architect

Slight off topic rant...so ridiculous the over regulation in this industry at this point. Now we have to build houses so tight to save "energy" but you then have to put a big hole in the house in the form of makeup/outside air ventilation so humans can actually breathe without passing out.... Eric

I think renting per month is now an option... Eric

David, Thank you I will try that.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to accomplish the attached ADA type curb ramp in 3D (x10) and or a symbol import.? Thanks in advance. Eric

Thank you rlackore, I have been looking for symbols like that. Was this an imported symbol from the manufacturers web site ? Thanks, Eric

Can anyone offer ideas on how to create an ADA/ANSI117 compliant curb ramp like the one in the picture below and get it to work with a road & sidewalk in Chief. x10 Maybe it needs to be made in sketch up and imported as a symbol? Thanks in advance. Eric curb ramp.pdf

Thank you Chief for fixing this in new x10 release. Now I just need to be able to show that ADA curb ramp.... Eric

If the room has stuff in it (furniture, cats, fish tanks) then it is going to scan all that stuff too and obstruct walls...?...... Eric

What is the end of days scenario........ Say "Rocket Man" push's his little button but only wipes out Idaho and the CA server (tough break guys). I still got to get some drawings out before the cloud makes it East and while the little man push's his big button in winning retort. Say even 30 days elapses with out internet. Does the software stop working altogether on an installed machine with out internet or just the activate/ deactivate feature?. If you use harness the radiation from the fallout cloud to power your desktop and never close the program will the program work forever? Just trying to plan ahead. Eric

The dashed line spacings (and line weights) will look/be different in a layout when a view is sent at different scale than the plan file is set at.... You may need to select different versions of the dashed line types chief supplies or make your own that work with the scale in just that layer set used with the detail in layout Eric..

Thanks for validating my sanity (for now). I will run this up the food chain at ART

Thank you for your feedback. The problem being that in real life a sidewalk bumps up against a 6" wide curb not over it. Faking it to show it correctly in 3D creates all sorts of 2D drafting and area calculation problems. If I start a drawing from an old x8 plan with the curb handles the "old way" it works correctly in x9. Copying an x8 era curb into a new x9 file does not. Eric .

The pictures show a plan view and 3d view of a curb and side walk in x9. Although the sidewalk is drawn to the backside of the curb in plan it shows 6" away from the curb in 3d. This is most disturbing.......Hopefully it is user error and I am missing an inside-out setting or something. Also, prior versions (x8) had the curb "handles" at the back side of the curb but has been moved to the inside face of the curb. I am no longer able to "fill" the curb itself within plan view. Any way to fill in the curb other than creating another cad polyline and layer. Thanks Again, Eric

I would always fill my road polylines and the fill would go to the back of the curb. Today in a new x9 plan I see the fill stops at the curb leaving curb blank. Is this a new thing? Is there a way to fill the curb? Thanks in advance Eric

Surface Pro 5 due out any week/month now...... Eric

The Xeons I believe have slower clock speeds and Chief does not take much advantage of all the cores. Most Architectural software will bog down with larger projects having endless doors, cabinets, etc. I just finished a 74 unit 3 story project in x8. Things got a little slow towards the end but it was worth it.... Maybe x9 will speed up somethings Turn off auto rebuilt floors and setting layer sets to use during editing.. Working on the building like a jelly donut and not adding all the interior door, walls, interior stuff until the end. Separate layers for interior, exterior, bearing walls to turn on and off. Copy and paste in place from floor to floor. Managing different unit types and global changes is a challenge so try to update via copy & paste. The PDF of my final drawing is too large ! If you need to model/present the exterior and your buildings trim and or pitched roofs you will want to stick with Chief as I am finding the other "advanced" programs are tedious to work with if you are not building glass boxes.

For some site presentations I currently have been copying an image from my county GIS map web site and fudging it to fit scale and location. If you did not care about topo/elevation date is there a way to import a sat photo at the right scale/location/orientation. I know my state has some form of downloadable GIS map info.... Maybe this is what the original poster is asking also.... Eric

Past forum posts have indicated that the Mac-in-Chief does not spell check words with all capital letters due to a quirk in the Apple OS. If true that is a problem for working drawings...???? I see the icloud version of "Pages" will spell check all cap words.? Eric

Wondering how an updated Room Planner will work with the new 13" Ipad Pro........ I have been using a photographers tripod with an Ipad mount to carry from room to room. Trying other ipad programs with more features as well such as Redstick Site cad. I think at this moment in time (other then pen and paper) my best approach may be working right in chief using a light weight laptop with trackball on the tripod and using the Laser measure in "manual" mode entering dimensions via keyboard. (this avoids some fumbling with the laser input and odd dimensions). My use is for measuring commercial retail and office spaces. If I had a Homeowner following me around yapping at me I would probably revert back to pen and paper. Digital site measures always seem to take twice as long with people watching......

Nothing is Auto about AutoCAD....... AutoCAD Light may be a good way to go and there is a free trial period Import/export with chief works well but you will not be able to maintain AutoCAD's "Paper Space" function which is the equivalent of Chief's "Layout " function. Eric

I believe most BIM/CAD architectural software have equal "New version not backward compatible" and hardware/driver nightmares at much higher cost to stay current. It seems AutoDesk will not be selling licensed versions anymore. Everyone on a subscription,everyone on a time basis. If you do not pay you do not play..no more "owning" software versions. Don't let Big Brother win...All Hail The Chief. Eric

It does in fact work like a charm if both solids are created in an elevation view. I does not seem to function otherwise....I get a "no polyline of same type found" message. I was trying to model a complicated foundation with some different top of wall conditions and piers etc. The polyline "wall" I am trying to build needs to be created in plan and the "holes" made in elevation. I think I will go back to modifying "real" walls and openings and adding solid polylines for piers and notch in walls. Another add to the 'Chief Architect Commercial' requested feature list... Integral concrete wall piers(engaged pilasters)with variable sized pier footings and top of pier heights. Thanks again..

Is it possible to put a "vertical" hole in a polyline slab/solid similar to a window opening in a wall. i.e. put a hole in a slab from an elevation view..? Thank You in Advance. Eric

Thanks....it only happens with trusses. And the bearing tool did not help. I switched over to "joists" for the drawing with no issues.

I did a search and looked at the manual but found no info. If I am drawing a joist layout plan with manual joists and I have joists that are at an angle to each other (not 90 or 180 deg) the joists like to extend themselves to another joist with out asking. Is there a way to prevent this from happening ?? Thanks for you help in advance.... Eric