johnny

Hey Charles....tough window condition to model in CA exactly as you show (though very rare from my experience). Personally, I would probably just use a glass louvered window (notice you can set the size of the glass panels) and add the frame detail in poly-solid (you asked in your video for comments on alternatives). Your way works too, i just consider this more a louvered window with individual reinforced frame than mulled sectionals. Its fairly easy to add 2D detail to the glass louvered window to match your condition if 2D is enough. I think you are correct though there is no easy way to model this exact condition in CA using the window tool.

If you have the type of of troubles you're having it typically means its bad architecture. Glenn touches on this as well....its a good thing to match you floor plan design with what is happening elsewhere in the structure.

Considering how many people helped me with videos on this forum I felt compelled to make one for you....enjoy. Its pretty easy.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVeuxItO-a4&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

Yep, works good for B&B, ship-lap siding, as well as, modern cladding panels combined with the "coins" tool. Its actually pretty cool, but I do wish our material regions had corner settings to apply.

Can I ask what you are using for water texture?

Actually, if you set the finish layer of your wall to the proper depth of 2x the material, set correct color etc, and then come back with wall material regions that have the setting to "cut" the finish wall layer, you can very quickly duplicate those across each side of your structure. This gives you both vector and render views, and you don't have to model around the windows and doors since material regions auto-cut there. Here is a quick example (i didn't get the settings right but just demonstrated it could work with ease). The "recessed" area is actually the material region cutting the last wall surface.

Is this what you want to do?

Yeah, i have the same complaint. Even when you make any elevation into a CAD detail the amount of lines is ridiculous.

Just click on the "room" space of the 2nd floor stair area and select "open to below". However, you need to better align the stairs with your opening at some point too.

Sometimes forcing something like this to work is the wrong way to deal with a problem. Consider what you can do in your design to make this less problematic.

For what its worth i've done a fair bit of work in FL and I am in WA state. All those clients sought me out via internet and one client even showed up at my door (personal home). I'm not lic in Fl but work with a local PE who does all the structural. I think Richard has a point where you can ease into the market.

This industry is all about how good you are. If you are asking "if I bought Chief Architect and offered my services (having never done this before) can I make a living?"...id say keep your day job or go get educated in the industry. If you are really good, then your work product will promote itself and you will have clients search you out. If you are mediocre then your success will be based upon how well you market yourself. If your design ability needs improvement then you should look at trying to be a "mechanical" draftsman for an architect/designer. Typically a draftsman makes an average of $15-30 based on experience. There are "career draftsman" who are looking primarily to fit that role under the directly of an architect/designer, and id say they max out (average) around $30-35 hr. - and you'd have to be fairly good and fast to get that.

For MOST basic tasks Chief is unbeatable in its speed and simplicity. Actually a lot of the comments above are relative to the complexity of your projects. A basic straightforward home in Chief isn't going to cause you any issues and Chief is certainly the fastest app on the market for that type of work. Id recommend any new user to focus their attention to learning how Chief handles rooms and the default settings that control those rooms.

Thanks for the tip

Chief requires a user to do things a very certain way - specifically, Chief's way. There are so many things that if you dont do it a certain way, you will be stuck for hours. That said, it can also be very rewarding and fast if you do learn its secret handshakes. Chief is a mixed bag but I have to give it a 10 in difficulty due to the aforementioned. Its been the hardest app i've ever had to learn and i do some pretty complex things with other apps. Flip side I am still using it...so for me its been worthwhile to learn.

Sorry, I probably didn't explain correctly. Attached is a pic of how Chief handles a 8' garage door of a certain style, but then a 16' door. All Chief does is stretch the one 8' door to make a 16' door. Id like Chief to place two (2) 8' "panels" of that design (or any design) garage door to makeup the 16' door. I was hoping there was a way to do this in the Dbx since this comes up often, but I cant see it.

Is there a way to scale garage doors so if you have a 16' section it visually shows two 8' garage door sections?

If you import a standard DWG its typically in 2D - so to the extent you are looking for 2D then yes...otherwise if 3D then not really. There are 3D attributes in DWG as well, but even then I think the best you'd get is a symbol in CA.

Sorry, you aren't missing anything. Your best bet is to follow Michael's advice, since Chief doesn't have a good way to control pattern lines. For the folks at Chief if they are seeing this thread, this is what I think the OP is looking for.

And when i publish the shadows on certain elevations aren't present even though the settings are the same.

Here is another issue...shadows simply not working sometimes.... odd.

Since the very last update CA has been crashing regularly when updating elevations with shadows (for me). Anyone else notice this at all?

Joe, are you saying that those macros fix the following problem with RT?

I'm surprised so many use RT more often. For me I found tables very difficult to control...and I use a lot of footnotes on my plans. With standard text I simply "tab" to create new column and it stays put even if I need to resize text etc. RT in CA has been much more challenging IMO.

I use primarly standard text.