Northriver

Sweet. We actually have a set of DBL size bunk beds in or Bunk house on the Island. Nice for company with kids.

I do not think it would be worth while to do. Have you ever been to Redfin and taken a tour of a house online. I cannot remember off hand what the name of the technology they use but it is a specialized camera that takes panoramic pictures and stitches them into 360 deg. Almost all real eatate office are using it now days. Most people cannot envision a home from a 2D drawing.

By looking at the image Its not a dip but a ridge that is necessary for the change in the height of the roof to transition into an adjoining roof plan.

Thanks guys. I knew I could count on your help. It would be nice to have a topic on this forum where everyone could list "Best Practices" for Chief.

This morning I imported a DWG filke into a cad detail. The DWG file had 6 details in it scattered around on the page I imported. I zoomed into the one I needed and sent to layout and cropped the portal box down to just outside the detail. I went back to the cad detail and started arranging those details into 2 rows and 2 colums (I now know I should have done that first) I zoomed in on another detail and sent it to the same page and when I cropped down the portal box I noticed the other detail missing on my sheet. I pulled back the cop lines and could see the updated version of the way I had organized the details. After screwing around for about an hour I started moving the details around in the plan file and could see the details moving within the cropped portal boxes. I finally figured out if you make a cad detail do not move the detail from its original XY position. I am now wondering if the same thing would happen if I selected the whole house and moved it from its original XY position. It makes sense since everything that is placed from the plan file to the layout file is a live view from the plan file. I just thought I would share my discovery for anyone just starting out using Chief as I am sure everyone else already knows this. Again another issue not listed in the manual.

This morning I imported a DWG filke into a cad detail. The DWG file had 6 details in it scattered around on the page I imported. I zoomed into the one I needed and sent to layout and cropped the portal box down to just outside the detail. I went back to the cad detail and started arranging those details into 2 rows and 2 colums (I now know I should have done that first) I zoomed in on another detail and sent it to the same page and when I cropped down the portal box I noticed the other detail missing on my sheet. I pulled back the cop lines and could see the updated version of the way I had organized the details. After screwing around for about an hour I started moving the details around in the plan file and could see the details moving within the cropped portal boxes. I finally figured out if you make a cad detail do not move the detail from its original XY position. I am now wondering if the same thing would happen if I selected the whole house and moved it from its original XY position. It makes sense since everything that is placed from the plan file to the layout file is a live view from the plan file. I just thought I would share my discovery for anyone just starting out using Chief as I am sure everyone else already knows this. Again another issue not listed in the manual.

Shane, thanks for the reply. Where do you store all your details? In a separate plan file? I am trying to figure out way to store them for easy access. I have 12 24x36 sheets of detail and structural DWG files that I would like to organize some how for easy access. Each Engineer I work with always want "their" details included in the plan.

I knew I could count on you. I was looking in the window DBX but now know where to find it. I now feel pretty dumb. I am going to spend an entire day doing nothing but testing out every tool and clicking everything that can be clicked on and figure this program out. Every time I think I am getting a grasp on the program I end up with doo doo on my face. Thanks.

I have never changed the font size of door and window labels? How is it done?

Alan their too busy creating more cabinet features!

You will never get 24" inch high wall out of a 2' foundation panel. I always set my wall height at 22 1/2" and with the mudsill its 24". JMHO.

I read a couple of weeks ago about guys using floor plans and floor levels to hold their details. Would anyone who does this willing to share how this is done? Thanks

When I designed our house I sent my plan to 4 different people for review. Jay on the cape is dead nuts on. I did some really stupid things and received some really good feed back. Sometimes you just have to ask for some feed back no matter how much it may hurt you pride.

It would be great if someone who knows the ins and outs of railing tool to do a seminar or workshop. Hand rails are my greatest weakness in this program. I to cannot get handrails to play nice with columns. I usually end up drawing 2D on top of the elevations and drawing 2D details as chiefs rail tool is not very user friendly and the manual is useless in this area. It must be confusing to the guys at chief because there are no detailed videos on the subject. So count me in too. Thanks

Count me in. I am into learning something new anytime. I still consider myself a rookie. Will head phones be sufficient or do I need a microphone too?

I just did a test. I drew a standard exterior wall out of the box, created an elevation and it shows grey horizontal siding. I selected the spray can and selected a brick from the library and painted it on the wall. Then selected the wall and opened the DBX and the 3D picture of the wall shows brick but the material did not change in the DBX for the wall. I selected a new material vertical grey B&B the 3D diagram still shows brick and when selecting done and go back to the elevation the wall still has brick. The only way I could change it back was to re-set the default or spray something else over the top. I do not think the spray on material shows up in the material list either if that may be of concern to people who use it. The painted on brick only has the thickness of the default wall material also. Cross sections done with painted material over the default material on exterior walls may or may not be correct.

I remember reading somewhere if you have assigned a material thru the DBX as the default and then decide later you want a different material (Like going from siding to brick) and it is painted on and then later change again thru the DBX the material will not change and still be the painted (brick) material on the wall. The only way to reset the material is to reset the default.

One of the great masters (I do not remember who Scott/Perry maybe) of CA advises to never paint a material to an exterior wall. Always go thru the DBX and change.

Joe, you are dead on. The whole purpose of BIM is so you can pull the information you need out of an accurately designed model.

Terry, I do not disagree in your approach to MBD but you have not defined how it would make the building industry anymore efficient. We do not manufacture buildings like the products we use in our homes. I do not foresee a MBD program communicating with a supply line adding materials to a large hopper and thus producing a house out the other end in the near future. Most of our tolerances are measured to a 1/16th of an inch compared to a thousands of an inch in manufacturing. We tried manufactured housing in a 30 lot plat and they over promised and under delivered. They finished the project 4 months behind what we could have done doing a stick build and their quality was marginal at best. I can honestly say that the products manufactured to be installed in our homes could benefit and could be using a MBD process. I am not trying to be a hard ass or criticize your ideas but when someone tells me my industry is a mess and you have the solution, I want answers to specific requests and if you cannot provide answers well then my BS alarm starts going off. No ideas are bad ideas but you better know and understand the industry that its associated with and be completely aware of the impacts that those ideas have on all the people around you as well as any financial ramifications that it may bring. I am sorry it's the Executive side of me speaking and take offence when someone who has little to no experience in the home building industry tells me we are messed up. PS: How did you build and sell a house for $55,000. This is the type of thing that will get you some respect building houses and selling them for $42 a SF.

I thought I as staying on topic. You say the building industry is a mess and you have the answer to their prayers. I just want to know specifics. You Say MBD's is or should be on the radar of big building corps and we have never heard of it before. You say this is going to revolutionize and take over the building industry and I just asked how. You cannot even explain how this will even be applied to the building industry. You have not specifically answered any of my questions. Aerospace and Construction have way more differences than similarities. Also can you limit your use of acronyms as I bet most of the people on this forum do not live with people who work at Boeing. You are obviously overly concerned with design and engineering and that is preventing you from seeing at the big picture. I think if you had your way all houses would be round (perfect for structure and load analysis) and be finished and furnished in a sterile like manner of a hospital. I really appreciate over-enthusiastic employees like your self, but you need to fully understand an industry before you start criticizing and making recommendations when you do not fully understand the impact . Again web surfing and learning new software programs are not going to even remotely make you any type of expert in any field you choose. I am not even convinced you even fully understand MBD's except what you have learned in chat rooms on the web. How can you expect people to take you seriously if you cannot answer any questions on how this will implemented and be any type of an improvement for the residential construction industry you criticize. Unfortunately or fortunately it's not going to happen in our lifetime. The production single family builder has barely embraced 3D design let alone the concept of BIM. Design and engineering is an important part of the process but its just a small part of getting to the end result.

I have done what Perry has suggested. I will even go as far as putting elevations and details in a separate plan file. Copy and paste in place is your friend when it comes to multifamily.

I use manual for interior and use the auto exterior and clean those up.

The only time I draw partition/corner detail is when their are foundation hold down (Simpson HD's). The foundation contractor installing the stab anchors might think the corners may lap one way while the framer is thinking the opposite. Nice though to see someone thinking about getting insulation behind interior partitions by designating the "L" type partition. Nice job.

Terry, I appreciate your knowledge and enthusiasm regarding design and engineering but your starting to sound like a politician :lol:and not getting into specifics. Lets get hypothetical for a minute. You are a design/engineer who created this 3D MBD Design_ Build process and need to convince me, a CEO of the largest home builder in the US to invest 10's of millions of dollars to buy, integrate and train all of my Team Members along with doing the same for all our Trade Partners. We build in 75 markets in 23 States with 75 different product lines each consisting of 9 to 15 plans with 3 to 4 different elevations and over 100,000 different options for a homeowner to choose for their home. I have been operating fine with 2D plans for 40 years. I have one system that tracks every customer from time they sign a purchase agreement, thru the Design and Options process, Purchasing and Estimating, Scheduling from start of their new home thru their 2 year customer service (warranty) period. We closed a record 54,000 homes last FY, have been reporting record quarterly profits and our JD Powers and Assoc. customer satisfaction rating has increased 4 points to 95% of homeowners who would recommend us to their family and friends as the builder of their new home. Why would I want to fix something that is not broken? How will this positively benefit my Land Development teams in buying land, the neighborhoods designed and thru the approval process, then developed to build on? How will this have a positive impact our Marketing and Sales teams ? How will this increase our cycle time for our Design, Purchasing and Estimating teams? How will this benefit our Managers in the field along with our Trade Partners? How will this impact our Mortgage, Appraisal and Escrow business? You have stated several time that the building industry is a mess. Can you please elaborate on this topic as some of my close colleagues and I are quite curious as how you arrived at your observation. The building industry is one of the few industries where the customer can have a product built to their specifications. I cannot go to Boeing and say I want a 787 designed with the rear fuselage 10' in diameter larger than the rest of the plane with the cockpit in the rear and one wing on the top and bottom of the plane.​ I thought I would share something my Father-In-Law told me about engineers; You can always tell an engineer but you can't tell them much. He had nothing but admiration and respect for the engineers at Boeing. My Father- In -Law was a VP at Boeing for 15 years of a 40 year career at the company. He led a group of engineers developing the composite material used on the 787. That was in 1984. My wife, son, brother-in law, sister-in-law and my wife's Grand Father and 2 Uncles all worked for Boeing. Her Uncle was responsible for the design and development for the 777 and retired during his tenure with the 787 program. My wife traveled around the globe for 5 years dealing with the various contractors for the 787. At one time they had hundreds of engineers and thousands of support personnel spread around the globe getting the program back on track.