robdyck

Not to be contradictory, but in my experience material regions generate quite a bit slower than p-solids. Both objects have their pros and cons, but I find material regions to cause a fair amount of slowness. Cheryl makes a great point if you're planning to develop your design with even more detail.

Simple question: is there a way to get an object to automatically assume the drawing group of the layer it's placed on? For example: if I need to draw a couple of CAD lines to show a footing, I'll place them on the footing layer. But I also need to choose the drawing group. It would be handy if when I choose the footing layer, it automatically adjusted the drawing group. It also seems like it might be kind of handy for the drawing group to be available in Layer Display Options.

That works. Why do you know that?! Also, it appears as though the arc needs to be broken to become a polyline.

That makes sense. I can't see myself using a CAD detail for a site plan so I'll carry along until number styles become available like text styles!

Thanks for the advice Michael! Of course it takes a bit of exploration to decide what method works best in each situation, so I'll definitely be exploring these further. The one thing about referenced text macros and arrows is that I find the the arrow connection to be unstable if there are multiple objects, in this case, lines, in the same place. Meaning that I feel I can't have confidence that it will remain connected to the initial object and subsequently may 'grab' a different object and then of course it would report unintended info. Also, I did just notice that the referenced macro doesn't want to report the length of another arrow or an arc. Chief_Architect_Premier_X11_2019-10-22_13-44-00.mp4

The latter.

My active cad layers are different for almost every layer set, and certainly for the views I mentioned. Yet when I changed the number style for my 'Site Cad' layer, it affected both views. Here's a screenshot of a polyline in my site plan view showing the default number style. Polyline showing metric lengths. and here's a screenshot showing that the default cad layer was affected. A separate polyline now show metric lengths. I'm not sure if that made sense but the number style change for the Site, CAD layer affected the DEFAULT CAD LAYER.

But if my site plan is the same view as my floor plan, then that may not work for me, correct? It is of course a different anno set, different saved plan view, and different layer set.

Alrighty Then! I'm getting closer. But as mentioned, show length doesn't allow location control of the display. For the site items, like a house, I'm required to have the lengths shown on the inside. And now I see that the molding label layer is 'polyline 3d labels' and I've already used it in a different format. And 'show length' for a curve also display the radius, and again no location control so I can end up with overlap.

This would kinda lead into a similar yet different topic. I need to show the dimensions (in metric) of the house shape on the site plan. Pretty standard stuff. The only hassle is that as the polyline shape changes throughout design development, I've also got to relocate the dimension lines. I currently have a dimension style set for this but it would be great to have number style control so I could just use 'show length'. Of course then I'd need to be able to control the location of the display of that length...

Ahh, now if only I had layer control of those pesky labels. In my plan polyline labels are already used and set to a different format. Show length would work just fine if I had number style control, similar to text style. The site plan needs to be shown in metric. I have a macro in the label which effectively does what I need...except as mentioned above, my one and only layer choice for polyline labels is already being used. Am I still correct in the assumption that there's only one layer control for labels?

Hey Mike, this isn't meant to be negative. Could you reduce the # of decimals in the slope to 2 places? Nothing says auto generated bs like 10 decimal places! Here's an example to 1 decimal place.

At least there should be a choice for anything that creates a hole to generate a new polyline in the cut object. The way I use features and holes and then report the areas, the new area would create a bit of a problem. I currently create my terrain much larger than the lot, and use a terrain feature as the lot perimeter and its area is part of a table. Obviously that feature is cut by several items like a terrain hole, a driveway etc. Perhaps it should offer the boundary area, and the area of hole(s) separately in its dbx?

Does anyone know if there's a way to make a curved dimension? I regularly need to show the dimension of an arc, usually on site plans. I'm currently using an arrow and typing the dimension.

Does the terrain feature produce a new polyline showing the new hole?

@Renerabbitt Don't look now Rene, but Chopsaw is only 2 upvotes behind you!

Thanks! Both of those are good ideas. I hate filling up my library with stuff specific to a single plan only. Wouldn't a tool that allows you to insert anything from an established schedule be kinda handy?

I hear you. However, If I were providing material lists to my clients, it would be the exact amounts, with a note that waste and overages are not included. I'd suggest that providing a material list is different than providing a material estimate. If the overage is very clearly shown, then it makes sense. But how much overage do you allow for foundation concrete? Will the footings be pumped? Will the pump already be primed from an earlier job? Have the footings been setup accurately or a bit on the sloppy side? How neat was the excavation? Is the excavation base +/- 1/2" or was the ground rocky or clumpy and the base is +/- 4"? I could go on but my point is that it makes sense to me to show the materials as accurate as the plan / model and allow trades and suppliers to add in their overages based on their experience and practice. Exact lists as per the model work for everyone, estimates need to be 'personalized'.

There must be a way to insert an existing text note that is in another view without copy and paste. For example, if I have a list of notes for exterior details that have been generated in the front elevation, and I'd like to repeat some of those on other elevations, do I really have to toggle back and forth between screens to copy and paste, and then refer back to my schedule so I can remember what they are? That seems like more work than just typing new notes in each drawing. Seems like I'll need to buy a few more screens...and get a bigger desk and a bigger office and more eyes... There must be a tool to insert an existing note from an existing schedule, no?

At first glance, it seems odd to add the waste factor to a material list (unless it is for your own use) as that would / could vary greatly depending on the skill and care of the tradesperson.

This is definitely one of the drawbacks of showing too much information. I like to show all the trusses as well, and usually it's no problem, but as houses continue to get more complex, it just becomes so much work to fight some of Chief's shortfalls, like those truss spikes, incorrect headers, attic walls, flush eaves, roof fascias, sill plates, stair stringers, floor trusses, deck framing, etc. That sounds much more negative that what I'd like...

You can of course access the material amounts and areas and then add that information to a text field, it just won't auto-generate unless you pay someone to write macros for your specific needs. So you could create the text field (with blank portions) the way you'd like, and then add the info at completion, once you're done with design development. To quickly find the total roof surface area (for example) group select all roof planes and go to the 'polyline' tab. There's a balance to find between paying for macros, versus the time it takes to access and accurately update information. And I think macros, like schedules, slow down the performance a bit.

If accuracy is what your looking for, edit the truss members in the TRUSS DETAIL. Section view editing will only take you so far...

They can be edited perfectly in the truss detail. Note that edits in this view will revert if the truss is rebuilt. If there are multiples of the same truss, they will need to be opened, then closed to display those new edits.

Turn on the moldings layer. It's pretty simple, you draw a line, convert to molding, adjust settings. If you're library browser is already open with the correct crown molding already selected, just move your cursor to plan view and drag a polyline. Chief Architect Premier X11 2019-10-18 14-46-49.mp4