robdyck

I believe Chief operates faster when the schedules are not in plan view. If I'm wrong about this, someone will undoubtedly correct me in short order! With practice (and multiple monitors) working with the schedules in a CAD detail will become easier...so I'd encourage you to develop that habit.

If the column that contains the distinguishing letter N or E is the first column in the schedule, then the wall schedule will organize all the E's first. If there already is an existing schedule, re-order the columns, copy the schedule, then delete the original.

"No Special Snapping" is the key for having manual or dimensional control of where the roof butts up against a wall. This will not address the display of the wall's layers above or below the roof plane.

It's absolutely terrible. I had an A-Frame project with quite a few skylights and I think there were 3 different sizes. It was torture trying to get them all right. It probably takes 10x longer than it should.

I brought in my own symbol, one that's much more accurate. I used a polyline for the hole, and another symbol for the shaft liner and casing (made of 2 moldings). There's no question they are a real PITA to deal with. Section views are crucial, and the transform/replicate tool is the best way to move them into exact position. Cad boxes, lines, polylines help derive the exact distancing for placement. It would be so much easier if one could slide them up/down a roof plane and drag to resize, just like a window in a wall. Someday maybe...

Start with Help, search custom schedules. Open the fixture, schedule tab, Include in schedule as:... pretty simple from there.

1 quick option for this as-built would be to add a layer underneath the current main floor structure layers, about 36" thick and assign it the concrete material. Not structurally accurate, I know, but if you don't want to build a foundation...

Keep in mind that a beam that intersects a wall will have wall studs under the beam in the wall framing if: the wall framing is automatic the wall framing is built after the beam is placed. So, you need to make a choice of how to display a post that is within a wall. If the loads exceed the capability of a built-up stud column you can: place a post manually in plan view edit the studs in the wall detail and represent the column using a cad box The method you choose may vary depending on the types of views you show in your plans, and the methods you use to callout or identify columns.

Question: the I-joists shown: are they actual joists, or CAD blocks that you placed?

In a section view, press "Auto Detail" and that will start to clarify things.

This is a screen-grab off of a pdf showing a rendering included in a bath remodel plan. This image was sent to layout using "Current Screen as Image". Then it's been resized to approx 3"x 5" in layout. No editing, no cropping. Printed at 300 dpi. This method helps keep the file size down and provides (what I think) is a satisfactory image quality, both on screen and printed. For better quality, you can export the image to around 3000 pixels wide, and print your pdf at 600 dpi. However, its my experience that this will result in a very large file size.

Thanks Michael. Not sure why I didn't think of that! That provide the line weight control I asked for. And 2 separate text boxes will provide the appropriate text alignment:

I use a spreadsheet to perform certain calculations, then I copy the cells and paste into Chief. When I do this, it imports cell borders, but I'm not sure if the line weight of these borders can be controlled. They are much heavier than I typically use. Does anyone know if this can be controlled?

You can copy the link to that web page and submit it to tech support. I've done that in the past for issues where I had attempted to find results on the forum and then didn't want to re-type the whole question. I should have added that this is only helpful if the topic specifically describes your problem and if the plan is submitted to tech support.

Keep in mind Darren, than with that fan, if it were flush, it would be mounted perpendicular to the ceiling! What you need is a separate symbol to represent either a wedge shaped mounting block or a dome as the base of the light fixture.

I know a thing or two about construction stress, design / drafting stress and life stress! And I feel for you @pazzfam, especially when I read some of your phrasing. You make it clear that you may be at or near your limit! The stress in drafting design is certainly no less than that of building, but of course the newness of a different occupation could feel like a reprieve for some, though I doubt that would last for long. I find that when work is too stressful, it's usually not the actual work, but rather my tolerance has decreased and that is often based on other factors that affect quality of life, like relationships, exercise, nutrition, community involvement, etc. I'm also a big believer in identifying stress factors in our lives and removing or mitigating those causes as quickly and simply as possible. Without going too far down that train of thought, drafting and design work may be satisfying and low-stress for you if you can keep to smaller projects, a wider variety of projects, and a limited number of projects. At 64, I'd be focusing on quality of life over earning potential, and I'd remove any expense in my life that enslaved me. While the stress of being too busy is real, it's nothing compared to the stress of having no work at all. And speaking for myself, I'm at my best as a father and husband and friend when my earnings go down to a level that affords food on the table, some money in the bank, free time for myself and availability for my family. I also really hope you have a great friend(s) or other resource (not spouse or partner:) that you can at least vent to. I'd love to hear how you make out, what kind of decisions you take to help reduce the stress and if I can't offer anything else, I hope it makes you feel a bit better to know you're not alone!

Bonus Room. Turn on the attic walls. Give them room definition. Specify the attic space as "ATTIC"

Its coming from the garage...still working on it.

In the example I posted, I have both: 3d solids for glass used for 3d views, and 2d cad polylines used for 2d views. The display of which is controlled by layersets.

No. No material will be transparent in vector view. The transparency is just the fill pattern of a simple 2d CAD polyline that has been drawn in that elevation view, section view, or in layout.

And here's an example interior elevation where I have NOT used the technique described above because I didn't feel it was helpful to see into the shower, and because of the hassle.

I also prefer plot lines, however there are NO transparent materials for the Vector View rendering style which is used for Plot lines. There are a couple of ways around this, but they are all work. You can model the shower glass to be on its own layer which you'll need turned OFF. You can then replace the glass with a CAD polyline with a solid-color transparent fill style to represent the glass. Depending on how your shower wall is define this may be a bit tricky. The example images show the above mentioned technique used for glass deck railing.

Yes, select the drip-edge and use the point-to-point move tool to place it exactly where you'd like it to be. If it's a CAD block, you'll need to explode it to get all the snap points of the drip-edge.

Are you looking for 3d representation or 2D CAD detail or both?

Great! As you've no doubt figured out, in order to spec. different trim materials, you need to specify an actual molding for the casing, lintel, & sill (as needed).