How to fix wall length Or lock the wall dimentions

[Alaskan_Son]

48 minutes ago, craig1234 said:

but we DO know the angle between building 1 and either of the two lines you have drawn. it is some arbitrary angle like 26.xx°

Okay, now we’re getting a little further.  That seems like something you should have mentioned.  Still not quite there though.  As I have already demonstrated, dimension 4 can be almost anything you want it to be even with that angle fixed.

[Alaskan_Son]

I know I might be sounding harsh, but it’s totally clear that you either don’t understand the geometry very well yourself, or that you don’t know how to use the tools properly. I can both draw and maintain every single thing you’ve described completely in chief, without any problem whatsoever.  
 

The fact you mentioned having to go into “engineering, CAD” to figure out what you needed makes it clear that you don’t know how to use the basic tools 

 

Here are a few tools and methods you really might want to familiarize yourself with:

1.  Making sure that you were selecting the appropriate wall before changing a dimension.
2.  Making sure you are activating the correct Move/Resize mode when actually clicking on a dimension to change it.

3.  Making sure to select the appropriate Lock Setting when changing a length in an object’s dialog box.

4.  Making sure to GROUP select before rotating when appropriate.

5.  Using the Rotate/Resize About Current Point Edit Mode (along with a Temporary Point) if necessary.

6.  Using Angular Dimensions to rotate objects

7.  This one is more of a trick then it is a proper tool, but you can also place a short, perpendicular section of a Room Divider wall that intersects right where you want your break in order to help keep a wall from moving on you.  
it should be noted, however, that this should almost never be necessary for any of what you’ve described above.  It’s just a somewhat related trick that’s good to be aware of.  
8.  As was already stated by several of us above… Use CAD tools when necessary. You can’t claim there’s something inherently wrong with the software just because you either refused to use the appropriate tools or just didn’t know how to.  This is especially true if you are going into another software and using the same tools over there because you claim chief can’t do it.  In particular, you can use the circle tool to find intersections of various lengths to make your geometry problem solving really quick.  You can also use temporary lines, Construction Lines, the Stretch CAD tool.

9.  Using Point to Point Move when appropriate.

9.  Using the Make Parallel/Perpendicular tool

10.  Using the Enter Coordinates dialog 

….

 

I could go all day. I assure you that everything you’ve described is completely possible to manage inside of Chief though.  I’d like to kindly suggest you consider investing in some training sessions with a good coach if you find yourself struggling with this kind of thing, because truthfully….many of us don’t have any problem with these scenarios.  

 

[GeneDavis]

This seems to be about "off-angle" walls and the program rebuilding walls when working to place and edit positions of wall openings (windows, doors) after you carefully placed walls to a CAD polyline or lines.

 

Right?

 

Post two versions of your plan.  One in which your walls are where wanted.

 

The other should show how Chief "dinked" walls after you added openings and edited position.

 

Oh, and start your own new thread.  This seems to be about Chief rebuilding walls when opening-work is done to them.

 

Edit:  I used X15 to draw a four wall "house" with one skew wall.  Chief wanted it to be at one of the 7.5 degree snaps, but I used CAD to draw my preferred polyline with the skew angle "off" so as to get OK lengths for the top and bottom wall lengths.  My skew line came in at -82.598612°.  Chief wanted it to be 82.5 degrees.  I used "make parallel" and the CAD polyline to force the wall to angle, then moved it to align to the CAD polyline with the p'line in place.

 

I then placed a window and edited the position along the wall.  The wall angle did not change, nor did the wall position.

[craig1234]

18 hours ago, Alaskan_Son said:

based on this post, it sounds like you just confirmed what I demonstrated in my last post.  Without additional constraints dim 4 can be almost anything you want it to be.  You are still not making it very clear what we are solving for.  It seems that perhaps you are just demonstrating that you may not actually understand the geometry very well yourself and although you think you might’ve found the one answer, you just found one of MANY possible answers. 

There are no real unknowns, the arbitrary angle of the fourth wall determines everything else.  The trigonometry is trivial, chief just makes it more difficult than it needs to be to place the walls and then leave them unchanged while working on the rest of the structure. 

The original poster was simply stating that it is a needless limitation to not allow the user to anchor features, and if someone only uses architectural CAD they can't appreciate how much more advanced engineering CAD is. 

My original reply was simply supporting the original poster saying that engineering CAD has progressed with better tools while architectural design tools are still in the 90s.  It wasn't to say that it was a difficult geometry, the reply was that when there is even the oddest bit of unique geometry, chief makes even the most trivial process much more difficult than it needs to be.  People suggesting 'tricks and skills" like using the circle tool to draw intersecting circles a classic example of something that engineering CAD made obsolete 30 years ago but is still a mainstay of architectural design. 

[GeneDavis]

We've really no idea what you're talking about.  Give us the the problem you have, and an attached plan file demonstrating it.

 

in a new thread please.  This one is someone else's.

[SHCanada2]

my two cents, to compensate for the lack of wall locking, one can draw reference lines, and/or drop dimensions to markers. I did this one below last year, and it was an exercise in frustration/patience. it was a outdoor covered porch the homeowner "built".  By dropping the dimension to markers, you can monitor the walls to see if they move, without having to memorize all the dimensions.

 

I then will go back and clean them up if I can.

 

but even below, it is not exact, mostly because I did not draw reference lines and did not do the make parallel thing for the roof, I tried to do everything with the walls and dimensions. In hindsight I should have drawn it out in CAD and then traced the walls, or just done it as CAD (which I considered, but I needed a cross section and thought that might take longer)

 

Because in reality no one actually measures angles

 

actual

 

 

then gave up a little and went to

 

 

the crazy homeowner built "roof" with the little overlap

 

a

 

I actually considered doing the whole thing in CAD, it might have been simpler

 

 

[Fanstorm]

I really just want to lock a wall in place to the length I want and it will not move it stays there at length  and location I set.

It still will have provision for me to change its length or rotate it it suit my drawing but it stays where I put it.

If needs be it has to be auto re-aligned then a tick box to say AUTO align and it will detect any ajoining walls and connet to them if I tick yes JOIN

This has been my problem everytime i go to use Chief I cannot draw my wall, lock it in place and carry on then when I get the walls in place  I can see if I messed up as I have gaps and mis-alignments in my walls.

I am trying to use Chief to layout a warehouse complex and show the pallet racking as well and ever time I adust a dimension it changes all my racks so I have to re align them again.

You can say "Chief" is not designed to do that work use a CAD program, but it actually is great to do this work if only I could lock my rack dimensions I would save a lot of time readjustng their sizes, I do get the jobs done and Chief copes really well but line locking would be like the icing on the cake.
Locking walls would make this so much better to use and I feel more user freindly

 

[Fanstorm]

On 4/4/2023 at 1:14 PM, Alaskan_Son said:

I know I might be sounding harsh, but it’s totally clear that you either don’t understand the geometry very well yourself, or that you don’t know how to use the tools properly. I can both draw and maintain every single thing you’ve described completely in chief, without any problem whatsoever.  
 

The fact you mentioned having to go into “engineering, CAD” to figure out what you needed makes it clear that you don’t know how to use the basic tools 

 

Here are a few tools and methods you really might want to familiarize yourself with:

1.  Making sure that you were selecting the appropriate wall before changing a dimension.
2.  Making sure you are activating the correct Move/Resize mode when actually clicking on a dimension to change it.

3.  Making sure to select the appropriate Lock Setting when changing a length in an object’s dialog box.

4.  Making sure to GROUP select before rotating when appropriate.

5.  Using the Rotate/Resize About Current Point Edit Mode (along with a Temporary Point) if necessary.

6.  Using Angular Dimensions to rotate objects

7.  This one is more of a trick then it is a proper tool, but you can also place a short, perpendicular section of a Room Divider wall that intersects right where you want your break in order to help keep a wall from moving on you.  
it should be noted, however, that this should almost never be necessary for any of what you’ve described above.  It’s just a somewhat related trick that’s good to be aware of.  
8.  As was already stated by several of us above… Use CAD tools when necessary. You can’t claim there’s something inherently wrong with the software just because you either refused to use the appropriate tools or just didn’t know how to.  This is especially true if you are going into another software and using the same tools over there because you claim chief can’t do it.  In particular, you can use the circle tool to find intersections of various lengths to make your geometry problem solving really quick.  You can also use temporary lines, Construction Lines, the Stretch CAD tool.

9.  Using Point to Point Move when appropriate.

9.  Using the Make Parallel/Perpendicular tool

10.  Using the Enter Coordinates dialog 

….

 

I could go all day. I assure you that everything you’ve described is completely possible to manage inside of Chief though.  I’d like to kindly suggest you consider investing in some training sessions with a good coach if you find yourself struggling with this kind of thing, because truthfully….many of us don’t have any problem with these scenarios.  

 

Thank you for your advice, sounds like you know Chief inside out,  I know I am not that crash hot with all the items you mention but really all I want is to double click on the wall I have put in and it opens the wall specification dialog box and it has a tick box "Lock wall" and that’s it, nothing more,

The wall stays where I placed it at and at the length I made it
Really just super simple and without having to use CAD, angular dimensions and all the lovely things you have pointed out which can be done in Chief.

No coaching, no watching tutorials, no clicking on other parts of Chief to do such a simple thing.as double click on the line up pos the wall dialog box and it has a tick box "Lock line", quick simple and done! then when I untick the dialog box, full Chief functionality is restored.

I am quite sure such a simple thing as "lock wall" would be appreciated by most without having to go through a learning curve to understand all the functionality of Chief to achieve such a basic thing as locking a wall in a location because that is where you want it.

I will of course follow your suggestions, check the parts you have pointed out, also spend a few more hours trying to nut out how to get what I want but in all honesty it should not be necessary, all for the sake of a simple tick box in the wall specification dialog box. 

[SHCanada2]

feel free to make a suggestion in the suggestion forum. I would agree it would help in certain situations. For most situations i do, i just approximately draw the walls, and then go  around the building and adjust them to actual dimensions I use the auto exterior dimension tool to make the dimensions, and then click on a wall, click on the dimension and then enter the dimension). but if you do not do that and put in interior walls, you will be stuck resizing walls everywhere, if you have to resize the exterior walls later.

 

although your rack problem is intriguing, I cannot visualize the problem, so you may want to post the problem in a series of screenshots