tahoebrian5

I've got a dozen camera objects cluttering up my floor plan view. Turning off the cameras layer is having no effect. The labels go on and off with the camera label as expected but not the camera. What am I missing?

Sorry for the temporary thread highjack, one more grid related question.. When you guys are doing 2d cad object drafting, do you just rough it out and then use the temporary dims to input precise lengths, or do you use the tab dialog, or some other method?

I agree with your points. For me I'm in a transitional period and need a familiar tool while I stumble along. This whole thing started when my computer (purchased in 2008) finally gave out. It was a good run. Anyway my software was out of date and not on a subscription. I about had a panic attack when I saw what autodesk wants for architecture. Even in Architcture I did a lot of 2d. In fact the only tools I consistently used were walls, doors and windows. Anyway, I've been downloading demos ever since and I'm committed to chief now (on the 15 month payment plan) but I still need a solid dwg editor for reasons stated above. I really hope brycs works out. I haven't even begun to check out the detailing functions in chief. I will probably just keep using my 2d dwg library and keep em on separate sheets for now.

Is it easier to redefine the grid origin? Is that even an option? Do the pros usually draw with the snap grid on? I never did in autocad but chief seems like it might work better with the grid on for ortho stuff.

I like to put an elevation tag on the low point of natural grade and then dimension from there to highest ridge. This is a local thing the building department requires here.

Ok, when I sent it to layout it displays correctly. Definite case of user error! Next problem, I've chosen vector view which I understand allows object snapping to elevation lines. I can't get any snaps to work on the elevation except the bottom of the roof fascia.

I built a roof, then added trusses. I now want to adjust the fascia of the roof and can't find where to set this. Also is there an easy way to get the gable outlookers back in the framing? They came in perfectly when I used the auto build roof framing function. I erased all the framing to build trusses though and wondering how to get those back without messing up the trusses. Thx a bunch

I hope to get there one day. I have projects where I get a set of line drawn floor plans to work with. When this happens it's always a decision whether to copy it into 3D, or just xref the plans in 2d and draw my framing over them. (FYI I'm primarily a structural guy but do architectural maybe 25% of the time as well). I also get projects from civil engineers and need to trade 2d drawings back and forth.. So anyway, the right tool for the job and all that. Brycsad is < $600 and from what I understand it looks and feels exactly like autocad so assuming the demo goes well I will have that in addition to chief. I'm wondering about exporting just so I can panic out of chief and get a project t out while I'm learning but who knows.. Maybe after a few hours with Joey I won't have to. So far the frustration of drawing simple things is fairly high. For example to draw a line to a specific dimension takes 2 seconds in acad, in chief it's a two step process using either the temp dimensions or the tab dialog. Anyway shortcut around this? Can I just start a line and use a hotkey or something to enter a dimension and the angle follows the cursor? Thanks for the encouragement! I

No luck finding Scott's video. Sounds interesting

Thanks for the thoughts. I'm going to be doing some training with Joey as soon as he has time. I'm definitely going to need another cad program with more powerful 2d capabilities. I'm currently running the free demo of autocad but that will be played out in a couple weeks. I'm thinking of giving brycsad a try. Having a similar interface is very appealing. I'm hoping that floor and framing plans exported out of chief will play well with brycs or auto cad. I'm sure I'm missing a bunch but my impression is that chief is not very good for manual annotation and drafting.

Nice

Kind of an old thread, but if you are still interested.. With the new asce 7-10, wind loads are extremely complex. I usually take the easy way out and use the simplified method in the code because seismic controls mostly due to the high snow loads here. Unless you are doing an analysis for submittal, I don't recommend it unless you enjoy torturing yourself. I'm in 130mph, and 30psf is a pretty safe assumption for most cases. For vertical design of joists and beams excell works pretty darn well. If you could get chief to spit out spans and spacings, it would be pretty easy to import them into excell, and then you would also be able to peruse the results as well. That could be a good thing.

How about a good tutorial book or video that takes me all the way through to CD's? Chiefs official vids skip over way too much stuff to be useful. I might try that before I'm even ready for live instruction.

I guess I'm asking for a step by step here. You would think it would be a simple thing. The only way I've had any luck is editing the materials and changing the color to white. I'm pretty sure that is not the right way to do this though.

I'm not sure how to make it a vector view. I've tried selecting vector view but it does not appear to change the view

I apologize in advance, it seems like the simplest things hang me up in the learning process. Anyway, I have created my basic model and created the 4 exterior elevations which I'm nearly ready to send to my layout sheet. I would like to have just a simple black and white line drawing of the elevations. When I turn off color instead I get shading between the lines. How do I get a view without shading?

For simple structures it's not a big deal, but I end up doing three story cut up homes where things don't stack properly. In this case sent how the hds work in 3D would be very helpful. I'm considering just using a post type object with a triangular shape. Then I can change to a different material and it would pop out from the framing. Also being able to show where some come down over beams would be helpful and is the reason I'm considering the post tool ( to be able to lengthen them easily). That's my best idea but I can barely navigate in chief at the moment so hoping some better ideas are out there.

Wondering how the CA pros show their hold downs. It would be nice to be able to display these in the framing views as modeled objects, then just the industry standard triangle in plan view. I haven't come across any mention of this.

Not sure what this has to do with the topic. It sounds like you just need somewhere to vent and there is nothing wrong with that. I haven't come across any clients that want to turn their project into a science project. They just want to get a permit so they can build. As far as my local area, due to high snow loads the prescriptive code is not allowed so every structure needs to be designed by a registered pro.

I've been trying to object snap to framing. I'm using the display center lines only option for roof framing and it does not appear to be working.

Just getting started here in Reno. Would be great to find some local users. I'm a licensed PE and do architectural as well as structural design.

Hi, I'm looking for some one on one help getting started right in chief. In trade I can offer structural design services for one of your projects. 20 years experience in residential and commercial and licensed P.E. in CA and NV. I'm located in Reno, NV.

David, your website seems to be down.

I've watched nearly all of the chief vids posted at the user center... They are all pretty basic and don't go into much detail but despite that they are better than nothing. I'm going to limp along a little bit longer.. Maybe a few more days, to learn as much as I can before spending money on professional help. $125/he doesn't seem terribly unreasonable. Anyone have any feedback on how good the instruction is? I'm going to post something in the services forum to see if anyone is interested in trading time for some structural design maybe. Bartering is always good.

Thanks for the reply Zilla. I am going through the available videos but I think getting instruction will save time and resources in the long run. A lot of the videos seems good but it's hard to concentrate on some concepts without having a good grasp of the big picture of how to work in Chief. When you say lock the framing, are you referring to locking the framing layer? If so, when you do this can you then perform another framing build of other areas that are not locked?