robdyck

Here's what I did: Resize the terrain so all items are within or meeting the terrain perimeter. Nothing extending beyond. Check for elevation region overlaps. That took the build time down to 2 seconds. Another good tip for you: adjust your fill patterns used in plan view to solid fill wherever possible. If you need to see through them, adjust the transparency. Busy fill patterns in plan view slow Chief down as well.

I think you can do it all in Chief. I think Chief is awesome at framing details, drawing coordination, automation, reporting, etc. and it's only getting better. Let's forget about slanted walls for a moment and assume those will be a rare occurrence. What you'd probably benefit from the most is working with someone to create a customized Chief template that has all the default sets, layer sets, plan views, and camera views that you'd typically use with plenty of thought given to the aesthetic of your experience using Chief. Then, I think you'd have a completely different view of Chief. When I see Chief being used with the out-of-the-box settings, I don't know how anyone can deal with it, and if I were a new customer searching for software, there's plenty that wouldn't impress me much. But one of the great things about Chief is how you can customize almost every aspect to drastically improve the user experience. You'd be able to customize or 'stylize' Chief to match the architecture you're looking to craft. But keep in mind that I'm a one trick pony! Over 20 years with Chief and I don't know $#!+ about any of those other programs!

To create an attractive border around an interior elevation view, there will almost always by some CAD work to do. That being said, this can be quick and simple and can be done directly in the elevation view. There should rarely be a need to use a cad detail. Rachel, you might find it helpful to talk to someone who can review your files and discuss (in person) the troubles you face and what kind of solutions are available.

I would usually keep the default set for either the most prevalent type of construction or the most important. The previous exercise was really to help you understand the function. When I'm drawing an addition to a house with a foundation wall and an assumed footing, I don't show the footing in plan view UNLESS there has been exploratory excavation to determine the footings existence and size OR unless there are building plans available for the existing structure. I make clear delineation in all drawing types between existing structure and new structure. A simple method for you to consider is to show all existing structure with a medium grey line color and a light grey solid fill.

The choice to use terrain modifiers like lowered regions isn't the best option. I've deleted the lowered regions and replaced them with 2 Elevation Regions, both of which are shaded and have there elevations displayed. This is a very quick and simplified demonstration, but I'd suggest you give the elevation regions a try.

I'm sure those who know macros can offer much better solutions but until then...

Another Option: Copy this macro and rename, then edit the obvious parameters "FormattedWidthSixteenths". Place the new macro in the door label.

The simplest way for large doors that are sized in 1foot increments is to use %width/12%' Notice I've added the ' designator and you'll need to uncheck Use Default Formatting to get rid of the " designator. I don't know anything about macros but I'll offer what I do know. You can make a copy of Chief's macro "FormattedWidthNearestInch" and rename it "FormattedWidthNearestFoot" Then edit the macro: obj = owner obj = referenced unless referenced.nil? obj.width.to_ft.round

Edit the Crawlspace room so the floor thickness is zero and the foundation wall height is zero. Select the 2 grade beam walls and uncheck 'sill plate'. For the Addition Room, set the framing group to 2. Also, it would be better to edit the default floor platform than to set the floor structure room-by-room or floor-by-floor.

@TeaTime Oh, I thought about that! For future detailing, I think perhaps Jim should just get in the habit of using polylines:)

Thinking outside the box...I like it! This won't work in a CAD detail though!

Here I've manually edited the wall polyline (something I hate doing but when all else fails...) and added a ceiling plane for the steeper ceiling. You can derive the correct elevations for your ceiling plane from a cross section view.

The fascia lines are due to those edges of the roof having more than one line segment. You simply need to clean up the roof shape and the unwanted lines will disappear. fascialines.mp4

I alluded to this in an earlier post. This seems to be a limitation of Chief or it may have something to do with how you got to this point . Even if you manually edit the wall polyline, you'll still have ceiling surfaces 'missing'. Chief simply won't join those ceiling surfaces. You may need to resort to ceiling planes, or use 3d solid to fill in the gaps.

Follow along in the video and feel free to send me a PM if you need more help. gradebeamfdn.mp4

Simply change the foundation default and you'll now draw a foundation wall without a footing. Piers will still need to be placed manually.

That's because a foundation wall with footing is set as your default. This is also why a footing displays in the room specification preview. You can change this at any time!

After drawing the 2 foundation walls (set to have no footing), select the room and define it as Crawl Space and then set the foundation wall height. Both foundation walls will build to that height.

No.

Are those 2 different things or just different wording for the same thing? All you need to do is draw a foundation wall around the addition. This will create a room so you can define the heights for that foundation room which will control the foundation wall heights. Then place a pier, review it's settings and then copy it as needed. First thing to do though is to have 2 different foundation wall types; one for existing and one for new.

The simplest way would be to use the Label column in the schedule and have your window labels display the width x height in inches. Copy this into the window label field: %width% x %height%

I can confirm that this is indeed a zoning bylaw. The definition of the terminology can usually be found in the Land Use Bylaw and I can also confirm that there are slight variations from one jurisdiction to another. If the OP can tell me where this project is located, I can help them find the exact information they need.

Nice work Rene. I really like the feel and the lighting!

This will leave you with a hole inside where the cheek wall meets the upper roof. There would be several ways to clean this up, but before you work on that, it would be best to make sure the roof structure has all the correct elevations.

Hey Ric. Here's a few items to clean up. The cheek walls are on the Attic level. Cut/paste them down to the 2nd floor. Check default top & bottom height. There are 2 roof planes on each side of the building for the 4:12 roof. Just use one. You can join them or just extend the larger one to the match the outline of the smaller one, then delete the smaller one. The 28:12 roof has a hole in it. Turn on the Roofs, Openings layer and delete the hole. Then break the roof plane so it is U-shaped. Drag the edges to the outside of the exterior walls and the roof will snap to the correct location. This will correct most things.