ClarkeThrasher

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Posts posted by ClarkeThrasher

  1. 8 minutes ago, CJSpud said:

    Without opening your plan, looks like you might have an extra (un-needed) roof plane in the porch area.  Just select it and delete.

    That’s the weird problem — one can’t select, delete, or alter it in any way unless you delete the entire Porch roof assembly!  Which I have done and drawn the entire Porch roof over again and got the same problem again.  Since I was able to successfully have the Full Auto Roof Return before I made the Dormer, I think it may have something to do with that.  

  2. I apologize in advance if this too wordy a dissertation of frustration which I most humbly submit to this golden altar of expertise.  Also, don't know how to create JPEGs  of CA views so PDFs will have to do.

     

    Background: This pre-existing home model I'm drawing is to aid with customer direction in designing and building a custom fence/driveway gate.  I am creating this model from photographs and just a few fast basic exterior dimensions, the bulk of the sizing is based on proportions knowing the siding has a 7" exposure.  It is being drawn from the outside-in so to speak with the roofing a hybrid of both the automatic roofing tool and manual roof planes.  The Dormer was done manually using the Convert Polyline -- Hole in Roof / Custom Ceiling Tool.  The problem being a strange, extra and unwanted roof plane that is created over top the Covered Porch Roof when I select the Auto Roof Return option under the Roof menu for the Front (invisible) Wall of the Porch.  A frustrating feature of the funky extra roof is that it can not be selected deleted or altered in any way!

     

    The #1 view is how the front Porch Roof should look, this being drawn before I drew in the Dormer:   

    #2 view is after I drew the dormer and after I had to redraw and/or edit the Porch Roof but before trying the Auto Roof Return option:

    #3 view is after trying the Auto Roof Return option:

    #1 Porch ARR No Dormer.pdf

    #3 Auto Roof Return Full Funky.pdf

    #2 Porch Gable pre AFR.pdf

    Porch Roof with Extra Roof Plane Prob.plan

  3. 2 hours ago, robdyck said:

    I'll use whichever tool Chief has that works the best for me to get real accuracy. If I'm drawing a custom tile shower and I choose to use a p-solid or molding or 3D molding etc, I'll also model in every construction layer, especially if I'm including a detail on the plans. Depending on who I'm drawing for, I find accurate illustrated details are more relevant than CAD details. You probably wouldn't need me to dimension something like a shower but illustrated can be helpful to you or your employees and trades. Example: A builder I work for likes 3 treated 2X4s's glued and screwed for a shower curb. I'll show that, as well as cement board, waterproofing membranes, thinset, tile and tile trims and I'll model it with layer setbacks so each layer is visible and labeled. The illustration above was modeled using Chief and it's typical of how I model (not draw) details.

    CAN'T TOUCH THAT!!!  I mean, very cool, but I hardly know of what you are speaking.  Your builder is very lucky to have you.

     

    I will go ahead to 11X, haven't even put 10 on my laptop yet.

  4. Being able to copy and paste manufacturer content on plans is one of the cool things that you can do with CA and I have utilized that ability in past.  I've been using CA for a very long time but I'm not a hotshot with it as some are here. I usually just struggle through each plan, catch as catch can, learning new tricks as I need to.  I'm more of a carpenter/general contractor than a designer and one of the things I strive to do is make the model or plans as close as possible to real constructed reality.  So I feel like using a polyline solid to create a shower wall and curb is kind of like cheating, the easy way out, as very few things are actually built that way.  Having to do "work arounds" to trick the program into doing what you need done can be irritating.  Paying $500 a year subscription for a program that really does not improve all that much from year to year is also somewhat irritating.  I just upgraded from X9 to 10 and I haven't noticed anything startlingly new and improved yet...

  5. WOW, very nice, robdyck, I'm very impressed!  These addition plans I am working on will be the first time I've been in the building permits office in about 2 years so i am braced for any number of new requirements.  I think showing the flashing details is a good thing.  Not enough and really zero to none inspection attention has been given to the building paper, flashing, waterproofing of structure in my locality, Norfolk, VA in the past. 

  6. I appreciate your help as it seems that catalogs for builder/new construction vinyl windows that have size and bay window construction details are a thing of the past I think because they will make virtually any size within limits.  I just used an old Anderson catalog to approximate a conventional size and layout.

  7. Ok, Solver, thank you, I thought my question was fairly specific but I will try better next time and I appreciate your time and consideration.  You will have to tell me how to post images directly.  I'm using X9 but will upgrade to latest when i get the chance.

     

    SNestor, thank you so much for your time and consideration as well, I will be working through your directions presently.  Cracks me up how fast you can toggle, mouse (a verb?), and click through your commands, BRAVO!

  8. What I haven't found here is a suitable way to make a shower curb WITHOUT a door over it for a large walk-in shower that does not need a door.  I tried a Polyline Solid but it did not mate seamlessly with it's adjacent tile wall.  I created a Pony Wall with a 6" tall lower wall and an appropriate width (5-1/4") "Nothing" wall above, but that leaves framing showing at ceiling and its adjacent wall intersection.

     

    Curb Prob.pdf

  9. To avoid confusion, I fine myself wanting to change a couple of file names rather than saving files to new names and deleting the old. BUT, there are multiple files (backup files or what?) for each of the two originally named files -- do I have to change each of these files individually or can I simply change the name of latest copy or save and the backup files will follow suit?  The more I think of it, saving files to new names and deleting the old files seems easier, bottom line is, I just want to avoid some catastrophic loss of work.

     

     

  10. I have copied and created a Cameras 2 layer but can't figure out how to change an existing wall section camera from the Cameras to Cameras 2 layer so that I can control it's display as opposed to other cameras in my floor plan view.  Basically, I want to see my wall section elevations but not my orthographic overview lines which are there I guess because they are on layout pages.

  11. Well, just to follow up on my story.  I went ahead and got almost the most bodacious iMac 27" I could except I didn't go for the all solid state memory which was something like a $600 upgrade.  All in all, I am very happy with my choice -- it's very fast, everything is fast -- even reboots.  Not much to learn new, main thing is copy and paste -- just substitute the keyboard "command" key for the control key used for windows system.  Everything is very intuitive, no sweat, it's very logical.  

     

    One caution for small business owners: 

    1) QuickBooks for Mac is not as good as that for Windows.  Most importantly, it does not integrate with Turbo Tax so I will have to convert my company file back to Windows and work on my old Dell to do my taxes.  Not a big deal really, I'm probably going to get a new Dell just for that purpose unless Intuit can guarantee me they will remedy this shortcoming in the next year or two.  Won't hold my breath.  I gave serious consideration to returning the iMac over this issue but decided against it cause I just like the thing so much.

     

    As far as Chief Architect X8 differences or problems:

    1) The Mac version doesn't have the slider buttons at the bottom and right side for moving the page view.  I didn't realize how much I must have used them in the Windows version, I have learned to use the keyboard arrow buttons and the CA zoom features for this purpose.  Speaking of the keyboard -- the fancy Apple wireless Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad 2 are a waste of money.  I very quickly had to get the $49 wired Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad and I'm very happy with it.

    2) Only one little relatively minor annoyance that I will have to research: the Magic Mouse 2 (which I love) moves across the CA screen sluggishly, it kind of drags.  I don't know whether this is because it is wireless or what or if there is a fix for this.  

     

    One slight caution if you use WordPerfect Office Suite including the Quattro Pro Spreadsheet program: no Mac version.  No biggie, you can easily convert a QP file to Microsoft Excel as part of the "save as" function of QP and Excel is very similar to QP.  It took only a few days to get up to speed on Excel.

     

     

  12. Postscript, leaning heavily toward Mac Pro, but I have to say that all it takes for me is one visit to an Apple Store, as on Friday, to turn be back.  Can't stand the snarky, snobby attitude of their reps and that even if you get there in the morning when the store opens it takes more then 2 hours just to get a simple problem with a phone addressed.  I left after 2 hours still waiting after fixing the problem myself with trial and error.

  13. Question for Steve, AKA SNestor, were the differences you had to learn mostly relative to operating CA or just in general using any software with the Mac OS?

     

    As far as my CA work, it is often very intense because I often draw the entire pre-existing home before the proposed remodeling and since the homes can be as old as 100 years they seldom lend themselves to any of CA's automatic features.  I enjoy being terribly precise, OCD precise, with the dimensions and wall configurations. 

     

    For any of you interested:

     

    This is my present Dell quote and specs (please forgive all the non-relevant info) (i do find all this stuff terribly boring):

    $2,253.01 includes tax:

    Dell Precision Tower 3620 XCTO BASE

    Intel® Xeon® Processor E3-1270 v5 (Quad Core HT 3.6Ghz, 4.0GHz Turbo,8MB)

    Label, Non Active Port,T3620

    Dell Precision Tower 3620 Heatsink (80W)

    Win 10 Pro 64 English, French, Spanish

    Adobe Acrobat Standard DC

    Microsoft Office Home and Business 2016

    Kickstart Product Registration

    Dell Data Protection System Tools

    Digital Delivery/DT SupportAssist

    Dell Precision Optimizer

    Dell Digital Delivery Cirrus Client

    Enable Low Power Mode

    Dell Client System Update (Updates latest Dell Recommended BIOS, Drivers, Firmware and Apps),

    OptiPlex Waves Maxx Audio Dell Developed Recovery Environment

    Dual NVIDIA® Quadro® K420 2GB (DP, DL-DVI-I) (2 DP to SL-DVI adapter)

    No Energy Star

    Dell Precision Tower 3620 Up to 85% efficient 290W Chassis

    US/Thai/Philippines Power Cord

    16GB (2x8GB) 2133MHz DDR4 Non-ECC

    Integrated Intel SATA Controller

    C7 M.2 SSD + 2.5 SATA 1-4 HD

    Non RAID

    M.2 512GB PCIe NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive

    Thermal pad for NVMe SSD

    1TB 2.5 inch SATA (7,200 Rpm) Hard Drive

    No Additional Hard Drive

    No Additional Hard Drive

    No Additional Hard Drive

    Raid Configuration not over 2 TB

     

    16X Half Height DVD +/- RW

    ODD config MOD for HH ODD only or MCR only

    Cyberlink Media Suite Essentials for Windows 10 and DVD drive (without Media)

    No Additional Network Card Selected (Integrated NIC included)

    Thank You for Choosing Dell

    Not Selected in this Configuration

    No PCIe add-in card

    Not Selected in this Configuration

    No Out-of-Band Systems Management

    Dell KB216 Wired Multi-Media Keyboard English Black

    Dell MS116 Wired Mouse, Black

    No Wireless LAN

    No DDP|ESS Software

    No DDPE Encryption Software

    No Stand included

    Not Selected in this Configuration

    Windows 10 Pro OS Recovery 64bit - DVD

    Dell Precision Resource DVD

    Placemat Documentation

    No External Speaker

    US Order

    SHIP,PWS,LNK,NO,NO,AMF

    Shipping Material for System, Mini Tower, DAO

    Tower 3620 Regulatory Label DAO

    No UPC Label

    No Intel Rapid Start or Smart Connect

    Intel XEON Processor Label

    Thank you choosing Dell ProSupport. For tech support, visit http://support.dell.com/ProSupport or call 1-866-516-3115

    Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus Service

    ProSupport: 7x24 Technical Support, 5 Years

    ProSupport: Next Business Day Onsite, 5 Years

    Safety/Environment and Regulatory Guide (English/French/Dutch) 

  14. Many thanks to all off you!  Budget: I guess it would be $3000 not including monitor since that is cost of the entry level Mac Pro.  I can get a pretty darn powerful custom machine with Office and other software from Dell for about $1800.  I did search the forum about the issue but it was hard to see the forest for the trees, too esoteric and not pointed enough for my non techie self.  A good friend of mine that uses both Mac Pro and Windows for production of corporate shows recommended I stick with Windows I think just because that's what I am accustomed to.  Makes sense, the idea of taking 2 weeks to learn the Apple way sounds impractical. But any past bias against Apple has been blown away by the seamless and intuitive operation system of iPhone.  The constant Windows upgrades and security worries just get on my nerves.  The idea of great gaming machine makes sense to me and i will run that by my Dell salesman.

     

    Again, many thanks to you all!

  15. Time to get a new CPU for my little design build home remodeling business and my question is: iMac, Mac Pro, or PC?  And in regards to this, are any of you using the new Mac Pro Quad-Core and Dual GPU -- the base Mac Pro?  If I don't go Apple, it will probably be Dell since that's what I have always had in the past.