Steve-C

On 11/15/2023 at 2:41 AM, Rich_Winsor said:

I'll probably get lambasted for this but I have never

understood why Chief insists in devoting  so many

resources catering to such a small market share. 

Doesn't make sense on any level to me. 

 

I used Windows machines for the first 10 or 12 years that I used CA (started at version 10). For the last 8 or 9 years I have moved back and forth between Windows and Mac mostly staying with Mac. For my workflow if has proven to be the best option. I don't use RTR and likely never will. I'm solely focused on construction docs because I do a lot of them. I do send exterior 3D images to clients but that is the extent of my dive into that realm, and the MacBook does an exceptional job with those. Editing in 3D is smooth as well. I don't have time to do high end interior or exterior images and I prefer it that way.

I have a MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro chip. I originally purchased it for travel and meetings, but it has proven to be a very reliable full-time machine, even with two 32" monitors connected to it (one is 4k). I'm considering an upgrade to the Mac Studio M2 Ultra mainly because I want to add a 3rd monitor for my library (M1 Pro only supports 2 external monitors). I currently use the laptop monitor for that but find myself squinting to find items. Plus it's about time to upsize my storage (yes I know this can easily be done with a Windows desktop). I may hold out for the M3 Ultra but I doubt it will provide a huge advantage over the M2 in my workflow.

As for the Mac OS, in my opinion it is light years ahead of Windows because of it's integration with my phone, iPads and other devices, and support is outstanding. iCloud storage has been the most reliable of the cloud storage services I have used (and I have tried several) which adds even more value to the integration aspects of Mac. The annoyance of Windows software updates is legendary, not to mention graphics card updates, crashes and other Windows annoyances that left me feeling alone when problems arose. The fact that it is open source sometimes creates grey areas when it comes to support. With AppleCare you call one person (in this country) and get the problem resolved quickly. If they can't resolve it remotely, they will pay to have the device shipped overnight to repair it. The last time I had to do that the turnaround time was literally 2 days. They repaired it the day they received it and shipped it back that same day. That is a huge value to me.

I've had this problem before. I had create a CAD detail from view then export and it seemed to solve the issue.

Has anyone else upgraded Mac OS with external monitors? I'm running an M1 laptop with 2 external 32" monitors, I don't want to have this same issue.

11 minutes ago, rgardner said:

@Steve-C (Steve Price) is there and does great work!

I'm actually in Southwest Georgia, but thanks for the kind words.

When this happens I close the plan and quit CA. When I reopen the plan my toolbars at the top are usually unchanged, but the side toolbars get crammed down to the bottom and I have to move them back up. And yes I do use dual 32" monitors, they are identical brand and resolution.

I was really hoping this latest update would have resolved the disappearing toolbars, it did not. Anyone else battling this? It seems to happen 3 or 4 times a week, typically when I change views.

On 7/31/2022 at 6:00 AM, UpNorthBuilder said:

How much memory are you running on your MacBook?  I'm debating whether or not the upgrade from 16gb to 32gb is necessary and worth the additional money.

I'm running 16gb. But to be fair I never expected my MacBook to be anything other than a meetings and travel computer. It runs so well that I now use it exclusively. I would have upgraded if I had known, though I can't imagine it running any better than it does. You could get the M1 pro setup with a 1tb drive, the 24 core gpu and 32gb of RAM, those upgrades are $800 which puts you only a couple hundred under the upgraded chip with similar specs. That considered you may as well get the M1 Max setup which comes with a 1tb drive, 32gb of RAM and a 32 core gpu.

I use the heck out of hotkeys. Once I committed to that practice probably 15 years ago, it cut my design time down considerably.

I got some lame excuse from tech support about it being an iCloud backup issue. Seemed like they were reaching for straws because that doesn't even make sense.

I posed this question before but I never got a response. Hopefully we will get an answer soon.

On 5/2/2022 at 1:03 PM, avstudio said:

I just purchased an MacBook Pro with the M1Max chip. I just downloaded X13 and it runs fine.

I've been using Chief for less than a year and haven't had any issues.

I am just stating to experiment with PBR. The PBR seems to work but it does not support all the features on the PC version that are shown in the Preferences for the Video Card

That's a little disappointing, although for my purposes I don't absolutely need "super realistic" renders.

I hope that CA will provide more support for bettering PBR for Mac users.

You need to download X14 beta, it's specifically designed to run on Apple silicon and it's the most stable beta CA has ever released in my opinion.

I have 2 of these that I absolutely love. BenQ Monitors The clarity seems much better than 2.5k would suggest, and they are relatively inexpensive.

I've been using CA's X14 Beta for 3 days with ZERO issues! I've done everything from room boxes to final layout and have not had one problem yet, just hope I'm not jinxing myself

The fact that they have a version this stable for their first attempt on a new platform is really impressive. Well done CA!

Has anyone had any issues with the native Mac M1 version?

On 3/27/2022 at 11:06 PM, rgardner said:

Looking at monitor options for my studio I ordered.  Are you running twin 4K 32” monitors?  Do you like the 4K for everything?

I'm actually running twin 2.5k Ben-Q monitors. They seem to be less taxing on the graphics performance of the systems I've used over the years. 

So Scott, any chance X14 runs on an iPad?

1 hour ago, para-CAD said:

I spent WAY too much money last year to get a 3080 Ti from Micro Center just to try it out.  It's not something that benefits my plans-for-permit business.  I'm sure its great for sales people, but my clients are mostly builders looking for plans that work and get through the permit office as prescriptive as possible.

 

I just want a stable app that doesn't crash at random times.

Same here. On a side note, I have not had any issue with crashing. I'm running the baseline MacBook pro 16" with the M1 pro chip. I have it hooked up to two 32" monitors and it runs like a champ. What's crazy is I can do that for hours on battery power and it barely gets warm. It's light years better than the last generation MBP which would not even run an external monitor without the power source plugged in and would scream bloody murder with two monitors.

3 hours ago, scottharris said:

 

Macs will not have RTRT.  It’s video card acceleration is still an issue.

Let me be the first to say I never really use it, even on my Windows machine.

6 hours ago, scottharris said:

Chief Architect X14 runs directly on Apple M1 ARM processors without the Rosetta emulator.  As a result, there is approximately a 20% performance improvement when you take a 3D view, generate elevations or other tasks.  X14 is in beta now – if you’re interested send an email to beta @  chiefarchitect.com 

This is great news! With that said, I just purchased a new MacBook Pro and I have been shocked at how well CA runs. The one area that could use improvement is elevations, but I've been pretty impressed with 3D views. They are comparable to my main rig with a 3070 card.

It's been interesting to watch Apple usher in this new hardware platform and try to determine who their market audience is. I've watched numerous YouTube reviews of the M1 and the new processors, and the best I can tell it seems Apple thinks everyone is a YouTuber looking to edit videos. While I'm sure Apple's new hardware will benefit people in a lot of areas, this seems to be their market audience of "pros".

Looks like I picked a good time to kick Apple to the curb.

26 minutes ago, HumbleChief said:

Steve, is it possible that the local building official can't certify anything over 12 ft. without an engineer's stamp because the IRC code doesn't address nor accommodate any structure over 12 ft.?

Perhaps, but I don’t know if it ever was addressed before 

We've talked about this on the phone a couple of times already. He's a good guy and he tries to do the right thing but I just think he's wrong. You're right though, they are granted a decent amount of latitude when it comes to these issues.

Has anyone else dealt with this? I have a local building official that is now requiring an engineer's approval on ceilings over 12' based on code R602.3 (he sent me the pic below). I live in south Georgia nowhere near the coast. I got input from 3 local engineers and they all stated they were not aware of this code. I'm not really sure that the building official is interpreting this code correctly. I've designed literally hundreds of homes with 2 story ceilings using balloon-framed 2x6 walls and I have never heard of anyone having an issue with this application.

Maybe he's right but I don't think he is. Is there a resource that can provide correct interpretation of a building code if clients feel that it is not being interpreted correctly?

I actually bailed on Apple, I'm tired of having all my eggs in that one basket. I've been back and forth between operating systems for years but I'm vacating Apple for good. I'm not really thrilled with the direction they are heading in a number of areas....

17 minutes ago, glennw said:

Polyline Specification dbx>Selected Arc panel>Arc>uncheck Automatic Facet Angle>Facet Angle.

The lower the value, the smoother the curve.

It's not a polyline solid it's a molding polyline.