tchomes

We use the tools --> Reference Plan Files so that we only have one place to go to change all the elevation views. As we get closer to finals, we may have 20-30 elevation/cross section, cabinet views and doing them individually would be very time consuming. Again, this is something that has just started happening with X16, so hoping there was a toggle to turn this feature off. Also, typically when re-linking to the latest file, our Plot Line Views will automatically turn on color when we click to save the .pdf the first time. So we usually have to "print to pdf" twice. The first time it goes through and updates the views and makes them color. We close that one and then we can re-print to .pdf and it will be correct. This doesn't happen everytime, but often enough that our designers have to check before closing and saving. We have 60+ open projects at any given time in our office and most of my designers are making small updates to 3-4 projects per day, so this is a time consuming task that we didn't have in X15. We pride ourselves on trying to be as efficient as possible.

I appreciate the feedback, but we only use Plot Lines. We never use Live View.

We create versions for the .plan and .layout file for each time we send it to the customer so we can revert back to previous versions if needed. So our process includes renaming the .plan and .layout each time and re-linking it in the .layout file. When X16 came about, now when you re-link to a new filename, it automatically goes and updates all the elevations views (Exterior cameras as well as wall elevations). I am wondering how to turn this off? This can be very time consuming when working on older files as well as when making minor adjustments to files. All view Dependent Edits are lost as it refreshes the view. I am sure this is a nice feature that was requested by some, but it has negative drawback to my design firm. I appreciate letting me know where to uncheck this feature. Thank you.

So far, so good...

Having a problem with the program seeming to crash repeatedly. The error message is below. Has anyone seen this and been able to correct the problem?

Thanks everyone for their comments. I’ve decided to switch all of our future meetings to Teams and we will try it out. I won’t cancel my zoom subscription until we used TEAMS for a month or so without hiccups. I’ve decided not to get Teams integrated VoIP phones. Seems shortsighted initially. Thanks again everyone!

I did a search before writing this, but didn't find anything quickly so.... For those of you that share your Chief screen with a client while doing design work, have you had any issues with Teams vs Zoom? I ask as we have been using Zoom since COVID, but thinking of switching to MS Teams since we already have the license with Office 365 and are looking to integrate TEAMS phones. However, I read that MS Teams can have some issues when sharing video with lots of users. The most we have on our design meetings is 3-4 users, so unsure if the articles are talking about 100's of users as in a general sales meeting or classroom setting, or if sharing video like Chief, would be problematic... Not a big issue to switch back, except for the fact that we may get hardware for our office phones that would be setup for VOIP with MS Teams. not sure if the hardware will still work if we switch back to Zoom and go with another VOIP provider. Thanks in advance for your great knowledge!

and that is why I posted this in the suggestions section so that maybe the program can be changed to offer this as a room style.

Hello, My name is Scott with Tracy's Custom Homes in Texas. I am trying to figure out how to make a "Room Type" for our porches and patios. I want the patio floor to be dropped 1.5" all the way around. I used the Garage room type. This was the only one I could find that would allow you to lower the slab floor. How can I make a room type that will allow you to lower the slab floor for a porch and can be saved to our master template for everyone to use?

Thanks for both of your ingenious ideas! I used the polyline as a road perimeter with a curb. I had to set the curb 1" tall for it to show all the brick as it appeared the terrain was cutting the curb otherwise. I used the road marking for the cross bands. In hindsight, I may could have used the road again, as the road marking you can't set the defualt height and it creates a little bit of a "toe trip hazard", but for my CD's, it won't be noticeable. Thanks again for your creativity! I knew I could count on Chief Talk.

I am needing to add brick inlay boarder and strips in a sidewalk for a customer. Normally in Texas, everything is flat and I just create a molding polyline on the sidewalk and that takes care of it. This customer is building with a little bit of terrain and wants an exposed porch, so the sidewalk doesn't lay flat... I'm sure some of you have figured this out, so I am all ears! Let me know your tricks. Attached is my polyline trick, which doesn't follow the terrain like my sidewalk does. I'm moving on to some other items on my clients list and will check back in when you all have solved my dilemna. Thanks in advance for being super smart!

We are a small design firm (5 employees) and I am looking to bring in an additional designer. Prefer Chief experience, which is why I am posting here. We work out of our design office located in Farmersville, TX. We are NOT looking for remote work. We do full design (floor plans, elevations, cabinet design, electrcial...) and work with about 26 custom home builders NE of the Dallas area. If interested, please review our job posting at indeed.com. Send resume to: roy@tracyscustomhomes.com Thank you, Roy www.tracyscustomhomes.com

Awesome Eric. I never checked the line style at the bottom. I have no idea how that got changed. I REALLY appreciate you finding that. If I can assist you sometime to pay you back, let me know.

Sorry Eric, I have added the file to my original post. Thanks

I am working on electrical on a plan and I have placed all my electrical symbols and now I go back and add electrical connections between the switches and lights. However, after picking the end points the line disappears and doesn't actually draw a connection. I have had this happen before when working on a legacy plan and I closed it and restarted and everything worked fine. This time, I have closed Chief and restarted my machine and still it won't show up. Anyone else have this issue and know how to fix it? I can draw a line or arc and put it on the electrical layer, but I have a shortcut key to the electrical connections which makes it much quicker. I am working on a final set and the customer is expecting thier plans by the end of the day.... Thanks for your help in advance. Minchew Residence b.zip

I am looking for someon in the Dallas area that is familiar with Chief Architect and is willing to work out of our Farmersville, TX office. We are located east of McKinney about 20min. We have an influx of work that my team is not able to keep up with. This would be a temporary job, but potentially could turn into full-time if demand sustains. We have been in business for 14 years and are growing. We currently have three designers and a customer relations manager in the office. First Class Setup with sit/stand desk and high end computers. Need to have Chief Architect Experience. Do not have to have their own license. Willing to work 40hr weeks We use our own custom templates and design process. Easy to learn and implement. NOT LOOKING FOR REMOTE WORK. Need someone in office as we work in volume and multiple projects/day. Available immediately. If interested, contact: Roy Homfeld Tracy's Custom Home Designs roy@tracyscustomhomes.com (903) 274-6022 111 Farmersville Pkwy, Ste 300 Farmersville, TX www.tracyscustomhomes.com

The issue is X11 "Auto Updates All Views" after the relinking to the new reference plan file. It doesn't matter if you create the new file names within Chief or out of Chief, or plan file first and then layout file or vice versa. This is new to X11 and never has been an issue before. I have reported it to Chief to see if they can fix it or make it an option for those who requested this feature be added. Our layout line edits have to be redone, let alone the 1-2 minutes it takes to update all the views on final drawings when we are only trying to update a text box or something minor... Hopefully a fix soon.

I'm not on a MAC.

I am experiencing a very slow processing time (20-30 seconds) when doing my "save as" routine. Each time we work on a file and send a revision to a customer, I do a save-as on both the plan and layout file, then I have to re-link the new plan file to the new layout file, by changing the "Reference Plan File" on the layout sheet. I have been doing this since Version 10, not an issue and just a part of our process. However, I have noticed with X11, that it appears to be updating all my views (non-live views) during this process and greatly slows down the once, 2-3 second process. With cabinet elevations and exterior elevations, it can take up to 20-30 seconds to make this change. Most of the time, I haven't made any changes to the .plan file and do not need my .layout file updated. All of my elevation view dependent edits have to be redone and my isometric views sometimes go off the page and I have to re-find them and center. If I am only making a callout change, I don't want to have to spend 15 minutes, checking everything again due to this process. I am hoping someone from Chief can tell me if this is true or not, or if something else is going on during the change "Reference Plan Files" on the layout page? If this is an option to turn off, I would like to know that as well. Thank you, Roy

Thanks for trying it. I don't seem to be having an issue with other X11 files, so maybe it was a random act??? I'll move along. Thanks again. Roy

This may be a one off issue, but I just opened a previously saved plan in X10, in X11. I made two callout changes, and then went to print the .pdf using Chief Architect's "Print to PDF" option and my file size increased from 2.4Mb to 10.1Mb for the .pdf. The .plan and .layout files stayed basically the same. I checked my "Print to PDF" options and they are the same and set to 600 dpi. I haven't noticed these large file sizes on jobs started in X11. I have attached the .plan and .layout in X11. Typically my .pdf files are 2-4 Mb. The reason I caught this is because my web hosting company limits the size of my uploads to 8Mb and this file was too large. Just curious to see if anyone else has this issue? Thanks, Roy Leonard CofC Parsonage.zip

Thanks for the input Rene. I guess the main reasons I would like to share the User Library is so that when someone else works on a file, the they don't get the annoying "can't find library item" without having to backup entire plan each time. We may touch 6-7 projects each day with minor updates, so backing up entire plan becomes laborsome. I also like the idea of being able to share content within the office. Currently, each has there own and when someone creates something cool or timesaving, then they share it. I definitely wouldn't want to run into an issue where there are multiple libraries on the cloud because multiple people were editing it at once, which can happen with several employees. Again, thanks for the advice.

For the past 12 years, I have been working out of a home office using Chief. I have added employees over the years, but they either work in my dual office or work remotely and we share files on OneDrive. Now, I am moving my company to some office space so that everyone can be together in one environment and I can have the designers involved with the client meetings. Question for those that have employees and an office: 1. How do you recommend to setup file sharing? Our new location has pretty good internet (300Gb/s) and wired connections, so I have thought about continuing to use One Drive or buy a dedicated server. 2. If I use a dedicated server in the office, can I back up the files to OneDrive or another Cloud based system so that we have access to them should we work from home on Friday's or need to get to a file after hours? 3. User Library - Is there a way to put this on a server or OneDrive so that everyone has access to the same User Library. All of my employees create new CAD blocks or custom materials from time to time to improve efficiency. We have them all caterogized, but it would be nice to have the same library so we don't have to remember to export the new items to each other. Any recommendations for how this might could work in an office enviornment as well as those who work remotely? 4. We are very efficient users, so I do not want to "Slow Down" productivity waiting on easy tasks if putting the User Library on the Cloud or storing our files on the Cloud will slow down processing times on my employees local machines. I am looking for advantages and disadvantages from those that have tried the above. Hoping to gleam some "business" knowledge from other business owners. Thank you in advance...

Also, I noticed in the Room Label, the interior dimensions show up as Centimeters, but the area calculation still shows up as sqft. Not a big deal as I can turn off the area layer, but kind of odd irregularity.

I completed a plan for a church being built in Africa by a mission group. They have now asked me to put all the dimensions in Metric instead of Imperial. I figured out how to change my dimensions and room labels to show centimeters, but how to do I change the window and door schedule to show centimeters instead of inches? Thank you in advance. This will probably be the only plan I ever create with "metric" units.