HumbleChief

You get what you pay with computers, usually. What are you going to do with Chief? Raytrace? You need a fast CPU. Render big models - you need a fast video card. You can certainly get by with lesser of each processor/video card but you have to know what you'll be coming up against in your business. How complex will your models be? I've got a very fast system now and one model I'm working on that's big enough to bring it to its knees. Small models just fly through. I began building much bigger models and my older i7 (the original don't know the spec's) started to bog down like crazy and was costing me a lot of time and aggravation. Again buy as much CPU and Video card (GPU) you can afford, with a power supply to match. Memory can be minimal to start (8 gigs is plenty) and storage too - heck they're giving away 1 tb hard drives. Then as your budget allows, buy an SSD and more memory. You can also upgrade a budget video card later as well. Hope that helps.

Here's a couple of alternatives if you're not building yourself. Alienware is probably a bit over priced but if you've had any good experience with a company then it's easy to recommend and stick with them. Me personally, I've built most of my own (not the current one in my sig) and am waiting for the single processors to be faster than my current dual CPU's, and I'll build a new one. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the companies below and the same rules always apply - buy as fast a CPU and Video card as you can afford, you can always add memory or storage later if your budget gets stretched. http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-area51-r2/pd?ref=PD_OC http://www.digitalstorm.com/desktops.asp http://www.digitalstorm.com/ https://www.pugetsystems.com/

I'll try it Glenn, Thanks

I've exported ACAD successfully in the past but must have changed a setting somewhere and am getting this black filled wall output. or at least the other (not very good) user with ACAD is getting this result. You can see the cabinets and fixtures are filled black as well. Is there an export setting I should use to avoid this? ACAD OUTPUT BLACK.pdf

I'm with you on that request WIlliam. Might I 'suggest' you submit it in the Suggestions Forum?

Are these symbols created by Nana? Or created by Chief with Nana's permission? If created by Nana then given to Chief then I suppose Nana has no real motivation to make them actually function in a Chief plan. If created by Chief with Nana's permission then why not make them function as one would expect a door to function? As Joe said above I also think that a generic bi-fold door with multiple panel options would be much more useful in actual design work and also reflect the many manufacturer choices beyond Nana Walls that are available in the market place. I've spec'd and installed Nana walls twice but most of my clients choose La Cantina or another more reasonably priced door system.

Same here and the reason for the original post.

Everyone likes sausage, but no one wants to see it being made. Everyone wants easy 3D controls but no one wants to see the x=.4653 plus stretch zone z= 4.578 and stretch zone y=6.894. Someone is about to chime in (really, I wasn't thinking about you Joe ) and say it's easy once you understand it but I say it's way, way too arcane for the everyday user to have even the slightest idea of how to use this so called 'tool'. I would like the sausage and easy 3D controls, I don't want to watch the sausage being made or have to dig into the bowels of Chief's programming to get what should be simple 3D results - for the everyday user, not the Chief gurus who actually like programming Chief. [/rant]

I rest my case.

I think Chief should make this function more difficult to understand and less intuitive - oh wait - there's no possible way, they've already done that it. [/sarcasm]

Run, do not walk, to this great tutorial done By Scott Harris of Chief Architect. Not only is Scott an expert in all things Chief he is also a very good designer and the step by step design tutorial has an amazing amount of information for all Chief users but especially for those just beginning or transitioning into using Chief. Great job Scott and appreciate all your efforts. https://video.chiefarchitect.com/?search=Breckenridge

Happy New year to you Terry, from one of us little guns.

http://www.chiefarchitect.com/whats-new/

Starting at 16:50, first she changed scale, which made all the existing text on that Anno/Layer Set too small, then she changed Anno Sets and look at the text - it's completely different, not the size but the content. Room Text looks the same (which is probably controlled by the Anno/Later Set but most of the other text is missing. It didn't change scale automatically - it's gone because the new Anno/Layer Set doesn't include any of that original text.

When will X8 be available for sale/download?

It's sounds like you're 'hoping' Chief will behave like a different software program, perhaps one that automatically scales text as you change scales sent to Layout. Unfortunately Chief doesn't work that way. It's designed to have unique Anno Sets for unique sets of text and er.. annotations. The text won't change size to match various scales, it has to be set up in the Anno Set...but not really sure what you are hoping for. I suppose you could look for one of Wendy's posts and send her a PM but I don't have any special contact information that I could or would share. Best of luck.

You are over thinking this my friend, and probably have otherCAD thinking getting in the way as well. If you know how to create a new Anno Set, then do so and set the text to 2", call it what ever you like, perhaps 1/2" Anno; create another new Anno Set and set the text 4", call it 1/4" Anno, and yet another Anno Set to 8" text, call it 1/8" Anno. Send each view to Layout at 1/2", 1/4" and 1/8" scale respectively. All the text will be the same size. If you don't know how to create a new Anno Set then watch all the videos again. Don't worry it's a new way of thinking and will just click one day and seem very easy.

Linder, check your Anno Sets and the default text size in each. If you send a Plan to Layout at 1/4" scale with The Anno Set text default (or any text) set to 4", you will get approx. 1/4" high text. (The actual height depends a bit on your font but as an example) If you send another Plan to Layout at 1/8" but with 8" text instead you'll get basically the same sized text in each Layout window. Half the scale size with twice the text size should equal the same text size in Layout. Try Wendy's steps again. You just missed something simple me thinks. Here's a quick vid that may help

Nice work Ray and Scott! Very helpful.

No problem you guys. I use Snagit and have a YouTube channel through my G-Mail account. I make videos for all my client presentations so it's become very routine. Yes Terry I use hot keys as do many users. I use the mouse in my right hand and my left hand works a couple very simple single key hot keys that I use continually. I've set up 'A' as the open dbx hot key and my left hand basically sits right on top of that area as I work. The other hot key I use all the time is 'Q' that I set up for copy and paste in place and use it ALL the time as well. 'W' is set up for panning in a render view and that's it for me. Others have many many 2 and 3 key hot keys set up, some you even have to reach across the entire keyboard to active but I'm not talented enough to use or remember such things. One more thing that's very important deesee is that your question revolves around Annotations and Chief has Annotation Sets that takes the concepts of Layers even deeper and is very powerful and something you really must understand if you want to use Chief's capabilities. Here's a couple of videos from Wendy, a true Chief expert, and should help with understanding Anno Sets. And a couple videos I created with a different approach.

deesee, The questions you ask go to heart of how Chief is set up to operate and is a bit complex when first starting out but can be very powerful once you understand how Chief works. First, each Layer Set can have anything showing you choose. In your simple example of "a floor plan all nice and pretty with notes, dimensions, etc." make sure your Layer Set is named and relevant to that 'floor plan' view. Let's call that Layer Set 'floor plan'. Within your 'floor plan' Layer Set there are layers that you choose to 'display' or not and that defines everything visible in that Layer Set. Now you switch to your 'Plot Plan' Layer Set and you then again choose what you want to have visible. Let's say you "change the layer set to a plot plan view, and now I've got all these extraneous notes that I don't want to show in the plot plan." First thing to remember is those notes need to be on a layer you can turn off in your Plot Plan Layer Set. If they are a generic layer that turns off too much stuff when set to not display, just create a new layer called 'Plan Notes' and place all your notes on that Layer and turn it off in your Plot Plan Layer Set. Sounds a lot more confusing than it is in practice but it is a new paradigm that needs to be learned to get the power of Chief to be really useful. ...and to your specific question I, and many users here will annotate in plan view and send that view to Layout instead of annotating in Layout though a combination of both methods might be necessary depending on what you're looking to do.. Quick video that might help.

Meant to say I spec

Respect and install these all the time with no problems

There's a checkbox in the roof dialogue for either plum or square rafter tails

I have an architect friend who thinks there's a certain elegance to the imperial system based on ancient concepts that still hold true for structures like the pyramids. I, personally, could change to metric easily but can adapt to any system.