Fun2Learn

Hi everyone. I just finally purchased Chief Premier X6 yesterday!(yeah--I am so excited). I wanted to try out Chief's Room Planner App to do an "as built" of my house to then import into Chief to practice on. I am confused by all the different versions of room planner and not sure if it is free if you already have Chief. I went to the Roomtalk forum, but couldn't find answers there to those questions. One think I am not sure about, if I do have to purchase Room Planner, is if the more expensive apps contain the less expensive app's features within them, or if you need to purchase all the apps to get all the features. It is very confusing. Thanks. Phyllis

Thanks, Perry for your sage advice! Wow--you have been doing this for 40 years--you must have started out doing hand drafting also. Was Chief Architect the first CAD you used? It is nice to see someone who has been successful in the business for so long uses Chief as his CAD of choice (I assume that is what you use--maybe you use others, too?) Special thanks to you, Lew, for taking the time to call me to share so many helpful tips and suggestions for starting up a CAD business. I really appreciate the advice and, especially, encouragement from someone who has "been there, done that"--and even in my general vicinity, too! Thanks again! Phyllis

After trying various companies' software free demos off and on for several years, I've finally made up my mind to order Chief Premier and try to get back into the architecture field. I am seriously considering starting a design/drafting service out of my house. If I did, I imagine I would probably mainly be doing residential remodeling projects, (which I love doing anyway--I love the challenge of a making a remodel look great.) Or would you strongly suggest trying to get a Chief drafting job with another firm (after I learn it better). How hard would it be to find a firm looking to hire someone who only knows Chief (I never learned AutoCAD, for instance.) Do you have any advice for someone just starting up a Chief Architect cad business--how to go about it, tips for advertising and selling your services, legal issues to be aware of, business mistakes to avoid, etc? Any courses or books you'd recommend? How hard is it to get work-- how is the business these days in general? Are people seeming to have an easier time getting construction loans, (or home equity loans) to fund the construction these days? Of course, I realize that the building industry varies depending on which part of the country you are in. Supposedly, the housing industry in our area (near D.C.) was never hit as hard as much of the rest of the country. I live in a semi-rural area of Southern Maryland, close enough to commute to the D.C. metro area. Homes here are typically on either very large lots or acreage--meaning there would be room to expand and add-on. There is also quite a bit of buildable land still available for new construction, too.The average median income in the county is among the top 20 in the nation, so I would imagine there is money to spend on remodels--if the banks are lending. My background: I have a degree in architecture and worked for about 13 years in the field (had my license in CA before moving to Maryland and letting it expire (couldn't afford the fees!). I spent the last 20 years or so as a stay- at- home mom, though I did some remodeling design work for friends and myself (using a very old home- owner version of Chief -"3-D Home Architect"!) over those years, as well as a very extensive remodel and addition project for a friend. Now I need to go back to work to earn some money! Plus, I am having so much fun playing around with the Chief Architect X6 trial version, that my desire to get back into the field has really intensified. Drafting is now FUN and being able to see the results in instantaneous, beautifully rendered 3-D is so gratifying. (I had tried a few other versions of Chief's free trial, but never took the time to really investigate the software and understand it better like I have this time--so it is much less frustrating all of a sudden!) This sure beats the old paper and pencil, "eraser crumbs and pencil smudges everywhere", and "staying up late, making last minute changes on every single sheet of vellum and double-checking dimension strings into the wee hours of the morning" old- school type of drafting I used to have to do l!!! Thanks for any advice or help you can give.

I wanted to call Chief Architect to see about ordering the rent to own version of Chief and their sales office is closed. They probably won't be open until after Labor Day, so I thought maybe you all could answer my question regarding the rental version: Do you have to be connected to the internet at all times to use the rental version? I mean, if y internet goes out or is running very s-l-o-w-l-y (as often happens around here) will I not be able to work on Chief? Thanks!

Hello everyone. I have been doing more experimenting with Chief (before I try to do the same with Softplan to decide, hopefully, which to buy.) I am pretty comfortable now with the very, very basics. However, I can't seem to find any info in the CA "help" topics (and I googled on this forum, too) on how to: 1. Show an exposed truss at the end of a porch gable. I couldn't find any trusses in the library other than the framing ones, so I thought I'd try there first. I went to the attic plan and tried to put one in and tried to click and unclick everything in the box that might let it show up, but no luck. It is still invisible in 3-D. 2. Where could I find a nice-looking truss for exposed applications? Would I have to make it up with moulding parts? I saw a bracket in the "columns" library that I thought might work if I could enlarge it, turn it sideways and duplicate on both sides. I couldn't even figure out how to turn it parallel with the gable end! I assume you can't import items (like from sketch up) with the trial CA, or can you? 3. I am having trouble with the attic walls for both these double gables (a smaller gable within the larger gable). At first they were fine when I did the usual ceiling over the porch. But when I eliminated the dropped ceiling over the porch and opened up the gable end of the smaller gable, the attic wall from the larger gable was still floating inside the porch. I went to the attic plan and tried to fix it, but it did not work. I tried shrinking it manually in 3-D but that didn't work well. I ended up now with the one attic wall completely deleted, and not sure what to do. I ended up, by mistake, manually stretching the back attic wall, and you can see that the "bump out" portion of the house now has a ceiling exposed to the elements! (This is based off of an existing house that has a poorly designed, "wimpy" little porch -- I just had some ideas for a front porch that I wanted to try just to give me a project to practice on.) Any ideas how to fix this? Thanks so much. I have so many more questions, (as you can see, I couldn't get the porch slab to cover the foundation wall completely and have a funny lip there) but I will post those separately. chief talk 2.rtf chief talk 4.rtf chief talk 3.rtf

Thanks, everyone, for the replies and help. 4hotshoez--thanks for the helpful comparison chart! I want to do be able to do more than kitchens--also remodeling and additions, etc. so I don't think CA interiors would work. I did download the free sketch up and played with it a bit, but never got too far! It is amazing to me that so many of you are familiar with so many programs! I think it must be hard enough just to learn one!

Hi everyone. I just got back from a short trip and checked in here and found a few more responses to my post--so thank you all who responded. I also read through the responses to another post (about someone possibly switching to Softplan), and read there that CA has a rental program! This was news to me, as I did not see that option when browsing the website. Do they try to "hide" that option unless asked? I would think if they clearly advertised that option they would get a lot more "takers". That definitely solves my financial dilemma. I will probably be calling chief in a few days to order the rental! YEAH! I just got my Softplan demo disk in the mail yesterday--haven't tried it yet. It is almost as expensive as Chief. There is something quite different in the look of Softplan's 3-D renderings, though, that don't seem quite as nice, or as "pretty" or "enticing" (not sure how to explain it in words) as Chief's, but I can't quite put my finger on what the difference is. Anyone know what I am talking about? Of course, I am just going by the drawings on the two companies' websites--and of course I assume that they are both putting the "best of the best" up there. What is it that make Chief's look so much better?

Thanks, everyone for the helpful feedback! It is confirming my initial gut feeling that Chief is the best for what I need--but I just wanted to make sure before I layout all that cash. RodCole, I am not sure what you mean by using Turbo Cad for "the creation of solid models that can be used in CA as symbols. Do you mean for creation of objects that aren't in the CA library or catalogs (like a specific type of furniture, fancy fireplace mantel or range hood, for example) and then importing that into the Chief Architect drawing? Does it only then show up as a 2-D object? Is that why you call it a "symbol"? Please pardon my ignorance! Gerry-- (off topic) I love your dog in your photo--I assume he is yours. He is adorable! What kind is he? He reminds me of mine (mine is a "cavachon"--a mix of a bichon and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel). Thanks again. Any other feedback is appreciated!

Hello. I have been playing around with the Chief Architect trial version off and on for several years, and am seriously considering purchasing it, but, not really working in the architecture field right now, I am having a hard time justifying the cost of Chief Architect. Turbocad Platinum Pro is about $1000 cheaper than Chief. Can anyone compare the two? What about SoftPlan? (I already tried the free trial of the less expensive Revit Lt and tossed that option out of the mix due to the lack of manufacturers catalogs for cabinets and fixtures. Someone correct me if that has changed.) My background: I worked in architecture for 13 years--but years ago (I am a dinosaur that knows how to hand-draft!) I even got my license in CA but then moved to Maryland, had kids and then became at stay at home, homeschooling mom. Now I am ready to really learn CAD and get back into the field. I would like to work part-time for myself doing residential work, probably mainly remodeling,including kitchen design. My husband and I will probably start investing in real estate, and I may primarily end up just using a CAD program for our own rehab projects, and maybe also doing permit sets for contractors as well. Thanks for any help you can give me.