KristjanM

The actual energy model is done in Hot2000, Natural Resources Canada's software. I take off the areas and volumes in Chief and create schedules for windows and doors which list sizes, type, width of overhang above and distance to the overhang. As part of the process, you have to show the house drawings and outline where you are getting measurements from. Chief is proving to be a good tool for this. "rimboard, floors above garages, cantilever floors, walls partially above grade, etc. polyline apoolza - Hot 200 has check boxes to identify where things are located, ie. a cantileverd floor is an exposed floor, wall between house and garage is buffered (next to an enclosed area). What province are you in? This is all coming your way in the future.

A bunch of random comments - I'm located in BC so have had to supply the thermal assembly calculations on permit drawings for some time. I've used a spreadsheet for this with about 30 tabs for most of the common assembles. I just delete the unused ones for a given project and then export a pdf which I drag into Chief. Pretty easy. I also have a sheet in Excel for the trade off calculations which is quite easy to use once set up. I takeoff the areas in Chief and put the numbers into Excel. The biggest reason for doing this was twofold - builders hate the cost of R24 batts and the drywallers don't like how stiff the R24 batt is in the wall. In my climate zone (5) with Hardie board siding, R22 doesn't give me a good enough number so had to go the trade off route to make the assembles work. In BC now, we have gone to the step code which requires an energy advisor's analysis. This is coming to the National Building Code in a couple of years. The prescriptive method is going to be retired except in very specific cases. I'm also qualified as an energy advisor now and am working through a process to do my plan takeoff in Chief. It's working well so far.

Got it. That tip will help in the future. Thanks.

"currently only have the ability to total specific columns to include" Not sure what this means. I only see a check box for "Display Totals Row". No option regarding columns. Of course my wife says I'm blind on occasion, so I might have missed something.

Even if I apply a non formatted macro (eg. ABOVE GRADE has a value of %area%), I do not get a total. It would seem the custom field is not stored as a number.

I have a number of slabs from which I draw data. I have two custom object fields which have a macro definition. The area column of the schedule provides a total. The custom object fields do not even though they are using the same area number (a formatted version). This would lead me to think that a custom object field cannot be a number (float or integer) but rather is defined as a string. Correct? Can I get a total from a custom object field? Do I need to convert the custom object string to a float?

Not to sidetrack the original post but here's my two cents on the terminology. Carpenter and superintendent for 35 years. Always called them lookouts. Designer for the last 10 years. Always called them lookouts. BC and Ontario building codes call them lookouts. Francis Ching (look him up) calls them lookouts. Good enough for me. The builders I work with know what I'm talking about.

Okay, more good info. My ruby syntax knowledge is rather primitive. I will play around with this. Thanks.

Okay, thanks to all for your help. 1st issue - don't type sqft when you need sqrt. 2nd issue - sqrt doesn't work in a text box but does work in the ruby console. So...need to make a macro. Thanks again.

Sorry, typed sqft not sqrt !!

Tried in the Ruby console (should return 2) - > Math.sqft(4) => Ruby NoMethodError: undefined method `sqft' for Math:Module Stack Trace: from eval:10:in `eval' from eval:10:in `block (2 levels) in <main>' from eval:4:in `loop' from eval:4:in `block in <main>'

Can I use math.sqrt() in the macro? I tried it in the ruby console and it didn't work.

I commonly do a quick calculation for pad footing sizes for estimating purposes. If an engineer is involved, he/she will do the calculations. I've created a text box which gives me the area, loads and footing size in square feet. I would like to get the square root of the footing area and multiply by 12 to give me the footing edge size in inches (assuming the pad is square). I've tried various things such as sqrt() or math.sqrt() both in the text box and in the ruby console but can't generate a correct result. Can you do math functions in a text box? Do I have to call an actual macro. What is the right syntax?

Perfect. That fixed it. Don't know why I didn't see that. Thank you.

As well as drawing work, I also do energy analysis. I have 3D solids which I use to generate information. The solid fills are in different colours to distinguish them. In one instance I have an object completely over another. Since the labels appear to be always in black, the reference is not clear. I've put the 3d solids on their own layer with a specific colour but this colour does not transfer to the label. Is there a way to achieve this or does this question need to go to the suggestion thread?

Okay... Entered 1in = 500in and that worked. Don't know why that never occurred to me. Tunnel vision. Thanks for the suggestions.

I am sending a site plan to layout and can't adjust the box scale smaller than 1/32" = 1'-0". Never come up against this problem before. What I actually need Is to have the scale at 1/42" = 1'-0" which would be the equivalent of 1:500 in metric.

Ryan, That is a good suggestion and certainly gives a good result. My goal really is to reduce the need for manual tweaking for general things. A work in progress.

Yes that works although there is an unwanted leading 0 in numbers above 9. ie. W208,W209, W2010, W2011. Thanks for the tip. I will have to play around some more. As great as the improvements in X15 are, I could do with much better flexibility in schedules for a start..

Just tried something else. I have a custom field - Window #. I defined this as %schedule_number%. For example - window labeled as W205 on the plan view reports as W105 on the schedule. In object properties, schedule number is W205. Just seems like a glitch to me.

I really like to have my window (or door) number represent what floor the object is on. I know I can do this manually but would like to use CA's numbering capabilities. I have seen a number of posts with regard to this but none provide a good solution. I also am aware that I can just add the floor number field to the schedule. So... using floor_number as a macro reference in the Schedule Number Prefix field, I can get the window number to display correctly on a plan view. On floor 1, I get numbers stating with 1. On floor 2, I get numbers starting with 2. However, the window schedule does not display the correct numbers. If I use the ObjectProperties macro, the floor numbers are correct. A glitch or what?? Window Numbering.plan

If the general framing member trick doesn't work for you, this is what I have done. Make 4 textures - 1) oriented horizontal, 2) oriented vertical, 3) oriented at 45 deg, 4) oriented at -45 deg. Apply appropriately to each part of the brace. A little bit of effort but it works.

Back in 1974 when I started as a carpenter, we used 2x4's. At some point the building code changed and we went to 2x6's. It was only to accommodate R20 batts in the walls due to the change in insulation requirements. We could also go to 24" oc for the 2x6's as 16" oc wasn't needed for any structural reason. 2x4's are entirely okay. The only thing you have to satisfy is the insulation requirements.

Can you not use "Edit Wall Layer Intersections" ?

Different energy evaluations require different square footages. Passive house would deduct the interior partition area from the ceiling area. If I'm using Hot 2000 (I'm in Canada), the wall partitions are not deducted. Maybe Chief should allow for options with the calculations.