly keynote, and you update only one instance, chief creates a new keynote. It won't globally update. From a Revit forum... "My issue with Revit is, how do I apply these notes so that if a material or assembly changes that I can change the note once and have it update everywhere. Thats supposed to be the power of BIM right? I can change a door or wall and it changes everywhere?" I think that's an important option to have. The whole idea of keynotes is to declutter and cleanup the drawings, keeping all notes centrally locate, usually on the right side of the sheet. From an old Autuocad article........ "A keynote system is a system of tags designed to annotate a drawing through the use of symbols. Keynote tags are useful in cases where too many notes clutter and confuse the drawing." An extreme example of keynotes is on this guys website: http://www.dmsdesign.us/plans.htm

It's about production. Nobody wants to pay for our time. It's always faster and cheaper. Everyone is bidding the lowest price. It's unfortunate. I don't have client's selecting me because I provide them with drawings that are more complete, concise, easier to read, and with great ray traced renderings of the interior. They hire me because the three other architects were more expensive. So many people are just looking for permit drawings. But keynoted drawings would however affect which contractor's give you referrals, which makes me see your point. But keynotes is the standard in most commercial work. That's the next progressive step for many firms. You start off small, doing lots of residential. Then your name gets around and you start expanding your office into commercial and retail......unless your lucky enough to move upwards into bigger homes and multimillion dollar homes. But me, there's almost no open land. And people aren't buying homes to just knock down. Maybe in the Hamptons further east, but not around here. So that leaves me with the question of how to automate my projects more, and get them out the door faster.

Just curious. I want to confirm my thoughts. Is there any way to do a key note schedule, similar to our work arounds with plant schedules and electrical schedules, but in the 2D environment? I want to implement this in my CAD details but it doesn't look like it's possible. To me, the only work around is to make every detail on a floor plan file, but that would make the layout file take forever to load up as it pulls in all the floor plan detail files. That's not really an option. Tech support told me the programmers won't bother adding a dedicated key note feature unless other users make some noise and start demanding it, especially if there's a work around, albeit, a crappy work around. But I don't think enough residential guys use them.

When you submit to the town, do they require just one copy, or one copy attached to each set of drawings? And you you have to sign/seal each page of the workbook, or just the cover? I want to start putting together a more detailed code worksheet along with a more detailed specifications package for my projects. I'm starting to see too much variation in the materials used and the quality/craftsmanship of the final products. I want more quality control and I want to protect my clients during bidding so each contractor is bidding on the same materials and same level of expected craftsmanship so all the prices are more comparable. It's overkill for a lot of smaller projects but a standardized book would be useful.

I agree about the back and forth. You always try to be the contractors best friend and give him everything he needs on the same page. It means more contractor referrals. But things have gotten crazy with the new codes and town filing requirements. I remember when i could pull a permit with maybe 4 sheets of drawings. Now I'm up to 11. I feel like I re-type half the code on my drawings rather than giving real useful information. Therefore I have to start increasing my own productivity and stop worrying about everyone else.

There's a downside though. I'll don't think I'll be able to do a simple cabinet schedule for a commercial set of drawings if I use this idea because of the conflicting notes & actual cabinets used. But that's something to tackle on another day. It blows my mind that Chief's engineers can't come up with something better than this. Sad.

I just finished converting my entire drawing package to keynotes. It's still not as intuitive as it SHOULD be. See attached. GILLESPIE_SAMPLE.zip