tundra_dweller

This is one of those common instances where it would be really nice if we could take over control of footings (and wall intersections in general) similar to auto-built then manually adjusted roof planes. Sometimes the edit wall layer intersection tool doesn't get the job done, then you have to resort to CAD mask polylines or manual slabs/solids with different line style and fill properties to get the job done for 2D presentation. Which is probably what I would do in this situation, a combination of slabs and CAD lines/CAD masks, depending on what you need for 2D & 3D presentation. Do not overlook the power of the white (or whatever color works for your situation) line with a higher line weight value than the line you're covering. Not ideal but it works.

Michael, I think selecting for "Global Symbol Mapping" in the material definition pattern tab will get you there. Otherwise you can create a copy of the material by changing the scoping of the adjust material definition tool to anything but "Plan" mode and you should get a prompt to create a copy of the material that you can then adjust independently of the original material.

@ElkRivers There are extra attic walls at the 2nd floor and also at the attic level that can be deleted and fixes the overhang problem.

Another option would be to add your door to the wall, then select for retain wall framing in that wall's dbx, then remove the door. You'd have to manually add a piece of bottom plate and a stud or two in the opening if you really wanted your temporary framing to be accurate. But typically it's just a comment on the plan as Jason said.

Nice work, thanks! This isn't required in my area but it's a good tool to have in the box for sure.

I did a plan last year for a grain bin converted to an ADU, can confirm the walls of a circular structure have to be at least two separate wall segments. And the walls will want to break and the ends jump around the perimeter if you add openings and interior walls.

You have to set up your foundation wall as the pony wall and your framed wall as the upper wall, preferably in the foundation defaults. After building your foundation, open up the room dialogue and set your foundation floor elevation as needed. Then open up all of your foundation walls and set the "Height off Floor" to determine how tall your concrete (pony) wall will be from whatever your foundation floor elevation is, the "Elevation of Lower Wall Top" number will be automatically figured depending on what your height off floor is. Your framed wall (upper wall) will then fill in between the top of your concrete wall and the bottom of your floor system. If you're really good you can nail everything in your foundation defaults, but I never can, it usually takes much trial and error for me to get it right. Sample plan attached so you can see how it can work. FOUNDATION PONY WALL.plan

Edit that material, change your pattern back to 4", hit OK to exit in the dbx. Edit that material again, this time hit the "Keep Pattern/Texture in Sync" box, then change pattern to 7", OK to exit.

Also check to be sure your attic or 2nd floor gable wall is aligned with the main floor wall below. Sometimes I will go up and delete all the attic walls and let them rebuild and that solves this. But sometimes it seems to happen for no explainable reason at all, although not usually on a basic roof like this.

Link works fine for me. You never know these days, could be because you're in Canada.

Here is a plan file (X16) with some deck benches and components I built from solids. Included in the plan is the PDF of the JLC article that I poached the design from. The bench framing, decking, and trim components are on their own layers so they can be turned off or on for making it easier to manipulate the components. I don't have any corner benches or components built yet, but I did do a 90 degree corner on a plan yesterday just by manipulating and fudging the regular components, which works well enough for visual representation for now. Hopefully someone else might get some use from these, and please share back if you make any improvements. DECK BENCHES.plan

Well that's an interesting method that I never would have considered. Looks like the key is to draw your gable wall at the attic level and select "Roof Cuts Wall at Bottom" for that wall.

Yeah these are a pain. I usually do like Mark and make a solid, maybe add some molding lines.

There are pretty robust header framing options in the default door/window settings, or you can set individually per opening too.

https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/topic/29470-user-defined-shading-of-coloring-of-open-tabs/?tab=comments#comment-234368 https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/topic/23929-smarter-active-window-please/?tab=comments#comment-193476 https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/topic/23203-tab-icons-for-layout-vs-plan/?tab=comments#comment-188281 https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/topic/42698-x17-looking-ahead-i-would-be-100-okay-with-this-1-single-update/?tab=comments#comment-314771

You betcha. Here's a step-by-step. In your foundation defaults, set your slab to be at top of stem wall. In your exterior wall type definition set the main layer to have 3 bottom plates. In your auto-built foundation room DBX set floor-to-SWT to -3" and ceiling to -3". Note that in the plan I attached earlier, I didn't change the ceiling to -3", so it caused the floor to move up to 3" elevation instead of 0". The detail where the slab meets the ICF is the same, but setting the ceiling to -3" forces the top of the slab to stay at 0" elevation. Open up your floor structure for the foundation room and add a layer of rigid insulation below the slab.

You just have to adjust your floor heights accordingly, and you'll probably get a message about a negative ceiling height in the foundation that you can ignore. Also changing to 3 bottom plates in you ext wall main layer, and adding your 4" insulation to the foundation floor structure. And there'll be some CAD work for the cross section but nothing too major. Here's a sample plan with how I was able to do it. MNJohn.zip

I'm not at all proficient with Sketchup yet but I do have and use the Medeek tools occasionally. At this point mostly for creating timber trusses and other trusses that I can import into Chief. I can build timber trusses very quickly with exact specs including hardware that are actually how they would build in real life. Same with attic, scissor & parallel chord trusses when I want to show them in a detailed section and can't get Chief to build them realistically. I realize it's impossible, but some kind of mashup between Chief's speed in getting the building and basic elements designed along with Sketchup/Medeek's framing & foundation capabilities would damn near be the perfect design software.

Great info!

Thanks @para-CAD for sharing all the content with your fellow users. There's definitely a lot of knowledge and insight here that I didn't have before.

Same here. Still annoying to see all the time while working on the project, but not very high on the list of fixes/improvements I'd like to see for the software.

I don't think there's a legit fix for this, only workarounds. I haven't run into this in a while, I find myself designing away from mulled shaped windows, and mulled windows in general as much as I can because I know how much Chief's mulled window function is going to annoy the hell out of me. Off the top of my head there's a few things that may work, try using a lintel for your top casings, or turn off exterior casings and use a molding line or shaped material region instead. If you find a fix or a better workaround, please do share.

Great point...I forgot that you can't break & shape soffits.

I would think the soffit tool would work well for this if you don't need to show framing for it. Drop section of soffit in the room, resize the perimeter as needed, open up the soffit dbx and enter in the height/thickness you need. If you need to show framing then using a custom ceiling plane in the center of the room with a lower height might get you close. Or putting a room divider around the perimeter of the room and spec'ing a lower ceiling height in the center "room". I think the soffit tool would be the most simple and clean method though.

You are figuring this out in the best way possible, that is working through it and learning as you go. Nice work!