KevinWaldron

Anyone Know of a source for a 3d drawing of a High Bay Led Light for 2D and 3D kw

You might want to read this about the monitor. ( I was looking at one for myself and decided against.... my choice.) kw https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/monitors/gaming/55-odyssey-ark-4k-uhd-165hz-1ms-quantum-mini-led-curved-gaming-screen-ls55bg970nnxgo/?cid=pla-ecomm-pfs-mon-us-google-na-03112022-170121-&ds_e=GOOGLE-cr:0-pl:295207915-&ds_c=FF~Monitors+SSC_CN~Monitors+SSC_ID~B0000PZN_PH~on_MK~us_BS~multi_PR~mon_SB~msmul_FS~hqloe_CA~smp_KS~nag_MT~na-&ds_ag=AG~Monitors+SSC_ID~E0001FZA_MK~us_AT~sa_MD~h_PK~roah_PB~google_AI~n_AE~oth1_TG~3mr_SA~res-&ds_k=PRODUCT_GROUP&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2v-gBhC1ARIsAOQdKY1O-tAXVNlxKtk63DqKmlJNDgdFLanVBkZeA_Sx8LGyOJ8oJ-U0dpcaAjNoEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

You might try CADdirect 2024. Very much a looks alike to Autocad style program. You can also get Print2Cad which is a very useful program if your dealing with any conversion and several other features of PDF to DWG or Reverse. https://solutions.backtocad.com/features/caddirect/autocad-versus-caddirect kw

Think some other programs have the ability to adjust Vector's or Nurb's. Most of these programs have the ability to use DWG files....... examples would be Corel Draw, Rhinoceros, these programs also have the ability to re-export in DWG format or many more. Rhino has the ability to smooth, reduce knots etc. Thought you might have some of these laying around you hadn't thought about. kw

At an age that I want purchase software that offers subscriptions only. There will always be another mouse trap somewhere down the road. Where there is a need it will be filled. Look at Autocad how many other look alike are now available or at least able to access the same Dwg/Dxf files. Then there is Adobe how many other software's can now read and write PDF files or other software offerings. Personally think this is a poor decision on managements part by divorcing current users from perpetual license and I have owned software rights as far back as X-3 and own a number of software seats. Cad after all is cad and once you can draw in one program others become fairly easy to adapt to ones only needs. (I often cringe at how you guys do small objects and fixtures in 3D modeling in Chief as I personally find this crude compared to other offerings, so limited with the tools available and the need to trick or fool the software.) Take companies like McNeel who have Rhinoceros totally different attitude about license and capability for 3D but it is not the ideal nuts and bolts residential homebuilding software and there addon to help architectural design. But other software will arise. Chalking this choice of Chief programs and company as poor judgement decision on my part, earliest possible time I'll totally jump ship. (Already work with a number of other CAD/Cam software's.)

TurboPdf $69.99 https://www.turbocad.com/turbopdf/turbopdf-v4.html?vid=DCADD30&utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=TC - DesignCAD Add-ons Catalog Offer&utm_medium=email Coupon Code DCADD30

Personally find this program much more effective just doing plumbing. It will take DWG files and you don't have to redraw. Program is reasonably priced for the amount of information and speed to produce good working information. kw https://www.quickplumb.com/about-us/

https://www.turbocad.com/turboproject/turboproject.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw_sn8BRBrEiwAnUGJDtsoE9wnXwgeMbXsBAfRtEJ7nvVpQtGg_3trsfzgKcWNG7K0qjJguxoC0p4QAvD_BwE kw

Quote from colourlovers.com Crayola crayons currently come in 120 colors including 23 reds, 20 greens, 19 blues, 16 purples, 14 oranges, 11 browns, 8 yellows, 2 grays, 2 coppers, 2 blacks, 1 white, 1 gold and 1 silver. Although Crayola crayons come in 120 different colors, the labels are only made in 18, which cover the full color spectrum. Nearly 3 billion crayons are made each year, an average of 12 million daily. That's enough to circle the globe 6 times with color! Kyle, Point being, Somebody likes every color that is made....we are all different......some I like, some I don't........ I personally don't agree with you and I think throughout history you'll find others that also don't agree..... Take for instance Furniture Period style.........Shaker Style but on the other hand French Provincial. We all have opinions!! Make several million dollars a year for 30 plus years and then you can do what you want with yours! To criticize someone asking for help because you don't like the customers architecture ....... is wrong! Blessings, kw

We do on occasion use and need this..... for your information. https://www.quickplumb.com/ kw

I've started using Chief X12 and I've run into an issue...Is there any way to simplify my temp dimensions to where it does not look like the picture I've provided? (The wall with the arrow pointed at it is the one I have selected.) In older versions of Chief if I clicked on a wall, it would give a few dimensions to adjust the walls if needed to, but nothing more than that. I have looked through all of preferences, and default sets and have yet to figure it out. Any direction on where to look would be greatly appreciated! Kevin

Just did an experiment..... 1)took a plan and did a Full Perspective View......2)Exported as a DWG 3D Model..... 3)Brought the file into Rhinoercos 6 and asked that it covert wide polylines to surfaces, convert regions to curves, and leave mesh precision to auto and the model is in millimeters (it was ft and inches but in this case smaller is better for reproduction on 3D printer).....4)walls, roof, etc. are present as they should be but to save as a 3D STL or other 3D printable file it takes a lot of cleanup work to get rid of things that you don't want or need but it is possible. kw

Here are some actual lumber photo's Claro Walnut Wood.bmp

The program Alibre Design 2019 has auto open and release of the program....... not sue why other programs find this impossible. Not sure why Chief can't do the same!........ (Open on one machine shut the program down and walk to another machine and the program will automatically open when you only own the license rights to one program and still yet go to a third machine if the 2nd machine program is shut down...... you can still only run one instance of the program)

Another idea that would require a small amount of technical skill is to fix the computer. Purchase a larger SSD drive and along with the purchase in addition purchase an external USB Solid State Enclosure Adapter (it will depend on the SSD style) . Plug the new SSD into the USB adapter and then use a program like Acronis and clone the drive as different size drives. (I've personally done a lot of this and it is a easy and convenient fix that allows older machines a little longer life). Unplug old/smaller SSD drive from computer and plug new drive into computer.... and your now fixed....... use old SSD in the adapter for a great portable drive or as an extension of your current machine. kw

Personally would not recommend Chief...... not enough muscle ....... we have moved projects that are not houses to VectorWorks...... enclosing several JPG's of what we did in Chief prior to the move. We are a design build firm and we must estimate accurately and to get accurate material estimates we also needed to look beyond Chief.

As one who owns a business where CNC's are used and we draw for these machines. I think that you will need to look at other programs to do what your asking for. Will Chief help with panels yes, but if your talking about true CNC work where one might be cutting windows / doors out, electrical and plumbing holes out, and many more things you are starting with the wrong program. For the most part Chief draws a facade of a part. For instance a 2 x 4 is not a solid object but line components made up of several lines representing a solid object not a solid. Cabinets would be another example where lines represent a part not the individual part components as solid objects. A CNC needs either a mesh representation or a solids/nurbs style objects to be able to process through the Cam program to generate tool paths and then produce the G-code which is a text file that the CNC machine can read by the various machine callings. Might recommend that you look at sites like Aspire or Rhinocam to get a better understanding of what a CAM program will and want do. Drawing/CAM programs such as Solidworks, Fusion360, Rhinoceros, FormZ, Inventor, Mastercam are all programs that would typically be used for making parts pieces for the toolpathing for a CNC. I'm sure there are specific programs for producing CNC house panelized products but I personally haven't a clue. Hope this steers you towards the right direction.

If your doing single family homes and possibly lite commercial only..... possibly upgrade although the overall basic program has changed little in my personal opinion ( there are many more bells and whistles and quicker ways to do things.....but from one builder to another still so much lacking given what is available in the market place.) I also started with Chief in 1982 and have the lates vs X-11. Anything more than residential you might want to consider another program at that investment. We personally have moved into VectorWorks for anything beyond sngle family. Still using Chief as our single family homes program.

Personally do all this in a Cad program like Turbocad. Usually get a dwg file from the various engineers so have the plot plan ( and most of the time the topo information is present as well) or an alternative is to get this information by way of the registers office as a recorded pdf plat (online available) or we have also gotten from Google earth. Now direct import or open into Turbocad with either method involves re-scaling plat to 1=1 and separating the individual lot before or after scale. Using Chief make a footprint of the plan per cad and export as a DWG. Next step is to use the front/side or rear property line and offset from said some dimension... say 35' so we now have a front line or other to work with. Next step is to import the house file into the plot for the lot or open in a separate dwg file next step is to group or block the house somewhere that we can only select the house and then cut, paste or move into plot plan drawing. Now that we have both the plot plan and the house in the same drawing we choose the front/side etc of the house and use a snap command which allows matching the setback or other line we used.(the existing front/side etc to the line of the property angle direction is irrelevant if the original Plot plan is accurate as for N-S directions and again fairly easy to do if we have something to match to). House is now lined up accurately with the front line or any other line we used as the match line. Rest is simply adding the various items needed. Personally can do what Michael showed in his example in about 15-20 minutes total including drive, sidewalks, elevation points etc. not uncommon to do 300-400 of these a year. If we need this back in Chief simply convert to a DWG export and then import. Rarely need 3D terrain but if we do usually stay in TurborCad where most of our plats already have the topo information and where blend, extrude, Boolean is much more effective. We usually go one step further with our plot plans and lay them out so personal on the ground can lay the house out if an engineer is not required. Personally think that this is the time to use the best program in your toolbox and for me Chief just does not perform this well.

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Speaking of electrical connections another question related. Any of you guys show fire/smoke detectors and show them connected per code? If so how do you show connection with fire/smoke detectors that are on a second floor or vise vs?

One major issue is speed........ both in perspectives and floor plans and doing any kind of realistic changing (using a i7-8700 with 64GB ram 1 GB-SSD with 2x Nviidia GTX 1080 TI 11 GB and 2-8TB storage units) Cutting and pasting units and floors gets old ....especially if you have a lot of units...... (project size is 134 units ...In addition we have approximately 26 different plans) Cad work is all being done already on TurboCad 2018 because of the limitations of placing large amounts of units all together for a plot plan and connecting with engineer. Additionally more information is needed on the plan such as gutter downspouts water extraction location at the time of foundation plumbing and slab installation as well as electrical outside disconnect etc........ ( much of this is not required for code but is required by us as we need this information for a total project ...... typically the civil engineer does not locate these kinds of items.)

We are a design build firm that has primarily built for in-house both for selling and renting of single and multi-family units (apartments) We have built and drawn most of what we do for more than 45 years. Our local area is now producing many townhouse units primarily because of the sales price and lot cost and we would like to enter this market. We feel that our knowledge permits us better planning and designing of actual units so therefor we have chosen to draw them initially ourselves (we do have to have an Architects stamp our plans with units more than 3 and more than 3 stories or over 5,000 ft. We have found and Architect willing to work with us. A young guy who in school used Revit but we personally never liked this program several years back when we had legal copies). We have and are drawing units but we think that we have reached the limits or the capacity of what Chief Architect is capable of doing. attaching examples...... Suggestions for other software please? Kevin

Razer Mouse.........I personally like the Death Adder............ personally dislike wireless mice because of the slight micro lag....... https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=razer+mouse

Looking for a Licensed Tennessee Architect to draw in Chief......... multi-family apartments, townhouses, as well as light commercial strip centers. (close to middle TN) Blessings, Kevin Waldron