kylejmarsh

I have mine set-up for left-hand only. I did a spreadsheet where I mapped all the possible combos for my left hand - including with modifiers, etc, and ranked them by how difficult they were to physically do. For example, 'F' would be probably the easiest key to press. Then I did another spreadsheet where I listed the tools I use in chief, and how frequently I use them. For example, I use 'open object' quite a bit. I also flip door swings, make dimensions, do point to point move, etc. I listed all these out, and ranked them by how often I use them. Remember to consider 3D views as well, and Layout - because you only get one set of hotkeys - they don't change based on the view. Then I mapped the two lists together. It took a bit of work. But I almost never put my right hand on the keyboard, and I never have to look at the keyboard, so I'm blazing fast and it feels very natural. It's a lot of work but was worth it for me.

Wondering if there's a way to drop the '0' which is generated in front of the schedule numbers. It adds size to my labels and most of the time there are less than 10 items so it wouldn't be confusing - but I haven't been able to find any options where we can omit this automatically generated zero. Anybody have any tips or insight?

make sure 'rebuild attic walls' is turned on in general->wall settings. Also, open the dialog box about the wall in question. find the 'baloon through ceiling above' option and check it. then go to the roof tab and make sure the wall type is changed from 'hipped' to 'gable'. this should fix it

OH if you want to enlist his help, he's very easy to work with and can ship anywhere. The current model is basically your house with a removable roof - I printed the floor plans in watercolor view and pasted inside for a neat effect. His website is: https://aa3dmodels.com

Worked for a few iterations with a local 3D print guy and he found the chief export was just not a workable solution. Tried going through all the export formats, .stl, .obj, .dae, .dwg - nothing worked, even went as far to try opening them in sketchup and then export again through sketchup. This helped a bit but wasn't perfect. In the end, my guy found it was faster to model everything in his solid modeling software - since it was an 1/8" print the detail didn't have to be too intense. Still was pricy though - until this integration is seamless it's not worth it IMHO. Chief, how about it? OR alternatively, allow for 3rd party plugins I'm sure some company would write an export plugin....

Oh I should mention - I decided against the 2013 Mac Pro tower because it didn't have Thunderbolt3, it only had Thunderbolt2, which you can't run an eGPU through (unless you do some hacking, and I wanted to avoid that as I'm too busy to tinker with it - needed something off the shelf although I would have enjoyed doing a hack...). So that's why I didn't go with the tower setup - stared doing some research and the Mac Mini has great stats for being so cheap - in fact it's right up there with the new iMac Pro, except for the GPU (although it has a perfectly fine 1.5GB unit installed). Since I wanted to get my own GPU it was perfect.

So I ended up choosing the following, and it is so sweet, I wish I did it a long time ago (of course the tech to do it just came out): - New Mac Mini, 3.2GHz x 6 cores. Cost about $1800 - Exterior enclosure from OWC with the ATI Radeon RX580 GPU @ 8GB . Cost about $500. So using the Thunderbolt3 connector to utilize an eGPU, which then connects to my monitor. I still have my old Macbook Pro for working away from the desk (couch, cafe, etc) and it's plenty good and runs Chief just *fine*, especially if I avoid using Layout which speeds things up - so fine for basic modeling. But wow - what a difference this has made. I can bounce back and forth between layout and the model file very quickly. In layout, the views update way faster. I can run full shadows and lights on my 3D camera when modeling. It just feels very 'snappy' for everything - and I love it. Oh, and I can run stacked / tiled windows with elevation cameras, section cameras, plan views and 3D together and it is still fast enough to work that way. Pretty cool. Best $2300 I've spent yet.

I'm interested in building a new Mac setup for running Chief. Currently I have a Mid-2014 Macbook Pro, 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7, 4 Cores, w/Nvidia GeForce GT 750M 2048MB GPU. This setup will run Chief Models well until they get to about 3000 SF - by 'well' I mean they are pretty lag-free in 3D mode (with optimized exterior camera i.e. cabinet, interior casing, plumbing layers 'off' to decrease total modeled polygons). I've noticed that on a recent 6000 sf project, I was often waiting for the model to 'rebuild' even getting a dialog at times - my productivity was way down, and I was frustrated (and bored at the same time - waiting for all that refresh time.) In Layout, I'm often waiting for views to refresh / render for me, especially 'plot line' views - even when I'm working with a smaller model, in order to make a set of CD's it seems that I wait just a bit too long for everything to happen - especially if this is my business. So it seems I've located a place where my current setup is lacking. I'm committed to running a Mac - although the concepts of a setup should be similar even if you're planning a PC. Mostly I'm using Chief to create models of homes and renovations of 1500 - 4500 sf, and to create Construction Docs from the model. I do a few renderings through the course of the process, but no video exports. Mostly I'm interested in a model that rebuilds quickly, and layout views that update quickly - and if I could eliminate that tiny lag that happens with pretty much every operation - then I'd really be happy. What do I need Chief to do? 1. A model that rebuilds quickly 2. Layout views that update quickly What Computer do I need to make this happen? I'm tempted to get a Mac Pro tower from a few years ago which has twin 3GB video cards, bumping me from 2GB to 6GB. This also would have 6 cores, each running at 3.5 GHz - vs. my current 4 core / 2.5 GHz setup. I can get one of these for $1800 - so as soon as it saves me 18 hours it's all gravy after that. In regards to the Model Rebuilding time, it seems like the video card upgrade won't do much to help my cause. From what I can gather, the model rebuilds itself using only one core, no GPU, and so is entirely dependent on the clock speed of your processor - so going from 2.5 to 3.5 would be almost a doubling, which is nice - but not the kind of gains I was hoping for (but I may just have to settle for). // I read something recently by a Chief Programmer which said the model had to be rebuilt in a certain order, and thats why they couldn't split it across the different cores. I wonder why they can't at least split each floor level on a core, and the terrain on another core - but I'm not a coder so I can't answer why not. There's probably a good reason. My question is - and I haven't been able to find any info about it - is what effect does the video card have on Layout Views updating? I did some basic testing using the Activity Monitor utility, watching CPU and GPU history as wall as CPU load graphs, and got the following results: Creating Plot Lines (Layout) seems to rely on the CPU, but seems to split the load across all the Processor Cores. So for this, I assume more cores is better, as well as processor speed. GPU seems to be idle during this process. Working in Elevation View (actually an orthographic camera of the 3D model). Zooming in and out, the load split across processor cores. Manipulating the model and waiting for the model to update, we also get multi-core activity, and little action on the GPU. The only time we get GPU action is when we look at things in the 3D exterior camera - standard rendering style. So I guess that leaves me with some answers. It basically seems like: 1. The GPU isn't a big deal, and even my 2GB card is pretty good 2. More Cores + more speed are my friend. Although the graphs don't have a number, watching the percentage on the processor shows that it was hitting 100% during the layout zoom operations - so I'm out of processor. So this changes what I buy somewhat. Guess I'm looking for Cores + Speed instead of upgrading to a massive video card. Does anyone else have insight to this?

Great help - I've avoided the %area tag because it was too precise

I'm not sure if this is related but sometimes I find exporting to pdf at 144dpi keeps this shift from occurring.

It does work! Wow I've been thwarted by this issue so many times - never new how to work through it. Never again! Thanks Alaskan Son

Remapped the hotkeys - it's pretty much required if you're going to be using it every day. All programs. I have created a spreadsheet with the most used tools / key combos, then rank them by how often they're used. Then I made another list with LEFT HAND ONLY hotkeys - single, double, cominations with modifiers (ctl, shift, etc). Then I rank those by how easy they are to do. Then I just compare the lists, bite the bullet, and remap everything. I print out the list for reference. A day or so of pain, and you are totally remapped for one-handed cad, and your right hand stays on the mouse. Very rarely do you have both hands on the keyboard. It really speeds things up if you have an exterior numberpad that you can put over near your mouse - then that becomes your number hand. It's a pretty sweet setup once you get it set.

HACK: When you set your backdrop 'horizontal angle' you can go PAST 360 degrees, and it will rotate your backdrop around without distorting it, but will change the origin point. This seems to work pretty well for 'live' 3d views. It seems to break down when you get into renderings though - see the attached images - the live 3d view has it correct, but when rendered it seems to jump.

Just found this topic - running into the issue of not being able to rotate the backdrop. Seems like a bit of a dead-end feature until they give us ability to adjust the rotation angle of the backdrop. Should I start an official request?

200k?? THAT is amazing. I like the cabin idea though

Until you read the exemptions, it all sounds pretty scary. But then you look at the exemptions and it sounds pretty reasonable - basically the same as here in Michigan. I was wrong about the commercial building though, but looks like you can do commercial (nonstructural) interiors based on item d

12-25-303. Exemptions. (1) Nothing in this part 3 shall prevent any person, firm, corporation, or association from preparing plans and specifications for, designing, planning, or administering the construction contracts for construction, alterations, remodeling, additions to, or repair of, any of the following: (a) One-, two-, three-, and four-family dwellings, including accessory buildings commonly associated with such dwellings; (b) Garages, industrial buildings, offices, farm buildings, and buildings for the marketing, storage, or processing of farm products, and warehouses, that do not exceed one story in height, exclusive of a one-story basement, and, under applicable building codes, are not designed for occupancy by more than ten persons; (c) Additions, alterations, or repairs to the buildings referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection (1) that do not cause the completed buildings to exceed the applicable limitations set forth in this subsection (1); (d) Nonstructural alterations of any nature to any building if such alterations do not affect the life safety of the occupants of the building.

Recently looked it up because I have a project in the Boulder Area that I designed. From what I could find the laws about design in colorado are as follows: - No limit on square footage for residential construction. you could design a million square foot house if somebody wanted it, no stamp required - commercial buildings 1 story tall, no stamp req - can do up to a 4-family home (so a condo or apartment), no stamp req. There are other things you can do too. It's pretty awesome. Legal - Colorado+ Architects Practice Act.pdf

Thanks Alaskan Son - good advice on best practices. I'm moving that direction with everything as well - notes on the plan.

WORK AROUND / FIX: If the leaders are snapping to the viewport, we just need to give them something else to snap to. My idea was to use a 'box', which covers the viewport (actually would cover the entire sheet I guess and sits on some layer between the viewport and the leader line. IF the box was the sheet size, it would never need to be resized (maybe there's a way to put it on the 0 sheet? will need more testing...) I think there needs to be a 'fill' in the box, so I added one and made it 100% transparent. Then put my leader lines on top of that, resized the viewport, and VIOLA! the lines stay put. PROBLEM SOLVED (KINDA)

So this brings me to the following question: CHIEF - what is going on here? Is there some functionality that is supposed to be helping us out by having the leader lines move around like this? IS this a bug or a feature - and if it's a feature, why are all these seasoned pros commenting with things like 'we don't use that'. Are we all missing something here? IF not, can you possibly review the code that is driving this issue? Even breaking the link between the viewport and the leader lines would be preferable to what is happening here. Thank you!

Attached is a test I made to check the following: - Does the way a view is sent to plan change leader line behavior on viewport resize - is there any difference whether the viewport is sent as 'current screen' or 'full'? - Does turning off the the 'object snap' option before placing leader lines allow them to float free of the viewport and therefore not get messed up when the viewport is resized? IT appears that the answer to both these questions is NO - it doesn't make a difference. I took the same model view, sent it to layout both ways, then made a leader text on each with the snap on and the snap off. Then I resized the viewport from the bottom edge, and moved the bottom edge up to cut-off the deck slightly. All of the leader lines were messed up, equally. Finally, I tried using 'grid snaps'. The result was the same:

NICE catch Chopsaw - I bet that's it. Because some viewports have that problem, while others do not. I'll check but I bet some are 'full model' send overs and some are 'current screen'. Will double check and post results.

Thanks Mike and Joe, you've confirmed what I thought I might have to do - notes in the plan it is!

Look down at the bottom right of this file. Lines have moved all over. This was done using Arrow, not Leader Line, and text notes. But the Leader Lines do a similar dance. Originally these lines pointed to relevant parts of the drawing...