rfcomm2k

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Everything posted by rfcomm2k

  1. I agree that the Mat List could be refined a LOT. My list for a 38' x 26' structure included some 8' 8 5/8 studs, which is NOT a common size in the big box stores. 7'8 5/8 IS common (92 5/8) My list also included 2x8x25'11 15/16" ceiling joists, also not a standard size. In fact finding lumber over 20' long these days is impossible. And I am NOT referring to engineered lumber. And another complaint is, where did the software come up with that 25' 11 15/16 number? I checked the exterior wall dimension by clicking the wall and then clicking the dimension shown (26') I verified it is indeed 26' and not a smaller number rounded up.
  2. Perhaps you could explain how to have railings around the stairwell but STILL maintain the integrity of the existing roofline. If I add a second floor of a default height of around 8', the roof will ALSO be raised 8'. If I set the floor to a height of just a couple inches, the roofline is raised only a couple inches, but now there is no room to add a 36" high railing.
  3. Have a walk up attic and want to model the existing staircase. Software lets me set railings on the attic floor but I am unable to select the stairwell then to designate it as Open Below. Am I missing something here or is this just how the software works? FYI I tried creating a second floor to accomplish this, but that only complicates matters as the stairwell STILL does not penetrate the attic space as desired.
  4. When all else fails, go back to Edit Default Settings and be sure THOSE match what you are attempting to build. I have been frustrated MANY times changing room heights and structure settings, then go back later and find SOMETHING was incorrect, probably due to the automatic rebuild function
  5. I have used the .skp imports for years
  6. The existing pergolas cannot be modified re the component sizes. For example the posts are essentially 2x3 material, and that would not support the deck that must be placed under the pergola roof. Yes, I could use different lumber to support the deck, and fasten the pergola to the deck, but it just is not looking right.
  7. The deck is for a tiny house, where the existing floor is 26" above grade. When I draw a straight deck edge against side of structure all it shows are three invisible walls in floorplan view. Using straight deck railing tool or straight railing tool only presents a railing with no floor. If I select that room just created and set the floor height to 26" I raise the railing but still have no floor. After chasing this around for a long time I just decided to design it as a stick built structure. placing individual pieces of lumber for the posts, beams, floor joists, deck planks, ceiling joists, and pergola pieces. It looks great, I just wanted to be able to turn off certain parts so I can easily select others to make appearance changes.
  8. In my software I do not see a menu choice to draw a ceiling joist. I can draw a floor/ceiling truss, or a floor/ceiling beam, or a joist. Nothing in this menu suggests a ceiling joist.
  9. I am designing a deck with pergola. Having not found these in the product, I am placing the timbers manually. Since these are pergola members they are above the head and thus NOT floor joists. When I click Build/Framing/Joists, I can place these at the location needed, then manually set the height. However the software refers to these as floor joists instead of ceiling joists, despite the height being 114". I find no way to change the specification to call these ceiling joists. I can delete and build general framing, but then when I wish to turn off the pergola members in a view, ALL general framing is turned off. I am using general framing for other items in the construction. Any suggestions?
  10. I designed a tiny house on wheels and then built it in my driveway. In the design process I went with the reference height of the trailer frame at 26.5" as the starting point for the building height. We have now moved it to its "permanent" location and after leveling it properly we are now at 36" for the actual floor height. I am now starting to design the decks for it, but am having trouble establishing stairs because the floor height is incorrect. Rather than trying to do all the math required for footings and posts, etc, I would prefer to just change the whole building to place the floor at 36" instead of 26.5". I looked thru the reference manual and could not see how to CHANGE this without affecting the dimensions of the rooms also. As I currently understand, I would open each room dialog, change the floor height, then also change the rough ceiling height. I would have to do this for every room, and then go to the second floor change these there also. Is there a way to just tell the drawing that the new reference line of 0" is 9.5" lower than it was originally?
  11. According to support framing members cannot be grouped in an Arch. Block
  12. All of the components started out as General Framing members. Then I changed one of the materials to be green glass (does not look like it did in the material library). After I selected the entire object I opened the view/draw/order/edit tools menu and made sure everything is on the general framing layer. Here are two PIX. First one is view from inside, other is view from outside:
  13. As you can see by this screenshot, there is no isometric cube seen.
  14. Hmm, after selecting the unit, I do not see the button to create Architectural Block as the user guide states should be there.
  15. I have need to create a window that is not available in any catalogs. It is a simple fixed window, consisting of 2" x 1.5" rabbeted pieces of lumber with a pane of glass inserted and glazed in place. I have not figured out how to create a single piece of lumber with a rabbet in it, so I added a 1" x .5" piece to form the 1/2" rabbet. Then I created a framing member 12" x 32" x 3/16" thick and assigned green glass as material. I then copied and pasted 4 more of the entire assembly. Then used precise move to place the first unit into the final position. This all worked fine for the first unit. But I need 60 of these. I selected another one of the pasted units, which I had looked at in camera view and confirmed it was intact. After selecting it I moved it into position, then opened it and set the top height to where it belonged. Upon going back to camera view, I noted that some of the components (the top 2" piece and the top 1" piece) were missing. No idea where they went. So I recreated two new pieces and placed them where they belonged, verifying the height. Once again, in camera view they were gone. Is there any way, once I have created an entire unit, to select all the components and lock them all into a single homogeneous unit, instead of still consisting of 9 individual components?
  16. I asked this back in 2015 and did not get a satisfactory answer. Now that I upgraded to HD2020, I am posing the question again. And yes David, I already watched the online tutorial and looked up the reference manual. I understand that every project will have its own material list. But I want to be able to maintain a single master list of the material pricing. When I estimate jobs right now I use an Excel spreadsheet with hundreds of items in it. I have to input every single wall, every floor, ceiling, roof, etc to get to the final number. I use this primarily for ordering material, not so much for pricing a job for the customer. For that I do it differently. It would be nice to be able to maintain a master list in the same manner that I currently maintain my spreadsheet by updating the material costs occasionally. But, unless I am doing it wrong, when I open the master list, it is empty. Even though I have created several lists for projects. Which now leads me to my next question. When I input a price for an item in the project material list, the total cost is less than it should be. For example, 20 sheets of Exterior ply costs $300 at $15 each. But the program calcs this at $292.50.
  17. Regarding the inability to see the auto int dims tool, simply clicking it in tool customization will not work. In tool customization you need to click and drag it to your toolbar.
  18. Thanks DIG5050. I tried that and it is almost working for me, but what concerns me is that there is not a smooth transition from right to left of the downhill slope of the neighbors driveway. Instead, it seems that the drive maintains -18" for most of the first region, then there is a quite obvious transition from -18 to -22, then another from -22 to -26. I spread the regions apart by 7'. Then I widened the gap to 11 feet. This slightly improved the transition, but then I got odd places showed up in the "garden bed" between the driveway and the parking space. Ideally, I should be able to draw a flat rectangle in floorplan view for the garden bed, and another flat rectangle for the driveway. Then, grab the left edge of the driveway and in some way tell the software that this edge is at -26", and grab the right edge and tell the software that this edge is at -18". Or, in elevation view grab the line that represents the driveway and rotate it so that the right side is at -18 and the left side is at -26. Then, in elevation view, grab a corner of the garden rectangle and drag it down to create the compound slope. Simple, right? At least this is how I visualize I would do it. But conforming to how the software actually wants it done is another problem.
  19. As well as giving this user a lecture about stating the proper version of the software, would it have hurt for you to provide some insight into what his trouble is, or at least point him to the proper tutorial?
  20. As you can see from the attached photos and screenshot, I am trying to model some terrain so I can better visualize some proposed changes. Unfortunately, I cannot get the model to show the compound slope at one end of photo (where it slopes down away from the viewer AND slopes down to the left also). I tried using terrain regions as suggested in a previous topic but these do not seem to be working as expected. terrain.plan
  21. Thanx to LawB10, Rookie65, and Solver. That is exactly what I needed. I wanted to override the limitation by placing the toilet 3" closer to the tub in a tiny house I am designing (and actually started to build already). Time has come to start getting fixtures placed and daughter decided she wanted a different tub than she originally chose, and of course the new tub is 5" longer than the original.
  22. Can the boundary for a fixture be turned off? Example, I want to place a tub closer to a toilet than code allows. The software has set a minimum distance that another object can be placed next to a toilet (around 7" if I measured correctly). I need to over ride that in my design (do not worry all you code addicts, it is for a RV, not a permanent residence)
  23. rfcomm2k

    Fixture Fill

    Will_in_pgh, you also should know that SOME of the people on this forum are more inclined to teach instead of help. They prefer to tell you how to find your own answers instead of just telling you how to do something. And while that may be helpful in a teaching kind of way, some of us who pose questions here are not interested in being taught with snarky remarks like you experienced. To Solver and Davidjpotter, I too tried searching help for Fill Style. It got me one item, relating to the fill style tab for polylines. It would take a very experienced user to be able to relate THAT information to the answer that Will was looking for.
  24. Thank You David! I was using the Microsoft Print to PDF that came with this brand new PC and assumed it would work. Today I installed CutePDF and it worked GREAT!