mthd97

Good customer service is what keeps people on board and if policy needs to be adjusted to serve that purpose then good. Companies spend allot of money on advertising but good customer service is good advertising. Why not be fair and give a bonus to long time users or loyal SSA payers? If you keep SSA current for 5 year's straight why not give the next year for free as part of loyal use? If you are business smart you will avoid shooting yoursef in the foot by unfair policy.

Nice hiddem gems in X7, do we need to wait for a seminar to get the full picture?

To cut a long story short It looks like a ceiling plane issue to me and if one was placed in you could sovle most of these difficulties. Todd have you seen any of the training videos on ceiling planes as these might have saved you allot of time, that is of course if you knew about them in the first place?

Been on the beta team in the past but I don't mind waiting to see how advanced X7 will be? Stepped cross sections, has been requested and they have delivered it this time so they do listen. Keep on posting what we think is very much needed and we may eventually get it?

Thanks David, I also saw that the special discount on upgrades is extended till Jan 12. We might get more info by then I hope?

Lew, I was talking upgrade not SSA. I am partly retired at the moment but I do like to see CA improve like you. I hope you get some of your 3d BIM wishes before CAXX?

Was asking for some more sneak peaks, I have seen a couple of them but not enough for me to decide to upgrade yet. I think I will wait till CA puts out the full details before making a decision?

Yes about time, we have had stepped cross sections in other apps for decades now.

May we have some information as to what is in X7 so we can get the sale price please?

Nice discussion here, the right click short cuts could fix some of these over clicking problems? I have heard of the "Over Clockers" but not the "Over Clickers"? In Business we know of mergers and take overs and the big players usually swallow up the little players too? CA could get bought up by lets say "Giant Cad" and become a reworked patch in GC and called "the house tool"? In the end CA will make the decisions that will define its future.

Ed, thanks for the more specific explanation and I can see how this would be very time consuming too. That should have been an update fix not an upgrade fix don't you think?

To all those who say they put in their 2 cents worth that is just not true. We all have invested thousands of US dollars and some tens of thousands in CA. If CA want to keep getting our money they need to get the right priorities or CA may be obsolete one day? I will wait and see what we get in X7. FYI some here do keep their elevations live, check the old forum please. Stairs is a specialist area and may need a more sofisticated plugin app to broaden all the design types needed. The only people who can close and or move or delete this thread is admin not us.

We have seen poll posts in the past. How about getting a priority list from Admin of say 25 things to fix or add into CA. Then all CA users can mark their list in order of thier priorities then CA can publish the results?

I don't think CA will really change much in the room box system. But If there was a way of docking a group of room modules to a storey datum plane that might help with editing a group of rooms on a pafticular storey or on a split level plane? Just my thoughts with what Bernie said above?

The ability to explode the 3d model and to move or break off parts of components like slabs etc. and to relock them into position without auto build overriding them and shifting components back. That would require that the moved components override the defaults in the corresponding dbx's. That would stop allot of extra work for many of us and Scott Hall would not have to make so many work around movies.

Good 3d BIM program to program collaboration language will solve most of these problems as it does in other cad software!

Raul thanks for that, In have not heard of that estimating app before? Let us know how your evaluation is proceeding. You will get lots of help from the guys here.

Hi Raul, I use both Chief and ArchiCAD. My view is you only load the apps you need to get the Job done. Many use Chief and other 2d Cad tools together, I dont use Autocad but I see the many benefits of it. I would use Chief for 3d presentations for cookie cutter homes or project homes. It would be very easy to export a dwg file from Cheif and send it into Autocad to finish off while you are learning the ropes, I dont need any 2d cad programs to get the job done in Chief. I would say Chief is a very good fit for your company and not that hard to learn either for the younger generation cad operators since you are based in the US, Chief was specifically made for the US style homes. Give a good test run before you make your decision. You havent told us what apps you use for material take off or cost estimating and if you are intending to use Chief for this as well?

Talking about "Ethics", what drives people to be ethical? The fact that if people are in business and if they don't behave in an ethical manner they lose out on business and in reputation? Older generations were bought up with a different set of values and if they choose to follow them, then that can be similar to ethics? Younger generations are more likely to have the TV and other media influence their behaviour rather than old fashioned values. Here in Australia most Building Designers are associated with the BDA or "Builders Designers Association" and in order to join the BDA you have to we willing to follow a code of ethics. I don't belong to the BDA but I still have a code of good behaviour that I try to follow not because of business but because I believe it is in the best interests for all people now and in the long run. Some choose to throw away the values they were bought up with due to bad experience and become "If you can get away with it then do it type people", in their behaviour and yet still follow a code of ethics when it comes to business. In the end we all choose our standard for good and bad that we will follow and that is why we will have some of the problems of today that seem to be getting worse on a global scale in our day? Wow! we have diverged quite a bit from going from Chief to Softplan? I can say, if I was still a quantity surveyor for houses, I would give it a good trial to see if it is worth the money to me and to be able to do both design/drafting and quantities from the same app would save time. Others here say SP is not doing the full job properly and I agree. To me it is clear that Chief is the best all rounder and you can use the ML feature as much as you like and it will only get better in newer versions.

I would just like to say that to me, Chief has one of the easiest learning curves around. The proof is in the home design series and now Room Planner that any novice should be able to use with the included videos and support. That best answer is in the opinion of the poster not to us experienced users of Chief and other CAD software. For 2d CAD users Cadsoft might be better for them and the only advantage I can see in CS is maybe the materials control? Its not unheard of for peole to use Autocad lt with CA for more 2d tools they are used to using but for me that would be a waste of time. In Chief you need to think more in terms of 2d shapes not in line segments to get faster at 2d CAD.

In the end its not wrong to have a combination of major apps to get the job done. If Softplan gives you something you need that you cant get done with Chief yet, then it may be good to have both? I play guitar and I use Kramer, Fender, Gretsch and Gibson they give me different tones and some are good for playing the rhythm and others for lead and some for both. So you don't have use one over the other if choose to use more than one.

I use both CA & ArchiCAD and both are very good tools. Right now with ArchiCAD 18 the new C4D render engine is much easier to use with good results with pre defined settings and Chief has given me good fast results for rendering for a long time now. We have more support in Australia with ArchiCAD and our library parts being Aus specific as well as having and Australian version of ArchiCAD. If I was in the US, CA is all I would need and use for my low rise housing projects. I still think the Chief learning curve was very easy for me but ArchiCAD was much harder and worth it. I would not give up Chief because of its very fast modelling capabilities for less complicated houses and gives me lots of productivity and saves time on certain jobs.

Chief Architects learning curve has increased over the years but I would say it is not really that steep, just looking at a demo of SP I would say that would be allot steeper? The training Videos in the SSA package make that climb easier. Yes CA to me is suited to quick design and rendering for residential housing. In the end each Design Professional has his own specific needs and priorities unique to them.

Hi Ian, hope they get this sorted for you soon as builder clients are always wanting things done yesterday. All the Best, Manuel Trantalis.