HumbleChief

I get that same 'z-fighting' when at certain angles. Never noticed it before but couldn't get rid of it either no matter the setting.

That is really sweet Kevin. I never use those tools and would probably use a circle and subtract but your method is very very cool.

Fun trying out the video thing and certainly understand your frustration coming from ACAD. Talk about different paradigms - sheesh. I would shoot myself if I had to learn those techniques. Powerful I'm sure, tedious for me. Anyway glad it helped. Hot keys are a real fast way to do certain tasks in Chief. I live on the Copy and Paste in Place hot Key (Q for me) and I put it as close to my left hand as possible. I hit it without even looking and use it all the time. I also use 'A' to open any spec dbx, again close to my left hand (use the mouse in my right hand) and hit it without even looking. Everyone has a different style but hot keys are a great speed tip.

Just playing now using Glenn's method. http://screencast.com/t/1tilaNcV

Whoa, That's huge. Must be my screen size but it's not huge. 27"? Maybe I need to grab a smaller portion of the screen? But I want to include everything so maybe the free one has those limitations? Looks good here even on my smaller screen. Here's one done with a smaller screen size. http://screencast.com/t/89s3JqqWO

Glenn, once you open Jing, select the area you want to capture then, click the video record button. When you're done recording name your video, hit the share via screen cast button and Jing copies your video to their servers (I assume) and gives it a dedicated url. Now you have to paste the video url somewhere. It can be text or a web page or any place you can get t the url. I don't see a way to get to the video's url once you copy and paste something else so I think you have to paste right away. And yeah you need an account.

Could be dangerous with the videos. I think this is what Glenn is suggesting, very helpful as always. http://screencast.com/t/AfaKjRTEz

Me too Perry but the initial set up is so different than ACAD I thought it would help to see Chief's tools in action. Again not sure if this is exactly what Alan is looking for but should help him get closer in Chief. Seems way easier in Chief but again only if this is what Alan's actually trying to do.

I'm trying my hand at videos too. Let's see if this helps. Of course you have to have snaps turned on to get it to work like I just showed. Sound is so low again - I'll try again. I've got to work on my mic sound. I can hear it but it has to be up all the way. Tried a different mic. http://screencast.com/t/Rrpk1GQBIC Uh oh - got the sound working - this could get ugly

Check page '0'. Everything on page 0 will show on every page.

Chief detects and pegs all 12 cores on my dual Xeon processors when I RayTrace. Does that help?

Interesting points Rod. I couldn't help but draw a parallel between your point and Johnny's experience with the transition from DOS to the modern GUI. It seems the opportunities during that transition were vast as the gap between DOS apps and modern GUI apps were huge. Today maybe the opportunities with the advent of social media and that arising paradigm and the ease of which customers can demand and get what they want in a very fluid marketplace are just as vast. I can see how easy it might be to ignore that new paradigm and continue plodding down a path that might not end that well. I for one do not have the answers nor do I have the business acumen to run a company like CA and really can't see a clear future for this or any other software app but I do love the discussion. All the posts here are very enlightening to me and appreciate the ideas.

Good points.

I would say my entire post is not 'entirely true' but do you think the point I was trying to make, which is that it's much more complicated than a single business factor, is relevant? Oh wait, that's the same point you made too. I agree with you.

Do you think that a new GUI, for argument's sake let's say it's the best GUI in the world, would that be a vehicle by which Chief would/could grab massive market share from its competitors? I mean would an ACAD house switch to Chief because the interface was 'the best in the world? Would a Revit house do the same? Individual users, much better chance but massive share grab? What do think? Genuinely curious.

VERY impressive Johnny. I would love it if your expertise could be applied to Chief's interface and I'm hoping their evolution includes some of the ideas in this thread - sooner (rather than) or later.

I agree it really is a combination of many things. In the early days WordPerfect was way better than Microsoft Word but Microsoft bullied its way into market dominance using its OS as the vehicle. That same Wordperfect company had an Adobe type PDF creator and reader that ran circles around Adobe's offering but Adobe bullied its way to market dominance. In the music business ProTools dominates the market - not because they make great software or have a great GUI but because they have enough market share to dictate the next direction of music software. They are adding features now that have been available in other software for years. People hate the fact they have to use ProTools and their terrible upgrade policies and feature less software but they remain the leader and show no sings of being toppled because their GUI might suck or they are slow to add features. ACAD dominates Architectural software, not because they make great software but because that Lion's share allows them to charge incredible amounts of money and change the entire direction of Arch software when they choose. They continue to be successful because they run a god business and their market share allows them lots of leeway in features and GUI. In the music software world there are many smaller labels that are becoming more popular but if you don't know ProTools you won't work at a large production house - ever. I imagine it's the same with ACAD. So getting and keeping your lead is way more complicated than just having great software with a great GUI. The above examples prove you don't have to have either to succeed but you do need a very focused business plan and must be able to execute same. Just thought of another - Quickbooks. They own financial software but certainly not because their GUI is world class. In some ways it's very very dated but their market share allows them to dump on even Microsoft's Money.

I just double click one of the lines and change its weight to something different - they won't join then.

My thoughts as well.

Keith, wow - no real need to be so dramatic, it's just a different opinion. I think it's apples and oranges, you think it's apples and apples. Absolutely respect your look at the issue and it's only an opinion, and in my opinion I don't think the analogies hold but I'm all ears and eyes and will learn from every post you make and very much appreciate your input.

I wonder about some of the analogies. Remember the buggy whip? Well cars got rid of buggies and the whip didn't evolve fast enough... Chief occupies a very unique niche market within the architectural and design world. Are they really risking going away because their GUI is outdated? It's irritating and old fashioned but I don't think they are at risk of disappearing like the above companies did? Who is their real competition? It's not really ACAD, or Revit or Archicad. SoftPlan for sure but their price point ensures survival until another player comes along - into a very crowded marketplace. Wouldn't mind that myself but don't really see it.

I don't think that's needed anymore. I think Chief knows the exterior layers in the later versions.

I don't think we should argue the correct order Lew. The idea of any suggestion is that it is just that, a suggestion. I couldn't proceed without Anno Sets but then again I was creating actual working drawings not playing with Chief to learn basic house models. For someone else it might make sense to never learn Anno Sets. So take each suggestion as an idea and a place to start not some absolute method that must be followed and learn Chief in a way that works for you.

I 'think' this is how it works or should work. When you add a new Layer it adds a new Layer to every Layer Set but that new Layer can have unique properties in each Set. You can change those new Layer properties in each Set, or change those Layer properties across all Sets by checking the 'Modify All Layer Sets' box. Does that sound correct? Just tested and this appears to be correct. Don't fear the 'Modify All Layer Sets' button it only affects the single Layer's property you've selected, it doesn't affect any other, or all Layers.

Whoa - I just checked this and Chief certainly does add new Layers to every Layer Set without the Modify All Layer sets box checked.