tundra_dweller

@VHampton Thanks for your insight!

This is generally how I have learned to do it too, but I haven't figured out the best way to manage all the different wall types. Do you usually just leave those kind of oddball wall types that are mostly specific to each project in their plan file, or add them to the user library? Carrying everything forward in a template plan would get pretty unruly I would think. And yes, this place wouldn't be the resource it is without old school users.

Jim, that is correct. If you need different offsets for different walls/areas you would have to create copies of the material as needed. It would be handy if you could adjust material offsets on a wall by wall basis, or if the materials themselves were "smart" and would know to set the origin of the patterns at logical points such as the tops of footings, corners, etc.,. I can imagine someday we'll have an AI assistant to take care of that kind of stuff.

Here's a couple good map resources that someone else posted on here a while back. https://snazzymaps.com/style/130173/ccr-black-and-white https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=tortolita mountain circle#map=15/32.4485/-110.9757

Thanks Rene, I figured it involved that kind of a process. Much appreciated.

Referring to the door closer included in the Bonus Catalog->Door Hardware No.3->Commercial. I can't figure out how these are supposed to be used in Chief, I've tried adding it to the different hardware options in the door dbx and that doesn't do anything that makes any sense. I've tried adding the object directly from the catalog and it just wants to place it along the plane of the wall the door is in. Does anyone have a method for actually placing a door closer on a door and having it be associated with the door on a schedule? I don't really care about seeing it in 3D views or even in plan view. I have a project with a variety of different hardware configurations on commercial doors, and I will probably just end up adding a note in comments or a custom field in the schedule at this point for the closers, but I was hoping I'm missing something totally obvious.

Tea Time probably nailed it (and so fast that their tea is obviously caffeinated), but I'm wondering if changing the lower wall type to be a partition wall would work as well? Cleaner wall intersections (both plan view and 3D) are one of my most wished for Chief improvements, but I'm assuming there's some hard coding limitations involved.

If you're using the "rainbow" tool to adjust your material definition make sure you have the scoping set to plan level. If you have it set to a lower level of scoping (component, object, etc.,) then you will most likely be prompted to make a copy of the material.

X15 introduced the heel height value setting for roof trusses, so you have to take that into account when setting up or editing your trussed roofs. Have a look at that section in the help files. The baseline height is your top plate height + the vertical structure depth (plus or minus any additional height needed to reach your heel height setting, if any). The vertical structure depth change depending on the roof pitch, so a 2x4 at 3/12 has a lower value than a 2x4 at 7/12 so you have to take that into account when manually editing different pitched roof planes. So in your first X15 example above, you would want to hit the radio button to lock either the top plate height or the pitch, and then enter the correct value in for the baseline height (109 1/8 + 4 3/8) and this should give you what your looking for. In your second X15 example, you would lock the pitch and then enter in a value of 112 3/4" (top plate height + vertical structure depth) in for the baseline height, and this should give you what you want. If this doesn't work, then I would guess that your roof baseline polylines are not lined up over the outboard edge of your wall main layer.

Try this in that wall's dbx if you want to keep the wall below the roofline. Try this if you want the bottom of that wall cut off at the roofline.

You betcha!

I remember fighting this issue quite awhile back on a daylight basement with furred out energy walls. I think I eventually gave in and only showed the upper wall in plan view and used cad lines to represent the lower wall. All I remember for sure is that I spent way way too much time dicking around with it.

I have run into this in X15 (and maybe X14) as well. Usually it happens on a longer stretch of exterior wall in the same plane, with rooms of varying ceiling heights connected by the exterior wall, or a balloon framed section of that wall. Come to think of it, I believe it's only happened on models where I've used copied wall material regions to represent the battens in board & batten siding.

Hard to say for sure without the plan but I would check the absolute elevations of the floor and stem wall tops in the carport room specs to start with. Make sure they are the same value so that the top of the floor is at the same elevation as the top of the stemwalls.

I have a wireless Logitech gaming mouse that does the same. There are also two buttons on the mouse that allow changing the speed on the fly.

In the future you should look at using a "general framing member" for this, it's probably a little quicker to put together and they should report to the material list out of the box.

I typically just use pen & paper with an 11x17 clipboard. Long tape, shorter tape, & disto laser for measuring. Lots of pictures. If the clients aren't home then I like to bring my laptop and draw in Chief as I measure. If the clients are home they without fail want to ask questions and carry on a conversation every step of the way, so I find the only thing that works for me at that point is pen & paper, and even then it's tough to focus on what I'm doing while trying to be polite and interact with the client while measuring. I'm always following these threads to see what methods people are using, always trying to find that holy grail for quick & accurate as-built measurements with no return trips.

How about creating a wall schedule, then select the offending wall on the schedule, and hit the "Find in Plan" button on the edit toolbar? If it's found on more than one floor you'll get a prompt to select which floor you want to find it on, so if it's hiding in the attic somewhere it should find it for you.

I'm not sure about X14 or 15 but I seem to recall in previous versions that even after changing the room label text in the default settings that the change wouldn't take effect until I opened up each room dbx and uncheck and re-check "Show Room Label". Might have even had to close and reopen the dbx between unchecking and re-checking.

Thanks for the info Gene. Usually my workaround for this type of situation is to use the delete surface tool multiple clicks until the framing I'm looking for is exposed and then drag the dimension handle to it, then hit F12 to redraw to replace the deleted surfaces. This is a much more "elegant" workaround.

Yep this makes sense, even though (in X15 anyway) there is an option to select for "Walls-->Surfaces" or "Walls-->Wall Dimension Layer" in the dimension defaults under "Locate Auto Room". Doesn't seem to make a difference which one is selected though.

Edited my post because of incorrect answer. Ken's post above is correct.

I've always had great luck with Brother laser printers. They last 10+ years and always just seem to work, don't even have to think about them. The exact opposite of HP printers in my experience. I don't think I've ever owned an Epson though.

This is an excellent point and one of those little things I try to train myself to be thinking about, but these kinds of details often get lost in the big picture of the overall design.