Chief_Content

Additionally, you can now find the Delta Faucet catalog on the 3D Library. https://3dlibrary.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?r=site/detail/1077 This is a nice compliment to its sister brand, Brizo.

For those that are curious about the Textured Glass changes, here’s a guide to help you select the right kind of glass for your plan. To get the best results you’ll need to render a proper Raytrace, so if you’re working in Standard or PBR views, glass will behave more or less the same way it always has. The 3D effects of the glass are created by leveraging Normal Maps, so feel free to change the Materials base color to get different shades or the Texture Source in the Material Properties to get some impressive glass effects. We can’t wait to see what creative results you come up with! -Chief Content Team

We are excited to have offered yet another selection of great catalog brands in the first quarter of 2018! If you haven't had an opportunity to browse or download them yet, look for these latest additions: Brizo Federal Brace Mutual Materials Rev-A-Shelf Sub-Zero Wolf We are also working with Custom Wood Products, who has committed to developing and maintaining their own cabinet catalog. Although you cannot download the catalog directly from the 3D Library, a Chief Architect compatible catalog is available through their dealer network. We have a number of great catalogs and updates in the works and on the way. Stay tuned!

Hello All! Welcome to those of you using Chief Architect X10! You may have noticed some of the selections in our generic Core Materials are quite different in the new release. We re-vamped some of these categories and replaced them with versions that we hope are much more accurate and realistic, and are also higher resolution and quality. If you don't feel like you are seeing these changes, please run the "Update Library Catalogs" command from the Library menu and then restart Chief Architect to ensure you have the most current Library Browser content. Specifically you'll notice differences in these areas: Blocks Brick Landscaping Roofing Sheet Metal Siding Stucco Textured Glass Tile Wood Flooring Wood Although things have moved around a bit you should not experience missing file errors for plans coming forward from previous versions. Even so, I highly recommend maintaining plans via the "Backup Entire Plan" tool when transitioning from one version to another, simply because it is a reliable way to archive your projects for posterity and to transition between versions. If you prefer older materials, you can always add your favorites to your User Library from existing plans. We will continue to update the remaining Materials and categories in the Library Browser, so you can expect to see more additions in the future. If there are specific materials that you would like represented in our generic material selection, please let us know! We are working to improve the quality and usability to be as relevant and as useful as possible. You can e-mail us your ideas, or post them in the Suggestions forum. content@chiefarchitect.com

Hi Ryzen and All! We leveraged a utility to scan all of the Core Materials and are feeling much more confident that all of the Roughness, AO, and Normal maps are also included in this latest update to files on our server. Please run "Update Library Catalogs" and re-launch Chief one more time to activate the most recent files. The inability to adjust the roughness slider is a behavior of Roughness Maps. If a Roughness Map is used for a material's specification, it usurps the roughness slider controls, using only the values that are embedded in the map itself. If you would like to bypass this, and instead control the roughness via the slider interface, simply delete the Roughness Map file association. You are/were seeing this path in red text because that file was not being found on your system. I'm hoping with this latest update, that particular part of the confusion will be resolved. Once again, thank you for your understanding while we sort this out. I hope the improvements to the materials will out-weigh the inconvenience you have been facing.

Hey Guys! Thanks for your patience while we sort this out. We are going to do one last pass to ensure that all the those missing references are recovered. I was hesitant to post an untested fix on a Friday afternoon, and intend to have this resolved today. Regarding the missing material folders in the Wood category, you may have noticed the section of wood is quite different than it used to be. We re-vamped all of the wood textures and replaced them with versions that we hope are much more accurate and realistic, and are higher resolution and quality. Although some of the old versions that you may be accustomed to are not represented as folders (like Pine, Redwood, and Cedar) we are in process generating from scratch better versions of these materials. Even though the old ones are not in the library, you should not experience missing file errors for these in legacy plans. We have continued to supply those files, just not as a representation in the library browser. We will be doing another update on the remaining Wood Materials and other categories (Landscaping is high on our list), so you can expect to see more additions in the future. If there are specific wood species, or subject matter in general, that you would like to see represented in our generic material selection, please let us know! We are working to improve the quality and usability of these to be as relevant and as useful as possible.

Ryzen, these Ray Trace settings are really just different defaults that you can set up in your Profile Template. We removed the Quick option from the Out Of Box Templates because we had many users confused by the dark looking metals and lighting effects that happen when Photon Mapping is turned OFF. If you prefer to have a preset for quicker Ray Traced scenes in your defaults, you can set a new one up in your Profile called "Quick" with the Photon Mapping setting disabled.

Jim and All, We updated new files to our server recently to support some new materials, and accidentally posted the wrong file. The correct file should be on the server now. Ryzen, it is possible that it takes some time for the file to populate to the server you are accessing. You may want to try again in a few minutes to run the Update from the Library Menu, and then make sure you re-launch Chief Architect (the files won't refresh until you restart the program). If this continues to fail for you, we can work through the Support Department to find a good solution. Best,

Okay All, I believe we have resolved the issue. Apologies for the confusion and inconvenience. To get to latest files for the updated materials, please run the "Update Library Catalogs" command from the "Library" menu inside Chief. You should see some files download. Once the download completes, relaunch Chief Architect. The textures for the updated materials should now show properly. The materials affected where primarily those that got an update in X10 which includes the categories of "Siding", "Wood Flooring", and "Wood". Thanks for sticking with us while we worked through this. Best,

Thanks Jim! Yes, we are on it... hoping to have a fix available for you in a few. Thanks for your patience while we iron out this wrinkle.

Thanks for the feedback! We are looking into this and hope to have a resolution shortly.

Ah... Apparently it doesn't work! Thanks regardless.

Apparently it works! Thanks for the heads-up.

Good feedback and observations! As Mark pointed out, we use the objects provided by the brand. This set contains objects with a single material layer. We are working with brands like these to improve the source data that is provided, but feel it is valuable to offer users the objects so they are available for specification in cabinets and can be represented in materials take-offs and planning phases of the design process. We intend to make improvements and updates as they become available. Thanks Mark for the usability feedback concerning re-sizing!

The Detailed New Features list for X10 can be found here. The link is also on this page: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/whats-new/

Summer came and went in a flash, it seems! Here are some of the additions to library catalogs on the 3D Library since our last notification: Brand Catalogs Diamond Kote Building Products Stanisci Design Dean Column Co. Cactus Stone Bonus Catalogs Cabinet Feet, Legs, and Bases Storage No.5 Lockers and Mailboxes Storage No.4 Nightstands, Vanities and Dressers Materials High-Resolution Grass Beds No.5 Backdrops Request that your favorite brands are included as downloadable catalogs by posting on their Facebook Page Wall. Make sure that you tag @ChiefArchitect so that we get the notification!

There are 3 Generators in the Home Essentials No.1 Catalog... maybe one of them is similar to what you have in mind? https://3dlibrary.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?r=site/detail/902

Hmmm... I'm not entirely sure! Maybe a more knowledgeable designer can chime in, but I would probably call it a "Lake Cottage" or "Coastal House". A google search on these phrases seems to bring up similar forms.

Hi Coralie! This is a beautiful house, isn't it? The design was shared with us by one of our talented users. I believe Allen Brown, of UBuildIt Indy made this design.

Hi crosscutter55! If there are other catalogs that you are interested in previewing in the future, you can download a trial version of the latest product and then download the catalog to browse through it or test it directly from the interface. HD Trial Downloads are here: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/trial.html Chief Trial Downloads are here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/products/trial.html

We've done most of the work for you and partnered with Wayfair Trade to create a Chief Ready catalog. You can download it from the 3D Library here: https://3dlibrary.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?r=site/detail/1055 We will be posting an update soon to flesh out more of the catalog.

We are happy to announce more new catalogs available for download from the 3D Library! Download the recent additions like Azek, Wayfair Trade, and Wilsonart. It has been a while since we posted an announcement, so be sure to run updates on your installed catalog (see my signature for instructions), and browse the 3D Library to explore our recent additions. Did you know you can filter the 3D Library results by posting date? 1) Click the "Toggle category/tile view" to see an uncategorized list of all catalogs 2) Choose "Date Added" from the 'Sort By' drop-down list.

Check out the steps in this video to create a custom furniture piece using nothing but Polyline Solids (okay, some 2D CAD too)! Download the plan file and the latest Caesarstone update. Have you made custom pieces using Chief’s 3D tools? Share your story and post your wares here, and on Facebook and Instagram, with the hashtag #chiefarchitect. CaesarStoneTable.zip

This is what we like to har, kenthomes! Glad to oblige.