HELP: Can All the Cross Section Details Be Auto Generated?


HomeDesign724
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On 12/19/2022 at 2:53 PM, Kiwideziner said:

Do you need to have drawn up a house before you are able to get these details??

You may be able to do all your modeling in CA for everything else and then pop out your details in your other program, then import the details page to a CA layout??

 

Just a thought

Typically we design the house first based on the customers specific requests then detail what is necessary in the cross sections/details. Ideally we wouldn't have to go between multiple programs to finish plans.

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6 minutes ago, HomeDesign724 said:

Typically we design the house first based on the customers specific requests then detail what is necessary in the cross sections/details. Ideally we wouldn't have to go between multiple programs to finish plans.

I highly recommend you take a look at @Renerabbitt's pro template as he has this worked out for you across multiple sections/cad details using custom macros.  It is basically the same idea but you are changing the selection to what you want.  I.E. you specify in one master model what your floor, wall, ceiling, and roof structure and components are and it auto populates across the different cad details.  These can already be sent to your layout template so its a matter of just specifying once and then they are done.

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9 minutes ago, rgardner said:

I highly recommend you take a look at @Renerabbitt's pro template as he has this worked out for you across multiple sections/cad details using custom macros.

Yea it's super impressive! Don't know if my boss wants to pay money for it, though. He basically just wants to know if details can be created through wall/floow etc manipulation and then maybe just zoom in and it'll show in the backclipped section for example.

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1 hour ago, HomeDesign724 said:

Yea it's super impressive! Don't know if my boss wants to pay money for it, though. He basically just wants to know if details can be created through wall/floow etc manipulation and then maybe just zoom in and it'll show in the backclipped section for example.

Well this shows it can be done but if he had his son in law write a custom macro/program to do it with the other software then obviously he realizes it is not something automatic.  But the answer to that exact question is yes it can be done.  I personally dont use his system every time as I do a wide variety of projects that it does not fit 100% of the time in which case I will do a live cross section on the job and detail it out with saved text and notes that I have in my user library to detail it out quickly.

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4 minutes ago, rgardner said:

Well this shows it can be done but if he had his son in law write a custom macro/program to do it with the other software then obviously he realizes it is not something automatic.  But the answer to that exact question is yes it can be done.  I personally dont use his system every time as I do a wide variety of projects that it does not fit 100% of the time in which case I will do a live cross section on the job and detail it out with saved text and notes that I have in my user library to detail it out quickly.

Okay thank you, I'll let him know and hopefully we can figure it out!

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18 minutes ago, HomeDesign724 said:

As far as I can tell if there are other pitches in the plan, we just make separate cross sections? I don't think I've seen multiple pitches on one cross section.

hmmm, so for your screenshot which shows the porch, you would not show the porch (how would this look?). Or you would show the porch just with the wrong roof pitch, and then another cross section with the right roof pitch on the porch but the wrong roof pitch on the house?

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36 minutes ago, SHCanada2 said:

hmmm, so for your screenshot which shows the porch, you would not show the porch (how would this look?). Or you would show the porch just with the wrong roof pitch, and then another cross section with the right roof pitch on the porch but the wrong roof pitch on the house?

Oh, I just chose a random plan hahha I haven't been taught that yet so I honestly have no idea how they make the porch in the cross sections xD I'm just at a loss for how to make all this work in Chief without adding work haha

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I've looked at the OP's website and it seems the firm has a long history of selling stock plans with a library (they say) of thousands, and customization available for any of them.

 

Everything looks absolutely whitebread traditional, and the website says they have been in biz for a long long time.  I looked at the website for the software they use and it's vintage stuff from back when Chief was beginning, but doesn't look current.  

 

No modern stuff, no midcentury modern stuff, no flat roofed contemporary, nothing about site-specific full service architectural services, it looks like they are grinding out a lot of work using their libraries, and those must have all been coded to work with this detail configurator that is in use.

 

Someone worked long and hard to build the whole setup the way it works.  To change the operation to be Chief-based, someone would need to make a commitment to the change, and that would be the boss, the owner.  It would take as much effort to change the op so that Chief is the tool, as it did to build and deploy the existing setup.

 

Did the boss look at Chief and say, hey, that's what we want to do to make a whole lot more money?  I don't think so. 

 

I don't see it happening.

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18 hours ago, GeneDavis said:

It would take as much effort to change the op so that Chief is the tool, as it did to build and deploy the existing setup.

Yeah I'm in charge of becoming Chief expert so I can teach everyone else in the office eventually and hopefully fully switch over in a few years (':

Mostly everything else has been good, it's just these cross sections and details I can't figure out no matter how many videos I watch or articles I read. I'll figure it out eventually haha

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39 minutes ago, HomeDesign724 said:

Yeah I'm in charge of becoming Chief expert so I can teach everyone else in the office eventually and hopefully fully switch over in a few years (':

Mostly everything else has been good, it's just these cross sections and details I can't figure out no matter how many videos I watch or articles I read. I'll figure it out eventually haha

"In a few years" unless you take on Chief with the new subscription arrangement, you will be stuck with your one seat of X12, no support from Chief, and no way to get more X12 seats for all those everyone elses.

 

So if you are really going to transform HomeDesign into a Chief house, you're gonna have to talk Mr Boss into you getting X14 and a proper machine on which to run it.  And funding to keep X14 under full support.  Otherwise this is just a lark.

 

Up thread, in your post in which you show a collection of CAD details and a full-house cross section, including your dialog boxes which seem to work like a rules-based-configurator to search and deliver CAD details from an indexed library, how do your CAD details differ from the example attached here of one cut and pasted from Chief's stock box of CAD details?  And could you not just take that and edit it to your needs, then copy paste to your hearts content, editing each new one to achieve one for every roof pitch, every wall thickness, and every insulation callout scheme you seem to have in your present system?  Then work to build the huge library of CAD details necessary to support the business, since you want everything pre-drawn.  You would pull them from the library, which would all be indexed in such a way as to make pulling CAD details as easy as today's op of filling out a dialog box for the pull.

 

And also upthread and from that same post in which you have the building cross section, does your present system give you a live section like that from anywhere you cut one, as Chief does?  'Cause it looks kind of generic to me.

 

I looked at your dialog box for cross section.  How do you generate a building section, for example, for a house with high-side shed roof and a walkout finished basement level with 5 foot stemwall under the walkout?

 

 

Screenshot 2022-12-22 114530.jpg

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2 hours ago, GeneDavis said:

"In a few years" unless you take on Chief with the new subscription arrangement, you will be stuck with your one seat of X12, no support from Chief, and no way to get more X12 seats for all those everyone elses.

 

So if you are really going to transform HomeDesign into a Chief house, you're gonna have to talk Mr Boss into you getting X14 and a proper machine on which to run it.  And funding to keep X14 under full support.  Otherwise this is just a lark.

We have to first be sure we can do everything in Chief before making that investment, video cards ain't cheap xD I'm sure there's something we can figure out, just have to play around a bit more.

Thanks for helping!

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5 hours ago, HomeDesign724 said:

We have to first be sure we can do everything in Chief before making that investment, video cards ain't cheap xD I'm sure there's something we can figure out, just have to play around a bit more.

Thanks for helping!

 

Gene is right unfortunately , your Boss needs to act before Jan. 9th if he want's the lower cost Perpetual Licenses, even if the Videocard has to wait....

 

Like your Boss ( and Brother? ) did originally you will likely need to build a Library of Details , you can even import your current ones (DWG/DXF) but there is no way to enter a few Parameters into a DBX ( Dialog Box ) and it will send it all to Layout for you, however you could build a Layout Template with "Typical (scaled) Details" in it, so that work does not need repeating every Project.

 

Lots to read up on about Layouts and Templates is my guess and creating CAD Details as well ..... These all have a PDF to download as well... Start a Library !

 

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00737/creating-and-using-layout-templates.html

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-02862/resizing-a-layout-title-block-and-border.html

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-03018/setting-up-layout-template-pages.html

 

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00766/creating-cad-details.html

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00500/customizing-a-cad-block-or-detail.html

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00002/adding-a-cad-object-cad-detail-or-text-to-the-library.html

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00283/troubleshooting-dwg-dxf-file-import-issues.html

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00199/modifying-the-scale-of-an-imported-dwg-dxf.html

 

One other Tip would be to get used to using the Project Browser , I keep it open on a 2nd monitor with the Active Display options....

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-03003/using-the-project-browser.html

 

Mick.

 

 

 

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10 hours ago, solver said:

Chief has no ability to create a dialog to accept input from the user.

True, however, one could build a program that looks exactly like that dialog box, and output the results into a text file, which could then be read by CA.

 

My two cents, you could get pretty close to the same results with Rene's system (or another macro system)  for the DETAILS. 

 

But the cross section you have shown just doesn't make sense if there are different wall thicknesses, roof pitches, insulation, etc etc

 

@HomeDesign724 if your boss man cannot explain the cross section or it is a "just accept the inconsistencies", then I would suggest telling the boss man to do something different.

 

I for one, do something like below where inputted variables drive the detail(similar to Rene). I used to do a cross section similar to yours but just found it redundant to the details. more effort to flip between pages, but less effort on my part

 

image.thumb.png.b9299b4413f6a16efba6429691d674cf.png

 

image.thumb.png.9ddaa955037c9c78f5597d3f003952c1.png

 

 

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On 12/22/2022 at 6:56 AM, HomeDesign724 said:

 

Mostly everything else has been good, it's just these cross sections and details I can't figure out no matter how many videos I watch or articles I read. I'll figure it out eventually haha

 

I think what you're doing is presenting an XY Problem (click to read up on it).  That is you're needing to solve problem X and you're trying to do so by asking how to achieve Y.  The problem is that Y is simply an inappropriate solution.  In other words, you're asking the wrong question.  The simple fact is that Chief works entirely different than the software you're currently using.  I suggest you stop trying to use the same approaches you used with your previous software.  You're just wasting a lot of time and energy.  The solution you're looking for simply doesn't exist in Chief because its a different tool set built around on an entirely different paradigm.  You'll just need to adopt a different system.

 

Here's a little additional food for thought: One of the main benefits of using a true 3D modeling application like Chief Architect is that you can model your structures in 3 dimensions exactly like they'll be built in real life.  That means when you generate a cross section or take an elevation view, its going to display exactly what you've modeled and not a generic representation.    Some of the process takes a bit more work, but the payoff can be enormous.  Model the building once and you can generate as many views and details as you want at any angle and from any desired reference point.  You can analyze all sorts of things that would otherwise be impossible to analyze.  By trying to generate a bunch of generic details and sections you're largely defeating the purpose of using a 3d modeling software and in doing so missing out on many if not all of the real benefits.

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