kylejmarsh

My Leader Lines keep moving around in Layout any time I update the viewport, or even change the model. I've tried turning off 'object snaps' in layout to keep them from snapping to the viewport, yet they still continue to dance around erratically. The Arrow line does this as well. I feel like I've tried everything to keep it from happening, short of putting all my notes on the model itself instead of in Layout. Any ideas where I might be going wrong? Have tried 'Auto-Position Head/Tail' and all the rest.

Just checking - no option to create a squiggly line huh? SKP had a nice line generation plugin where you could create styles, etc.... would be excellent to have for my concept renderings. Guess I could always do a plan view ortho with a 'line drawing'.

Thanks Ken! So it turns out the trick to doing a point-to-point COPY is to first hit the object Copy/Paste button, then hit the Point to Point Move button. Then you click the start point to reference, then the end point. This is very useful because I can copy a note or CAD object exactly where I need it without having to move it. With my Hotkey setup, it's a very simple operation. You can also use copy in conjunction with the Reflect About Object command as well. Cheers..

Good morning! Working through some CAD details and wondering if there is a way to do a point-to-point copy? I don't see a tool for it. It's a bummer to have to copy something, then position it. I wonder if I'm missing a trick here on how to do this? Thanks for the help!

This is amazing. Thank you!

One more - it would be nice to have the ability to include a horizontal trim board above a shed roof plane where it meets an exterior wall surface, as this is a common detail as well.

Just coming across this issue myself now - the shed upper needs to be able to be defined as a plumb cut/square cut separately from the downhill end. Also turning off the fascia here so that I get an accurate section drawing. I can already turn the shadow boards off... which is helpful, but not everything I need. As far as deleting it, I can't find a way to select it. From what I can tell, the FASCIA trim board lives on the Roof Planes layer and is turned on/off based on that layer visibility. I can, however, select and delete the SUBFASCIA. I can also delete the FRIEZE board. I would consider this a small bug but gets back to one of those core usability things.

If I had more time or was otherwise technically inclined, I'd come up with a Template SS and Macros that would import, parse, and recalculate the materials list that Chief exports. If anybody ever makes one of these let me know I'd gladly pay $100 for that spreadsheet. I bet a lot of others would too...

Just diving into the Materials List feature myself and noticing the same issue - the plate lengths are measured as one long piece. Guess you could go through and break them all to hit standard lengths but that's not at all efficient. It would be quicker to export to an excel file where you've already set-up a function to divide those out across standard lumber sizes. Obviously, the materials list should split plates as a function of tallying things, especially when the 'Buy List' option is selected. It seems to me that the Materials List feature is a bit of a sideshow - probably still a feature they're working to improve. Maybe we should start a specific thread with requests on how this feature could be made to be more usable?

You can develop your own dimension defaults as well - I have a set for each of the different types of plans, controlled through the Annotation Set menu, which can control both dimension defaults and layerset, current layer, etc. - I use one each for floor framing, wall framing, roof framing, finish, etc. so that depending on what I'm doing, everything is sorted as it should be. Hope this helps!

About the move things between layer question, I set up a hotkey for 'copy' and another for 'paste in place' - makes it really easy to move things

Hey Joe - Thanks for that, you've always got really good hints so I appreciate all your help! The 'Truss Schedule' does seem to help quite a bit. Only a few items are missing: Heel Height, Overhang Depth, maybe top-chord depth... also seems limited to only one pitch (multiple pitch trusses would only have the major pitch listed it seems).

I think this would be a nice feature, even if the pitch would just show up automatically. Really it would be nice if we could get an auto-dimension on the pitch, the heel height, and spots where pitch changes, and dimensions of tray ceilings/steps, etc. With this truss automatically configuring itself I assume there could be some kind of vector/vertex based generation anyway, so potentially these parameters could be hooked into and automatically show up on the drawing/truss schedule

Currently running an experiment with trying to share these models with some clients. Here are my results: - Using the 3D Viewer: Export was rather quick (3-4min) and file appeared in my account. Uploaded and clicked the 'share' and was a bit dismayed to find the template email rather confusing, even to me (having more experience than my clients who would ideally be getting this email). It reads: "I would like to share my Chief Architect® 3D Viewer model, "Chief - Voyer - Permit - 0924", with you. To view the model I’ve shared: 1. Open the 3D Viewer app 2. Tap the settings icon 3. Select the 'Cloud' option 4. Log in to your Chief Architect account 5. Tap the folder icon 6. Select the 'Shared' option 7. Tap 'Activate Share Invitation' 8. Enter this code: 43317 82332 50507 If you do not have a Chief Architect account, take a moment to create one, it’s free. If you haven’t already, you can download the free 3D Viewer app to your mobile device. iTunes App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/3d-viewer-by-chief-architect/id1083656847?ls=1&mt=8 Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ChiefArchitect.Viewer3D For more information about the Chief Architect® 3D Viewer app, visit https://www.chiefarchitect.com/3DV" So you're telling me that my clients need to go through registering an account? That is total crap - no client wants to register just to see their model, and should not be forced to do so. Entering the model number should be enough to download the file. Anyway I logged in, downloaded the model, and went through it. Kind of difficult to get around it, especially when outside - inside, the sojurn is quite nice. Wish there was a list of pre-set views that could be easily cycled through, to put the client in a certain spot/view that they could use as starting points for which to explore the model. So thinking maybe there is another solution, I did some research and going to test out QRVR, the website that you can host your models on for free and seems to have a nice feel for mouse-based exploration, as well as 3D viewer capability. Exporting to SketchUp: Exported to 3D Studio mesh. Export was very quick, <1 min. Got a message that the vertex limit of 65535 was reached - wonder what that will do to my export. Created a new SketchUp file. Import 3DS File, choose the exported file. Under Options - 'Merge Coplanar Faces'. Importing... takes about 3 minutes or so... now that it's imported I see that some of the surfaces are triangulated, which looks bad. Wondering if the export from here to qrvr will turn out OK. Set up some basic camera angles to see if they translate in the export (they're called 'scenes' in sketchup, and have the ability to control layer sets and hidden geometry, much like the Cameras in chief do). I save my File, and also save a copy for a future template file of this so that I can use it on future exports (after I delete the geometry - I'll go clean it up later). Exporting to QRVR: So I go into the Extension Warehouse and download the extension. It installs without me needing to restart the program. I go to the qrvr tab and choose 'export' - noticing the extension is .pdf for the file... seems to be taking a bit of time to initialize... oh there it is! About 10 minutes or so of export, which is quite a long time. Let's see if this is worth it... sends me a QR code and says to use the app, which I already downloaded. I scan the code with my phone and it downloads very quickly. Pulled it up on the app and the rendering looks great - using the qrvr app is pretty enjoyable too, and I can put it into VR mode. You can try for yourself if you want, here's the code they sent me the model will be online until Oct 2... this link will take you to the browser version of the file https://qrvr.io/p/hxPUdQ Still it takes quite a bit of time. I would maybe offer this as a 'premium' service or ala-carte - I've been thinking about how to entice clients into the higher $/sf range options I have and access to the 3D model is one of those things. Overall, I think the extra time of getting it into qrvr were worth it - oh yeah I can 'play' the walkthrough which cycles between the cameras I set-up in the file, which is great.

I've seen this happen before too. I wonder if it has to do with switching Layer sets when there may be a Rogue layer set that has a really big text size for the schedules, then they expand to accommodate the layer set, then you switch back and they stay at that width. I used to get it a lot but have since created a 'schedules only' layer and turned them off on all my other layer sets - seems to make the transition between layer sets move much quicker as well (i have a lot of schedules set up in my template). hope that helps somewhat as a work-around!

This is a great idea - just starting to build a library now and was looking for an efficient technique. This sounds like a good way to do it. Thanks!

Thanks Joey - great tip! I was having the same problem - not being able to dimension to openings in my foundation - and it was that I had the door layer turned off. I knew it was something simple! Kyle

Been looking around and can't find a way to enable option-copy dragging. Not to get confusing on the language - but in many other programs you can copy an existing element simply by holding/pushing option while you're moving it. Want to copy something? Just start dragging it with the move handle, hit option, and a copy is made. Am I missing some setting where this can be enabled? OR is this a feature request? Kyle

Been looking around and can't seem to find a place to adjust the rounding precision of the lengths shown on my schedules. I don't want to display them as rounded to the 1/16" - more like to the 1/8" instead. I think this level of detail makes it seem like I care about things to the 1/16", which I don't. Can I adjust how this number is displayed? As shown in screenshot below.

Hi - New to chief and getting into framing. Looked around the forums and couldn't find a link to this question: How do I change the automatic labels for my floor framing. I've specified 11 7/8 iJoists but the auto-labels say 3x12 joists - I can't send these plans out with that label. Although it is technically accurate from a nominal standpoint, it's not doing much for me as is. Any tips? Looked all around to try to fix this. Kyle