mthd97

MM we have our own elevation display standards for cupboards and so does the NKBA in the US. We are left to make our own templates as you know in Australia with line styles and layers etc. We all expect our software to work properly too. When we had our Australian dealer, things were a bit better for us then with the template supplied. All the best.

I like to search the Videos and manual first then search the forum. Then ask the big guns, old gun slingers and young guns and if that fails put in a suggestion or get another app than can do the job with minimal fuss.

Ironing out problems, is my illustration of fixing them, the small ones take one pass, the bigger ones, take several or more passes to iron them out. As to rewriting parts of the program CA have done that in the past and will do it again if necessary. We need to show the team trust and the more we show the more response we get.

Jonnoxx, I have had many of my specific requests applied in latter versions of CA and that is why I am still here. If you could specify clearly the problems you have with using Chief in the right section of the forum, and if they are legitimate they will get listened to and applied. I think you need to have more respect for the CEO and the work the programmer's put into Chief with the resources they have. Perfection is not possible in this world but we all aim to do our best with what we have. I don't regret having Chief in my tool box for my work since V6.0 1999. No problems no upgrades.

Get the full version demo for free off the website and try it out first. I use ArchiCAD as well but CA is a very fast modeling solution for all American style houses. If you want slanted walls and the like and a very high level of customisation then look elsewhere. If your main customer base is contemporary American style houses then having a license of Chief is worth it if you got time to learn it. Those main problems with the program will be ironed out eventually in time but Chief will not be used for extreme homes anytime soon.

23 hours ago, dssharp said:

Soft plan blowengineI know designers that use it. Render in soft plan (sucks) then render in chief.

i have my gripes and groans with chief , but soft plan and archicad are really lame. Who wants to sit for hours adjusting this and that . It's just not productive. Unless you like sitting there for hours fiddling and messing with a project. 

 

now where's that blasted rabbit. 

Archicad made this easier with Cinarender.

Thanks Chopsaw for doing this video for us in CA. It shows what we can do in a 3d view as I don't use the 3d window for drawing walls in CA. It is nice to know the the scaffolding is there to improve it with dimensions and a 3d grid etc. I wasn't challenging you, I was asking you to show us. I also looked for a video first but couldn't find one. Here is a challenge, who knows from what version we were able to extrude a wall in a 3d view like Chopsaw just did ?

Yes true, some things are overly complicated in CA and every CAD app has it's long winded way's of doing things too. I think we could show that SP does have some very good things about it that we can improve in CA. I agree with the parkwest list, especially the ML point but CA is better for Designers and SP is better for Builder quantity surveyors IMO. A merger or takeover would be worth it for me. I really like SP SL add on.

http://softplan.com/?page_id=1284

Chopsaw can you show me your video of you drawing walls from scratch in the 3d window with Chief Architect please ?

We might not be moving as fast a the big BIMs but we are more advanced than SP in many ways. I do like how you can draw and edit walls in a 3d overview with SP once we get this along with a few more features we will have fully surpassed them. It's good to have healthy competition in the same league as it helps advance the residential apps we use.

This is what I was concerned about in my above post.

Quote: "Chief's roof tool is the most versatile and creates the most stable areas of a drawing (roof doesn't automatically change hgts when you move walls or adjust floor hgts etc.). I wish they would stabilize or provide floor platform thickness and floor elevation locks so that a floor platform remains as drawn when moving interior partitions."

Yes, this is very important and urgent. Has X9b fixed this ? If not then, can we please make serious progress in XX thanks.

Like we can lock a roof plane, we should also be able to lock room heghts etc when making any changes to the 3d model to overide automactic rebuild updates that throw the modeled room shapes out of place. 

I would say, that this is the biggest of all problems with Chief Architect, If we can fix this in XX we would have landed on the moon with XX. A giant step forward for Chief Architect and small step forward for the programmers of this app.

10 hours ago, Archnot-Boltz said:

And as I've said at least once before, Softplan and Chief should have an affair (without wearing dongle protection) and the offspring would benefit all of us. User definable wall heights, floor platforms and ceiling hgts that don't readjust because you've moved a wall etc.

 

Learning curve wise, I self learned Softplan 8/9 while working for a builder through a temp agency during a 5 month span. At some point during that time period, I purchased a Chief '97 demo cd and manual for $25.00 (a terrific value and marketing device) and started playing with the program on my home computer. Compared to AutoCad (tried ACad 10, DOS version beginner's course at our community college and hated the interface), and DataCad (good price, promising 3d but very difficult to learn and use) both Softplan and Chief were the only two that drew walls in an intuitive, user friendly manor. Both programs allow a person to be self taught and become real world usable, fairly quickly.

 

At first, Chief seemed a bit "Micky Mouse", like one of those $50 homeowner CAD programs (and it kind of was: re: identical interface as 3d Home Architect). Unfortunately, to a degree, all of Chief's current shortcomings are related to it's "Homeowner CAD" roots but it continues to improve (grow up). In my short stint using Softplan, I never got the hang of their cryptic roof tool (sort of like Chief's cryptic Terrain Tools). Softplan did have a killer roof dialogue box graphic which showed your birds mouth seat cut and HAP (height above plate)  which you could adjust on the fly, which I would like to see implemented in Chief. Each program had good things to offer and Chief always had a slightly more user friendly intuitive feel that allowed the interface to get out of the way and allow me to draw. Lately, since the X-versions, I've been fighting the the loss of some of that intuitive feel. When I purchased Chief "97 I paid $599.00 or 699.00 on sale. At the time Softplan 9 or 10 was about $2 Grand, or I would probably bought Softplan because of it's material list (gives wall framing lumber count versus lumber lengths and had a good wall framing detail per wall section, similar to what Chief now has). 

 

Not having any real CAD background using AutoCad etc, I found Chief and Softplan to have much less intense learning curves compared to any other software I've tried to learn since. I started learning ArchiCad one summer in an architect's office a few years ago and my brain could not wrap around the drawing interface (having been spoiled by Chief's for over ten years). After 3 months, there was no way I could attempt to do a project in ArchiCad.  I did see and use some CAD tools in ArchiCad that would be nice to have in Chief but I would expect Chief's developers to be continuously reviewing their competitor's software and user interfaces.

 

Lately, I've been contemplating purchasing Sketch-Up Pro because I'm having a lot of difficulties with Chief's framing tools (inconsistant floor and roof truss behavior- I don't understand why Chief does roof trusses so cryptically).I've read about an architect that uses Sketchup to create complete sets of construction drawings (I wouldn't mind seeing Chief merger with SketchUp). I also hate the default automation of Chief's deck framing tool. I would like to just draw a closed polygon (still don't understand why Chief calls a polygon, a poly-line?) and set the framing parameters (joist size, spacing etc) and manually add my beams (boxed or dropped) and add a railing later. I don't like defining my deck perimeter using a railing (glorified wall tool). Chief's roof tool is the most versatile and creates the most stable areas of a drawing (roof doesn't automatically change hgts when you move walls or adjust floor hgts etc.). I wish they would stabilize or provide floor platform thickness and floor elevation locks so that a floor platform remains as drawn when moving interior partitions. Nuff said.

 

I too have heard that Softplan's management is no where near as accessible and friendly as Chief's regarding issues and program suggestions. For now, Chief works best for me but I'm constantly looking over the fences to see if Softplan's grass has gotten any greener. Would like to hear more from current Softplan users regarding roof creation tools, wall heights and floor platform stability, oh yeah and do they allow you to draw a foundation wall that doesn't incorporate the sill plate in the calculation (eg" 97.5" for an 8' high cmu or poured wall in Chief)? Better yet, I'd like to hope some of those improvements are in X9-BB

Have you found more stability with X8 or X9B ?

MSS3 works ok with X8 and X9 Beta but I need to test it out more with the new touch screen functions added to X9. I am not happy with the down time on Windows tablets for them to update, as this stalls the internet browser. 

Thanks, Richard & Chopsaw. Yes I have to ask support about getting into the other part of the forum. I think it should be ok to discuss basics now as they have been revealed in the sneak peak. Yeah I can see it being a help with set outs and even templates too. I will have to do some testing with stairs and split level housing in X9b.

RE: "Custom Room Definitions", Can anyone tell me what the advantage of this new feature is ? We have been able for a long time to change the room definition to what we we choose.  Even if we are not using the room for what it is set out to be in the room definition parameters as we can create our own custom room label. So I would like to know what the purpose is for this tool ? By the look of it we can create other room types with thier own specific room characteristics that differ from the room default list itself ? Correct me if I am wrong, since I have not been able to set up my X9 Beta Discussions forum to see what other testers are saying and doing with this tool yet.

Thanks mate, will those short ceilings and room default changes help you out ?

Where can I found out more about Join Me, sounds like a very clever idea to me ?

People do allot of silly things out of ignorance and that is why it is good to be well informed about how things work and how to use them properly. In Archicad there are many ways to do things but most don't require laborious work arounds or major fix ups for simpler and more complicated housing. Extreme home design is another story.

1 hour ago, ComputerMaster86 said:

Waitl Niche's, Custom Room DefinifoundTypes, Short Ceilings and Brick Ledges

 

https://www.facebook.com/ChiefArchitect/

The more I see of X9 the more I like It. Drop Ceilings just great, stem wall ledges great too !

Compliance parameters are needed in stairs and balustrades but does this show up now after doing a plan check in X9B ?

Great discussion and we should not be afraid of showing and asking CA what we need for stairs to be up to scratch for even relatively simple and common stair cases used.

A.S. and Yusuf that is mind bending, thanks, many will appreciate these example of what we can do in CA with work arounds if we have the time. Beleive it or not we were able to create curved roof sheet verandahs in V6 by using the method of attaching a custom molding and changing the material from wood to corrugated roof sheet to a shrunk down counter top base.

Yusuf has some great work arounds for difficult custom stairs and I remember seeing a multi story spiral stair case he designed using CA.

BTW what I wrote above was in another post but it is more applicable to this post thanks.

I am going to coin a new term, "APE" for how and why CA works fast with relatively simple house designing of rooms, stairs and other building 3D components. "A" is for Automatic, "P" is for Parameter and "E" for Extraction.  We use Chief for its productivity and speed in producing run of the mill housing with relatively minor customization and features. I not sure if any of you have heard the saying "Going Ape" in the US ? Stairs in CA automatically extract thier parameters from where they are placed in the 3D CA Model hence the new stair types including the existing stair types in the drop down menu or child buttons. The problem has been that the room type that the stairs are placed in will affect the stair parameter data extraction and how they build. That's why we build a floor opening that is enclosed and room labeled open below so the stairs will supposedly build correctly every time. Specific room types also have their own destinct parameters and will affect how the stair builds. I have not tested this in X9 yet to see how this works with the new and existing stair types so if anyone has, please tell us when the NDA period is over what problems you found if any ?

RE: Scott Halls last post. I have seen his fancy stair library file that he has produced in one of his videos. What a great Idea for building customized stiar cases and storing them for latter use as a template file. I still hope we have an option in the future that let's us build and set our own stair parameters and marking the dbx to stop the stairs from inheriting parameters from its surrounding room. If this does happen we can call this feature "Frozen Stair Cases" if this occurs we can share customized stair cases with each other and modify them accordingly for our own home design project by setting our own parameters not from the room we place them in.