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Hi Susan, did you find someone to get your project done. I have been a design/builder for over 40 years. Grew up in California, built there for 10 years, moved to Texas for 4 years and settled in Maine. I have been using CAD since 1984 and Chief since 2006. You wouldn't need to upgrade your Chief necessarily. I can give you full access to the design inside the Chief cloud for visuals and send full sets of plans as pdf prints. If you needed to edit it after the fact you could upgrade for sure, but we could get you what you need without. Would love to chat about your needs and explain my capabilities via phone 207-944-8559 best by appointment. thanks Ed McCurdy

thanks for your help! this all worked once I drew the back dormer manually.

Ok, here it is ICF 28 x 38 Garage.plan

I am having trouble deleting the overhang in front of my shed dormer. I am going to have a cantilevered deck with a patio door. I tried creating an additional "hole" in the roof plane, and it draws just as a hole through my sliding door. This is a non exploded auto floating dormer. The overhang goes away, leaving a "hole" across the face of the siding and doorway. (pic below) I searched the tutorials and forum... no luck. thanks so much Ed

Interesting, will try it out... although it sounds like a lot of back and forth during the design process. It is frustrating that our model is supposed to float along with changes and I am always the one pushing it past its capabilities and having to do double work. I love technology, and at the same time hate it.... Thankfully Chief stays at it so well.

Wow, just watched the update video... thanks so much. I noticed that the dialog allows for more positioning, so I think I will go back to the site, take a new photo making sure that I know the exact orientation of the camera and try it again. I find it interesting that they didn't show an example of the new feature in use, so maybe there is still some work to do, but at least it is in the works. I am trying to find out if 14 is just beta or fully released as well. I hate to work on actual projects with a beta version, so hopefully it is fully implemented soon. I will update here as I give this all a go... thanks so much

I am really disappointed as I try to get a beautiful 360 photo of my clients lakeview property placed into Chief. After reading this thread, I realize that the promise of using this function is actually impossible. The tutorial video made this look simple but scaling and positioning of a 360 equirectangular photo (GoPro Max) with a design is not cutting it. I really wish I had not told my client this is possible. I tried all but the billboard suggestion above, and even tried re-generating my 360 photo oriented the way my drawing was generated. Why can't we simply have a dialog box to determine North like importing the terrain? Now that would fix the direction, but how will we ever fix the scale? I am thoroughly dazed and confused and more importantly disappointed. Below is a screenshot of the 360 backdrop with the foundation of the house in place. The house rendering is with the decks off and terrain off as I tried to scale and place the two together somewhere close to correct. The side of the house that is supposed to be facing the water is facing the almost 180 degrees out. The scale is a whole other issue that has no rhyme or reason as well. I moved the camera in chief well above the height of the house, do I need to position it back farther like it was a drone shot maybe? Anyone have any idea what can be done?

Thanks Dermot, I have searched it somewhat, but that narrows it down to where I might find the key, thanks so much... will post if I find it.

My version of Microstation is from the same era... as I said in the original post, I may be a dinosaur, but I used to be able to import things and can't remember how. I drew the trusses myself. I am using what used to be compatible software on the same computer it all used to work on. For what you call 13 year old software, it is still pretty effective at doing what it was designed to do. I figured I would catch some slack, I added my bio in my profile but for some reason that doesn't show up here either. I was a design/builder for 40 years, retired and now full time DJ for weddings clubs and private parties, all of which have been deemed non-essential. So I am doing some design on my old software to make a few bucks and maybe rekindle a living. If that works, I will upgrade to the new Chief. I love Chief and all it has done for our industry. I have been doing computer aided design since 1984, but I am humble to admit I have grown a bit rusty. No worries, I will figure this out if no one has a quick solution... I just got frustrated after spending a boat load of time trying to import a very important piece of this design.

I thought there was an import for blocks, but no...

I am a dinosaur trying to get back in to design with my old version of CA 10 full. I am designing a building with a partial open beam scissor truss that I have drawn in Microstation (pic #1). I am trying to import the truss so it will show up in my rendered views (pic#2). I drew the straight horizontal ceiling beams for the dining room in Chief with slabs. The Living room beyond is where the scissor beam trusses go. Couldn't figure out how to draw them in Chief 10 so I remembered doing such things in Microstation and importing them in the past, but I can't get the solids to show up. When I import dwg all I get is a 2D top view of polylines (pic#3). I have tried rendering the view, turning on all layers etc. any help appreciated. Can't wait till I can afford to upgrade to the new version of Chief, but till then...

Thank you Lew, I will verify with whoever and CA, I value their hard work, and I am loving the new version. I will be upgrading after I generate enough business to justify it. here's a pic of my broken key :'(

I have actually been watching the new tutorials and the capability is as amazing as I knew it would be. I haven't downloaded it yet because I have been building my recording studio up for this covid transition, so the software that I have loaded on the computer I need for this is overloaded with sound and video software. I was hoping to do cad on my old computer until I could afford to upgrade everything. I don't even know if there is a market for my cad services beyond the 2 jobs I have ready to do... so that is my dilemma. Watching the tutorials has been very helpful in knowing the core part of the program hasn't changed all that much. Thanks for your input for sure

I am looking at that as an option, but if I do 2 projects over 2 months, $400 would be better spent toward buying the software again. I am a long haul type of guy, renting is a waste of money. Plus if you rent to buy it, you have to do it consecutively and the software costs $4000 instead of $2200. Then I also have to figure out how to convert all my templates and shortcuts, and learn a new piece of software while trying to do good and fast service to my customer. When I upgraded before it was never cold turkey, i had a backup previous version so I could professionally perform my job for my customer. I don't want to commit to be able to create drawings in whatever short amount of time through a new platform I have never used. CA is hands down the best design software out there, but I am out of shape because I've been out of the loop for a while. I know what I can do with CA 10x. I thought I was beyond needing an additional income in my late years. Covid has ruined my ability to make money DJing in my retirement, and taken a whole year of income away, and now maybe 2 years. I am a fighter and a worker, but economics are now driving decisions that would more easily be made in different times. thanks for you interest in this matter... I really do appreciate it.

No you misunderstand completely. I asked to purchase a physical key to a program that I already own. I am willing to pay for the key, if you look in historical posts people were allowed to give or sell their keys that they were no longer using. I am a loyal Chief customer from the past and i do not believe in piracy, nor will i get in any agreement to do so. Chief has just lost the ability to make the software that I paid $2200 for work without the physical key that is needed to open it. I will eventually upgrade to the new version when i can afford to do so. Support is willing to help, just unable.

Hi everyone, I have been out of the loop for a while, so I apologize for going archaic A few years ago, I broke my CA key and at the time I was told by Support that I should put the program on a computer where it would reside forever and they would do a one time password to unlock it on that computer for a fee. The project that I was working on did not move forward so I stupidly did nothing. I was a Design/Builder for 40 years retired to my DJ service. Now fast forward to Covid times and I have a couple projects that I could do to make a few bucks, where my DJ business is still shut down. I just called support and they can no longer unlock my software. I am asking, as I did back in 2019, if there is anyone who no longer uses their Chief 10 key, if they would like to sell it. I know there aren't many out there, but I figured that I would ask, before telling my 2 clients that I cant do their projects. Renting the new version is not an option, and buying it before I do these 2 projects is not an option either. Anyone? (too old to start over in life) thanks in advance Ed

No problem... To be sure... It's actually CA 10 full... I miss typed in my last message. Thanks for looking!

Thanks so much... Moving is not fun... Enjoy your new place! I appreciate your messaging in... I will wait patiently, no worries!

Mine is for Chief Architect 10a full, appreciate your efforts in advance!

Hi everyone, its certainly been a while. I retired a few years ago and just offered to help my town design their new Public Safety building, only to realize my software key is broken. I heard that there may be some available out there so I am here asking... I wish I had the desire or need to upgrade, really like the new features added. CA is a great solution and I did very well with it back in the day. thanks for your time Ed