robdyck

This is exactly what I do!

I use FlashBack Express. Not because it's better, only because I don't know any better.

That purple preview panel is what I was referring to; it follows the Floor Camera defaults for the color in the Backdrop tab. I believed that's what the OP was referring to.

I've never had shadow boards auto-adjust the direction of the fascia material. What I did in this case and have done in the past is to use a separate roof plane just for the fascia on the gable ends. Drives me nuts, but in this case, it's just modelling, no roof plan is being provided. I'll dive a bit deeper here because this is crazy annoying. I'm using a timber framed roof that will have a 1x16 fascia and a 1x4 shadow-board. So I create a separate roof plane (2" wide) just to be able to show the correct grain direction. Oddly enough, the fascia can be change separately but the shadow board on one side of the gable will auto-change the corresponding shadow board on the other side of the gable. In order to change the shadow board material separately, I need to re-name one of the 1x4's so they are 'different'. However, then the shadowboards don't connect. Luckily this doesn't really show from the distance of a full overview. Still, a lot of extra steps for this.

I believe this follows the default settings of the Floor Camera. Change the backdrop color there and the library will change as well.

I'm doing it right now. It's got to be one of your settings. Double check dimension defaults / Locate Objects, make sure framing is checked.

I believe Chopsaw may be pointing you in the right direction. I use this on every plan. Check your dimension defaults. And I'd recommend setting up a custom anno set for framing if you haven't done so already.

My bad, I didn't explain clearly enough. I never use the Export to PDF tool, yet it's the tool that's always displayed for the entire group. I'd like to change it to keep the Export Picture tool as the constantly displayed tool for the group. I know I can just add that tool to that toolbar (and I will) but I feel like this should be able to be adjusted.

I have the Export Tool parent tool in my tool bar, and the child tool that is always displayed is the Export PDF child tool. How do I change which child tool remains active or displayed, without adding each child tool to a tool bar?

What a tease Mick...c'mon, show us how you solved this!

Is there any way to automatically get a timber texture to run parallel to a gable end fascia? Same for stair stringers. Its seriously lame that to get the texture direction right, you need to get out your saw and hammer and nails, and starting putting individual pieces on.

There's Chief backdrops in 2 locations: -Chief Architect Core Catalogs -Chief Architect Bonus Catalogs What did yours look like?

FWIW, I'd suggest NOT using the 'live view'. Switch to 'plot lines' and the problem will almost certainly disappear and never to return. In my experience, live views seem 'twitchy' at best and downright unreliable at worst. I've had saved cameras, sent to layout, where in layout the view jumps to a different position every time you open the file. Plus, for section views in layout, you'll notice a few things that may be helpful to you: -plot lines will allow you to snap to points for drawing placement -plot lines will result in a crisper print than live views, especially noticeable when zooming in using a pdf file

I'd send this in to tech support asap. There's something really weird going on here. The structure refuses to build according to the inputs in the structure tab of the dbx and it displays conflicting information as well.

I've never seen anything like this. The garage foundation walls apparently refuse to move using the structure dbx. You can drag them into submission in a section/elevation view, but you shouldn't have to.

Perhaps the 'saved plan view' would work for you? When sent to layout, that can be displayed very simply. Just copy the saved plan view and rename 101, 102 or whatever.

@dskogg Something like this? With more editing it could be greatly improved. The tricky part would be enhancing the metal dividers.

I noticed that and you're correct. There's no reason hecan't draw it as an elevation (I have a setup for that), but I'd suggest that it's much more practical to provide the drawings using the wall detail tools for a few reasons: -an elevation view will perform slower assuming you keep it live, and really, why wouldn't you keep it live? -the elevation view of all floors will limit space for dimensions and notes -there's no need to show them together, unless the framer's got some cool trick for building them both at the same time so... -the wall detail is faster, -cad tools are available to edit live framing members quickly -easier to add notes and dimensions. etc -easy to create a logical hierarchy of placement in the drawing set that should reasonably match the order of operations on site -wall details can be named to match the layout drawing numbers for easy drawing coordination -schedules are available for the wall detail view essentially providing a cutlist with almost no effort for you or the builder Just my suggestions!

If wall framing detail layouts are what you're looking for, I'd suggest using the wall detail tools. Very simple to edit the 'live' wall instead of a CAD detail.

As long as we're showing some ICF foundation models...this one took longer than the allotted 15 minutes! It certainly is annoying how Chief wants to cut the foam insulation on the interior.

What I'll do (in certain situations) is delete those unwanted surfaces to create a clean foundation only view, then convert the foundation to a symbol, place it in a blank plan so that I can send a 3D model viewer link to the client which can be forwarded to the foundation crew.

FWIW, the sample view I included was from Chief. If you can do that in Sketchup that quickly, my hat is off to you! Tell you what, I'll spot you another 5 minutes giving you 15. The clock starts now...

I am referring specifically to a 3D view of the foundation only which I believe was the intent of the OP.

This is going to suck... The pony walls don't have physical layers that can be displayed on separate layers. Also, the upper and lower portion of a pony wall can't be separated to display on separate layers. The only way (that I know of) is to delete all the unwanted surfaces, then save a picture from that view. Those surfaces will always re-generate, meaning any change will require you to repeat the process (lame). For this reason, I stopped including 3D foundation views on walk-out foundations.

https://chiefexperts.mykajabi.com/