How to Create Custom Electrical Symbols in Chief Architect
You can view a video of this resource here.
Modifying a Symbol
The first thing you need to know about Chief is that each object is a 2D symbol (what you see on your construction plans) and a 3D object (what you see in the Camera View). What we are going to change in this example is the 2D symbol only.
For this example – we are going to modify an Electrical Circuit. Our goal – to create a Circuit for a Hot Water Dispenser that will show on our plan view and in our Electrical Schedule.
Let’s start
Select an existing symbol (for example, a garbage disposal)
Place the symbol in your plan
Select the symbol and then select EDIT CAD BLOCK at the bottom of your screen
The object will open in a new CAD Block Window
Select the text and open the text – change it to Hot H20 (I reduced the text size to 1.5”)
Close the CAD Block Window and SAVE.
2. The dialog box below will appear.
Since we are just making one new symbol – Select ONLY THIS INSTANCE (if you select “All Instances” – it will change all of the like symbols that you have in your current plan.)
You are now back in your plan view. Select the new symbol and open the OPEN SYMBOL ICON at the bottom of your screen
We will make a few changes here:
3D>NAME>SYMBOL NAME (change to Hot H20 Disposal)
OPTIONS >PLACEMENT>Wall Mounted
OPTIONS>OPTIONS>make sure OUTLET & 110 VOLTS are selected
OK
Select new Symbol and select ADD TO LIBRARY
The new symbol will appear in your USER LIBRARY
3. At this point – I STRONGLY recommend that you put your new symbol into the correct folder (for this symbol – I have it under ELECTRICAL in my USER LIBRARY).
And DONE!
