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Hi All, I was wondering if anyone has tried doing an as built survey directly with either Chief Architect X16 or Home Designer Pro 2025 using the updated space planning tools ? I have tried using the space planning boxes for rooms and I can input the room sizes with a Leica Disto D8. But I did need to use a support driver for the old LD8 in order to input dimensions directly into the program. Newer distance devices will not need the support driver. The new space planning boxes can be dragged into position with your finger on a touch screen but it would take some time to get used to it. I used a 2015 Microsoft Surface 3 tablet to test it out running windows 10. Not the best result but I am going to test it out again with a newer machine running windows 11. The goal is to start the 3D CA or HDP model building process on site and finish it back in the office, in order to avoid double handling. Have fun !

Hi all, I was having trouble getting an older disto D8 to work with CAX10 on a Microsoft surface 3 tablet running windows 10. I found this link to a 2nd party Leica transfer software that will work with older disto models and windows 10. I have tested it and it works fine with CAX10. And it may also work for other versions of CA too ? https://en.elcovision.com/disto-online.html

These two very experienced users above know how to create dormers using Chief. Here is an official training video that might help you in the process just incase you haven’t seen it yet ? I would also recommend watching others in the playlist too. There are different ways to go about it. Enjoy learning ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG1YYHJ5OGQ

First step would be to create a second story when going down the road of manual dormers.

Hi @edwardatgrit, there are many ways in Chief to do what you are asking. Consideration needs to be given to fact that you would like quoins and a molding trim above your columns. Then you also need an archway with molding and a keystone between them. So these elements need to be combined to achieve that result above. Then you need to make sure that they look correct in 3D views as well. There are many free training videos provided by Chief Architect to teach you how to do these things I mentioned above as well as specific help provided here. I encourage you to look at placing an archway in the wall first with the correct trimming as needed. There are some in the CA library. Then place the columns with quoins and molding at the top in the corners afterwards. At least that’s how I would approach the situation above. When you are encouraged to learn how to use the program through proper training and be willing to put the time into learning then you become adept at using CA. Have fun learning and trying. Edited: Here is a free training video that will give you the principles needed to create the quoined columns. There is nothing wrong with getting paid help with CA and there a few providers out there. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/408/creating-stacked-columns-and-converting-them-into-symbols.html?playlist=147

Hi @Benny_G, I think all the suggestions above are good and apply here to what you are attempting to do. To me it seems like your problem may have to do with how you imported your DWG file into Chief and how you actually mapped your layers during import ? For example if you mapped all your layers to one Chief layer, then that will have the one line weight of that particular layer only. I suggest that you could map your layers individually to Chief Architect layers and change them to your desired line weight afterwards. There are training videos on line on how to do this as this may help you to define your line weights. DWG file line weight parameters are defined by the program used to create the digital drawing in and this may effect the line weight once it is imported into CA ? Have fun learning !

I always thought that in principle “rich text” was more affluent than standard text . Thank you for the clear explanations above, my suspicions have been confirmed.

A combination of cabinets and 3D polyline solids to create the side pillars would get you started at least. Have a try and see how far you can get with it. Others here will provide you with more specific help.

Here is a link to an official demonstration that goes back to X8. https://www.facebook.com/ChiefArchitect/videos/chief-architect-x8-3d-mouse-support/1343304632365452/ PS. No problems of it not working with Mac right to X16.

These are the minimum system requirements for X16. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-02761/chief-architect-minimum-system-requirements.html

Shed roof (mono pitch) or with zero degrees is the same as a flat roof. Either way you still need to get the water to drain off in some way.

They did give us time to choose if we wanted to upgrade to the latest version and to continue with legacy SSA. That time has unfortunately expired. Lots of 3D cad software is now subscription only so there are not many other options to choose from. Vectorworks has become subscription only and Archicad is in the process of doing the same for new users. There are 3D cad products out there that can be used that do not require a subscription and are perpetual. As long as we don’t mind the learning curve and there is no guarantee that these products will not also become subscription only in the future.

Just letting you all know that I also tried many of the things above and couldn’t get it to work on any of my 64 bit windows machines. So hence my decision to do what I did above. That is not to say that an IT professional cant get it to work on a 64 bit machine. Those drivers for the HASP lock or dongle are 32 bit and should theoretically work on a 64 bit machine but I couldn’t get it to work.

Please let us know if you were able to get it working on a newer windows PC as I would like to be able to run V10 on a newer PC.

This is my older post and I chose to get an old spec 32bit XP pro gaming PC mostly new from eBay in order to archive my all my older plan files. I got both CA9.5 & 10 dongles working on this pc by manually installing the drivers from the CA CD’s. Another option would be to just buy the latest Home Designer Pro instead and use that instead of buying an old spec PC. Some have been able to get the old CAV10 dongle to work on a W10 lap top PC.

Hi @Nauti1 see if you are able to get past the Administrator problem first. Right click the Chief Architect Icon then choose run as administrator and see if that works first ?

Are there any hollow metal door frames in the library or is there a catalog for custom types ? Has anyone created a symbol for one ? Can we create our own symbol with our particular profile in mind ? I have never tried it myself but some clever users here may have a solution or two.

I am not familiar with SolidWorks 3D export file formats.

Hi @CARMELHILL, That question was actually asked during the Q&A sessions and Scott told us that it was done with the existing tools in CA. So nothing new with HVAC or MEP modeling just yet as far as I can tell ?

Yeah me too lol ! Looks like a big upgrade to me ?

I was very impressed to see all the hard work put into X16 and there is certainly a lot of improvements and progress made in this new version. I was greatly impressed by the Actions History List of Commands that you can access to undo or redo certain parts of your work. Great work done on the space planner boxes too. The list just goes on & on. Re: Q&A, 50% was troubleshooting questions that could have easily been posted here on the forum. Great job to the team for answering those questions. I personally would like to see more development in order to have more precise control of being able to edit all building components in the 3D window (For fine tuning the 3D design). That I think is where the future key to success of Chief Architect will be. Thank you for posting the webinar sneak peek at X16.

Hello, please post the webinar when ready so we can see the goodies in X16.

X16 will be what it will be despite what we all may hope for in the way of improvements. 3D dimensions and Poche Fills is all that we know about it at present.

Good carpenters will always read and follow the plans you create and that are also certified by a structural engineer. @Astrigalyou are in charge of the design not the carpenters. If everybody tried to make a carpenters job easy we would let them draw the plans as well.

What it will be able to do in Chief, all will be revealed (May 9 webinar). I just wanted to know what that word “Poche” was all about ? My cross sections are not solid filled at present because I don’t want to confuse the carpenters or builders lol. I do shade my elevations though.