johnny

I assume you mean 2d birdseye view....and yes, Vectorworks is awesome at landscape design. You could probably pickup an older version of Vectorworks and get everything you need at a fraction the price of a new copy.

You'll have a love-hate-love relationship which will leave you loving Chief just enough to hang around but feeling frustrated by the lack of intuitively obvious features.

Lewdis - you probably can get a lot closer to what you want using a "back-clipped" cross section.....but honestly, this is an area Chief doesn't do well on IMO.

I used Vectorworks daily for real production work. Unless you plan on modeling your homes in that app, its hard for me to recommend it just for presentation work. I'm using Chief more and more and working to get a certain style I can start to live with since Chief can be more rapid through to plan production. That said, I think in 5 years time - unless Chief does massive overhaul and makes an effort to keep up, Chief will be type-cast for DIY and fan-boys from older times. Vectorworks and other apps are moving 10x the speed in development. A lot of the development has been geared more for commercial, but I see them adjusting back to residential soon.

Exactly.

I agree...

So when you use a roof material for a wall is there a key change needed to make the vector lines in the pattern show? I used metal roofing for a wall texture and the lines aren't showing in 2D vector....

Thank you Michael. ...yep, that works now.

Thanks to you both. I'll play around with both options. ADDED: So I got the single-wall option to work structurally, but crazy thing is I still can't get the windows to work correctly. The 2nd floor option does seem to address both issues, but then I have a small area of wall in areas where I wasn't going to even apply the effect. I suppose that is better than the alternative problems. Thanks again.

Its odd, I have the walls layers set to the correct location but cheif is doing some sort of "auto" fix and readjusting so the walls constantly align. This means the "ledge" I am after is on the interior not the exterior. new_vision2.plan

What air-gap do you use?

Thanks for the help guys - honestly even the discussion is super helpful.

k- will try - thanks.

When you have a double (furred wall) and you set the window to "doubled" is it actually supposed to produce an extra window on the furred wall? That is whats happening for me - i have 2 windows. I've tired all the options and its not working the way I need/or thought. I wanted to simply have the window be framed through both walls with a deep frame.

Actually the double furred wall seems to be working well - in fact, the rail works great with the fact I can cap it (which was the look i wanted). Thanks. The only really odd thing is so far it is doubling up my windows - i am going to have to play around with this but very odd.

So that would be for individual walls right?...setting the outside wall to "furred". i was hoping there was a way to do with 1 wall, but you may be right I need 2. Since the 2nd wall doesn't go up to the ceiling height does that mean I would use a "railing" for the outside "furred" wall? Just to confirm, I can't do this with 1 wall group?

I'm trying to build a wall which has a typical 2x6 framing, but then an additional 2x4 wall framed on the outside for extra wall thickness only 7'6" from the FL. Id like to get this wall framed in a single wall if possible - however, the difficulty is the windows. Chief makes it easy to get the window frames to work if i include the 2x4 wall in "main layer" but that doesn't work (i dont think) for the effect I am trying to achieve (see below). Id love to get the windows to frame though to the outside 2x4 layer. I've included a basic file (instead of the larger project file) to demo what I am after. Any help is appreciated. issue_wall.plan

This keeps arising more and more....which didn't happen at all in the last version, so its related to the update we just had.

Jared - you should watch some of the videos on setting up annosets and their relationship to dimensions etc. Warning: It is very complex, and not intuitive.

Nope, did the same thing using the PDF printer from Adobe. I think I need to contact Chief help on this.

I am using the Chief PDF maker. I'll try the adobe version.

That is so true and so annoying. I've gotten some pretty ridiculous requests on garage sizes... people dont need so much stuff. Its like they move from house to house bringing boxes they never open with them to each new location, only to eventually die and give their boxes to a family member who just sells all the crap anyways.

Actually guys I am noticing that the problem doesn't show in the Chief file or Layout. Its only visible when I print a PDF. Notice an issue too with the white CAD lines i placed in the front door - its shifted. So on both files there is no visible issue until I print a PDF - shown below. Super odd, and something that just started happening after the last update.

So here is a every odd thing - I just printed another file, and had the same problem on windows where there are no porches in front at all. I've triple-checked the glass is the same as the other windows. Very odd.

Thanks for the suggestion Glenn. I double-checked, and yes, "auto adjust default glass" properties is checked. Also, i'm using the default room type "porch"...which I didn't define interior or exterior. Is there a way to define it better? That said, I did use a "railing" and not "deck railing"...since I was wanting a concrete porch. Perhaps that is my problem?