Barton_Brown Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 My apologies for participating in the hijack. No apology needed and gesture appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
country Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 I am currently switching from VW to CA. Same problem, productivity and lack of support/resources for residential and small commercial. I also used Archoncad but found it quite impersonal. I am now a member of Chief Experts and am learning the basics rapidly. It has even helped with my WV drawings that I am completing before the entire switchover. This forum is the other fantastic resource for CA even barring the topic hijacking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barton_Brown Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 'Country', Would you mind taking a little time elaborating on the specifics of where VW fails in 'productivity' - even a short list would be helpful. I'm familiar with what I feel are great productivity features of CA but have no experience with other programs. My request is so I can 'hone my promotion' to an architect friend on ACAD that I'm having trouble convincing he should switch. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
country Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Walls auto join but if they are moved you usually have to manually rejoin and quite often you have to rejoin the individual components. Dimensioning is basically done manually and it is recommended to do it in the annotation viewport so if you do changes to the plan it usually has to be checked and fixed in the viewport. Major time waster. Many items are in the "None" Class (Chiefs layers) and you have to manually put them into a class in order to turn them on and off. No dual 2D/3D views to check appearance in VW. Just a few items.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
country Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 I will really miss the Offset tool in VW. You can select an item of any size,shape or angle and input a dimension in the offset tool, click on the side you want it to offset or duplicate and it precisely offset parallel by that distance. If there is something the same in Chief please let me know because I use this a lot and haven't found it yet. The Cad tools in VW are great but Chiefs have been working well so far. Dan at Chief Experts has been so much better at explaining Chief than Jon at Archoncad was with VW. A totally different experience. The videos from Chief and this Forum are fantastic for "newbies" and I thank all of you regular posters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodCole Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 I have been using CAD programs for quite a while now, and the stretch command and offset are very usefull tools to be sure. Since CA does not have an Offset command as such, what I do is to select the item I want to offset then choose multicopy from the edit toolbar. This will present a smaller toolbar that has an option for Mulitcopy Interval. If you select this Icon you will be presented with a dbx "dialog box" with two options. The top one allow you to set the Offset Between Copies when Dragging. The setting you need to change if needed will be highlighted. Enter the offset and then drag to produce the offset copies you need. Once you get used to using this process it is really very quick and actually works fairly well for my needs. For a long time I was reluctant to use this tool because it was not exactly like the offset tool I wanted, and I was also a bit concerned that I would mess something up if I changed the settings. Now I just change them to whatever I need at the time and go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
country Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 This sounds like it will work fine. Thanks. I usually take a clip shot of the original settings and save if I am worried about playing around with them. It has saved a lot of headaches when I do dumb things but I find I learn a lot by just mucking about in programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barton_Brown Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 I will really miss the Offset tool in VW. You can select an item of any size,shape or angle and input a dimension in the offset tool, click on the side you want it to offset or duplicate and it precisely offset parallel by that distance. If there is something the same in Chief please let me know because I use this a lot and haven't found it yet. Sherry, Thank you for your responses - they certainly help me understand how one could get frustrated by 'wasting time'. At the risk of repeating something you are already familiar with, and while it is not technically an 'offset' tool, were you aware that if you 'dimension' an object, click on the side you want to move, move the cursor over the dimension until it turns into a 'finger pointing hand', click the dimension value, that the new value you enter will resize the object to the new size. There are three icons on the dimension that allow you to selct which side, or both sides, should move. Again, not an 'offset tool' directly but might produce similar results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennw Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 The other "offset" tool is set the Concentric jump distance to your offset and then Copy in Place and Concentrically move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
country Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 I do understand the dimensioning movements but they do not work how I need to move items. I will try the concentric move tool, as you suggested Glenn and see how that works. Once again, great suggestions. One of the big things VWorks was missing..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbuttery Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 just curious - I don't do much cad work - so just an opinion If Chief has these "other" methods why not create an offset feature that works like it does in "other cad" ??? time after time - release after release there are posters asking for an offset feature why cause frustration and confusion ?? I just don't get it Lew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
country Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 I do not do much Cad work either but find I use guidelines from the cad tools to set things accurately. An offset tool really speeds up productivity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barton_Brown Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 I do not do much Cad work either but find I use guidelines from the cad tools to set things accurately. An offset tool really speeds up productivity. Sherry, would you mind elaborating on the specifics of how you locate and then use the guidelines? I haven't used guidelines very often and I'm always willing to learn new productivity techniques. After you explain how you use them, it may become apparent that there is a way to accomplish this in CA just as easily, even without the offset tool. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
country Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 I do all of my prelim design work with basic cad tools, similar to bubble drawings but quite a bit more accurate. Sized rectangles can be easily moved around for room placement and then I use offset spacing for walkways and clearances. These all fit in a large shape that works within my site setbacks so there is no problem once the walls start going in. The model then goes really fast and accurate (until the clients get at it). As builts with odd angles, I just run a line parallel and then offset it to line up new walls. Ridge, centers, bearing lines and sight lines are also guidelines. These all are on a guideline layer that can be turned off or on and copied-paste in place to other floors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HumbleChief Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Not sure this will help with your offset needs but while moving an object in Chief hit the tab key once to enter an 'X' offset and twice to enter a 'Y' offset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
country Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 I do use the tab key move and am glad I can in Chief too. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barton_Brown Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Sherry, thank you for the insights and how you use guidelines. FWIW, after watching a few more CA training videos where the multiple copy tool was used, and now being alert to the possible uses of the multiple copy tool, I have become a fan of it as an alternative to an 'offset' tool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay_on_Cape Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 I do understand the dimensioning movements but they do not work how I need to move items. I will try the concentric move tool, as you suggested Glenn and see how that works. Once again, great suggestions. One of the big things VWorks was missing..... Transform / Replicate tool..........it sounds like it is similar to VW offset. Concentric or multiple copy in CA is a few more steps than the transform / replicate. It works with 2d & 3d objects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtcapa1 Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 Larry, What is it you want to stretch. There are all sorts of commands that will perform a stretch, depending on what and how you want to stretch things. I so often need to stretch my entire 3d model, all floors all items in either the X or Y direction. Man I wish there was something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug_Park Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 Edit Area will stretch many things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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