Richard_Morrison

This fixed it for me. Thanks, Chief!

Yikes!!!! Same here!

I would look into the video tutorials on Chieftutor.com (Paid, but inexpensive.) David does a very good job of getting you up to speed quickly. Then, I think, you can work your way through the Chiefarchitect.com tutorials for completeness.

There are a few hoops that you might need to jump through, too. Maximum building size on lot? Zoning for two units? Fire separation between units, etc.

If they touch, you should just call it one building. (An addition to the existing.) If you are calling it two buildings, then it won't work as shown; there is usually a minimum separation distance between buildings. (Probably in the zoning ordinance.)

Or just add some dashed CAD lines.

Usually counterforts are buried in the backfill on the "high" fill side. If they are exposed on the opposite side, they are usually called buttresses.

You can kinda, sorta do this, but it's not very accurate. It involves rescaling a photo based on some known dimensions. Once the photo is rescaled, you can measure from it, if it's a head-on shot. It may be better than nothing, but if you depend on accuracy, it doesn't take avoiding too many screw-ups to have the Disto pay for itself.

This is a little like asking, "How much does a car cost?" Are you talking about full interior design services? (Coming up with furniture layouts? Trim details? Coordinating finishes? Sourcing products? Lighting plans, purchase management, etc.) Or just throwing some generic furniture and accessories into some simple Chief models? And how complex is the model to be built -- multiple levels, weird roofs, complex terrain? There is no information to go on. How long would it take? HIGHLY depends on your skill level, number of different units, etc. How much to charge? You don't even say what part of the country you are in. So, probably somewhere between $10/hr. and $200/hr. There is no "standard."

It's not really clear what you are proposing to do -- whether full design from scratch, or just walk-throughs and renderings of someone else's design. For most of us, the term "full plans" means full construction plans, with details. Maybe you are just intending to mean full "interior plans" based on your ownership of Interiors X9? In addition to Johnny's concerns, I would be concerned that if you really don't have any place to start estimating your time, then you are likely to be in way over your head.

You can import Excel files as metafiles, too -- EMF or WMF -- but these are still not live spreadsheets. Maybe faster/more accurate than PDF's, though.

Thanks for the reminder about shadow boards. My point, though, is that Spanish tile roofs are ubiquitous and these symbols should already be in our libraries. I'm not really prepared to futz around making them look right.

DJP, There a concept in speech called ellipsis, which refers to the omission of a word or words left out of a sentence, although the sentence can still be understood. Most of us understand the elliptical construction of "I have tried everything" is not literal, but rather to mean "I have tried everything [that I can think of -- right now -- in my current condition]."

We really could use some symbols for Spanish tile roofs. I'm thinking of ridge tiles and rake tiles, which might work best as symbols with a 3D molding polyline.

I was hoping to see some additional suggestions here. While you can get along without the tiles in the main body of the roof (using material assignments only), there are still the rake tiles and the ridge tiles, which don't have obvious solutions. It would be great if there was a full complement of 3D moldings symbols for Spanish tile roofs. I'll make the suggestion.

As someone who has used Chief for more than 20 years, I can say that I am DELIGHTED to have the software lock. The hardware lock has the advantage of not needing an internet connection, but that is it. This is a trivial advantage compared to advantages of never having to worry about losing it, forgetting it, or damaging it. I have managed to leave it at the office a number of times when I really needed it for my laptop, and it was nothing but a PITA. It also costs Chief more to support and mail out hardware locks, and I would rather see lower costs for Chief (and me, hopefully), as well as the option to get back up and running much faster if I lose the hardware lock. The reason people seem to want hardware locks is mostly fear-based; what if I don't have an internet connection? What if Chief suddenly decides to "turn off" unpaid subscriptions? What if the Chief server has problems? Many thousands of people are doing just fine without the hardware locks. Why can't you? If any of those situations happen, you can deal with it in a variety of ways. Asking for "special" treatment just to deal with your fear is probably the least effective. And if you aren't getting more out of the software relationship -- at any time -- than you are paying, you should be switching to a different software, and there are a number out there. Vote with your feet and/or wallet. I don't always embrace the business decisions that Chief Architect has made, but having experienced a number of software companies who don't provide such a good cost/benefit ratio, I can say that Chief has always delivered far more value than the price I have paid.

Have you tried updating the library? (i.e. Library>Update Library Catalogs) Seems like you might have some library file corruption.

Wrong. You can deactivate a license from ANY machine connected to the internet.

This is not how it works now. You can deactivate another machine and activate the current one from the same machine at Chief startup. With active license on desktop, say, you can just open your laptop at client's house, start Chief - deactivating desktop and activating laptop. Get back to office, deactivate laptop/activate desktop when you open a new session on desktop. Yes, you will need an internet connection to do this, but most Smartphones have hotspots. However, I don't know why you would spend time traveling to a client's house when you have GoToMeeting and other programs.

What are current best practices for barrel (Mission/Spanish) tile roofs with skylights? I seldom do these (and use a different program when I do) but have one now that I'd like to try in Chief. Distributed regions don't seem to have the ability to deal with skylights, so 3D tile over bulk of roof would not be easy. Just a 3" thick roof material, and adding rake and ridge tiles in 3D?

If I didn't pay my utility bills for a year, I would save money, too.

Greg, You're missing a few things in your calculation. During those the year that you kept SSA current, you: 1) Were able to take advantage of improvements to the program, which should have resulted in improved efficiency. Let's say the improvements save you 1/2 hour per week. Equals 25 hours per year or at $50/hour benefit = $1,250 per year. 2) Got "free" tech support that otherwise would cost you $125/incident. I probably call Chief tech support at least twice per year. = $250 benefit. 3) Got to use Chief's "cloud" for 3D viewer and Panoramic viewer. I use this all the time. How to price is unknown, but definitely has a significant value, at least to me. (People who let their SSA's lapse don't get this benefit.) So, you got all of these benefits, PLUS extra library content, over the past year for an extra $434. I'd say SSA is still a heck of a deal. Also, you are now able to deal with learning the new features of X10 alone, rather than learning X9 plus X10 new features both at the same time, which some might find to be a daunting task. [And to DJP; I don't know where you got the notion that an ArchiCAD rental is $1000/mo. (More like $273.34/mo. https://archvista.com/product/archicad-rental-monthly/)]

Do not get one without a tilt sensor. You will find many times that you will have to shoot measurements at an angle to avoid an intervening object, and the tilt sensor will automatically compensate for the shot not being level.

Try this:

If the clients want to change some things, they should come to you for the changes. It is YOUR liability, after all, and there is a certain amount of review required for any change. If they want the model for just for furniture placement, etc. then you might consider giving them a 3D-only version. I would never give a client modifiable 2D documents, or free access to my intellectual capital of details. What they have paid for is a one-time right to use those details on a particular project.