robdyck

For starters, the wood siding portions should be material regions.

I've found that using these live views take significantly more time than using images. As you've realized, for some reason they are unreliable in their cropping and view positioning, even when the camera remains saved and untouched. Not to mention the larger pdf file sizes, significantly slower performance in layout, and the unbearable eye-bleeding blurriness of the on-screen image. One might assume the intent is a tool to improve productivity for Chief's customers but more often than not, the live views end up creating hassle and embarrassment, much like the online 3D viewer.

You can turn on automatic wall framing to see framing update throughout the design process...automatically! To remove wall surfaces within the attic, you need to check "Lower Wall Type if Split by Butting Roof". (paste quote into Help) Quick tip: double click a wall, go to roof tab, press "help".

Did you post a plan?

It can be done, but it would require some workarounds. The problem also goes away with the pony wall centered. You can also place 2 walls in the same place as long as 1 of them has No Room Definition. The CMU can be a railing set to 48, the upper wall can have no room def, and manually adjust the bottom of the wall up 48". This will create a few additional hiccups.

Pony wall alignment: main layer outside. Fixes it, but it might not be what you actually want.

Yeah, so I'm gonna need you to go ahead and post both the plan file and TPS report, I mean word file, that'd be great!

You're welcome!

Try these settings. Works fine for me.

I just did another one and used a full cab. on the bench. No issues.

I can't replicate it, at least not quickly!

I use these all the time. Works much better than material regions in this application, especially the wall cap.

Nope. It is simply a setting to override the Main Layer material option. You can manually change it to any value you choose. It is not a report.

Notice in your last snippet that the stud spacing field is greyed out. This means that the spacing is being determined by the Main Layer (the material as shown in your 1st and 2nd pic).

You don't have automatic wall framing turned on so you need to rebuild the wall framing in order to see the correction. The Master Bath has the ceiling set at 120". Change to 96", rebuild the wall framing. For the closet, you'll need to make some modfications. You can use a room divider to split the room where it has 2 ceiling heights.

You lost the 2nd floor wall because it does not have the default bottom height.

You can quickly drag a gen. framing member and use the object property eyedropper to copy the spec of the beam to the new component (except material). You'll need to replcae your text arrow.

I think it's because the beam is too close to the Open Below Room, and Chief won't build such small floor joists. Use a General Framing member to replace that beam and it'll rebuild nicely.

I think the only real problem with Plan Footprint Cad detail is that Chief can't necessarily or always properly define the polylines for different parts of the plan, especially in light of the fact that definitions and requirements can change from one jurisdiction to another. Not to mention all the various area display requirements and calculations. I'd recommend to setup a SPV of a site plan with all the necessary object and macros already in place and save that as part of your template plan. Unless you enjoy using your calculator and typing. The Plan Footprint will not really help identify preliminary site coverage calculations early in the design process to ensure zoning compliance. There's certainly some live layers that can be used for a Site Plan, but not many. The key is to set up a SPV paired with an appropriate Default for the scale required, and have a library of CAD and Text objects already in the view.

It's not common anywhere that I know of. I think you'll need to contact a macro guru to make you an automatic label for that function or (in the meantime) you could simply add a note to your plan set that explains your window labels. Doing it manually would not be an option IMO. Too much chance for error!

Might be Randy the Macho Man's dark sunglasses!

It is possible. I use a pony wall. The lower portion is my default exterior wall. The upper portion is a thinner, single layer wall with the same material as the window jamb. This allow 3 separate windows with shallower frames to be placed and dragged close to the corners. 3D moldings for casing. Polyline solids for top and bottom jamb-liner. So in summary, it's about as much work as the actual manufacturing process. Be prepared to spend a lot of time on it.