johnny

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.

I personally think the line has a "z" coordinate if drawn in elevation or section. In other apps I use a line is a line in 3D space no matter what view. Overall this alone isnt a huge deal though as others mentioned.

I agree - it should be Z, but regardless Chief should have it consistent. This is my point Larry -

...it should be odd that Chief isn't consistent with itself, and that should be an obvious problem. To move that same line with the move tool one uses the "Z" coordinate, and yet its the "Y" coordinate in the line specification Dbx - all in the same view. AND we are talking about all known apps i've used that keep X/Y/Z movement standard. Live sections are not 2d. If it was as simple as this one feature (or even a handful of features) then it wouldn't be a big deal. Unfortunately this app is plagued by oddities in which the sum of those oddities do become a big deal. I see similar posts all the time by you about these issues.

Yeah I am realizing that with Chief...which is kinda odd since other apps you move items in 3D space no matter your view orientation (like Sketchup you have global X/Y/Z in all views represented by colors). In Chief if you set a 2D view of your 3d model its as if the X/Y for 2d only. However, there is an inconsistency with Chief in this regard. If you have the same line you are using the "Y" to get your "Z" value, but then you go to do a "move" operation, you must insert a "Z" value and NOT a "Y" value to move along that axis. So in one window the line is set by the "Y" value and the other you move it via the "Z" value.