Elevation drawings without sub-grade crap showing


reluctantuser
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Hi All,

Very new to Chief Architect.  Please bear with me.  I would like to know if there's an easier way than Support told me to simply show an exterior elevation without showing the outline of the foundation.  What I want seems so straightforward that I would think there's got to be an easy way to do it.  When I shut off the foundation layer, the elevation doesn't show the 8" or so of stem wall.  When I turn it on, I see what's underground.  I don't want that!  Not even dashed.  I want what's above ground, with a nice hard grade line.  

Support said I need to create all sorts of crap like poly lines with blank fill (and blank lines).  That seems like so much trouble.  What about when you tweak grade later on?  You then have to go tweak your polylines for every elevation?

I feel like there's GOT to be a better way.

thanks,

Tom 

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What I do is make my terrain skirt deep as I need it with an earth fill and put my elevation camera's outside of the terrain so you are looking at the side of the skirt. Works good on flat terrains. If you have a sloped terrain then you may need to mask it with a p-line and earth fill in the front depending on the slope. I don't like all those lines either.

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Those CAD "masks" are really probably a lot easier than they sound to you and are really your friend in my opinion.  They are almost a necessity if you want to add notes to section views and keep things live.  And you really only need to create one or 2.  Just put them in your library for easy access.  Either that or just copy and paste them from the plan itself. 

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Use the EDIT LAYOUT tool and delete the lines you don't want.

This would of course work, but the OP already stated concerns regarding what would happen if they tweaked the grade later. Problem with using the edit layout tool, as I'm sure you know is that ANY tweaks to the plan and any updated views would need to be edited all over again. With a CAD mask there is a very good chance any changes to the plan will have no effect on the mask at all. And even if they do, it's a lot easier to drag the edge of a mask than it is to delete a dozen or more extra lines.

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Like Perry and Kevin said, "That's how I do it" for elevations.

 

I have much better control with a white angle hatch-filled polyline(s) on sections thru the house than any thing else. That makes the foundation show up hatched for areas I want that way when printed. And yes, I sometimes have to use the edit layout line tool, but nothing like years ago.

 

Mike

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Hi All,

Very new to Chief Architect.  Please bear with me.  I would like to know if there's an easier way than Support told me to simply show an exterior elevation without showing the outline of the foundation.  What I want seems so straightforward that I would think there's got to be an easy way to do it.  When I shut off the foundation layer, the elevation doesn't show the 8" or so of stem wall.  When I turn it on, I see what's underground.  I don't want that!  Not even dashed.  I want what's above ground, with a nice hard grade line.  

Support said I need to create all sorts of crap like poly lines with blank fill (and blank lines).  That seems like so much trouble.  What about when you tweak grade later on?  You then have to go tweak your polylines for every elevation?

I feel like there's GOT to be a better way.

thanks,

Tom 

 

The masking polygon is the classic way of doing it and the way it is done in most tools. I personally dislike sometimes having to update both an existing and a proposed building when additional details are needed, but I can't remember ever tweaking the grade once it's done.

 

Another little benefit from the polygon mask is that you can fill it with a white diagonal pattern if you want the foundation parts under grade to show hatched but not the stem walls above.

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Hi All,

Very new to Chief Architect.  Please bear with me.  I would like to know if there's an easier way than Support told me to simply show an exterior elevation without showing the outline of the foundation.  What I want seems so straightforward that I would think there's got to be an easy way to do it.  When I shut off the foundation layer, the elevation doesn't show the 8" or so of stem wall.  When I turn it on, I see what's underground.  I don't want that!  Not even dashed.  I want what's above ground, with a nice hard grade line.  

Support said I need to create all sorts of crap like poly lines with blank fill (and blank lines).  That seems like so much trouble.  What about when you tweak grade later on?  You then have to go tweak your polylines for every elevation?

I feel like there's GOT to be a better way.

thanks,

Tom 

 

Send the elevation to layout and pull the bottom of the layout box containing the elevation up to hide the footings

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks all, very helpful!  I will try out a couple of the suggestions.  

Still, with all the amazing things this program does automatically, wouldn't you think that would be one of them?

 

Ever since I switched over from Soft Plan to Chief Architect 3 years ago, I have been wondering the same thing... It is very annoying and you would think they could at least make it an option some how, like a check box to 'hide foundation below grade'... 

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All jokes aside, there has to be some sort of balance. If we're given independent controls for every little thing we think of, Chief could become a bloated monstrosity pretty quickly.

 

And - my litmus test for how loudly to "beech and wine" about something is this:

 

  1. Can we do it now?  In this case, yes.
  2. Does it take blinkin' forever to do it now?  In this case, no.
  3. How many other things are on "the list" that fail the first two, and would I put this ahead of more than a couple dozen of them?  In this case - my answer is "a lot", and "nope".

So this for me is just something where I go to my Department of Clever Tricks and git 'er done.

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And - my litmus test for how loudly to "beech and wine" about something is this:

 

  1. Can we do it now?  In this case, yes.
  2. Does it take blinkin' forever to do it now?  In this case, no.
  3. How many other things are on "the list" that fail the first two, and would I put this ahead of more than a couple dozen of them?  In this case - my answer is "a lot", and "nope".

So this for me is just something where I go to my Department of Clever Tricks and git 'er done.

 Agreed...except that in this particular instance I'm not even sure the solutions we have should be considered "Clever Tricks".  Putting a camera outside a deepened terrain skirt just seems like using the right tool for the job...

 

and I don't even think using a CAD mask is a workaround.  I think if we were given the exact same polyline tools we have now under the heading "Layout mask" (or some other appropriate term) that some people would think we had a cool new tool.  As with many things its just the way you look at it. 

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 Agreed...except that in this particular instance I'm not even sure the solutions we have should be considered "Clever Tricks".  Putting a camera outside a deepened terrain skirt just seems like using the right tool for the job...

 

and I don't even think using a CAD mask is a workaround.  I think if we were given the exact same polyline tools we have now under the heading "Layout mask" (or some other appropriate term) that some people would think we had a cool new tool.  As with many things its just the way you look at it. 

 

Yeah - I agree.  "Clever tricks" maybe should be just "smart use of existing tools".    But sometimes it makes me feel "smart" to use "clever tricks"!  We all need to feel smart now and then.   ;-)

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FWIW...I use layer sets to show the foundation as hidden lines (which is proper drafting technique). As far back as I can remember, working for a couple different firms, and on my own, showing what is below grade has always been standard operating procedure.

 

Here-here Joey, couldn't have said  it better.  Back in the 70's when I first started; the VA would not accept plans any other way.

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