DavidJPotter

"Best Way" is what is best for you. I do personal, live online tutoring, thre are several web sites and YouTube channels to choose from: https://www.chiefexpertsacademy.com/ https://www.chieftutor.net/ Chief Skills on YouTube https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/ https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/database.html Just take it slow and methodical, study followed by practice doing what you just studied on a simple test plan to assure your understanding. DJP

As has been posted you can set the snap grid increment in General Plan Defaults". Personally, I learned Chief before the advent of "snap Grids" so my "profile.plan" has them turned off. Actually, I have several students that use snap grid and are happy with it. A salient point on anything in Chief is to fully study a tool in the reference manual and then practice using that tool in Chief, otherwise you, to some degree are the effect of your own ignorance. To be honest, I have not studied every possible tool in Chief Architect Premier because I do not commonly use every tool that exists in Chief but the ones I do use, I have studied and practiced with so I can just use them and not have them as an opponent. DJP

I can help, email or call me, please. DJP

I'm your Huckleberry! Let me see the 2D plans for an estimate please, DJP

Please read this Knowledge Base help article called "How to create a Drop Ceiling" DJP

Have I done something to offend you, Dear? DJP

Then why offer plans at all? I usually say that "dimensions should be determined or veriefied in the field" Anyone who is so unimaginative or inexperienced that would slavishly follow plans and not their common sense deserves whatever they get. DJP

I agree with Chop in that the most common sizes of layouts I use are Letter, tabloid, 18x24, 24x36 and occasionally 36x48, What I did was to create my own customized templates for those sizes. On occasion, I just open the current layout and resize the "Drawing Sheet" (File - Print - Drawing Sheet set up) to the size I now wish to use and then quickly rearrange the text and scalng for the new larger or smaller size, whichever method seems best at the time. DJP

DJP

My advice is to completely forget about doing anything so utterly foolish. I assume you have never done this to a plan file and so are naive about the matter. I have and my advice is to NOT DO THIS EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES I have done this and I can assure you "Nothing" good came of it. You can change the orientation of the drawing after it is sent to layout a lot more easily or is it is the orientation on the property then move the property lines and terrain plane and NOT the entire ".plan file" structure in plan view. When you rotate a plan make sure "Angle Snaps" is "ON", otherwise you can lose the entire plan. You should make a "Save As" copy of the existing plan as insurance against anything going wrong due to the rotation. If you do successfully rotate the plan without shooting yourself in the foot by doing so, thereafter all your text and other annotations that exist in planview will remain orientated in the original orientation what a PITA! Or try it and see for yourself as I did yeats ago (I am probably just a crazy ole man any ways) DJP

I agree with Chop in taht you did not say if the picture is from Chief Architect or is a site photo. You did not say what version of Chief or Home Designer you are using. You did not say how you created this, whatever it is and you did not clearly state what you wish you had instead. Please be a little more clear as to what is what DJP

What version of Home Designer Pro are you using, please? Whatever it is, I can and will help you, contact me, please. DJP

I agree with Dermot as to HD Pro but even it is limited by default to how large a native page size you can print to (18"x24"), most residential homes are printed to 24" x 36" or even 36" x 48" paper (it depends upon the size of the home in square feet). The point is to create construction documents that can be easily read by other building professionals who will assist you in permitting and creating the home. DJP

As Tommy said and I agree, learn the tools, dialog boxes, settings of Chief and use it as a tool, and not a misunderstood "partner", this is NOT "rocket science". I gave up waiting for Chief to "do" things long ago and just caused them as I needed and wanted. DJP

The last time I had a overly large PDF file, what I did is to print it using several different PDF printers I have on my PC (Foxit Reader, Microsoft PDF, Chief PDF printer and even Quicken PDF printer until I got the file size I wanted. I do not even remember which one worked (I do not care). DJP

I use the free "Foxit Reader" to print and view PDF's and it has an internal command to "Reduce File Size". I rarely have to use it. The Free Versions also has the ability to add and subtract text and lines which I occasionally use also. When I get un-emailable sized PDF's I first try printing them using a different device to print them other than "Chief Print to PDF" which is quite uncommon anyway and have had success getting a smaller but sharp and crisp PDF to share with others. Only once is the last ten years have I created a PDF file that was too large to email as an attachment, I shared it via my "One Drive" account just fine. DJP

Make sure your mouse and video card drivers are up to date for your devices. Make sure you have no malware or viruses, physically carefully clean the inside of your computer case (I usually do this myself once a month). The only time I have had Chief (any version) crash and freeze was from one or more of the above. DJP

Each time you order "New Plan" from the file menu in any version of Chief Premier, it presents a copy of your "Profile.plan" that is stored in your "C/My Documents/Chief Architect X3 Data/Templates/Profile.plan". If that file or plan file is somehow corrupted you can open it directly in Chief X3 and edit it to suit your personalized needs and perhaps repair any damage you may have accidentally caused earlier. Another option is to reinstall Chief X3 which should overwrite your existing "profile.plan", so if it is corrupted it will be overwritten by a usable "profile.plan". If you no longer have your installation discs, my own X3 "profile.plan" is attached for you to try. Part of using software in a Windows environment is being responsible for knowing a little about computers, software and operating systems, I am not a programmer or software Architect but I have learned enough about such things to get by using Chief. You can do this as well. DJP Profile.zip

I have Chief 7 through X11 active on my Windows 10 PC (7, 9.5 and X1 are installed in a separate hard drive that runs on Windows XP Pro x32). However, the rest (X1- X11) all run happily on Windows 10 with ZERO problems and for many years. I keep my PC clean (I physically clean my case monthly), virus-free, malware-free and all drivers up to date. I have run Windows 10 since it was first released in Beta. The only trouble I ever had with X5 was a mouse driver that, once updated I no longer had any crashes or freezes (it only takes one mouse driver or video card driver to screw things up, Check for that first, then make sure your machine is cleaned and protected/maintained. DJP

You answered your own question in that the camera you need to use is either a "Crosssection/Elevation Camera" or a "Back clip crosssection/elevation camera", only those cameras a pre-programmed to show attic and foundation walls as you have already demonstrated above. DJP

Older versions of Chief are "No longer supported", remember? The trick is you do the installation manually (automatically you are quite correct in that the newly installed files with the same name will overwrite each other). You have to use common sense and keep the files separated. The old files must be added manually as "Custom Materials" to the LB. A bit of a pain but that is what you are confronted with. DJP

Chop, I have X1 through X11 on my PC and they do not bother each other including library files (I can run several of them simultaneously which used to not be true). Each application has its own folders and so they do not overwrite each other at all. It is importing those legacy materials that will be a little complicated. DJP

Steven Green, here is what I found DJP

Thanks for sharing a copy of your plan. I downloaded it and opened, created several camera views and overviews with NO error messages. The plan file navigated normally, no slows. Since you did not add terrain, I have no opinion on the location of the "Safe Room". Commonly, safe rooms are interior rooms that protect one's family from intruders and or the weather, being an interior room adds additional layers of protection for loved ones. DJP

(Copy-Pasted from Home Talk) Tiffany, Thank you for the question. If you are already using Room Planner, you will be able to continue using it. It is not available to purchase or download a s new app, but existing users can still access and download Room Planner. We received feedback from customers that the Room Planner app was lacking in detail and accuracy for capturing as-builts. Chief Architect is if focusing development resources on the desktop apps for OSX and Windows and the 3D Viewer on mobile to ensure we continue to lead the market with these products. Many are using Home Designer on a laptop or tablet computer such as the Microsoft Surface to capture as-builts. Leica offers Bluetooth compatible laser devices that will interface with the computer and Home Designer, so that the measurements will go directly into the Home Designer similar to Room Planner. Here is a help article on how to hook up a Leica device with Home Designer. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01846/using-a-leica-disto-device-with-chief-architect-software.html Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Software Quote Chief Architect Sales sales@chiefarchitect.com 208-292-3400 DIY: HomeDesigner.chiefarchitect.com Pros:chiefarchitect.com Mobile: RoomPlanner.chiefarchitect.com