Michael_Gia

Kitchen cabinet software that a lot of cabinet makers use for some reason.

Firstly, really nice work. Did you spend a lot of time with lighting and materials to get these shots? Secondly, I’m not as hopeful as you are with Mac ever getting realtime RT, but I appreciate the encouragement.

On a Mac PBR does not have the raytracing option. As a result PBR on Mac is not an option most of the time. I find it looks worse than standard render. On a PC, I agree with you. PBR with raytrace is more realistic out of the box, even. This is what I was trying to figure out. I'm actually trying to determine if it is worth it to get a second machine (a PC) just for PBR with raytrace. I probably won't use it often, but it is another tool in the toolbox. Still on the fence, though.

I’m not looking for more definition, I was just pointing out one of the benefits of plain old standard render. I really wanted to see how rtrt looks with no effort or tinkering. The rtrt images you guys posted show that one doesn’t need to do much in order to get a more realistic scene compared to standard render. I’m still unconvinced I’d use rtrt on a day to day basis.

RTRT is more realistic and I like the lighting and shadows. However, as far as showing a client what their kitchen will look like, I kind of prefer the definition of the doors in the Standard render view. The outline of the doors and panels are more pronounced. Not realistic but easier to see. I was going to buy a pc just for rtrt but maybe I’ll wait until Apple catches up. Rendering is an art and I’m no artist. I was also trying out a whole bunch of Ai programs over the weekend, but other than using those in the earlier stages of conceptualizing I don’t see a use for them either at the moment. They’re all to destructive to the architecture and building materials. I really would love to see Chief incorporate some limited Ai in a future version, but only to enhance lighting, shadows, materials and accessories like furniture, vegetation, vehicles and people.

Without any responses I’m going to assume some of you tried this and the results were not so great? Meaning there’s still a lot of tinkering to do with rtrt and that It’s not magic? or it’s Sunday and you all have a life? Or this has been done before so many times and you’re all tired of these posts?

I would not follow that advice. Export to AutoCAD from the plan view, 1 floor at a time. Let Chief do the exporting from the plan. Don’t export from a cad detail view. A cad detail from view will create all kinds of crazy unwanted artifacts from fills, etc. Plus the resulting cad file won’t have the layers that the AutoCAD user would normally have in order to adjust line weights and other stuff on his end. your exported “cad detail from view” will be a garbled mess of lines and fills.

I want to understand the out of the box benefit of realtime raytrace in Chief. I personally prefer standard render over pbr, even. ( I realize that it's because I haven't spent the time on materials and lighting) I'm trying to see if RTRT is worth it, out of the box or do I still need to spend as much time as I would with either PBR or Raytrace? Below is the plan of the Bachelor View Owner's Suite Remodel. I clicked on the "Kitchen 1" saved view. I'm posting a standard and pbr image exported from that out of the box view. (I personally prefer the standard render) Can someone do the same with RTRT? Out of the box, please? As a Mac user I have RTRT envy, and I want to know if the hype is real. Is it a magic bullet or a whole lot of fuss and bother for us, got-to-get-the-plans-out-to-the-city-for-permit and start building or my client is going to have a heart attack,...folks. Chief website link of plan: https://cloud.chiefarchitect.com/1/samples/projects/bachelor-view-bath/bachelor-view-bath.zip?_gl=1*19ws3v7*_ga*NDgxMzYwMTcxLjE2OTg3OTI5NjA.*_ga_06381P3JQ2*MTcxMDY5Mzk5MS4xOC4wLjE3MTA2OTM5OTEuMC4wLjA.&_ga=2.242238400.372420692.1710605000-481360171.1698792960 OR Dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/y87b1ovq9l8fiqxnjzueu/h?rlkey=fbum86p0jd5z7lf70d5vd41h4&dl=0 Standard render out of the box, "Kitchen 1" saved camera view PBR out of the box, "Kitchen 1" saved camera view Camera settings, just to be sure.

sure, but OP is a new user and probably thinks he is doing something wrong. Your work arounds are good, though. I personally just draw a garage sill with a slab and give it's own layer. I draw it in a cross section to give it the profile I want and then adjust the terrain just below the front edge of the sill.

Are we really all going to pretend that Chief doesn't have a problem with garage door sills? or entry door sills?

3 minutes in TwinMotion. Import without any trees or bushes. Replace trees and bushes in TM. Apply new grass and mulch. Skydome and you’re done.

Firstly the free TwinMotion is the full version of the program. There is no abbreviation of any functions. TwinMotion still sucks for interior renders, (Chief with realtime raytrace is way better). However, TwinMotion is definitely better for exterior renders, landscaping, video walkthroughs etc. You should checkout René Rabbit's YouTube channel for tutorials on TwinMotion from a Chiefer's perspective. example...

I'm suspecting that you are copying balcony railings from one floor to another. That's a recipe for disaster in my experience. It can be done but you often have to go back and select the exterior balcony room and reset it's floor elevation, like Alan said before.

When this happens I try using "Open System Print Dialogue" at the bottom left of the Print Dialogue box. Then I chose "save as pdf" (on a Mac, but there should be a similar option on a PC?) This uses the system print to pdf feature instead of Chief's pdf printer.

I feel your pain. Maybe the software elves will hear our cries…

No updates. Still stuck with crappy albeit fast PBR action. I'm not really big on fancy realistic renderings. My workflow is often just zooming around in standard 3D with shadows and reflections on, live, in front of my clients. As long as I have no lag doing that, I'm happy. It's been a great and worthwhile update in that respect. It's a pleasure, actually. When I want to do some sort of presentation, then I export to TwinMotion. Much better workflow and better results, but only for exterior renderings. For interiors, I would say TM doesn't have anything over Chief, but if you want exterior shots, or video or a 3D model to export to your client then TM is the way to go.

Were all waiting for the updated calibz... lol nice work and I'm too lazy

If you want to eliminate some variables I would recommend getting a monitor with either 254 ppi (pixels per inch) which is what the resolution of a 16 inch Macbook M1, or 1/2 that resolution, around 127 ppi. Also, use either usb c or a display port cable to connect to the laptop. Your particular monitor has 94 ppi. It's just not a good match and requires extra work for your cpu to do and that work is done at 60 hertz.

Some people want framing.

Of course, you need to verify what text style your assigned layer is for that item.

In "Defaults" Change "Default Text Style" from list and uncheck, "use uppercase"

Minotaur

If OP ever posts the plan he’s in for some real embarrassment. It’s almost always user error for these kinds of issues. Not that Chief doesn’t have issues, but this isn’t one of them, I’m willing to bet on it. Although, when using the save as method over and over a million times there “may” be instances where a “ghost” room definition can affect an exterior wall, and other ghost-in-the-machine issues. That’s why Chief advises using a template plan instead of the s.a.m. method.

This only temporarily changes the cad layer. You use it when you want to add some items, for whatever reason on a specific cad layer that is not the default cad layer in you Saved Plan View. To change it in your SPV, edit your SPV and select the layer set you want in selected defaults drop down. The key is not to forget to hit "Save Active View" after you make your changes. In the beginning I used to always forget to hit the save button and any changes I made in my SPV would be lost or revert to the previous saved state, that is. It was frustrating. I suspect this is what you're going through right now. And to add to your frustration, it looks like you found a solution to a problem you don't have.

PC or Mac laptop? Are you using an external monitor or just the laptop?