Off 90 by just a hair..

[ebdesign]

John,
That baseline angle you see in the dbx does not refer to the angle of the baseline you drew in the plan. (another topic). What you show happens to me frequently also.
& I have all snaps enabled, except for "quadrant". Your zoom level needs to be closer so that Chief can distinguish between all the different snaps that are in the area & you see your cursor change depending on what kind of snap is there.

[Bradley Boltz]

Yes and that's a bull****e workaround. Why the ****(o) would you want to pull a roof plane and have it snap off a GD 1/2" because of a **** vinyl siding or other snap point? Yes, I'm forced to pull dinky roof sections like you suggest in order to draw a roof plane too. Didn't used to do it in the Pre-X-Versions!!!! Just another example of letting Chief off the hook. We should have started screaming about this crap at the outset and the level should be loud enough to be heard in Idaho.-BB

Sorry, I'm refering to Scott's Post #12 with this rant.

[dshall]

Yes and that's a bull****e workaround. Why the ****(o) would you want to pull a roof plane and have it snap off a GD 1/2" because of a **** vinyl siding or other snap point? Yes, I'm forced to pull dinky roof sections like you suggest in order to draw a roof plane too. Didn't used to do it in the Pre-X-Versions!!!! Just another example of letting Chief off the hook. We should have started screaming about this crap at the outset and the level should be loud enough to be heard in Idaho.-BB

Sorry, I'm refering to Scott's Post #12 with this rant.

Well, this does not help pinpoint what the issue is, so it is kind of a wasted post. All I am saying is I do not experience this that I am aware of, so what is the difference? I don't know..... maybe user error? If it is not user error, let's try to pinpoint where and how the error occurs so it can be fixed. Oh, but you are referring to the dinky roof sections, so what is wrong with a dinky roof section? It gets the job done............... I have a feeling I am about to get in trouble again....... facts baby, let's get some facts. Hey BB, I do love your posts, probably even more passionate than I.

[ebdesign]

Scott,
You've got all the facts you need; as does Chief Architect. They have acknowledged this problem & are hard at work as we speak trying to solve it. (along w/ linking anno sets to layout views, I suppose)
It is NOT user error; unless you consider not disabling all snaps except angle snaps prior to the task user error.........or having to zoom in so far you can't do much else until you back out. This behavoir has been present for a few versions now. It has been submitted multiple x's at all stages of development. What is needed is an ORTHO LOCK where the angle of the selected object does not change.....period! Right, Brad?

[Dave Pitman]

What is needed is an ORTHO LOCK where the angle of the selected object does not change.....period! Right, Brad?

Jim, you must know that a simple ORTHO LOCK, like hold the space bar and drag in either the x or y direction is impossible to program. There can be no other reason that it is not a part of Chief.

Oh, and congrats, Grandpa!!

[Gene Davis]

Not quite ORTHO for the lock. Some objects selected for editing or whatever are not orthogonally placed. I would be content with a "let's stretch this thing but please don't rotate it for me" key or command.

[Bradley Boltz]

Easy Peasy, thanks for the consice re-explanation Jim! You hit the nail on the head. Archicad does it with the control key but I think it should be a default mouse function and the control key should be used to unlock it for free angling.

Like I said, an additional angle snap option of 45(or 22.5d) degree angle snaps added to the 7.5 and 15 degree snap angle options might be usefull in drawing plans.

Scott you caught some of the point of my rant regarding the drawing of short roof segments so that the roof edge doesn't jump out of parallel to the wall. Wouldn't the typical desire and behavior be for Chief to create a roof base line parallel to the wall you are trying to bear on? Seems like it should be more difficult to get off of parallel than to stay parallel in this instance. But it's also an issue when drawing walls and cad lines etc, especially when in heavy graphic traffic on a busy drawing (yeah, I know-layer sets can help).

We never had this snapping issue in prior to X-versions so why would Chief allow the program to progress in such a regressive manor? I know that you and some of the other "smart" users are "grudgingly content" with coming up with intelligent and creative workarounds and we certainly enjoy the input and aid. I also like it when you take your lips away from Chief's arse and throw a stone or two. Plus, if I ever get in the San Diego area again (last time 1980something), I'd dig buying you an overpriced brew or two and having a real conversation.
Drawing shorter roof segments works but is a PITA and productivity inhibitor, drawing shorter dimension strings because of the same issue is even more of a PITA and the same with cad lines. Constantly adjusting snapping properties is rediculously irritating and sometimes still doesn't get you where you need to be.

I've been guilty (lazy) over the years of not properly getting into and learning a lot of the program but when some logic in the program is so intuitive and user friendly (basic drawing of walls, cad, dimensions etc) and then other items like terrain and the weird arse way of trying to figure out which is what with positive or negative numbers for terrain elevations-what the___!!!

Walls are way too snap happy regarding creating proper wall intersections. Can you draw a 1.5" long wall? I can build a 1.5"long wood frame wall so why can't I draw it? Chief seriously needs to allow the user to decide how one wall meets another and create an easy and logical way to make this happen. Better get back to drawin' and cussin' before my client's git to fussin'-BB






S

[Glenn Woodward]

Walls are way too snap happy regarding creating proper wall intersections. Can you draw a 1.5" long wall? I can build a 1.5"long wood frame wall so why can't I draw it? Chief seriously needs to allow the user to decide how one wall meets another and create an easy and logical way to make this happen. Better get back to drawin' and cussin' before my client's git to fussin'-BB
S

I rekon these off ortho problems are caused by solely by your snap settings.
I think Chief comes standard with all snaps on, which is way overkill.
I also rekon that grid snaps are the worst offender and don't use it for that reason.
It is not hard to toggle snaps off if all you want is angle snaps.

Brad,
Whats the problem with drawing a short wall length.
I just tried and had no trouble drawing a wall 10mm long - I just tried again and can even get it down to 1mm long.
Once again, I rekon that this is caused by your grid snap setting.

Post a plan that demonstrates the problems you are having.

[Bradley Boltz]

Guess I missed that one Glenn. Just drew a 3/4" long wall. -Sorry Chief. But sometimes a wall will snap to a nearby wall(a wall that you don't want to snap to and you can't turn that off that tendency). In those close proximity instances you can't adjust the wall easily. I'll have to post it the next time it happens because I don't even understand my explanation on this one.

Regarding the snap issue, I rarely if ever have grid snaps turned on even though the main folk at Chief recommend turning the snap grid on. Funny thing, with the snap grid turned on, I can't snap a wall, point or anything to the grid, even using point to point. Maybe I'm missing something here, because when I actually tried using the snap grid , I couldn't get anything to snap to the grids. These were the snap grids, not the reference grids. Also, I don't suppose anyone's had any issues with leader arrows jumping askew on occaission because you've moved a wall or object near or away from the item the arrow was pointing to in plan? thanks, BB

[ebdesign]

Grid snaps. I rarely have them enabled. Don't even give them a thought when discussing snaps. (Grid snaps aren't even listed w/ the rest of the snaps.) But I do have Endpoint, Midpoint, Center, On Object, Points/Markers, Intersections, Angle Snaps & all the extension snaps enabled by default. I use all those snaps thru the course of a workday. Just about anything done in Chief utilizes some sort of snapping, or works better using a snap.
To me, it makes more sense to occasionally have to disable a particular snap that will cause difficulty than to work w/ all snaps off & enable what I need on an as-needed basis only........& do it pre-emptively. The "Control" key overrides all snaps -including angles (which is frequently how some things get slightly off angle) as does zooming in enough so that the different snap points are further apart than your Snap Distance(pixels) value. I don't mind zooming in/out, but sometimes it's not a productive way to work- editing framing comes to mind.
& Gene's right. What is needed is more an ANGLE LOCK than a ortho lock. Whatever angle an object is, we should be able to edit that object w/out the angle changing.

[Bradley Boltz]

How about both, Jim? You draw most of your walls and roof planes on most jobs in an orthagonal orientation. The lock could be and should be for what-ever angle snap setting you are using. If 15d increments then no other snap point should be able to pull you off of the angle you are pulling once you start following the guideline for that angle. Control key could temp toggle freehand and alt key could allow you to change it to parallel to something different without losing your start point origin.

Also, I was wrong in my previous statement about the grid snap's snap grid. And will follow with another thought about it's difficiencies after I take my daughter to school.-bb

Al

[Bradley Boltz]

[QUOTE=Bradley Boltz;459181

Also, I was wrong in my previous statement about the grid snap's snap grid. And will follow with another thought about it's difficiencies after I take my daughter to school.-bb

Al[/QUOTE]

Here attached is a prime example of the limitation and deficiency of the snapping grid. I have two "identical wall types" except the one has the stud layer as main layer and the other has the brick as the main layer. Apparently the main layer snaps to the snap grids, which is fine if you don't want any other layer to snap to the grid.

Once you've drawn and snapped your walls, say you want the exterior of your brick which might also align with the main ext layer of your block foundation wall to be on 2' snap grid modules. Once you've drawn your building exterior walls, you can't change the main layer back to the stud layer (as required by Chief to properly show wall framing) without the G.D. wall exteriors (brick) getting "moved or relocated by Chief" so that the stud faces now re-snap to the 2' grid modules, thus throwing off your exterior wall locations. This is a huge problem in my mind and has been for a long time. And, it should have been fixed before the 5th x-version. Why am I paying $600.00 per yr for SSA and version upgrades that don't fix age old issues that are way more important for productivity and ease of use than adding useless programmer crap that the majority of core users have no idea how to take advantage of? At least fix the basic stuff most of us have asked for over the past 12yrs to make this a real Professional Program instead of the pretender that it currently is.-BBwaiting

[ebdesign]

Brad,
User error.
Default Settings/Walls/General Wall Defaults/Resize About.
Learn what it does & how to use it. Your problems in this regard will be solved.
& my SSA is only $395/yr, not $600; maybe you got a "deal"?

[Bradley Boltz]

I know about and use /Resize About. It doesn't work for every application and doesn't give you enough options or control. The walls will always show (when selected) that they could be "realigned with below" or "above" walls. In my example, I'm just drawing to the snap modules, which I've never done in real practice.

SSA at $600 is for two site licenses (2nd license is 200.00). Got it cheap, keeping in case I ever get the opportunity to hire a smart person.-BB

[ebdesign]

Brad,
What you described in post #27 can be controlled perfectly w/resize about. The snap grid is irrelevent to this issue. If the wall was on the snap grid to begin w/, if the resize about is used correctly, the walls will still be on the snap grid when you're done horsing around. If you've got another example that doesn't work, let's see/hear it.
You are correct that Chief will show the walls as misaligned because of the different main layers. That needs to be ignored in these kinds of cases.