sawmane2 Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 I am with an electrical company who is in charge of designing our own bids off of PDF's we receive from contractors. I am looking for a way of using the tools of chief architect just for our electrical designing needs. It is so frustrating that we have to trace the walls off of the PDF before we can place any switches on the plan. Is there a way to override the "switch must be placed on a wall" error message? This would make my life so much easier. If I cannot do that, is there an automated process of extrapolating the data off of the pdf and place it into chief architect for it to use. Cad to walls seems to be hit and miss. I appreciate any replies, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsaw Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Are you hoping to use the Material list or Electrical Schedules or are you just looking for a CAD drawing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sawmane2 Posted June 16, 2017 Author Share Posted June 16, 2017 I would like to use the material list, not familiar enough with the electrical schedules enough to know if I would use that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsaw Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 There are some quite efficient ways to set things up for CAD but I believe that you need to use the electrical symbols to make the Material List or Electrical Schedule function properly. There are some other guys that specialize in electrical and maybe they will have some suggestions or there may even be a way to define a symbol as something other than electrical but that is a little above my current level of expertise. Hope we can find a solution for you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sawmane2 Posted June 16, 2017 Author Share Posted June 16, 2017 What do you mean in Cad. Are you referring to AutoCAD or are you talking being built into CA? I'd be interested in hearing about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsaw Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 By cad I mean just line drawing functionality rather than the "smart" features in Chief such as walls and (electrical) symbols etc.... Every symbol (3D) in Chief has a "2D Block" associated with it that will auto generate or can be customized that represents the item in floor plan (2D) and and these are all smart items. However all of these 2D Blocks also exist as "dumb" line drawings in CAD Block Management and can be inserted into your floorplan for use to represent symbols when there is a conflict with actually using a 3D symbol and it's associated 2D Block. And you could maybe go that direction if you don't get a response that is easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermot Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Quote Is there a way to override the "switch must be placed on a wall" error message? Yes. Try the following: - Create a new plan and draw a single wall. - Place a switch on the wall and then select it. - Use the Open Symbol tool. - Go to the Options panel and change it from "Wall Mounted" to "Floor Mounted". - Use the Add to Library tool to add your new switch to your user library. Anytime you need to place a switch that is not connected to a wall, use your new floor mounted one from your user library. You can also create your own custom toolbar button to place your switch using a "Place Library Object" button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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