johnny

As a reference here is the video of the operation i am doing - I just can't seem to control the gable end to set a dutch style. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/710/generating-a-roof-over-an-l-shaped-house-with-gable-ends.html

I have an "L" shaped home that i want a dutch hip/gable condition on the side i am using the gable line feature but it just reverts to a normal gable....this is even though the other gables on the home have a dutch hip/gable set on them. Is there a way to control that gable line?

I thought there was a general offset setting for this???

I know each floor references its own layers - and what is "on" (rather displayed) that layer - but is there a way to have items on a layer be visible across all floors?

I dont understand why the roof over that section can't be selected - and yet nothing is locked. edit Never mind, i see you are using auto dutch gable settings. Just make each side have the same baseline height - right now they are different.

Does anyone know how to mix this realistic style and illustration?

I always hear from Chief that they have limited resources and do what they can with those resources. This is understandable, but if you aren't at least keeping up with what other BIM/CAD packages are doing then at some point you'll simply become antiquated. For each release I get of Vectorworks the gap in residential focused BIM is becoming smaller and smaller and overall there are MANY more updates each year than what Chief is giving us. I've had several people on the forums reach out to me in the last year to ask what i think about other apps like Vectorworks - since they are finally looking to change from Chief. I didn't see that happening to much 2 years ago. All that said, I am sure Chief is sitting back comparing their sales to people they lose and must be OK with that differential.

It does in the AD.

Chief is running an advertisement in Fine Home building that contains a rendering said to have been done in the app. However, I can't seem to duplicate its effects of being almost a cross between a ray-trace and artistic visual. I know some might look at this and assume its easy to do, but there are some surprisingly subtle details/visuals I can't replicate in Chief. Does anyone have an idea how this was done? https://www.chiefarchitect.com/company/pressgraphics/magazine-ads/home-design.html

Good idea - thanks.

Does anyone know why room dividers often (id say more often than not in my situations) revert to being invisible walls of the same thickness as the default interior wall style? Its like the room divider tool doesn't even actually work.

Part of me likes that more than a raytrace - nice job.

Actually the mouse pad is the only bright spot of the purchase.

I spent $100 on a Mionix and in every possible way i am disappointed with it. Not only that, I ordered it directly from the company in EU - buying a mouse pad from them as well - and initially they only shipped me the mouse pad....but in their system it showed they shipped both. It took over a month for them to figure out they were wrong and ship me the actual mouse. Once i got it, a whole new set of disappointments ensued. Point is - stay away from Mionix in my opinion. Tons of hype that isn't backed by actual product.

^^^^ QFT

Thanks - i'll have him check the drivers for the graphics.

It happened on rare occasion in past versions, but x10 really stepped up the prob - but what I find odd is I checked with all the other users in my group (9) and they all relate the same thing. It happens to be more frequently, but others reported different issues i have yet to see (such as below).

There is something seriously wrong with Chief's tool bars and now shortcuts - with several of my drafters reporting the same thing. Toolbars and shortcuts are constantly (nearly weekly for me) disabling themselves requiring full resets. Does anyone know the cause - and/or is this happening to general x10 users?

I hope you find what you're after, but I can tell you its highly doubtful an architect will work with an owner in this capacity. You may have much better success trying to find a structural engineer to help you complete a permit set. As an alternative, Richard Morrison does a consulting thing for DIY'ers like yourself - and you can read what he offers. Perhaps that may get you close, and I would encourage you to do something like this as a min.

I really wish there was....but I was told what Chief ships with is what we have.

I work with Florida builders and developers who use this type of construction and everything works fine. However, I am not doing full 3D workups of exact replication of construction methods...i do more a hybrid with 2D details to support. If that is acceptable I think Chief works great. If you want full BIM for this type of construction then Chief may not be the best choice. Though, of your list of other software choices I don't think there is an ideal solution outside perhaps Revit - but I personally dislike that app. If you need to model these buildings completely id look into Archicad, Vectorworks, and Allplan. That said, I do think Chief could work for you.

Aren't you then using the stringers to emulate the skirt board? I'm not in front of Chief right now but i believe the skirt boards act a bit differently - which is prob why you say it isn't perfect.

Eric's method is probably one of the best but what i dont like is you end up missing the skirt boards since stairs need to recognize the wall to place those.

Yep same thing with Vectorworks - very easy and painless. Considering how strong CA generally is interior design elements its kinda surprising they haven't given us some better solution here.

Plan views are awesome - its what other apps have used for some time and its wonderful Chief jumped on board.