Is there a way to "fix" a dimension so that Chief Architect does not change it?

[RDfrankfort]

I'm new at this and starting by putting in the lot for the house I want to design. Unfortunatley, its a five sided lot, a rectancle with a sort of triangle stickign out the left (west) side.

 

Here's the problem: I can create a five sided shape, I can put in dimensions, but everytime i cange one dimension it jigs the others to keep the shape intact. I want to fix the dimenions of all the rectangular parts, and then pull the side of the trianlge about to get the two sides of that triangle to the right length (with non-stanard angles as well). Is this possible?

 

Or am I going about this all wrong?

 

Thanks

RD

[Chopsaw]

You may need to set your cad lines to not auto connect.  Not every survey will actually connect unless it was drawn out on paper and then spiked into the ground.  There are acceptable tolerances that are allowed and numbers often get rounded off so it does not actually work perfectly on paper/cad.

[Kbird1]

You can disconnect one Segment and break the Closed Polygon , which should stop the other sides moving

 

You can add angles to any plan under Defaults>Plan>Additional angles , so the Lines will "snap" to those angles as you rotate them.

 

You can also try the Line Input Method if you have a survey? :

 https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00575/creating-a-plot-plan.html

 

Mick

 

[glennw]

If all else fails you can select the dimension and on the Segments panel of the dbx, "Suppress Dimension Value" and enter some trailing or leading text for the dimension you want.

[Chopsaw]

2 minutes ago, glennw said:

If all else fails you can select the dimension and on the Segments panel of the dbx, "Suppress Dimension Value" and enter some trailing or leading text for the dimension you want.

 

Ouch...   Lets try and do it correctly first please.   Just because surveyors do it that way is not an excuse.  They don't think anyone checks or uses their work for anything important.  What happens when you need an accurate measurement from a point that is not accurately placed ?

 

2 hours ago, RDfrankfort said:

Here's the problem: I can create a five sided shape, I can put in dimensions, but everytime i cange one dimension it jigs the others to keep the shape intact. I want to fix the dimenions of all the rectangular parts, and then pull the side of the trianlge about to get the two sides of that triangle to the right length (with non-stanard angles as well). Is this possible?

 

Please post your plan file with the specifications you are trying to achieve and we can better advise the best practice.

[Kbird1]

9 minutes ago, Chopsaw said:

Ouch...   Lets try and do it correctly first please.

 

Hahaha, just what I was thinking too......  though you are right about Surveys not always being 100% accurate

which you'd think was needed since they are a Legal Document.

 

M.

[RDfrankfort]

Sorry everyone, I should have posted this in "Home Designer" forums and not be bothering you pros. Nonethelss, I think the "break the polygon" method will likely work for me in Home Designer.

 

Thanks

[tommy1]

I find a lot of surveys aren't right. I'm doing a remodel in which the survey provided to me was very old and couldn't be read. I had the owners get a new survey from the same company that did the original and found yesterday that it's way off. Off by a foot on one wall. 2.5' off on another wall and 6.5' off on another wall. These wall differences will make a difference on how the roof goes together. The owners are having them come out again ant try it once more. I usually get bad surveys about 4 times a year. Don't know how they get away with it. My site plan needs to match the survey pretty close, if not, the city may question my site plan.

[glennw]

17 hours ago, Chopsaw said:

Ouch...   Lets try and do it correctly first please.

Chopsaw,

Didn't I say "if all else fails"?

For a quick fix where it makes no difference, why not use this newly gained ability? 

[Chopsaw]

14 minutes ago, glennw said:

Didn't I say "if all else fails"?

For a quick fix where it makes no difference, why not use this newly gained ability? 

 

Sorry, you did say that but it seemed you were a little quick to offer that as a solution when there was no reason it would not work properly using the right tools.

 

There was some good advice given and some really bad advice as well.  I have never had any luck with the Line Input method. It is a ridiculously frustrating tool to use.

 

Also not sure Additional Angles is of any benefit when plotting out survey lines.

 

However I would much rather talk about it than give out smarties and run away. ( not in reference to the participants in this thread though. ) 

[Chopsaw]

27 minutes ago, Chopsaw said:

Also not sure Additional Angles is of any benefit when plotting out survey lines.

 

Actually if you were plotting out cad lines freehand the way I do that might be a benefit to set at 7 1/2° or it might just be easier to turn off angle snaps altogether.