Reflected Ceiling Plan


Doug_N
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Just want to ask how those of you who really know CA, what do you do for a reflected ceiling plan?

 

I have used the electrical layer tools, but if there is something that I a better practice, I would like to learn about it.

 

Thanks in advance for your comments.

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It depends if your talking for residential, with lighting layouts, soffits, differing ceiling heights, and circuiting....... or for commercial with ceiling grids and easy placement of 2 x 4 light fixtures and scale-able symbols.

 

If you meant commercial, forget it. Chief doesn't bother to provide or support any decent commercial tools. A lot of us are hoping this changes in X11. Better basic CAD drafting is hoped for too.

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I'm looking into an additional platform for my commercial projects, but I'm too old to learn something new. I used Vectorworks in 2012 but I don't recognize anything in the program anymore so I'd have to relearn everything, just for the odd couple of commercial jobs I get every year. Probably not worth it, so I'll continue to struggle using Chief for it.

 

As for Chief, I've heard guys say they create a room polyline, then overlay a grid from their user library that is saved as a symbol for quick insertion. They maneuver it around to get the best layout of grid/tiles within the room poly, then explode it and trim the lines. TEDIOUS. Plus lights never seem to insert correctly into the grid.

 

VW has a GREAT ceiling grid tool. Stupidly simple. I've begged Chief to implement something similar. I'm crossing my fingers for February's release of X11 to see what they come up with. But it's my understnading that it generally takes two years for a new idea to make it into the program.

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I do a lot of commercial stuff that includes reflected ceiling plans, egress plans, floor plans, fixture plans, finishes, etc.

What kind of thing do you want from a program when it comes to commercial stuff?

I suppose any 2D program will "DO" commercial stuff, just put lines in where needed.

 

I guess what I am asking is if you would be more specific about what you want Chief to do for you?

 

Andy.

 

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29 minutes ago, AndyGump said:

I guess what I am asking is if you would be more specific about what you want Chief to do for you?

 

Andy, How about this? No trimming or extending needed!!!!!! And it was posted to the Wish List section a while back.....

 

 

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Ah, I see now. You would like a tool for grids that would be easy to manipulate the entirety of the grid instead of doing one line at a time and multi-copy said line and have to trim at the edges, etc.

 

I get it, I would like that too for sure.

But that not being the case, I am pretty quick at laying the proper lines down using the 2D tools.

 

It just doesn't take too long to do that but the other way would be welcome.

 

Andy.

HVAC.PNG

RC plan II.PNG

RC plan.PNG

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2 hours ago, AndyGump said:

It just doesn't take too long to do that but the other way would be welcome.

 

Andy.

 

 

 

 

Good work there Andy.  Though I have to point out the key to having great tools like in Vectorworks is how fast it is to make adjustments or changes thereafter.  I agree it might not be bad in Chief just to draw this out one time with no changes  - but we all know changes are common even after you think you're past a certain phase of the drawing.

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56 minutes ago, johnny said:

I agree it might not be bad in Chief just to draw this out one time

The problem with Andy's version, is he used a continuous uninteruppted grid for the whole floor plan. Not every project is like that. Many projects require the walls go to the deck, or 6 " above the ceiling, so each room needs it's own grid centered in the room to maximize the grid/tile layout. That's trimming and extending for every room. Oh my god........

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By the way, I was playing with Vectorworks 19 and a sample 5 story office model today. In 15 minutes of manipulating, it crashed three times when I tried to render a shaded black/white image. So I let the 50% discount offer expire without purchasing. Chief rarely crashes for me. RARELY.

 

Let's see what the Chief beta produces in December.

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1 hour ago, CARMELHILL said:

The problem with Andy's version, is he used a continuous uninteruppted grid for the whole floor plan. Not every project is like that. Many projects require the walls go to the deck, or 6 " above the ceiling, so each room needs it's own grid centered in the room to maximize the grid/tile layout. That's trimming and extending for every room. Oh my god........

 

I also have examples of the different grid patterns in separate rooms also.

 

It is just not all that hard to do and I like the way the rest of Chief works.

 

So there is that.

 

Andy.

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On 11/16/2018 at 8:01 PM, CARMELHILL said:

By the way, I was playing with Vectorworks 19 and a sample 5 story office model today. In 15 minutes of manipulating, it crashed three times when I tried to render a shaded black/white image. So I let the 50% discount offer expire without purchasing. Chief rarely crashes for me. RARELY.

 

Let's see what the Chief beta produces in December.

 

I have VW 19 and have to agree, its a buggy release.  VW 18 had an initial bug that you couldn't copy anything - but they fixed within a couple days.  The good news is that VW seems to fix their releases pretty quick - but it is annoying. 

 

Chief is fairly stable in comparison, but I think that has to do with how good a job Chief does with its Beta releases.  

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