TheKitchenAbode

This change in graphics is certainly a departure from the past when all of CA's features would run on just about any make or system configuration. We now have a feature that is only available to a specific operating system and hardware configuration. Even on a Windows PC this feature is limited to a specific series of graphics card which will mean that many of us PC users will need to upgrade. What about all those existing laptops where the graphics card can't be upgraded or even worse those with integrated graphics chips.

The presenter had an RTX 3080 which is as good as it gets. In PBR mode the scenes where taking about 3 - 4 seconds to resolve, lesser cards are going to take longer. The Raytrace looks ok but I noticed a significant amount of noise in most of those interior scenes. Also noticed some light bleed issues in some and those jaggy lines are still there, most noticeable on on window frames. Though the raytracing is real time it looks as if many of the past raytrace problems are still there, will see when X13 is released.

5 hours ago, dskogg said:

I turned it down to 1500 and it didn’t help.. 100 ? That is really low.. seems like pbr has issues still

You need a backdrop, here's a quick PBR with a backdrop and the sun set to 800 lux. Just to give you an example as to what happens when PBR'ing  and CA thinks something that belongs in the interior is an exterior element. I moved the sun so the direct light from the window is cast onto the main dining room wall, see how bright those spots are compared to the surrounding wall. This is essentially what's happening to those walls in the hall/foyer, CA is lighting them as if the are entirely exposed to the direct exterior sunlight.

David - took another look at your plan. There are a lot of things, especially with the roof were connections are not proper. With PBR it is critical that everything be properly enclosed or you will encounter some odd things.

12 minutes ago, dskogg said:

well it works and stops the walls from glowing but it is dark looking outside...so not the way it is supposed to work, don't you agree?

I have not looked at the things in your plan to see if something is wrong there. Check to make sure your glass is correct, do you have the "use backdrop" checked in the PBR DBX?

Your wall can glow bright if it is not contained within the room. Check to make certain the no part of the wall penetrates into the attic or into an exterior wall cavity.

I have used PBR extensively and have never had these types of issues.

30 minutes ago, Renerabbitt said:

Just curious if anyone knew if there was a benefit to Export\Export PDF. Seems to just use the chief PDF Print driver

I believe the only difference is that when you choose Export then the applications PDF converter is used, when you choose Print you get to select the PDF converter from your printer list.

22 minutes ago, dskogg said:

I turned it down to 1500 and it didn’t help.. 100 ? That is really low.. seems like pbr has issues still

Why is 100 low, just adjust the camera exposure and brightness to get the look you want.

37 minutes ago, dskogg said:

I am having the same problem with walls in this entry ...I am modeling an existing plan for an interior designer.

 

skogg pbr plan.plan

The sun intensity is way too high. Turn it down to 100 lux and it PBR's just fine.

You should really have all of your library items installed on your faster C: Drive, these files are accessed while you are working in CA. If you are running short of C: Drive space it would be better to find something you don't use very often and move that to your D: Drive.

Below is a link to a well authored article/guide on each hardware component of a computer system designed for 3D modeling and rendering. It provides considerable depth as to the role each component plays in the modeling/rendering process and the specific features of each hardware component that are most impactful on performance. Well worth a read.

https://www.cgdirector.com/best-computer-3d-modeling-rendering/

Cheers,

Graham

1 minute ago, HumbleChief said:

Here's the help file, but I still find it quite confusing. Auto Save auto saves but you should manually save any way? And a file is auto saved only if you have saved it previously? Confusing to me but maybe that's why I was told to 'save' to get auto save to save automatically?

 

I believe you need to do a manual save first so CA has a file name and path in order to do the auto save. When you open/create a new plan there is no save path until you do your first save. Once this is done then auto save can do it's thing.

4 minutes ago, DianeP said:

I

I have always had several archives that were available to choose from before the update.  Not sure if it was one every hour, though.  I think they have a maximum you can set and then maybe they get over written when it gets to that point???

I believe CA will store an unlimited number of archive files but after 16 it will show a pop up that asks if you wish to manage them.

With OneDrive open in your browser select recent files, find your plan file in the list, click on it and in the menu bar at the top select version history. It should then show a list of previous versions.

1 minute ago, DianeP said:

I do, but I don't know if it updates files that are open.  I will check One Drive to see.

Not sure either. You will need to access your OneDrive through your windows online account, not the folder on your computer.

Just now, DianeP said:

Gotcha.  Is there a way to find the autosave files?  Are they stored on the computer in another location?

There is only one auto save file, the main one you are working on. if you are using a cloud system such as OneDrive you might be able to get it back from the cloud.

Just now, DianeP said:

I wonder if i set this for the last save, would it use the last autosave as the archive?

 

I assume it will. The only thing to consider is the total number of files you are going to have, as each archive save is a separate independent plan file you will really start to eat into your drive space if you are auto saving every 5 minutes.

Auto save and archiving are two separate functions. They are set in the preferences. I believe the default for archiving is once a day, you can set it to hourly. If your system crashes then the auto save may not help as the crash may have resulted in the saved plan being corrupted. As such, the archives are your only way to get your plan back.

Everything should be fine then. Come to think about it, I believe that once you actually open a file with a program that windows automatically adds that program into the file association list. You could test this by deleting that catalog from your library and then download it again and open it in your browser, if the textures come over then all is good. 

6 minutes ago, AlainJean said:

TheKitchenAbode.

 

I managed to fix the issue. When I download catalogs from my browser, I save it to my desktop. Once on my desktop, I select and drag the file onto Chief Architect. Chief Architect then accepts and downloads the files successfully with texture! 

 

Thank you for your time, I appreciate it your kindness.

Glad you found a resolution. This seems to indicate that the file associations in Windows may be missing X12. When you drag a file over it's kind of an alternative to right clicking a file and selecting open with.

You can check file associations by opening up window settings, select Apps, select Default Apps, scroll down to the bottom and select Set Defaults by App. Scroll down the list until you see Chief Architect Premier X12, click on it and select manage. It should show all the file types and the name of the program that the file type is associated with. If you see a program other than X12 click on it and a DBX should pop up that will let you assign X12 to it. Once this is done then you should be ok to just open the downloaded file directly from your browser.

55 minutes ago, Renerabbitt said:

I was just getting started on it..and it is a full home remodel ..was confusing to me that it suddenly came to a crashing hault. I had at least a couple sessions with those cabinets so I don't know what changed. Thanks again

The only time I have had something like that is if I've used a high resolution texture and then in the texture DBX I had set the size to something like 1/16" X 1/16". As you can surmise, replicating a very high resolution texture that many times over say a 10 sq.ft. surface is a lot of work.

11 minutes ago, stevenyhof said:

Very good. I will turn that off. Thank you

Also, don't forget about the Display Layer options. Turning off unnecessary layers has a big impact on performance. Again, when working on structure there is no need for furniture, cabinets, electrical, plants, trees, terrain and the likes to be displayed. Under most circumstances CA only processes what is defined as displayed. You can define your own Display sets so this only has to be done once and then you just have to assign this to the camera you are using.

7 minutes ago, stevenyhof said:

I did see that. I will continue to fine tune my template(s) for this. I do have the sun follow, but that is the only change I made to camera - that I am aware of.

Turn that off. When it's on CA has to recalculate the shadow projections every time you move or change the model. The camera features I mentioned are really only need if you are preparing final renderings. Personally when working on primary structure I find all of these added effects distracting and tend to draw ones focus away from more important aspects. Not really very efficient to be focused on a particular shingle when the physical roof structure is not yet complete.

Steve - Not sure you saw the Thread from Rene "SLOWWW plan file suddenly" posted yesterday. Worth taking a look at as it's a great example of how just one or two elements in a plan can bring even the best of system to it's knees. Really important to keep this in mind when ones system starts to slow down. Also, as mentioned before camera settings can have a significant impact on performance, when working on basic model structure I never have lights, reflections, bloom, shadows or sun follows camera turned on. Makes a big difference.

7 minutes ago, stevenyhof said:

Thank you for the feedback and info. Concerning Dell, I have had them all, even Alienware, and ASUS out performed for both laptops and desktops. I can always upgrade the video card, but as it is, I am getting too much lag with Chief and need to get something in place. I will update my Signature with new info once I have it in place. 

No problem. Even though the RTX 3000 series is not currently available, suggest moving up one level from the RTX 2060. Your new CPU will at times bottleneck the RTX 2060 one level up should prevent this and provide an improved CPU/GPU balance. Regardless, you will definitely notice a big difference.

Cheers,

Graham

14 hours ago, stevenyhof said:

Thank you for everyone's help on this forum and even in messages.

This is what my son put together...

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Jordhof/saved/#view=rHK2mG

 

I'll need to update my signature when he gets it built.

Steve

My suggestion at this time would be to wait a month or two. NVidia is just releasing their RTX 3000 series cards, these offer at least a 30% or more performance improvement over the RTX 2000 series and are expected to be priced under the RTX 2000 series, seems like a win win situation, better performance at a lower cost.

CPU looks good, alternative might be the I9 9900K.

I would suggest you strongly consider a liquid cooler. To get the most out of those CPU's you will want to overclock them so they will run constantly at their higher frequency across all cores. A liquid cooler will do a better job of keeping temperatures in line to prevent the CPU from throttling down.

32 GB or RAM is more than sufficient, overkill for Chief but you may have other programs that might benefit from this. Regardless, as RAM is so cheap why not go for a bit more.

MNVe drive looks good, might consider the Pro series for a bit more throughput. There are some faster ones that use PCle 4.0 but I believe that at this time only AMD CPU's & motherboards support this.

I know there can be some satisfaction in building your own but why not consider say a Dell Alienware Aurora. These are solid machines and when tested/reviewed they are always in the top tier. They do a good job of matching up components to deliver consistent performance and quality, all at a very competitive price and they are always running special discounts.