robdyck

8 hours ago, Alaskan_Son said:

3D View Defaults>Legacy Compatible Texture Mapping...Yuck

Awesome! How did you figure that out?

Or send the drawing to layout at that scale. If it's 1:50 it's metric right? Can you settle for  1m = 50m?

Here's my layout box labels:

Somebody's paying you to work for them, right? It's their job to get you the necessary info to start or at least provide you with the contact info of whomever has the full lot survey drawings.

If this is your first such project, don't forget to check and confirm that you have the most recent land-use-bylaw or zoning requirements! 

1 minute ago, solver said:

You have 7 W-6 windows in the plan. When you edit one of them, adding a comment, the program sees that window as being different, from the other W-6 windows and assigns a new number to it.

 

Try selecting all the windows that are alike and adding a comment -- like the 2 windows flanking the front door.

Good Catch Eric. This also won't be a problem if the window(s) is selected in the schedule using the Open Row Object tool.

17 minutes ago, SNestor said:

I'm not working at the software at the moment...so, take what I say with a grain of salt.  

 

But - can't you just create new materials for each of our fascia?  Open the material...copy it, change the grain direction...save it as something and then use it as needed.  Yea...this method is a PIA.  I get it...but, just something you could do.

 

Ok..I agree...Chief should just fix this issue.

So I'm checking with tech support about this, and I'll post the results. But I think I'll be able to 'fix' this by taking one of Chief's templates, and importing all my settings. Essentially building a new plan template.

At first, I thought I may be able to import some setting from one of Chief's templates to my own, but this isn't a setting issue...there's something deeper and I think it's because my template has evolved over so many years from older Chief versions.

I double checked this by copying an entire model from a 'Chief' plan (where the grain auto shows correctly) and copying it to my default plan. In my default plan the grain all runs based on the material angle setting, even though it's the exact same material!

I don't mind making materials where I have to to get the right angle, but if you compare the different pictures closely, you'll see that in a 'Chief' plan, the grain is correct at studs, plates, headers, and truss members, whereas in my plan, they all run either vertical or horizontal, again, depending on the material setting.

I'm working on another timber plan now, and it's really handy to be able to draw a rafter and use as a rafter or symbol instead of constantly making solids.

Plus the framing looks so much better when it's right!

1 hour ago, Hammer7 said:

Now that social distancing has set it I'm starved for attention....

Did you see where and how you need to add your comments to get them in the schedule?

I agree with Michael, @Hammer7 seems unaware that the Comment field will populate from the Object Information Panel of the Window Specification dialog box. 

2 minutes ago, Chrisb222 said:

Maybe time for another Suggestion?

I don't know...I think we need another cabinet manufacturer library instead. I've only got a choice of about 97 different shaker style cabinet doors.

But yes, I'll add to the suggestions.

8 minutes ago, Chrisb222 said:

X12 does have a new Clip Stringer option. I've found it to be a little finicky and does not appear to work at a Landing, but it's stairs so...?

That's what I was showing in my earlier post. For stairs at a landing, If you open the stair dbx and check the clip top function, it shows them clipped. But when you close the dbx, alas, they do not clip:(

And nice of @SNestor to post his video again, but how come (by now) we can't actually tell the stairs to:

-clip the top (for real, honestly, just do it if I tell you to)

-extend the stringer beyond the bottom nosing a specified distnace

-add a molding to the stringer / trim against wall (with edge control)

I realize I'm asking pointless questions.

Please post the plan. I'll take a look right away.

Here's an image from Chief's 'Residential Template'. The grain direction is correct, even if I paint the framing with my own framing materials.

So the question is, how do I get those settings into my template?

I'm still not over this grain direction thing. Here's an image from a plan that @LevisL posted quite awhile back. Notice that in this plan the grain goes the right direction for all framing members. I think this has to do with the origin of plan templates, but what do I know? In the image below, I replaced the texture file from the default framing material to my own, just to see what happens.

In this image from my default template, this is what I get for grain direction. I I really want to figure out how to correct this. The materials in both images have the exact same properties except for the texture file.

Is it based on the build order? That's the only thing I could come up with.

I have a group of 3 separate windows. The middle window is the same size as the others, but is a different type. Why would Chief group these together in my schedule? Is this a bug?

Right and Left units are double awnings while the middle unit is 'Fixed Glass'. This seems really odd.

6 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

If you uncheck Group Similar Objects, then the sort order seems to be based on something entirely different.  Not sure what though.

For my Room Schedule, GROUP SIMILAR OBJECTS was unchecked. I checked that and copied the schedule and the ordering was corrected. I certainly wouldn't have thought to try that. Thanks Michael!

Shouldn't a schedule create a logical order automatically? For example, if the first column is "FLOOR" shouldn't they be in order from smallest to largest? If column 2 is "ROOM NAME" shouldn't they be alphabetical? I'm sure they used to be this way... what am I missing? The attached image is of a 'fresh' schedule. It seems pretty random to me.

22 hours ago, Dermot said:

In addition, if you ever wonder how Chief is calculating the living area for a particular building, all you need to do is select the Exterior Room and use the Make Living Area Polyline tool.

 

If this polyline were given a bit more properties, it could be even more useful, no? Spitballing a few ideas:

-could it auto-update?

-could it have an OIP?

-could it have an auto-layer setting (not CAD default)?

-could it, and others like it (from other floors) be included in a schedule?

I found this laying around in my library...forgot I had it there!

Frost Free Hose Bibb.calibz

1 minute ago, Chrisb222 said:

Haven't tried it with landings yet but I'm sure that, with stairs, there is also some type of mouth position or incantation required....

I've certainly let the incantations fly a few times! I work from home, and now I've gotta keep looking over my shoulder to make sure the kids don't find out what dad's really like!

4 minutes ago, Chrisb222 said:

 

Caulk?!? How dare you! 

Oh I dare alright! Another question that could be asked in this post...How the bleep do you get the stringers or trim or (whatever they are) to clip the top when they join a landing?

1. Open your plan view "Framing, Floor Plan View"

2. Fill Screen

3. Select 1 deck post, then use the  "Marquee Select Similar" tool to select all deck posts.

4. Change bottom height to 0 (top height will be locked when you open the dialog box).

Yes, you'll have to turn off the auto framing, and yes, if you turn it back on, you'll need to repeat this process, but at least you'll know how!

Check "No special snapping", then clean up this roof's edge.

Just now, SNestor said:

the stair tool (the weakest tool in Chief)

Look out. The down voters aren't going to like that!

And finally, here's a pic where I used the landing, then deleted it and dragged the stairs together. For some reason, these walls are remaining intact at the corner, even after double-clicking them and closing them. Some experimentation shows that it appears that as long as the wall that intersect a tread doesn't intersect more than half the tread, then the wall wins over the stairs.

1 hour ago, SNestor said:

Yea...I know about using a landing...but, watching the Chief "sales" video...I thought Chief was giving us a tool that actually solved this issue.  But...not quite.

 

I gather it's like everything that's related to the stair tool generally.  It kind of works...sort of, somewhat... 

 

You can use the break stair tool, adjust your stairs, then move the walls. You'll just need to adjust the drawing order to display properly in plan view and if 3D matters (which it does) then you'll need a solid to fix the portion of the wall cut by the stairs.

Chief's way (at a tread/ riser):

Moving the wall after the stair break:

Using a landing: