VisualDandD

Thanks man! I have already been looking at 'box' systems. Was thinking 3080Ti might be the best bet possibly over 3090. I just need to ask my son on that one Like I said, I FINLLY have one of my builders interested in VR...etc. Stuff I have been playing with for years and no one has ever wanted me to do. Also renderings as standard. I have not used X12/13. But for renderings, as of right now, the export to Lumion is the quickest with best results. But if I am going VR, Twin Motion may be a better investment of time. Just materials are easier to deal with in Lumion. I have a few things to sort out for sure, but my current box has lasted me a long time, but I dont mind investing in the future for sure. Thanks for all the feedback (and kick in the a$$).

Thanks for feedback. Just frankly was so busy this past year, I did not even have time to dealing with the update and never did it. (not a bad problem to have). I will take your word for it. The interesting part of this whole thing is I finally have a long time client who wants rendering. I am torn which direction to go. I upgraded my Twinmotion last night and it seems very powerful but even though I am 4 updates back on Lumion, I can get to a finished product the quickest with it. The one thing I LOVE about Lumion is the ability to 'soften' edges of materials. In my opinion, it is one of the things that is the hardest to overcome in rendering interiors. Exteriors it is not as big an issue. Lumion also can on the fly create height maps from image. (which is passable most of the time) Twinmotion, you have to take it out of the software and do it. I have never taken the time to do it and build a good library. Has Chief improved their ability with siding depth/textures. Board and batten,,,etc or are you still having to use material regions/poly line solids...etc? Last thing I need to figure out is what to upgrade my box to. Normally I build my PC's but when the time came to build my son a PC, with the GPU shortage, it was much easier just to buy the box. Hope all has been well for you guys and I need to hang out more and get out of the grind and bring my game up a little more. I bought an oculus and never played much with it. Except Twinmotion which works nicely.

So some background. I have been working in chief since 1998. For the past 11 years, I have been designing full time and stay quite busy. I Pay my SSA every year like a good boy, but became frustrated at the direction Chief has taken. (trying to become a rendering software instead of gearing itself to fixing long problems with the work flow of producing working drawings). PBR was the biggest waste of time and I felt like they were going even more for the 'flash'. Again, I paid my SSA...but it is almost expiring and find that I have never even loaded up X12. (srs). I run X11 every day. For the clients that want renderings, I use Lumion or I have played with Twinmotion which I have a license also. Now I log on forum for first time in many months, and see people complaining about the real time ray tracing. I see pics that look worse the renderings I did 4 years ago in Lumion...etc. So what is the verdict. Has X12 been worth it? Do you have any hope for X13? Or is still the same crap that has been slung around here for years. The die-hards asking for functional stair tools, and Chief posting pretty pictures. Guess at some point I should upload X12... But with my SSA coming up, wonding if I am so unexcited about a update that I pay for it and dont install it, if it is even worth is since the complaints seem the same. I should add, because I never installed X12, I never updated my box. With the 3080 card we got, I built my son a great gaming pc and I am still drawing with a 970 graphics cars. But we have a really cool sim That 3080 smokes running 3 monitors at 144hz!

Chad, Chris. I am in Clt. Been using Chief since 1997. Shoot me a PM. I dont think I could devote time to 1 on 1 tutoring since I am pretty busy, but maybe I can help. Have to really know what you are needing. Always good to meet another local user.

You can also "break" walls to set post placement. They sometimes revert back to a single wall and default spacing. One way to avoid this is to intersect with "invisible walls" and then "break" at the intersections.

Gotcha! On a tangent, I have played with the idea of programming one of these! (link below) I think it could be a very powerful tool with child buttons...etc. Put a 10 key in there with ft and in along with all the edit functions. But who am I kidding. I keep my SSA up to date, and I have never even loaded X12 yet (srs). Busy year was busy! https://www.amazon.com/Elgato-Stream-Deck-XL-customizable/dp/B07RL8H55Z/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=elgato+stream+deck+xl&qid=1609294205&sr=8-1

Michael I have all those keys programmed on the side of my 'normal' mouse. Tab is SUPER effective as you dont realize how many times you press it! I also have the open dbx hot key on there. I dont use all 12 keys, but eventually I thought about adding in some more key binds but I already have the extra keyboard. Having access to those important functions though is critical when using the 3d mouse so binding them to your 'normal' mouse works well also! Also has on the fly DPI switching which I use from time to time making it very nice! https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Gaming-Backlit-Programmable-Buttons/dp/B0086UK7IQ/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=logitech+g600&qid=1609293472&s=electronics&sr=1-2

It is the first one they released. 3dx-700028 SpaceNavigator. I dont think they make it any longer. Looks like the most similar is the "compact one" except the one I have is full size but only 3d mouse. I dont need all the buttons because I also run a Logitech G13 keypad along side it. I put labels on it so I have it programmed as a 10 key with ' and " keys to make manually entering dims easy. I also have a different mode that I use for roofs and cad which changes the programming of the keys to common functions, like point to point move, and connect roof plans, break cad....etc. Not sure they still make this one either but it is part of my work flow now.... I also use a logitech gaming mouse with 12 programmable keys and on the fly dpi switching. Basically I plug the computer right into my brain

Been using 3d Connection mouse since it first came out in 2015. I could NEVER go back. It has changed the way I draw. Mainly VASTLY improving 3d editing capabilities, being able to select and move model in 3d greatly reducing redundant edits. EG, select a bunch of windows... Here is a vid I did of how nice a 3d mouse works.

Yep, I am in a 'wait and see' mode. I refuse to work off a lap top About 10 years ago, I stopped buying laptops that would run chief. When I leave for vacation, I have no choice to leave work at home. Plus, my workflow for years requires a desktop. I run 3 monitors, 3d mouse, programmable game pad w/ all my hot keys and a 'normal' mouse and keyboard. I cant imagine trying to work off a laptop. I am going to start brushing up to speed on the latest PC stuff. I need to come up to speed since it has been so long since I built one. GREAT news is I have have some stuff I can 'upcycle'. I still have about 3 or 4 gold 1000w modular power supplies from building mining rigs back in the day ;). At least I can put one of them to use!

LOVE the discussion. And appreciate all the thoughts. I am diving in, and a few things have changed since the last box I built. Seems like Hard Drives for speed have gone to PCI-E. I have 3 SSID's 2-1tb and 1-2tb. I also have a 'hot swap' bay on the front which I love and hard to find a new case with nice external bays that also has front panel USB-C. I did find one though. I run a software continuous back-up to a 2-gb conventional drive. It is not true RAID but rather software driven. Looks like vid cards are going to be in short supply till Feb/april. So PART of my motivation is 2-fold. My 13 yo son has been bugging me for a gaming PC. This box I built 5 years ago is still pushing 100FPS on most of his games. For a 5 yo box, the specs have aged well. I74790k which I use a mild overclock done by my MSI motherboard automatically. I have a good cooler GTX 970 card w/ 4gb Amazingly it is still on the list of Toms hardware best cards for 2020. (although at the lower end...but not bad for 5 years!) 24gb memory. So my thoughts were to give this to my son and build a new box. I dont see using Chief Ray trace as anything that really motivates me since when I need to render, I use Lumion or I have a Twin Motion full license. But 90% of my "renders" done for practical purposes are either 'technical drawing' or 'water color' w/ line on top. That does all I need it to do. ANy more and I have have to spend a bunch of time 'cake decorating' a scene which is not worth it for me. I am definitely following along on this thread. It looks like the earliest I will do a build will be March April which at that point, I might as well wait to have X13 come out and see what everyone thinks.

Hey all. Just wanted to start a thread where people could share some ideas on new box builds for the new coming version. It has been about 5 years since I built my last box. Still hanging in there great. I7 4790k w/32gb GTX970. Funny it will still run most of my sons games at 100fps even on high detail settings. BUT with the announcement that Chief will be in for a significant upgrade, I wanted to start planning a new build. Figured maybe start a thread where people can share ideas. I am guessing the RTX3080 may be the 'go-to' card, but it sure comes with a price! Love to hear ideas of what you guys might go with.

Does my daughters school project count? You had to model a cell as if it were a school

Not particually impressed w/ the quality of the RT shown. Probably stems from inability to modify material properties. I like how in Lumion you can 'soften' and 'weather' materials. Also the ability to create real time bump maps and modify relief..etc. BUT what I could see using that I think would be really nice, is the line drawing over! That is a beautiful type presentation. The lines make it clear that this is a visualization and hence, materials dont need to be 'perfect'. I could totally see using this. Along with Clay. Very nice!

Was just watching that now! Signed up for webinar and vid played. Thanks!

Just curious. Can you tell us what are min Nvida card required to run? I am probably do for an upgraded box here at some point, but my GTX 970 will run oculus. Curious if it will handle this new feature? Thanks

Just a suggestion, but you are barely using any of the capabilities of Lumion. I dont see reflection planes being used. It also looks like you are not creating normal maps and modifying all the materials. Lumion imports the textures, but then you have to go in with the material selector and define it's properties. This gives much better light and shadow. Convert your landscape to grass material and turn grass on. What you have shown looks like you are just dropping a model in and creating the vid with no work in lumion. If you want things to 'pop' more, learn to use the functions of the software.

A while back I posted about making a pool using terrain for the sloping bottom, and using curbs for the transition of the walls to the bottom. Here is the thread. Just a different approach

Gotcha! Will be interesting. I still dont use Chief rendering engine. Be nice to have something internal that can generate decent results. But for my purposes watercolor w/ line are perfect, although I do use Lumion when a client needs more. Heck...I better hurry and load up 12 so I am not 2 versions behind! ;-)

Any chance you can link to preview? I searched and could not find anything. Heck....I have not even installed 12 yet ;-) Pay for SSA every year but been too busy.

That is the method I use. Here is one where I combined GIS data, an actual site survey, and then house placement.

Thanks! I probably need to take a look at one drive a little closer. I just hate MS stuff but did not realize you could buy without the entire suite. Boy....this would all sure beat traveling with external HD's. Evey time I leave the house for a long trip, I carry a 2tb back-up drive with me in case the house burns down I know....paranoid. But the last 10 years of my life has been mouse clicks. I have 2-'hot swap' bays on the front of my PC that I built to make removing HD's easy. My gut tells me Dropbox since I have always loved it., but I will look closer at One drive also. Thanks Susan. I had read in an older thread that that was the issue. I am not sure I am that regimented to remember to do that. Often I leave chief open and leave for a few hours and come back. Sometimes even overnight if I am in a 'good place'. Thanks for taking the time to help out!

Found thread from 2019 and it looks like Google drive was still giving issues. After reading that thread, I may consider one drive again also. Any thoughts....one drive vs dropbox? Looks like both handle 2tb @ the 10$/month level.

I know I have seen this topic pop up over the years. Last I remember many were recommending only Drop Box. So....local hard-drive failure this morning. Great thing is a keep a running back up of my entire data drive. (Not a raid, but a software solution that writes to a 2gb data drive.) So, since I have some work to do setting everything up, I was contemplating changing my local files to cloud-based. Would prefer Google, but last I remember a few years back there were some syncing issues. I can do dropbox also. Prefer not to use OneDrive. Any current recommendations? Anyone had success with Google drive lately?> Thanks!

Also, if stuff is blocked together in dwg it may not change color. Sometimes you have to unblock and then go into dbx individually and check the box that says color by layer.