robdyck

I hear you, and unfortunately there are no default settings for Electrical items that can be adjusted and then imported from one file to another. Try doing an Electrical Plan with an Electrical Schedule. It wouldn't make any sense to anyone because of all the weird names for Electrical Items. Essentially forces you to compile a massive User Library for existing items. To your original point, I'd probably make an architectural block or a library folder of a few items that I use regularly on custom layers. I use a library of my own MEP items so that the name of the item displays as the label and also reports neatly and sensibly in a schedule.

I'd bet heavily that it is! Anyone who does a lot of wall detail drawing has to get used to negative being positive in the x-axis. And there is no z-axis in a wall detail...

Copy one to your library, adjust it's settings.

End & Start

I'd start by making one, then convert the door & hardware to a symbol. Place this symbol in your plan and make a copy for the 2nd door. Use a Doorway for the actual opening. Do you know how to make a symbol of the door & hardware?

Of course the price of steel is a bit off of the norm these days, but it seems simpler than the typical OWWJ with wood webs and metal connector plates.

If we know the specific sizes you need, it may not be as difficult as you think.

That's right. The sofa can be re-sized but not using that tool.

@pswiseman 3D Molding Line

Dang-it, almost beat you to it!

I know you weren't asking me...these are similar https://www.redbuilt.com/products/open-web-trusses/ Any truss mfr using Mitek software / products could build these (it appears) https://www.mitek.ca/Products/Truss-Connector-Plates/POSI-STRUT-Webs/

@stager386 What was the size of the sofa that you need?

The tool you initially referred to (Edit CAD Block) will ONLY edit the 2D representation of the symbol; it will NOT affect the 3D view of the symbol at all. If I'm correct, I think you were hoping that would be a simpler form of size adjustments than using stretch planes.

You are wrong.

That is correct. An who cares about that line, really? No one else but you will notice it...probably:) You probably noticed in Michael's video, but at least you can get rid of the angled 'stringer' line by setting a large stringer distance below the tread.

No, but I will now. You got a couple of kick-ace CAD tricks up your sleeve! (No I'm not from Boston) Thanks Michael!

This is exactly what I was referring to. Think of all the different types of stairs you may have made over the years. A decent way to access them is to place the ones you'd like to keep in a warehouse plan. Then, a simple camera overview can help you browse for the ones you'd like to use. This can be much simpler than going through all the settings in the stair dialog. Summary; style pallets for stairs would be awesome. I was also illustrating that a simple p-solid concrete step can be easily altered to a more complex shape. I used the solid subtraction tool, then exploded the faces to be able to change the tread material. Super quick. Using Chief's tools, you can also quickly model concrete steps including formed voids for accurate volume material takeoffs of a very complex shape. A handy thing if you are in close contact with the individual forming the step (which I did for myself when I was building steps). I do it for me, because I'm a caring person.

I notified tech support about this issue as soon as SVP's were introduced. The solution (for now) is to switch views by double-clicking the SVP in your project browser INSTEAD of selecting the window tab.

If one really wants to model concrete steps accurately, you'll need to understand all of Chief's tools as well as your contractor's construction preferences. Many of my customers use site-built cast-in-place concrete steps with a tapered nosing. When / if I need to show the full meal deal, I'll start with Chief's stairs, then use a p-solid over top. A ramp or a railing wall can be used to show decent aluminum railing. Here' I've pulled back the p-solid concrete step to show Chief's stair underneath. This one uses a ramp for the railing. You can block some of these and add to the library, or you could make a warehouse plan file and copy stairs and other objects into that plan for future use. Here's the same concrete step showing an exposed aggregate tread similar to what's available from many precast suppliers.

Exactly...because nobody does an imperial house plan calling out dimensions in fractional inches. I honestly want to know why it's so complicated to get elevation data from the model to report as feet-inches throughout the plan. There's what...maybe 5 Chief users in the world who can do this? People can down vote all they want but accessing elevation information for consistent use throughout a plan should be simple and this particular long-time Chief customer expects it to be so. Currently all we can do is: use this information for our own reference, and then type the correct format into a marker or text box, which can lead to typos or other errors pay one of those elite 5 to write a macro which will probably work, most of the time, (Evaluation Error doesn't look great on a completed plan set) show the fractional inches letting your customers know you're a bit lazy, and don't really care about the finished product. I've happily paid for some macros and my hat's off to these users who can and do provide this service, but if we're being honest, some of those macro services just shouldn't be necessary. @Alaskan_Son provided me with a great macro that reports the elevation information (imperial - relative to top-of-main-floor & metric - geodetic) in elevation and section views, but every foundation crew and excavation crew I've ever met wants foundation elevation changes shown in plan view. Top-of-footing and top-of-foundation are critical and all we can do is look at the information that's just teasing us, and then start typing. I use the available macros in a text box on a reference layer that does not display on my final SVP (the bright pink text). So close it hurts!

One might think that elevation data within the model might work when used with...wait for it...an elevation marker! What a concept. Meh; now that I think about it...that's just silly. It's not like this information is needed on every house plan.

A person could (but wouldn't of course!) swear a blue streak trying to get this information to display in plan view using an appropriate number format. Like so many things in Chief...it's almost useful! Somewhere there's a former (or current) Chief employee laughing their ass off at us.

You wanna know what else is weird with this macro? The arrow doesn't have to have the head attached, it just needs to touch the wall. This global macro can replace the old "Special Use" arrow to identify footing elevations! Sweet! Now if only Chief gave us proper control of the number display this POS could be properly useful...maybe just maybe a few more versions down the road! Then we could actually use this to call out information instead of just to find out information that we then need to type into the plan.

No plan posted, so we're in the dark here, but does the roof plane with trusses run underneath the framed roof plane? Or do they join at the valley?